Cut Loose

"11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up" (Eph 4:11-12).

What are "works of service"? What does it really mean to serve? What's involved in being a servant?

I love the old Disney cartoon classic, Pinocchio--the story of the little wooden puppet who was made alive so he could move without any puppet master pulling his strings.

Before we talk about being a servant, let's talk about not being a servant. Deep down everybody wants to be free! We're like Pinocchio. We don't want anyone jerking our strings--telling us what to do or how to act or how to think. We want to be free to do our own thing, free from being bossed around, free to live as we please, free to do as we want.

We smile when Pinocchio (with no strings to hold him up, to make him laugh, to make him frown) can sing: "Now I've found my liberty; I have no strings on me!" Pinocchio was cut loose from his puppet master. He was free!

Freedom is one of the great themes of the Bible. We see it in the story of Joseph, sold by his brothers to be a slave. We see it in the story of Moses, called by God to set his people free from their slavery in Egypt, from their bondage to Pharaoh.

We see this theme in the words of Jesus, who said the Spirit of the Lord was upon him to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and to release the oppressed (Luke 4:18). He said: "...if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).

We see freedom in the NT writings: "...though you used to be slaves to sin... You have been set free from sin" (Rom 6:17-18). And: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Gal 5:1). Freedom is one of the great themes of the Bible.

So today we're looking at the second part of our series of messages, No Limits, and we're talking about being Cut Loose. [You can hear last week's message at cloquetchurch.com.] God wants to cut us loose from the strings that hold us back. He wants us to be set free in Christ.

Jesus came to cut us loose from the chains of sin; he came to set us free from prisons of past hurts and damaged emotions; he came to deliver us from oppressive fears, to lead us out of the dungeons of anxiety, to liberate us from the tyranny of addictions. Jesus came to set us free.

But there's much more to God's plan than freedom. God wants to set us free--but not so we can do our own thing. God wants to set us free so we can finally become what he wants us to be as his people--so we can finally achieve his higher purposes.

Do you know freedom can be used for the wrong reasons? Some people take their liberties and use them for selfish purposes. This is why Paul warns us: "You...were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love" (Gal 5:13).

Paul says that Christian freedom means being set free from sin so we can finally begin to serve God the way we were intended to serve.

"16Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" (Rom 6:16-18).

Set free to become slaves! Interesting thought, isn't it? We'll come back to that in a minute, but first let's do a quick recap.

Last week we learned that there are different parts in a human body, each designed to do different things. And we saw that it's the same way in the body of Christ. Different members are designed to do different things. But all of us are to be prepared and equipped to do "works of service" (Eph 4:12).

So now we can link these two thoughts together--God gives us spiritual freedom so he can put us in the church to be slaves to righteousness--to do works of service.

If we--the church--are going to succeed in fulfilling God's purpose and plan, then we--the members of the body of Christ--must learn to be servants, to be slaves.

Slaves? Now, this is a weird concept for Americans in the 21^st century! Being a slave just doesn't computer. It's not like anything we're familiar with. Oh sure, we joke about the boss being a "task master" or a "slave-driver," but we don't really have first-hand experience at real slavery.

So when Jesus says you can't serve two masters (Matt 6:24) or how a servant can't be above his master (Matt 10:24) or tells stories about servants who are good and faithful (Matt 25:14-30), we don't quite understand it the same way that first-century Jews would have--who lived in a society where servants and slaves were commonplace.

What was it like to be a servant or a slave in first-century culture? What does it really mean to serve?

The NT uses two words almost interchangeably: diakonos (root behind the word "service" in Eph 4:12) and doulos (root behind the word "slaves" in Rom 6:18). The primary distinction seems to be that a diakonos was like a waiter at a table, one who serves or attends to the needs of another. Doulos seems to emphasize the relationship to the master--he was owned by the master. In the NIV, both are translated as "servant(s)" but doulos is also translated as "slave(s, -ry)"--24% of the time.

If you were a first-century servant, you wouldn't have been alone. Some estimate up to 60% of the population of Rome were slaves--owned by someone else. They were the labor force that held the fabric of society together. And being a first-century servant, you would have understood the implications of phrases like being "slaves of righteousness" or doing "works of service."

1.      A servant is indebted to his master. Slaves were owned by the master. They belonged to him.

Slaves were often the victims of war, captured and hauled away to foreign lands and sold on an auction block. The master paid good money for him. Other times a man got himself into debt and the only way out was to sell himself as a slave to pay off his debts.

Remember the OT story of the woman so upset because her husband had died, leaving her in debt, and now the creditor was coming to take her two sons away as slaves to pay off the debt  (2 Kings 4)?

Slaves were sometimes set free when a family member paid the price they were worth to the master. Occasionally a slave could save enough to buy his own freedom.

The Minnesota Vikings paid $42 million over six years to get Bernard Berrian, they now own him. He used to play for the Chicago Bears, but not after Minnesota paid all that money. They own him, and he can't decide to play for another team unless they make a deal with the Vikings. He is indebted to them.

"22For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave. 23You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men" (1 Cor 7:22-23).

"...You are not your own; you were bought at a price" (1 Cor 6:19-20). As servants, we are indebted to the Lord. We used to be slaves to sin, but Jesus paid the price to release us from sin. So now we belong to the Lord. Now we serve him.

