Introduction: (Romans 1:1; Titus 1:1; Phil 1:1; James 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1; Jude 1) - What does it mean to be a true servant? How does the Bible describe a servant? What is God=s perspective on being a servant? Does the Greek word for servant have shed any light on the subject?
The word used in Philippians 1:1 is douloi, which is translated servants, describing Paul and Timothy. The word has five basic N.T. concepts which underlie its meaning. These concepts are critical to understanding what it means to be a servant.
Being A Servant Means That We Are Spiritually Bound To Our Master - We are bound to Jesus Christ by the love of God, and the example that Jesus set as a perfect servant.
Matt. 13:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
1 Cor. 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Cor. 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
Ps. 100:3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Rom. 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
Being A Servant Means That We Have Been Born Into This Relationship - First we are born into sin, and then we are born again in Christ’s service.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
1 Pet. 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
James 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Being A Servant Means That We Are To Be Completely Devoted To The Will of God - it is an absolute necessity, a compulsion that is placed upon every believer by the Holy Spirit, to do the will of God.
That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. I Pet. 4:2
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. I John 2:16-17
Rom. 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Being A Servant Means That We Are To Be Totally Yielded To The Lord, and Disregard Our Own Desires and Personal Interests - Paul, Stephen, James, the apostles
Luke 14:18-19 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
Rom. 6: 11-13 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Rom. 6:19-22