Hello, today's post will be a sort of continuation from
last week's post, which was based on a book I was reading,
Slave by John MacArthur. (You kinda have to read that post to understand more about what I'd be saying in this post, so do so if you haven't! Heh.)
Last week, I talked about how the relationship between God and us, is like the Master and Slave of ancient Roman times; the Slave was the property of the Master and did the bidding of the Master wholeheartedly without complaint. And in the New Testament, the Greek term '
doulos' (slave) is used repeatedly to refer to the early Christians because they understood the context of what being called a slave meant - to submit themselves to the '
kyrios' (master), aka Christ.
But unlike slaves, Christians have another motivation to obey God other than 'mere duty'. Jesus tells his disciples in John 14:23, "
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word." When you really love someone, you will automatically do what he/she pleases; so in the same way, if we really do love Christ, we will seek to obey Him and to do what He pleases - one of which is to worship Him.
We often use the term 'Lord' in our worship and our prayers, but let's think about it: How many times have we really meant what we were saying? When we say 'Lord', do we mean 'God you are Master of everything and I submit all to you', as it should be? I think that 'Lord' is one of the most commonly used name for God that we use, so much so that it becomes a habit and it loses its true meaning. When we say Saviour, we consciously know that we are referring to Jesus' sacrificial and saving character, but we don't often link God's omni-powerful, 'Master' character when we say 'Lord'. This is some food for thought - are we willing to be like a slave, submitting ourselves to our Lord?
If you're having some doubts, I want to point out that God deserves our surrender and wholehearted worship. Back to 2 paragraphs ago: If we really profess to love Christ, we will seek to please Him and worship Him, and that alone is good enough reason to want to give ourselves to Him. As MacArthur writes,
The only response to Christ's lordship is wholehearted submission, loving obedience, and passionate worship. Those who give verbal assent to His deity, yet live in patterns of unrepentant disobedience, betray the hypocrisy of their profession. To them, the terrifying weight of Christ's question, 'Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord', and do not do what I say?' (Luke 6:46) directly applies.
As the God who created the Universe, yet sent His Son to die for our sins, does He not deserve all our praise?
Back in the Roman days, slaves also had 'rank' in society according to their masters. If their master was powerful and high-ranking, his slaves would be known for that. If you were a slave of Caesar (the Emperor back then), it was considered to be an honour and you had certain privileges that other slaves didn't have. One of the things we often unconsciously downplay is our privilege of being the slaves of Christ, of being Christian:
As slaves, believers have no intrinsic glory in themselves. But as members of the Lord's household, we are distinguished simply by our connection to Him. To be His doulos is an incomparable honour. (Slave, MacArthur)
With that, I leave you to ponder once again your relationship with the Lord: Are our attitudes aligned with what God wants/likes? What does being a Christian mean for you? Why do you worship the Lord?
And ending off with a not-very-new-song (therefore this post not being labeled
A New Song), I hope you sing this song with fresh eyes:
Labels: Christian Life, Serving
