Anyone who has a total aversion to slavery cannot be saved. The Bible teaches that whoever wants to become great must be a servant (Matthew 20:26). In fact, in order to be saved, one must become a servant. Matthew 7:21-23 says, “…he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Who must we serve? Jesus said, “My Father will honor the one who serves me.” (John 12:26) We should be “… like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.” (Ephesians 6:6). But how does one know that he is serving God? What principles does God stand for? Romans 6:19 says, “…you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and ever-increasing wickedness (lawlessness), so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.”
In addition to serving God (or how we are to serve God, in a way), we must also serve others. The one who rules should be the one who serves (Luke 22:26). Paul made himself “a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” (I Corinthians 9:19) Phoebe was a “servant of the church in Cenchrea”. (Romans 16:1) “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35)
Jesus set the example of what being a servant is all about. (Matthew 12:18) As I mentioned in a previous post, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, a task usually only performed by the lowest of servants. This was the way Jesus showed them how much he loved them. (John 13:1) Christ set the example for us in that “he made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.” (Philippians 2:7-11). In the same way, we should be slaves to obedience (Romans 6:16). “Christ has become a servant of the Jews (circumcision) on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs” (Romans 15:8).
The only other alternative to being a slave to God is being a slave to sin. The Simon the sorcerer was a “captive to sin” (Acts 8:23). To serve sin means to serve one’s appetite (Romans 16:18), in a lawless and impure way (Romans 6:19) which leads to corruption (II Peter 2:19). Serving sin leads to death (Romans 6:16). Everyone who sins is a slave to sin (John 8:34). (Read my earlier post “God Made Man in His Own Image” if you haven’t already.) But by the Spirit, one may put to death the misdeeds of body (Romans 8:13) and the body of sin is done away with by being crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6). One is disqualified unless he makes his own body his slave (I Corinthians 9:27). No one can serve two masters (Luke 16:13). But Paul makes a distinction between being a slave to sin in mind and being a slave to the law of sin in the flesh (Romans 7:25). The former means being free from the control of righteousness (Romans 6:20). The latter means the struggle between the mind and the flesh explained in Romans 7:14-24. A person can follow rules which sound good to the world, but which fall far short of God’s standards. Such a person is a slave to a law (of Moses, for example) but this is really only another way of being a slave to sin. (Galatians 4:8-11, 21-31)
For those of us who choose to follow in the way of Christ’s teachings, that is, in the truth, we have the promise of being set free by the Son (John 8:31, 32, 36, Galatians 5:1-6). Though we must share in his sufferings (Romans 8:14-17), the servant of Christ will become the friend of God (John 15:14, 15). Because “God sent his Son, born of woman,” and “born under law” we can go from being slaves to sons of God (Galatians 3:28-4:7). But slaves of sin have already become sons of the devil (John 8:40-47). Our adoption as sons comes with the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23). This comes with being free from fears such as the fear of death (Hebrews 2:15, Romans 8:15). Even creation itself will be free from its bondage to decay (Romans 8:21). The 2nd law of thermodynamics will come to end.
Do you want to be set free?