timmyjimi

The past couple weeks at church, lead pastor Keith Wieser has been preaching through the middle chapters of Romans in a series titled “Bondservant: Free to Be a Slave.”  Yesterday, with Keith out of town, creative arts pastor Drew Worsham stepped in to explain where that series title comes from.  He began in the first verse of Romans, where Paul identifies himself as a “bondservant” of Jesus Christ.  Then Drew took us to Deuteronomy 15:16 to understand the historical context of slavery in Israel.  Every seventh year, masters were required to set their Hebrew servants free with a liberal supply of provisions.  However, in the case when a servant wished to continue serving his or her master, the servant could agree to an ear piercing that would make him a servant for life, or a “bondservant.”

It is easy to understand how this falls into the context of Romans 6-8, which says that “having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (6:18).  Drew compared the modern symbol of wedding rings with the earrings worn by Hebrew bondservants.  Paul uses a similar analogy in chapter seven, explaining that just as a woman is free to remarry if her husband dies, so we have died to the law through the crucifixion of Christ that we might be married to Him in his resurrection.

Another passage Drew touched on was Philippians 2:7, in which Christ is described as having taken the form of a bondservant through His incarnation.  To bind ourselves to Christ is to surrender our identity to His.  To become bondservants is to literally become Christ-like, as even Jesus made Himself like a bondservant.  In this decision, we surrender our choices and desires to Him forever.  Our life is no longer our own but submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

In John 6:68, when many were turning away from Jesus, He asked His disciples if they also wanted to leave.  Drew highlighted Peter’s response as the answer of a true bondservant: “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  Apart from the adverse reaction to slavery in the American psyche, the idea of giving our lives over to an authority creates doubt and distrust.  While the salvation offered by Christ may be appealing, His subsequent lordship is something our sinful flesh rebels against.  1 John 2:3 says that we know that we know Jesus if we keep His commandments.  This is necessary for the one who would follow Jesus, but while the life of a Christ-follower is not easy, it is a joy.  Translating Deuteronomy’s description of the bondservant into our relationship with Christ, “we will not leave Him because we love Him, His house, and we prosper with Him.”

Drew’s final illustration was the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15.  In realizing his hopelessness, the son who squandered his inheritance returned to his father begging to be taken in as one of his hired servants.  Instead, the father ran to meet his son, welcomed him in with much celebration, and put a ring on his son’s hand.  This points back to where Paul has been contrasting our old slavery to sin with our new slavery to righteousness.  He concludes by taking it a step further in Romans 8:15-17:

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”