This morning I will be teaching at Calvary Baptist Church here in Lynchburg, VA. I have become great friends with the pastor of Calvary, Louis Beckwith. Louis is a young pastor and has been married for a couple of years, so naturally we get along for a lot of reasons. The same heart for reaching this city is present in both of us, but in two different ways. Louis is passionate about reaching the community of Lynchburg and the geographic region close to their site. I would have to say that Louis falls into a very small number of pastors I know that manage to pastor a Baptist church well and yet can maintain where the culture is, and where it is going. Louis and I are constantly picking each other’s brains about new strategy, small group ideas, teaching series, etc. We believe in being kingdom minded. We believe in partnership for sake of one Church.
Louis will be on vacation this week so he asked me a while back if I would teach for him this week. I didn’t have to think twice before accepting his offer to teach this morning. I have taught at Calvary before and have become somewhat of a friend of the church. Calvary is a ministry partner of [lcf] in more than one way. Their partnership is a result of the church’s calling to reach the twenty something generation here in the City of Lynchburg. Through the local LBA (the local branch of the BGAV…see our partnership page under about) Calvary supports [lcf] as well by giving along with over a dozen churches that are trying to collaborate in seeing God move in this city. Their prayers are huge as well. We would not be able to be the kind of community we are at [lcf] without great ministry partners like Calvary. With that said, I want to say, “Thank you Calvary family.” Myself, and the entire community of [lcf] would like to thank for not only for partnering with us through finances and prayer, but in seeing the banner of Jesus raised higher and higher in Lynchburg. May God continue to work through your church and through the leadership He has appointed there. May you truly realize what a blessing Louis is and the great soul he has been given by the Creator God. May you always be a church community that is more interested in advancing God’s kingdom than any kingdom of your own.
Here are a few thoughts from the teaching this morning at Calvary:
Slaves of Christ
- The Greek word for slave, doulos, appears in the New Testament (original text) about 130 times (150 including all the different verb forms, etc.)
- Our Bibles today translate less than a couple of times where this word is used. In fact, if you are reading a KJV then you will only find it once.
- Instead the translators chose to use a different word for doulos…servant.
- Servant has six different Greek words used through the New Testament…doulos is not one of them.
- I believe that if we used more slave language when communicating about our relationship with Jesus we would care less about our wants, dreams, our purpose, and more about pleasing our master and doing as He tells us.
- The bookstores are full of books about fulfilling your dreams, finding your purpose, and how that God wants to give you health, wealth, and the desires of your heart. Even those these may be true on some level my prayer is that the Church would learn more about being obedient to their master.
- Ephesians 6 introduces this concept of being a slave of Christ.
- There are several texts that we use often in the Church but because this word has not been translated properly I fear we have lost some of the meaning.
- Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters.” The original text says it this way, “No man can be a slave to two masters.” Does that change anything?
- Matthew 25:21, “Well done, good and faithful…” Even though it says servant in most of our translations, the Greek word is doulos, slave.
- My fear is that we are talking so much about freedom and our rights these days that we are forgetting about the very hard truth of what it means to be a slave to Christ.
- Citizenship is something I believe has been abused in society among followers of Jesus. We get more caught up in being a citizen of a country that we forget where our true allegiance lies. Jesus is not a Democrat or a Republican. Jesus is King and Master. He is far more interested in your allegiance to His Kingdom than He is to a earthly empire.
- Servants were hired for work, got paid, and could quit. A slave has not rights, receives no pay, could not quit, and was beaten or worse if they tried to run away. There is a big difference in using the voluntary word “servant” versus doulos.
- It simply comes down to this: Do what He says, and do what pleases Him.
- As believers we are totally dependent upon our Master for everything. That is what being a slave means. Slaves were feed, provided for, and in most cases they were loved, cared for, and viewed as part of the family. Do we truly depend upon God for everything, or do we rely on our own hands for provisions?
- You are going to be a slave to someone or something.
- Being a slave to Jesus is beyond any kind of slavery that anybody has ever know. Our Master makes us sons and daughters and gives us all the rights to His kingdom. He adopts us into His family, calls us joint-heirs, and invites us to join him on bringing the kingdom of God to earth. Who wouldn’t want to be a slave under this master?
- May we take joy in a Master that will always provide for us. May we take joy in knowing that our Master has the key to life. May we know that God is only concerned with your involvement and citizenship in His kingdom. May we truly become slaves of Christ.
Sources: John McArthur, Shane Claiborne, Greek New Testament, N.T. Wright
- Philip Watkins
