Welcome again to our series on abiding in Christ, and specifically the many lies that try to hinder us from this marvelous position.
In part one, we examined the lie of God’s House; how contrary to popular opinion, and Christian vernacular, God’s House is not a physical building, and “the church” is not the four walls that believers gather inside. Rather, the church is the body of believers themselves, unified in Christ Jesus, as members of His flesh and bone (Ephesians 5:30).
Today, we will continue examining the lies that seem to permeate Christian vernacular, and try to keep us from abiding in Christ, as we scrutinize the lie of serving. We have a lot to get into, so let’s get started.
Being Saved to Serve
Spend time in Christian gatherings, and you’ll almost inevitably come across the idea that God has saved you for a purpose, and that purpose is so that you can serve. Now, the first part of this sentiment is absolutely true… You have indeed been saved, redeemed, and rescued from the curse of sin and death for a purpose, a divinely fantastic purpose — more on that a bit later!
It’s the second part of this idea where the lie creeps in; the thought that the primary, or even secondary reason for God extending His saving grace and precious life to you, so so that you would serve… is God the creator of the Heavens and the earth, and all life, really so short-handed? But even more than the obvious question that arises from the thought of being saved to serve, this line of thinking is destructive, because it attacks the core of our relationship with Christ— it turns the loving sheep and shepherd, Father-son relationship, into a worker and master relationship; one where your good-standing is based on your performance, rather than divine love.
There are parables Jesus taught about this exact thing, the most well-known of this being the parable of the talents. If you’re familiar with the story, a Master gave each of his servers a particular amount of talents; even one talent is worth quite a lot by today’s standards. A talent is a unit of measurement for Gold or Silver as mentioned in Exodus 38:24. It is equivalent to about 6,000 Roman denarii. One denarius is equal to a days’ wage for a laborer; so upon doing the calculations, one talent (which is 6,000 denarii) is equal to roughly 15 years wages.
Seeing God Properly
In the parable, the first two servants take the money they are given, and through skillful management increase it, so the master rewards them by giving them charge over entire cities.
The third servant had a different result. The third servant did not increase the money, but buried it. Let’s take a look at this section of the story in Matthew 25:24-29:
“24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you that you are an hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not strewed:
25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the earth: see, there you have that is yours.
26 His lord answered and said to him, You wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strewed:
27 You ought therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received my own with usury.
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it to him which has ten talents.
29 For to every one that has shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that has not shall be taken away even that which he has.”
Knowing what we have just learned regarding the large amount of money (15 years wages) that this servant actually received, and the trust which the Master placed in his servant with this money, the servants’ claims of the Master being a “hard man” and an unscrupulous business person seem unlikely; even more-so since Jesus likens this Master to the Kingdom of Heaven in verse 14.
The key here is not that the servant didn’t double or triple his money, but why he didn’t. The servant’s perspective of His master is the focus here.
In verse 26, we must understand that the Master here (which remember, Jesus likened to the Kingdom of Heaven) is not actually harsh or oppressive. The Master in this verse is responding to the servants’ claims in irony and sarcasm. He is basically saying: “If you really believed that I was harsh and oppressive, you would’ve at-least put my money into the money-brokers so that I could collect it with interest!”.
Now keep in-mind that the context of this parable told by Jesus is the Kingdom of Heaven, and that a talent is a large measure of Gold or Silver. In the Bible, Gold is a type for the righteousness and holiness of God (Exodus 28:36), and Silver is a type for redemption (Leviticus 5:15-16). So with this parable, Jesus is communicating the immense value of the truths of Grace in the Gospel that He has given to us, along with the utter contempt and disdain that someone shows when they receive the gift of God and then proceed to bury it out of fear.
Consider this: when a person is still more concerned about rule-keeping and “not doing anything wrong” even after receiving the truth of God’s Grace, righteousness and redemption, he has actually totally missed the point of the truth. A person that would rather play-it-safe and bury the truth rather than take steps in faith is actually ignoring the will of God in sharing the truth of God’s extravagant Grace and Mercy… and this is why we have entire denominations today who are too fearful to preach Grace.
A Friend of God
Jesus doesn’t waste any words when He says in in John 15:15:
“From now on I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.”
Notice what Jesus says here… He’s no longer calling us servants, but friends. These are Jesus’ own words, so if He chooses to call you us friends from now on, why would we still call or think of ourselves as servants? It’s an important question that can excavate latent performance-based legalistic thinking.
Romans 8:14-15 expands on this point by saying:
“14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
Today, you should realize that you are not merely God’s servant worker. Jesus didn’t save you because he needed another laborer in his charge, He saved you because of His divine love, and because you are His creation. The most famous verse of scripture, John 3:16, tells us that because God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.
Romans 5:8, again expands on this by saying that God demonstrated His love in that He died for us while we were still sinners.
So I encourage you today, to drop the lie of a works-centered relationship with God, and start enjoying the personal fellowship and union with Him that He sacrificed to give you.
Be blessed.
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