This week we are diving deeper into Exodus 21 and in particular in seeing Christ as the Slave of God and the believers as slaves of God and Christ Jesus in the church life.
In Exo. 21:1-6 we see that, if a slave serves his master for a predetermined time, he can then go out free; but if he receives a wife from his master and he has children with her, he can remain as a slave to his master because he loves his master, his wife, and his children.
This is a type of how Christ loved God as His Master, the church as His wife, and the believers as His children, and so He became a Slave to serve God, serve the church, and serve the believers.
Seeing how Christ is the Slave of God to Serve God and Serve us out of Love
In Exodus 21 we see the crystal of Christ as a slave of God, and in many places in the Bible we see how Christ served God and man out of love for God and man; especially in Mark we see Christ as a Slave-Savior. When His disciples were expressing their ambition and rivalry, the Lord told them, The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
The story of Christ becoming a slave began in eternity; His death on the cross was the result of the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, a decision made between the Three of the Godhead for the Son to come in the fulness of time and accomplish God’s purpose. Paul had a revelation of this and he expounded on it in Phil. 2:6-8.
Christ existed in the form of God – He co-existed with God the Father in eternity, being equal with God in the Godhead; in His form Christ had the majestic, glorious expression of God in the Godhead. Christ put aside His glorious expression as God but He didn’t put aside the essence, reality, and nature of His deity; He did not cling to the form but retained the essence.
Christ didn’t consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped; He didn’t hold on to what was His own, fearing that He will lose it, but He emptied Himself (of the form of God, not of His divine essence), and He took the form of a slave. He didn’t just become a man – Christ became a slave, humbling Himself from the highest status of God to the lowest status of a slave. He became in the likeness of man, in every way discernable as a man, and He was found in fashion as a man.
As such a man, Christ humbled Himself, emptied Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross. He didn’t just die – He died by crucifixion, a means of execution that horrified even the Romans who invented it, which was reserved for the slaves and the basest of the criminals. From the form of God to the form of a slave to the likeness and fashion of a man, Christ humbled Himself, was obedient unto death, and that the death of a cross. Wow!
From the Gospels we see that Christ came to serve, and the only way we can be His servants is if we let Him serve us. Christ served the human beings around Him by announcing the gospel of the kingdom, releasing the light of the truth in His teaching, casting out demons, healing the sick, and cleansing the lepers.
In Luke 22:26-27 we see that Christ is in our midst as One who serves. He served throughout the 3.5 years of His ministry, and on the night before He died, He served His disciples by washing their feet (John 13:4-5) and encouraging them to follow Him to wash one another’s feet (v. 14). In His death Christ served us by dying for us and giving His life as a ransom for us, redeeming us from sin, our old manner of life, and the law.
In His resurrection Christ still came to serve His disciples, as He was perfecting them to live in His invisible presence; He came to them as they were fishing, and He made breakfast for them (John 21:5, 12-13). Even when we are under pressure, feeling the human necessities pressing upon us, and going about our business apart from the Lord, Christ still comes to us to serve us in a divine and human way.
Today He is serving us by praying for us, bearing us before God, and executing the new covenant; He is the great Shepherd of the sheep, taking care of each one of us according to God.
In the future, in the kingdom, Christ will gird Himself and have the overcomers recline at table and He will serve them. The overcomers in the kingdom are there at a great cost, finishing their course in victory, and they enjoy the dinner with the King; the King girds Himself and serves them….what kind of a slave is this?
As a Slave, Christ had the spirit of a slave, the love of a slave, and the obedience of a slave. As a slave, Christ lived a sacrificing life. It is the love of a slave that produces the obedience of a slave; as the Slave of God, Christ was obedient unto death, and that the death of a cross.
Lord, thank You for Your mercy in causing us to be Your loving seekers. We love because You loved us first; You sought us out in love, and in Your love You found us and caused us to seek after You in love. Lord, our whole being is now seeking for You. Thank You for Your care for us and Your serving us; cause us to truth know You as the slave of God. impress us that, from eternity to eternity You are Jehovah God, the Son in the Godhead equal with God, yet You did not cling to Your privilege but laid aside the majestic expression of Your divinity and took the form of a slave to serve God and serve us!