2.      A servant looks to the needs of others more than his own. Just like a waiter serves the customer, a servant's purpose was to provide for others: Water? More steak sauce? Another napkin? Warm up your cup?

A few years ago I was at a meeting in Chicago and went out to eat with three other pastors. We ordered our food and after a while, our waiter brought out the first two plates. We didn't start eating, however. We waited for the waiter to come with the other plates. After a while, one of the others said, "Go ahead and start eating. Your food's going to get cold." So we started eating--and kept watching for our waiter. After a while, we found someone else and asked about our waiter. Pretty soon the manager appeared, apologizing profusely. Our waiter had suddenly quit! Right in the middle of waiting on our table, he walked out. Well! There went his tip!

A true servant is concerned about the needs of others. "...in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Phil 2:3-4).

As God's servants, of course we will want to do what pleases him. But what pleases him is that we care for one another--that we serve one another, that we do works of service to encourage and strengthen and help each other grow up into Christ. It pleases the Lord when his people have discovered his heart and desire to do his will.

3.      A servant listens to his master's words (instructions). He is attentive to his master's wishes, even watching his master's hand--a signal, a sign--for what he wants the servant to do.

"1I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. 2As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy. (Ps 123:1-2)

Have you opened your ears to hear the Lord? Is your heart soft and pliable and receptive to what he wants you to do and to be? Do you take time to listen to the Lord?

If you're his servant, you will. If you really belong to the Lord, you're going to listen to his voice instead of some other voice. If he is the One who has purchased you, you're going to watch attentively to be sure your honor him.

4.      A servant accepts his assignment. In ancient times, slaves didn't get to choose what they did. Some were assigned to work in the fields; others were given jobs in the house. Some were told to be cooks; others were told to clean.

A slave could never argue with his master about what his assignment was. "Why do I always have to clean up after your kid gets sick and vomits all over the room? How come I never get the easy jobs? I never get to go to market; I'm always cooped up here, picking up after the kids."

Have you ever argued with the Lord about his assignment for you? "Why didn't you make me as talented as So-and-so? Why did you give him all the gifts? I know I'd do more for you if you gave me what you gave him! Why'd you give me this job? It's so boring. So ridiculous. So humbling. I don't really want to serve this way."

Carte blanche (French: "white paper" or "blank paper") means to give full authority to someone else. It's like taking a blank sheet of paper, signing your name at the bottom, and letting the person fill in the terms of the contract above your signature. This is what it means to surrender--to trust God with your life, to believe that he is going to do what is best for you--because he loves you and paid for you.

This means Jesus is Lord. The word for "Lord" (kurios) is the also translated as "master"--the one in charge of the servant. The one who makes the decisions. Who makes the assignments.

"7Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? 9Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty'" (Luke 17:7-10).

Paul wrote to Christian slaves in the church in Ephesus: "...like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men..." (Eph 6:6-7).

God sets us free so we can freely serve him. He paid the price on the cross so he can have a people who will do his will from their hearts. Are you indebted to him?

God calls us to serve wholeheartedly--not half-heartedly. He calls us to surrender our will and independence, so we can truly be free to serve him. Have you welcomed his calling? Are you willing to do what he asks you to do? Do you look to the needs of others? Do you listen for his voice? Or is the voice of the world pulling you a different direction?

Bottom line: Are you a servant of the Lord? Did you come to serve or to be served?

 

 

 

Recap and review: Believers in the church are like...
a) Adopted children (1:5; 5:1) in God's household--the family of God (2:19; 3:15)
b) Members of the body of Christ (1:23; 2:16; 3:6; 4:12,16,25; 5:30)
c) Citizens within God's nation--and no longer foreigners or aliens (2:12,19)
d) Bricks of a building, a temple for God's Spirit to dwell (2:20-22)
e) A bride in a marriage (5:31-32)
f) Soldiers in an army, fighting for a cause (6:11-17)
g) Servants working for a master (4:12)

Feb 1 - Full Throttle. Where churches put the brakes on ministry. The "bottle-neck" of ministry--when pastors view themselves as something special--highly trained, paid professionals; when ministry is performed only by pastors; when people expect a paid professional to "do it all." Getting past the bottle neck. Eph 4:11-13

Feb 8 - Peak Performance. More than you thought possible. You have a call to serve. God wants to equip you for your call. Eph 4:1-6,12 The word "prepare" (NIV) or "equipping" (NASB) means "repair" (as in fishing nets) or "set" (as in broken bones). The idea is to get us ready to work--to fulfill our purpose and function in the body. Crashing through the glass ceiling.
What do our spiritual gifts (and natural abilities) have to do with ministry? S-H-A-P-E

• Spiritual Gifts
• Heart (passion)
• Abilities (natural talents)
• Personality

• Experience

Feb 15 - Unleashed. Everyone gets in on the action. Why the whole church needs to be released, set free to minister both within the body of Christ and beyond. Where will a fully released, no-limits church ministry take us? To become united in our faith; to all know Jesus (by experience, not just intellectually); to become mature (to grow up spiritually, to become responsible); to the "whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Eph 4:12-13

How do we make the most of what we have? How do we not waste our gifts? (How do we maintain a positive attitude about doing our best and maximizing our commitment?)

What are some of the risks? What discourages or restricts us from serving? Why, for instance, did the one-talent servant hide his resources?