Servant of All, Slave of One

Our service to others as the representatives of our God is one of the three major components of the Christian life – salvation, sanctification and service. Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew tells the disciples how service defines the leaders in His kingdom. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles… exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20: 25-28).

The Greek word for servant is doulos. It means slave — someone who belongs to another, without any ownership rights of their own. Throughout the New Testament, it is applied to believers who willingly live under Christ’s authority as His devoted followers. The apostles Peter, John, Luke, Paul and others all embraced this title for themselves.

Jesus taught that a slave (doulos) is not above his master but should strive to become like his master (Matthew 10:24-25). In Philippians 2:3-11, we are told that Jesus came to earth and took on the form of a doulos. He humbly served all of humanity by being obedient to the Father. His obedience included dying on the cross for our redemption. One of the ways we strive to be like our master is through our service (being a doulos) to all that God directs us to serve.

But how can we be “the slave of all” as required in Mark 10:44 and Matthew 20:27? Jesus taught that we cannot serve “two masters” (Matthew 6:24). So how can we be the doulos to all? The answer is that we obey our one Master — Jesus. In Romans 12:10 Paul instructs us, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another … serving the Lord.” We serve (show brotherly love to) many by serving our one master, Jesus.

Further, Jesus instruction to us is to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 12:31). We love our neighbors by serving them in obedience to God’s commandments. Forty percent of the laws in the Old Testament gave instructions on how to live and serve other people. Paul reminds us of this in Philippians 2:3-5, “with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” This is how we become like our master.

We serve all — Christians and nonbelievers alike. We serve nonbelievers in order to meet their physical needs hoping that as we demonstrate God’s love they will be willing to hear more about our Savior. We serve our fellow Christians in obedience to Jesus. “…love one another, even as I have loved you…By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).