The slave of God (Part 1)
It has been a while that I hear Christians saying that they are not servants of God because they are in the New Testament and they say they are only the children of God. You will hear teachings that say that we cannot be called "Servants of God" because we are in Christ but in the contrary, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Joshua and all names known in the Old Testament were just servants of God. That is why in some churches, when they invite the preacher they say: "We invite the one who works with God" to avoid talking about "the servant of God".
Where does this qualification (one who works with God) comes from? It comes from 1 Corinthians 3: 9 " For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building "
As I often say, we cannot draw a conclusion based on a Bible verse, but we should always read the whole passage in order to understand the context. I will explain this verse in the second part but today I will show you that even when you become a child of God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, this does not prevent you to be his servant.
When the apostles wrote letters to various churches, they often began the presentation with their functions in the church. I will quote some examples:
In his letter, James begins by writing: " James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings". (James 1: 1)
In writing to Titus, Paul introduced his letter by saying, " Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness " (Titus 1: 1). Some of you will not like the introduction of Paul when he wrote to Philemon. He wrote: "Paul, PRISONER of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved and our work companion" (Philemon 1: 1). Nobody wants to identify himself with a prisoner but Paul finds pleasure in himself as the prisoner of Jesus Christ. This means that it is a good prison for his good and for the glory of God.
As you can see it on the title of this teaching, if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you automatically became a child of God and you are supposed to be his servant, but we must go further because the Bible says that those who are unsaved are slaves of sin, but those who are saved are slaves of God. In writing to the Romans, Paul said: "But now having been set free from sin, and having become SLAVES of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life" (Romans 6: 22). Why these heavy words (Slave and Prisoner)?
I will talk about it in the second part
Chris Ndikumana
The slave of God (Part 2)
In the first part, I promised to explain why Paul concluded that we are laborers together with God. Let us read in 1 Corinthians 3: 3-9 “For you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building"
There was a division in the Corinthian church because some said they were of Paul and others of Apollos and Paul tried to clarify things by explaining that both (Paul and Apollos) were only servants through whom they believed as the Lord gave to each.
In other words, all the work is done by God through His servants. If you believe in Christ and know the truths of the Word, it is because God used one or more people in your life and glory must return to the Lord. Those who were used by the Lord are his servants. They are also called "God's fellow workers" because they put into practice the plan designed by God, which He prepared beforehand so that we should walk in it according to Ephesians 2: 10.
As I showed you in the first part, not only Paul presented himself as the servant of God, but in some letters he presented himself as the prisoner of Christ and he wrote to the saints to remind them that they are slaves of God.
Let us first talk about the prisoner of Christ: "Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer" (Philemon 1: 1)
A prisoner has no right to go where and when he wants. All the prisons of the world are fenced by walls and doors tightly locked. If a prisoner leaves the prison to the court or the hospital, he cannot go alone but a guardian must follow him wherever he goes to make sure it won’t flee away.
Inside the prison, prisoners have a life, they do sports, they are friends but remain separated from the outside world. The difference between the World prison and Christ’s prison is that Christ loves his prisoners who are the saints. He does not bind our hands or feet, there is no guardian to follow us but an angel is with us wherever we go. All this to prevent us to be misled but He gives us the choice to become his prisoners for our good. I love the prison of Christ because it is heavily protected.
One day I went to visit someone in prison at Bujumbura and I was impressed by the conditions for entry. I had to leave my cell phone at the entrance, I had to report the amount of money on me, the guards checked that I did not have a weapon on me and if you have food, they check to know that it is not poisoned. All this encourages me because I know that if I am in the prison of Christ and that I stay in it with pleasure, all my enemies cannot reach me easily because they will find at the entrance of the angels of God stronger than them. The devil and his demons gnash their teeth when they find a child of God hidden in Christ's prison. The prisoner of Christ depends on Christ and not on the world or the devil.
In the third part, I will talk about the slave of God
Chris Ndikumana
The slave of God (Part 3)
Today I will specifically talk about the spiritual meaning of the slave of God. The word "slave" sounds very bad because we all have a clear picture of a slave. When it comes to slave, we immediately see a man who exploits another against his will but the biblical explanation is just the opposite because we become slaves of God willingly and joyfully. I hope that at the end of this teaching many will understand that once we are saved, we are supposed to stop being slaves of sin and become slaves of God. Keep on reading this teaching until the end and you will have the desire to have your God not only as your Father but also as your Master.
Let us first read the scripture where Paul says that Christians are slaves of God: "For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become SLAVES OF GOD, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life"(Romans 6: 20-22).
