Bondservant
2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of the
Jesus Christ
Bondservant.
In 1 Peter 1:1 this word is missing from his introduction. Bondservant and apostle are used in 2 Peter.
OK, so what is a bondservant? Where do we see this concept of a bondservant first used?
Exodus 21:5 But if the servant plainly says, ‘I
love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to the judges. He
shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall
pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
So let me ask, who decides if they
want to be a bondservant? The Master or
the person?
Christ demonstrated the opposite of this throughout
out His entire ministry. Consider Christ’s life and the culmination of it….
John 13-
Now before the Feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to
the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the
end.
2 And supper being ended, the
devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son,
to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into
His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from
supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.
5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the
disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are
You washing my feet?”
7 Jesus answered and said to him,
“What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”
8 Peter said to Him, “You shall
never wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash
you, you have no part with Me.”
9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord,
not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
10 Jesus said to him, “He who is
bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are
clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore
He said, “You are not all clean.”
12 So when He had washed their
feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know
what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say
well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have
washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have
given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most
assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he
who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things,
blessed are you if you do them.
But once He had come and done what He was sent here to
accomplish-dealing with our sin once and for all, do you see Him kicking back and demanding
service? No, as we see in John 21 He met
the disciples on the beach, and what had He done for them? Made them breakfast!
We spend our entire life as a Christian determining the
answer to this one question-whom are you going to serve? We like to think that by telling something
else that they’re not the boss, that we have thrown off servanthood, but really,
we have just chosen a different master. Bob Dylan said it well- you’ve gotta
serve someone-it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna serve
someone.
So, who will you submit to and obey? Your pride or the Lord?
In Spurgeon’s Morning devotional for January 22 he states:
O Believer, learn to reject pride, seeing that thou hast no
ground for it. Whatever thou art, thou hast nothing to make thee proud. The more thou hast, the more thou art in debt
to God; and thou shouldst not be proud of that which renders thee a debtor.
So here’s what we need to sort through. What are you a bondservant to? Could you open an epistle and rightly say _________, a bondservant of Christ?
Romans 8:12-13 Therefore, brethren, we are
debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For
if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put
to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
And in Romans 6 we are told to stop
giving our bodies to sinful things, but instead to present them as instruments
of righteousness to Christ.
Can you call yourself a bondservant to Christ? Can you call yourself a bondservant to
something else? Do you find that the
longer you walk with the Lord, the easier it is to say “Yes Lord”? Or are you still bowing down to your pride in
your pursuit of your own determined dreams and goals? Have you come to a place where you love your
Master and desire to be with Him forever, no matter what He asks you to endure?
The servant gets to decide if they will be a bondservant, not
the Master. Are you willing?