Learning to be Slaves of God and Sacrifice Everything for Others to Gain them for God

The Lord Jesus is the Slave of God, the fulfillment of the type of the slave who loves his master, his wife, and his children in Exo. 21, and therefore he would not go out free. The Lord Jesus humbled Himself and emptied Himself to become a man and even a slave, serving God and man to accomplish God’s purpose and redeem man back to God through His ultimate sacrifice, His death on the cross.

Now whoever believes into the Lord receives Him as his life, and this life is a serving life, the life of a slave who serves God and others. The Lord Jesus is not the only Slave of God; all His disciples and later the apostles and the believers are slaves of God, the reproduction of Christ as the Slave of God.

Paul was a slave of God, and he served God and man until the end; he didn’t care for consequences or the response of those whom he served, but he loved God, loved the church, and loved all the believers, and therefore he emptied himself, humbled himself, and lived out the sacrificing life of Christ to serve God and man.

We need to realize that we are created by God in His image to express Him – we are His creatures; we are sons of God regenerated by Him with His life and nature; also, we are slaves of God, those who are saved to serve God and man for the fulfillment of God’s purpose on earth and the gaining of man for God.

May we be like the slave in Exo. 21 who loves the Lord, the church, and the believers to the extent that he’s willing to give up his freedom, his rights, and everything so that he might serve God and man.

How the Apostle Paul Followed the Lord Jesus to be a Slave of God

Paul introduced himself again and again as, Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus (Rom. 1:1; Titus 1:1), and he served the Lord as a slave with all humility and tears and trials (Acts 20:19).

From a persecutor and hater of the followers of Jesus, Paul became a slave of Christ who lived by the serving and sacrificing life of Christ (Phil. 2:17). He saw the pattern of the Lord Jesus as the Slave of God, and he was willing to empty himself, humble himself, and sacrifice his rank, his rights, and his privileges (see 1 Cor. 9:19-23).

He realized that by believing into the Lord he was brought into the real freedom in Christ, but at the same time he chose to enslave himself to all so that he may gain them for Christ; to the weak he became weak, to the Jews became like a Jew, to those without a law he became without law (though he wasn’t without law in Christ), to those under law he became just like them – so that he might gain them for the Lord and serve them as a slave to minister Christ to them.

Paul had the spirit of a slave (Rom. 1:1, 9; 2 Cor. 1:12; 2:13; 10:1), conducting himself in singleness and sincerity of God toward others, entreating others and shepherding them according to God not as a “pastor” or “leading apostle” but as a slave of God.

Paul had the love of a slave; he loved God, loved the church, and loved all the believers; he was constrained by the Lord’s love (2 Cor. 5:14), he loved the saints and was willing to spend and be utterly spent on behalf of their souls (2 Cor. 12:14-15), and he was constantly caring for the saints and the churches, being concerned for them before the Lord (2 Cor. 11:28).

He never complained or retaliated when some believers left him, spoke evil things against him, or preached the gospel out of spite for him; rather, he loved the Lord and was one with Him, he loved the church and the saints, and he poured out everything he had and was upon the church so that he might follow in the Lord’s steps to serve God and man for the fulfillment of God’s purpose (the building up of the church as the Body of Christ) and the gaining of man for God. What a pattern!

Lord Jesus, recover the spirit of serving in all the churches in Your recovery today. We want to follow Your pattern and follow Paul’s example to love the Lord, love the church, love the saints, and be willing to humble ourselves and empty ourselves to be a slave of God and of Jesus Christ in the church life today. Lord, may the spirit of being a slave of God saturate the saints in all the local churches today. We open to You, Lord, we love You, we love the church, and we love the saints!

Learning to be Slaves of God and Sacrifice Everything for Others to Gain them for God

If we would take Christ as our pattern and follow Paul’s example, we must learn to be slaves of God and sacrifice everything for others. When we believed into the Lord Jesus, we entered into the real freedom of the Spirit – we are no longer slaves to sin, Satan, the world, and the law; however, we should not turn this freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another as slaves (Gal. 5:13).