Letting the Mind of Christ be in us so that we may Serve God and Others out of Love
The Lord Jesus is the One who truly could say, I love My Master, My wife, and My children, and I will not go out free! He loved the Father (the Master), the church (the wife), and the believers (the children), and He went to the cross, being obedient to God unto the death of the cross. Out of love for God, the church, and the believers, Christ gave Himself up for the church, bearing our sins in His body on the cross, being judged to fulfill the righteous requirement of God!
We need to let this mind be in us as it was also in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5); we need to think this in us, there should be a thinking and considering process going on, allowing the mind of Christ to become our mind so that in lowliness of mind we would consider others more excellent than ourselves, and we would do nothing by way of self-ambition.
We should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think (Rom. 12:2-3) but consider others and their portions as above ourselves, even more excellent than ourselves. Our comparing ourselves to others and measuring ourselves with others, our feeling deprived if others receive a benefit and we don’t, our having to pay a price while others don’t – all these things need to go and be eliminated.
Look at the Lord Jesus: He was equal to God, yet He didn’t cling to this right but He emptied Himself of His expression, and while He did this, there was a certain mind in Him – He learned obedience through the things He suffered, and He chose God’s will above His own will. He took the cup the Father gave Him to drink, and He gave Himself up for us.
If we all think in this way, then in the Lord’s mercy we will treat others as better and higher than us, and we will be their slaves. It is such a relief to know that others are higher than us and their function is more excellent than ours. In love we should not regard our own virtues but the virtues of others.
What would happen if we allow the Lord to live in us His slave us, making us the same as He is, slaves of God and of Christ Jesus in the church life? What if throughout all the churches NO ONE would presume to lord it over others, no one wants to be higher than others, no one presumptuously exercises authority, there’s no ambition, no rivalry, no competition, but we all are willing to suffer what we don’t deserve and let go what we deserve…
The Apostle Paul received grace from God to be a pattern to those who believe, and yet he considered himself and his co-workers as slaves of God and of Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:7), and so did Peter (2 Pet. 1:1), James (James 1:1), and Jude (Jude 1:1); the book of Revelation was written and given to those who are slaves of God (Rev. 1:1; 22:3).
How we need to see our wonderful Lord Jesus who fulfilled the type of the slave in Exo. 21….He went through a process to lay aside the form of God, took the form of a slave, became in the likeness of man, humbled Himself, was obedient unto death, served God unto death, and served us out of love. And right now the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit is in us wanting to live this same kind of life again in the church life for the building up of the Body of Christ!
Dear Lord Jesus, we want to let Your mind be in us also today in the church life. Impress us with what You have done and the process You went through to empty Yourself and humble Yourself to be the Slave of God. Lord, may the mind that was in You also be in us. Shine in our mind, expose to us our way of thinking about ourselves, our measuring ourselves with others, our ambition, our rivalry, and our competition. Lord, renew us and make us the same as You are so that we may live the same way that You lived! Put in us the spirit of slave, the love and the obedience of a slave!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, pp. 805-812 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 5 / msg 5, Christ as the Slave of God and the Believers as Slaves of God and Christ Jesus in the Chuch Life.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# Thou even art a lowly slave, / A slave of God to serve for us; / Obedient to the cross’s death / That we might be delivered thus. (Hymns #190)
# Be Thou supreme, O Jesus Christ, / My soul exults in Thee; / To be Thy slave, to do Thy will, / Is my felicity. (Hymns #367)
# I love my Master, and I will not go out free. / For He has died for me, the highest price He has paid for me. / I love my Master, I will serve Him willingly. / Remaining near, and close to Him this my plea. (Song on Loving God as our Master)
If we have the spirit of a slave and the love of a slave, it will be easy for us to obey. Love is always followed by obedience. This can be illustrated by the relationship between parents and their children. In a very real sense, good parents must sometimes obey their children. Often parents obey their children more quickly than the children obey the parents. The point here is that love produces obedience. Only a slave can obey. A good parent is one who has the love and obedience of a slave. Deep within, a mother who loves her children is willing to be a slave to them and do anything for them. Why do parents sometimes obey their children? They obey out of love. Love is the prerequisite of obedience. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 811-812)
I did not see a definitive verse with JESUS said to be a slave of GOD by GOD or HIMSELF. I also depending on the translation wonder when it’s proper to use the word slave or servant. I understand all the references and conclusions reached. But still would like to see GOD or CHRIST say so since there is so much private interpretation from many both in and out of the church. It’s one thing for GOD through the writers of HIS WORD to call themselves or us slaves, it’s another for us to say JESUS was GOD’s slave when the writers did not say that.
Thanks!