Friday, October 2, 2009
Servants of God
Everyone is a servant of someone or something. The greats of the Bible were servants to God. Many were not identified as such in so many words, but that some were is shown in the following list. To be a servant is not generally considered a desirable position, but this sure looks like a list where we'd want our names to be included.
Abraham . . . . “his servant” ...................................(Psalm 105:6)
Moses . . . . . . “my servant” ....................................(Numbers 12:7)
Caleb . . . . . . . “my servant”.....................................(Numbers 14:24)
Daniel . . . . . . .“servant of the living God”...............(Daniel 6:20)
David . . . . . . . “my servant”.....................................(1 Kings 11:34)
Nehemiah . . . .“thy servant” ...................................(Nehemiah 1:11)
Isaiah . . . . . . . “my servant”.....................................(Isaiah 20:3)
Job . . . . . . . . . “my servant”.....................................(Job 1:8)
Peter . . . . . . . .“a servant...of Jesus Christ”..............(2 Peter 1:1)
Phoebe . . . . . .“a servant of the church”...................(Romans 16:1)
Jude . . . . . . . . “servant of Jesus Christ"...................(Jude 1)
James . . . . . . . “a servant of God”.............................(James 1:1)
Anna . . . . . . . .“served God”......................................(Luke 2:37)
Paul . . . . . . . . .“a servant of Jesus Christ”................(Romans 1:1)
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This is just precious Donna! And it lead me on a search for not just servant but a bondservant.
ReplyDeleteHere's how that happened:
"A slave could go free at the end of his six years of service, and you'd expect that they would jump at the chance. But there would be the occasional slave who might not want to go. Maybe he had a hard time earning a living, and the room and board he had as a slave was better than anything he'd been able to find for himself. Or maybe he had grown comfortable with his master and his household over the past six years, and he just didn't want to leave. In that case, the Bible had a special destiny for him.
As it says, his master would pierce his earlobe with an awl against the door of the house. That's a very clear statement that you're going nowhere -- that you're permanently fixed to this house and this master. It became traditional to put in a gold earring after the awl was removed. And that slave could never go free again. He could never be sold, either. He became more than just a slave; he became a servant who was permanently attached -- bonded -- to his master, a bondservant. Such bondservants were usually trusted with more of their master's affairs than a normal slave would be. Although still servants, they often were considered part of the family."
Check out the great men of the New Testament who called themselves bondservants!
2 Peter 1:1--Peter
Romans 1:1--Paul
Phi. 1:1--Paul and Timothy
James 1:1--James
Jude 1:1--Jude
Can you see the wonderful pattern? They were one to one with Christ as servants!
And Christ Himself came as a servant: see Acts 3:26. No awl has pierced my ear but my heart has surely been pierced with a commitment to my Savior.
Oy vey: "led" not "lead"
ReplyDelete(face is red!)
This is great!
ReplyDeleteIt brought to mind the Hebrew word abad/ebed which means "servant", which also means "to serve" or "to work". So, to be His servant, we must serve Him through doing His work - which Moses 1:39 tells us that "this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man".
We can measure if our names will be included by the work/service that we do in this life - does our work/service point to toward eternal life and salvation of others, both living and dead? The three-fold mission of the church is just this - proclaiming the gospel (service and salvation to living), redeeming the dead (service and salvation to those gone before us), and perfecting the saints (which can only come through serving others and bringing them, and thereby us, salvation).
If our works matches His works, we may be counted a true servant of His. For "by their works ye shall know them".