A slave knows only to serve and to sacrifice, and not to care for his own interests (see Luke 1:38). We need to empty ourselves, humble ourselves, lower ourselves, not claim anything for ourselves, and sacrifice ourselves to serve others as the Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul also did (1 Cor. 9:19-23).

The Lord Jesus is constantly serving us a the Slave of God, washing our feet through the water in His living word to remove anything of the dirt of the world in us; we need to also have a humble spirit and remove any differences to fellowship among us, caring only for Christ and speaking His living word to one another.

We need to have the spirit of a slave, the love of a slave, and the obedience of a slave. This is the only way we can keep God’s law.

As believers in Christ we are not only God’s creatures (Gen. 1:26) and God’s sons (John 1:12-13), but we are also slaves of God. We are God’s creature by our human birth, we are God’s sons by our spiritual birth, and we are God’s slaves by allowing the love of Christ to constrain us.

When we see that Christ as the Slave of God died for us all and therefore we all died, we will no longer serve ourselves but serve God and others in love.

To be a slave of God we need to know the position of a slave; our position should be “at the doorpost” (Exo. 21:6). Our ear needs to be bored through at the door post, that is, we need to have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches and what the Lord as our Master wants us to do.

Hearing is deeper than seeing, and seeing is based on hearing; what we see is determined by what we hear. We need to take heed how we hear and what we hear; if we are full of ourselves, we’re very subjective, and we have a lot opinions, we may hear things that are not spoken or hear selectively. A slave of God has an open ear to hear the Master’s word.

Many Christians today are “serving God”, but they don’t stand at the doorpost to listen to what the Lord tells them to do. One day we all will give an account to the Lord of our work for Him, and many will tell Him, Lord, we did so many great things and works of power in Your name! – yet He will tell them, Depart from Me, I never knew you! (Matt. 7:21-23)

Not everyone who says to Him, Lord, Lord! or does works for God thinking he serves God is actually LISTENING to the Lord as the Master for directions. We should not assume that what we do is the will of the Father; we shouldn’t trust ourselves but open to the Lord and to the Body unconditionally for genuine fellowship. What we fear the most is doing something for the Lord that doesn’t originate from the Lord.

May the Lord save us from doing many things from God on our own, not in accord with what we hear from the Lord as our Master. May the Lord save us from doing many things “for God” according to our own concepts, desires, and intentions (Phil. 1:15-17).

May our ear be open and tuned in to the Master’s voice so that we may listen to Him, hear His instructions, and serve God and man selflessly for the fulfillment of God’s purpose and the gaining of man for God on earth.

Lord Jesus, we want to learn to be slaves of God who sacrifice everything for others so that God’s purpose may be fulfilled and man may be gained for God. Lord, may we know only to serve and to sacrifice, not caring for our own interests. Oh Lord, we want to remain at the doorposts with our ear bored through, having an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Save us from acting on our own, not in accord with what we hear from the Master. Lord, save us from assuming that we do the will of the Father. Keep us open unconditionally in the Body to genuine fellowship that we may know the will of God and serve God as slaves.

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. 808-812 (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:
  # Consecrated is Thy temple, / Purged from every stain and sin; / May Thy flame of glory now be / Manifested from within. / Let the earth in solemn wonder / See my body willingly / Offered as Thy slave obedient, / Energized alone by Thee. (Hymns #403)
  # Lord, You are the only One who offered / Yourself without reluctance unto God; / Full obedience to the Father given, / Absolute, You sacrificed Your all. / As this One, You’re dwelling in my spirit; / Moving, spreading outward day by day. / There’s a whisper of Amen within me / In response to all that You would say. (Song on being a sacrifice)
  # Oh Jesus, Master, to the door post now bring me. / Open my ears to hear, Your voice and all that You say to me. / Oh Jesus, Master, I will obey willingly. / To love and serve Him all my life, this my plea! (Song on being a slave of God)