Identity: Bondservant

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10


“But if he (the slave) says to you (the master), ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you & your household, since he is well-off with you, then you shall take an awl, & put it through his ear into the door, & he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same. It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired servant he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.” Deuteronomy 15:16-18

At the end of a seven-year period, any master who owned slaves was required to set them free. Occasionally there were slaves who would refuse to leave their master because they loved their master so much. The master would then stand the man next to a door & pierce his ear by driving an awl (long pointed tool used for piercing small holes) through it into the door. The slave would then stay with his master forever as a bondservant.

A slave serves his master because he has to; a bondservant serves his master because he loves his master. Legalism serves God by trying to do well enough or be good enough, seeking somehow to earn the Lord's approval. Those under Grace serve God out of love.

In his sermon series “Beyond”, Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church defines worship as “love expressed”. Pastor Zach Neese, a worship leader at Gateway, expounds on that definition in his book “How to Worship A King” saying that worship is “love expressed God’s way”, meaning that we have varying ways of expressing ourselves, but unless we express our love in the way that is worthy of the Lord we are not expressing true love & devotion. If my husband never told me that he loves me, never kissed me, or never expressed his love for me in the way that I need for him to express his love, then I would mistaken his love because it was not expressed in a way that I can relate to. God’s boldest expression of love for us was the death of Jesus on the cross; in response I should extravagantly express my love for Him.

As a bondservant for Jesus Christ I have the gift of grace which is "the power of God to help me overcome sin" (Pastor Sion Alford). Does this mean that I am perfect? Absolutely not! I have fallen far faaaaaaar from the mark every day of my life. But I strive to serve the Lord because of my love for my Saviour. ("If you love me, you will keep my commandments." John 14:15)

“What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” Romans 6:15-18

Being a bondservant requires a self-understanding of why we serve the Lord. Do I serve God because I feel required to under religious law? No, if I did then I would not be truly serving Him because I would long internally to serve my own will & desires. Do I serve God because I am afraid of the eternal option if I choose not to? No, because that service would be motivated out of fear not love. Do I serve God because He loves me & I long to devote every ounce of my being to celebrating & declaring who He is to the world around me? Yes, I strive to serve the Lord this way. I respond to His love by expressing my own love & gratitude for Him. My expression of love for God shows the world just how valuable my God is, therefore I desire to extravagantly express my love for Him to declare that He is & will always be above all. I do not need to please man or subvert my thinking to the ways of humanity, because I am a bondservant of the Most High God & my life will be lived as a living sacrifice to Him.

Whom do you serve?

Are you a bondservant?