Oh, what joy to be a slave to Jesus Christ

The best way to define a Christian is being a slave to Jesus Christ.

As believers, we are slaves to Jesus. You would never suspect that, however, from the language of contemporary Christianity. In the modern church, the language is anything but slave language. It is about freedom. It is about health, wealth, prosperity, fulfillment and finding your purpose. We often hear that God loves us unconditionally. He wants to fulfill our every ambition, every desire, every hope and every dream. In fact, there are books about dreams as if they are gifts from God. God, having given these dreams, is then bound to fulfill them. The Bible describes the Christian life very differently.

What is our relationship to God? What is your relationship to Jesus? How are we best to understand it? If you read the New Testament in its original language, you will come away stunned. The original Greek is very different from any English version. The word “slave” appears in the original New Testament text 130 times.

For example, in Matthew 6:24 Jesus said, “No man can be a slave to two masters.” What does your Bible say? Probably, “No man can serve two masters.” New Testament translators desired to avoid the stigma of the word slave. They simply inserted the word “servant.” Yet, the Greek word doulos means slave. There are about 20 established English translations of the New Testament (the King James Version, the New American Standard, the New International Version, etc.). Only one of them always translates the word doulos as slave, and that is the Goodspeed Translation.

When you read the Goodspeed Translation, it gives an entirely different sense of your relationship to Jesus. As a believer you have a personal relationship to Jesus — you are his slave. That is explaining it as simply as possible.

At a recent conference an African American pastor asked a very good question: “How can I communicate to my congregation that they are slaves of Jesus when slavery is such a distasteful part of our culture?” Nobody thinks very positively about slavery; however, when you read the New Testament you cannot avoid it.

What is the gospel? The gospel is very simple. It’s an invitation that says, “I invite you to become a slave of Jesus Christ. I invite you to give up your freedom, your independence and submit yourself to him. Abandon all of your rights and be controlled and owned by Jesus.” That is the gospel. I don’t hear a lot of that slave talk today, do you?

If you think this is a bitter pill to swallow in today’s culture, imagine the difficulty accepting this in the first century. Jesus and the apostles lived in the midst of a slave-dominated population. The Roman Empire had 10 million to 12 million slaves. They knew precisely the meaning of slavery.

Slaves were never asked, “Mr. Slave, what would you like to do to be fulfilled? What do you think your purpose is? Can you dream your dream so I, your master, can fulfill it?” They owned nothing. They were not citizens. They couldn’t join the military. But they did have some benefits. They were provided for and cared for and protected. In many cases they were treated with kindness and compassion.

The early believers did not edit out the idea of slavery. Romans 1:1 begins, “Paul, a slave (doulos) of Jesus Christ. …” In 2 Peter 1:1 it states, “Simon Peter, a slave (doulos) and apostle of Jesus Christ …” and 2 Timothy 2:24 reads, “The Lord’s slave (doulos) must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach …”

A slave could have some status, but it was related to his master. It was an honor to be part of Caesar’s household even if you were a slave. You were a slave at the highest level. Our honor comes because of the identity of our master. The apostles said, “I am a slave of God. I am a slave of Jesus Christ.” Being a slave to Jesus is beyond any kind of slavery. He listens to his slaves. He makes them sons and daughters. He adopts you into his family. He calls you a joint heir. He takes you into heaven where you rule and reign from his throne. He pours out his lavish riches forever and ever upon you. It is all for your joy and his glory. He protects and provides for you. Who wouldn’t want to be a slave under that master? What a joy to be a slave of Jesus Christ.

Father, thanks for helping us understand something we perhaps missed in the past. We are thankful slaves because we’ve been bought out of another slavery — slavery to death and hell. We desire to obey You. We will never try to obey you and the world. We serve You knowing that You promise to meet our needs. You have made us not just slaves, but sons; and not just sons, but joint heirs; not simply joint heirs, but rulers who will reign with you forever and ever. We are slaves who are loved and we love you in return.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Ethan Hansen is pastor at Faith Bible Fellowship in Big Lake. He can be contacted at ethanchansen@gci.net.