We open the door to a kind of thinking the world is not accustomed to when we talk about being a bond servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. The world is not prepared for true ideas of greatness. A man who can swing a stick and knock a ball over a fence can be paid a fabulous salary. An actor who has no morals or qualifications can be paid thousands of dollars a week. Yet, someone laboring in the things of God can starve or make out the best way he can. The world has a different concept of greatness and worth.
What are the standards of the Kingdom? What is the true standard of greatness? Matthew 20:17–28: And as Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, “Behold, we are going to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered up to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will deliver Him up to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons (James and John), bowing down, and making a request of Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left” (perhaps little Jimmy and Johnny could be special favorites). But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you are asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.” He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it if for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”
And hearing this, the ten became indignant at the two brothers (the ten were ambitious themselves or they would not have been so indignant at the other two). But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, “You know that rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
In John 13:13–14 Jesus says, “You call Me Lord and Master, and so I am, but if I your Lord and Master have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them” (verse 17). A great frustration comes upon an individual who tries to play king-of-the-mountain, especially in the house of God. It is difficult for people who have never known anything else but this walk to understand the perils and hazards of other movements. The pastor of an old-order church must play king-of-the-mountain. To do this, he gets on top and doesn’t let anyone forget who is the boss and knocks them down when they start climbing up the mountain. He holds the reins and doesn’t forget who is driving. If he doesn’t do it that way he will find himself down at the bottom of the mountain and someone else will be king. The day I came into this walk I stopped playing king-of-the-mountain. Consequently, in six weeks time I was at the bottom of the mountain. I’ve had nothing to prove since and never again wanted any kind of rule or authority, only if it came by a word from the Lord.
The real concept of spiritual existence cannot exist in most of the movements today that parade as Christian because they don’t think that way. They still think in terms of hierarchy exalted above the people, but that’s not the way the Lord was thinking. “He that would be greatest among you must be the bond servant of all” (Matthew 20:26). We must be bond servants of the Lord and serve in His name. If that attitude exists it is immediately plain to people, and they come into the walk and begin to draw from it. In the old days in other churches we never knew what it was to have an emphasis on submission. We never knew what submission was; they never even defined it. When we come into the Lordship of Jesus Christ over our lives, our submission to Him is constantly brought to our hearts.
“Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, that he will put him in charge of all of his possessions. But if that evil slave says in his heart, My master is not coming for a long time, and shall begin to beat his fellow-slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and shall cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; weeping shall be there and the gnashing of teeth. Matthew 24:45–51.
It would be bad enough to be cut into pieces, but to be assigned to a place with the hypocrites is even worse. This is the outcome of the man who did not know how to serve or be faithful in his service.
There are a great many things taking place right now which many may not be aware of. We are learning to labor in service. Our joy and rejoicing comes when we put together books by thousands and send them to another country. Then the word comes back that people are eagerly waiting for those books. This is what counts. We are concerned how we can become the Lord’s bond servants in every respect. No one is making a place or a fortune out of this walk. Although the money keeps increasing, there are always twice as many avenues to send it out. The greatest life, in our thinking, would be to find some way to have a room to live in and enough money to buy food, and to be able to give ourselves wholly to the ministry. The thing that we live for is to be a bond servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our thinking is more geared to this than we really know; Jesus Christ is the true Lord over our lives.
Matthew 25:14–30. “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves, and entrusted his possessions to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. Immediately, the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the ground, and hid his master’s money.
“Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. And the one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me; see, I have gained five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.’
“The one also who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted to me two talents; see, I have gained two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
“And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I know you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground; see, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. And cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
That is a hard verdict. We are told that the Lord is judging us for our faithfulness. A steward is a slave; he uses another man’s wealth to trade and do business with. A steward doesn’t even count it as his own, and neither does a ministry in this walk. “Look what I have from the Lord! Just look what God has given me!” He put it in your hand to do business with. The coin of the realm of the Kingdom of God is the name of Jesus Christ. Go out and do business with it. Cast out the devil, heal the sick, use His name with power and authority, for it is the coin of the realm. When you come up against the powers of Satan, rebuke him in the name of Jesus. Remember, it isn’t who you are or what you are, but it is what Christ is in you. As you stand in that authority in His name you are becoming a doulos, the Greek word for a bond servant. You belong to Jesus Christ, and you are fulfilling His will. Relinquishing the rights to yourself is very, very important. You sense that He owns you, that He has bought you with a price.
For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of the darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. II Corinthians 4:5–7. That’s what Paul said we preach: Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as bond servants.
For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10. See the thinking? That would take care of these pastors who are ready to have a nervous breakdown, so frustrated that they don’t know how to exist. We are not serving man, we are serving God. Becoming His bond servant takes a lot of the pressure off. You realize you don’t have to prove anything to anybody, just serve Christ the way He tells you. Open your heart to the Word and follow it.
Ephesians 6:6 tells us to serve, not by way of eyeservice as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.
And the Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition; if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. II Timothy 2:24–26.
Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. I Peter 2:16. We’re free to become slaves. We are not using our liberty as an occasion to the flesh, but we are to serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13). The way you relate to the Lord and each other is the most important thing in this walk, and you can tell if you are on the right track by the way you react to one another.
You good sisters, have you ever read how Peter describes the submission in Sarah to Abraham? She called him lord. That’s a far cry from the women’s liberation movement. Without Jesus Christ, women don’t want to be a servant to a lunkhead. A man is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that sacrificing love, and a woman is to come into the same obedience that the Church has to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord wants us to learn how to be submissive to Him. It is difficult because we confuse submission with our own judgment. We get a word that pleases us and submit to it, but when we get a word that doesn’t please us, we ignore it. We want to make the final decision. Submission is not submission when you exalt your own judgment to rule over a confirmed word from the Lord. When a word is verified as from the Lord, that you must do, regardless of your own desires or opinions.
In ancient Italy, back in the days when Romulus and Remus were building Rome to be a strong city, the Samnites came down from the northern part of Italy to attack. The city sought Rome for help, but she said, “We’re sorry, our hands are full. We don’t like the Samnites either, but we can’t stop our own wars to fight yours for you, even though you’re a good neighbor. Then the little city decided that since the Samnites would overrun them anyway that they’d be better off with Rome. They got a runner through to Rome saying, “If you won’t help us as an ally then we’ll surrender the city to you. The city is yours, all of us, every man, woman, child and everything; we give it to Rome.” Immediately, Roman soldiers were marching. They wouldn’t help as allies, but do you think they would let someone else bother their property? They had to come and trim those Samnites and send them home because this town was now theirs.
There must come a time when in complete subservience you say, “Lord, I surrender to You. This battle is not mine, but it is Yours.” He is the God of battles. Take the pressure off yourself; you no longer have anything to prove or to defend. You belong to Jesus Christ. Be willing to say, “Lord, I don’t have to be a big shot; I don’t have to be anything but just Your servant. I don’t have anything to prove in the house of the Lord. I don’t care if every other elder is exalted above me, I don’t care if everyone in the whole church can prophesy better than I. I don’t care what happens, Lord; I just want to serve You with all my heart.”