For those who are unaware of the history of slavery, a slave was bought and owned by his master. The first job of the master was to completely change the mentality of the slave. If the slave came from another country with a different language and a different culture, his master would force him to learn his language and completely forget the old one. The slave had to change his name and carry the first name of his master because he belonged to him and identified himself to him. The master did everything to make sure the slave was completely disconnected from his own country. In few words, the master wanted his slave to be a new creature so that the old things were completely forgotten and everything had become new.
This is exactly what happens when one is converted by accepting Jesus as the savior after the repentance of sins. Here is what the Bible says of the converted: " Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new "(2 Corinthians 5: 17). If you are converted by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are supposed to get your mentality, your company, and your language changed. There are some places that you should not attend because you have changed the master. You were a slave of sin but today you are a slave of God. A slave decides nothing without consulting the opinion of his master. He has no power over his life because everything he owns belongs to his master. His master sends him where and when he wants. A slave is totally dependent on his master. As Paul wrote, we must totally rely on God who in addition to being our Father is also our Master.
The difference between a slave of man and a slave of God is that the slave of God is loved and protected by his Master who is also his Father while to slave of man is just exploited by his master.
To be continued in Part 4
Chris Ndikumana
The slave of God (Part 4)
If it is today that you just started this teaching, the inspiration comes from the letter that Paul wrote to the Romans when he said: “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life"(Romans 6: 20-22).
It is important to understand that if you are the slave of God, you are no longer a slave of sin. In other words, sin is no longer your master because you have changed masters. God has become your Master and you totally depend on Him and Him alone. It is an honor and privilege to become a child of God but as long as we do not become his slaves, it will be difficult for us to resist the sinful nature. A good slave always wants to please his master and everything he does must conform to his will. That is why Jesus taught to pray by asking that God's will be done on earth as it is already done in heaven (Matthew 6: 10).
If you read the second part of this teaching, you will definitely understand that he who plants and he who waters are nothing but it is rather the one that makes grown that has value (1 Corinthians 3: 3-9). It is God who gives the growth and He deserves all the glory and all the honor. The reason why we deserve no glory in what God is doing through us is the fact that everything was completed before we were born. If today you do wonderful things that impress everyone, it is because God has put a gift in you and it is through that gift that He does the work that He prepared and planned even before your grandparents were born. The Bible says in Ephesians 2: 10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”. We are here to put into practice the plan that God has already designed.
Here is what God told the prophet Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations " (Jeremiah 1: 5). God knew you before you were conceived and formed in the womb of your mother and He had seen you before you were born. This means that each of us already has a biography written by God before birth. Normally biography is written based on the past but God wrote your biography based on your future before you were born. The reason why we encounter many obstacles and oppositions is because we do not walk in the biography that is already written by God.
If you do not believe that your biography was already written before you were born, do not miss the last part of this teaching i.e. the fifth part
Chris Ndikumana
The slave of God (Part 5)
Today I finish this teaching "The slave of God" but if you have not read the other four parties, it will be difficult to understand this fifth part. It will be hard for you to understand how a child of God can be called "slave of God." I did not invent this term but I have found it in the Word of God where Paul said: "But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life"(Romans 6: 22).
In summary, a slave of God totally depends on Him. He cannot decide anything without considering the will of his Master (God) and his language, his company, his attitude, his dreams and goals must change completely according to the wishes of his Master. The good news for a born again Christian is that his Master is also his Father; that is why his treatment is different from a simple slave because in addition to being the slaves of God, we are also his children.
I finished the fourth part by saying that God has already written a biography on your life and He wrote it before you were born. Normally the biography speaks about someone's past life but the biography of God speaks about your future. That is the revelation that King David got and we read it in Psalm 139: 16 where he said: "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them ". It is clear that God has a book and in that book were written all the days fashioned for him before one of them existed i.e. God wrote David's life before he was born. This does not mean that God had written all David's sins but He foresaw his weaknesses and his sins and had already prepared a way of repentance.
My brother, my sister, God knew you before you were born and He knows already every day that you will live on this earth. He knows all the problems you will meet and not only He knows the challenges to come, but he prepares in advance the solution for you. Your life is already written in the book of God and all that He is asking you is to submit yourself entirely to his will as a slave submits to the will of his master. The more we resist God, the more we miss an amount of our blessings but the more we obey, the more we live the wonderful plan He has prepared for us according to his biography found in his book.
If you read this message and you have not yet accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, it means that you are still a slave of sin and this is the time to switch and become a slave of God and your life will no longer be the same because it will be the beginning of your journey to heaven.
May God be praised for His word
Chris Ndikumana