Voluntary Servitude to Christ

Definitions

Voluntary Servitude: to serve another or someone as an act of freewill without any constraint or pressure.

Voluntary Servitude to Christ: to serve and honor God as an act of your own choice without any kind of strings attached.

Scripture References

John 13:3-5 New International Version (NIV)

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

John 13:15-17 New International Version (NIV)

15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master,nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Mark 10:45 New International Version (NIV)

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Introduction

Voluntary Servitude to Christ requires three core foundational values. Of course, there are others but all the others build up on these three major ones. Remember if the foundation is weak, it does not matter how strong the roof and the walls of a house are. Weak Christians have weak foundations. That is the very reason when trials, temptations and persecutions come; they throw their towel and walk back into darkness from where Christ had originally pulled them out. I’m afraid a change at the core is more important than touchups on the surface. When the inside is changed, it will automatically blend to the outside. If touchup is the case, you will end up in great trouble when the fancy dress is taken off.

Three Foundational Values for Serving Christ

1. Love for Your Master

We need to be very careful about Christ’s concept of love. In John 14:15, He says, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” In other words, to love God means to be obedient to Him i.e. to follow His teachings; if you would allow me to put it another way: “To Imitate Christ”. But in order to imitate Christ, we need to have an intimate relationship with Him which by normal circumstances, a servant does not have with His master. To resolve this issue, Christ calls us His friends. Look at John 15:15 “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” Well, that’s awesome news, we are our Master’s friends, simply because He calls us so. Now the second concept of love that Christ throws at us is that we love each other (John 15:17). I feel a lot of people mistake the word Love here for an emotion or feeling or some kind of pity or affection for the other party. I don’t believe that’s what Christ is talking here. Love here means to wish the good of the other person. It is an attitude of the will, a personal decision to desire the better of another regardless of their behavior, actions or even strong words towards us. It is like a game of pretense where one does good to another who is by human analogy an enemy. Here lays the catch; in trying to do good to the one who does bad in return, we end up winning them over for the Lord. The process can be harsh but look at it another manner: in being good, you sooner or later realize or even better understand the spiritual condition of the other. Loving them for their bad behavior and evil words is the least a Christian can do from his or her position in Christ.

2. Servant’s Humbleness

The word humble is the opposite of proud. It means not proud, not thinking of yourself as better than other people. In other words, it’s kind of putting others above yourself, looking at others as more superior, better, honorable, of a higher position. That does not necessarily mean that you are lower based on natural and intellectual grounds. It’s simply putting yourself lower and showing others the higher respect they may or may not deserve. Quickly look at 1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves therefore under God’s mighty hand that He may lift you up in due time.” First Peter says humble yourselves, then the result he illustrates is that God will lift you up. In others words, God will exalt you. That’s pretty amazing since it seems like we are putting effort in humbleness and in response, God is putting the same or more effort I assume to exalt us. God is doing our exaltation as a result of our humbleness. A servant’s position of humbleness is what makes him or her an effective worker for Christ. For God to work through anyone or accomplish His purpose through anyone, the humble state is very important. Remember God resists the proud but exalts the humble. Put it in simple terms, proud and God don’t mix together. They are like oil and water. It doesn’t matter how much you shake the two together, the oil will continue to float on water. This is not a perfect analogy but hopefully you understand my point.

2. Christians Should Expect Persecutions

Jesus made this very clear in John 15:18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” and again in John 15:20 “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” I’m afraid many Christians now days want all of God’s blessings but when it comes to being persecuted for His name sake, they quickly back out. Their reaction is more like saying, “I did not sign up for this”. Indeed no one wants to sign up for persecution but I’m afraid there may not be any other way. We should expect persecutions for our faith. As a matter of fact if we are not being persecuted, the logical conclusion maybe that we were never a servant of Christ to begin with. What I’m trying to say is that our Christianity may have been imaginary. Let’s take our faith seriously. Always remember: He is reading all of your thoughts, none of your actions have escaped His eyes and every word of your mouth has been heard by Him. He is very serious about your voluntary servitude to Him. The ultimate question is: Are You?

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to quote John 16:33. Jesus said, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble (persecution). But take heart, I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.”

AMEN

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