Simple Keys to Understanding the Book of Revelation — Part 3
Two Kinds of Servants
There are at least two kinds of servants listed in Scripture, and there are two kinds of servants to God. Most are hired servants. A smaller number make the commitment to become bond servants. Bond servants are described in Exodus 21:5-6.
A hired servant in Scripture was basically an employee. The hired servant worked for an agreed-upon payment and length of time, just as Jacob served Laban for an agreed-upon amount of time for his daughter Rachel. This kind of servant was in it for what he could get. It was based on self-interest. When Jacob agreed to continue to serve Laban after he was married, he chose the spotted and speckled livestock as his payment (Gen 30:32). It was a mutually agreed-upon contract in which the servant had an expectation of some rights of his own. He worked for an agreed-upon time, and his free time was his own to do with as he wished.
“… let him rest until he has accomplished as does a hireling the appointed time for his day.”—Job 14:6 (AMPC)
“… and as a hireling who looks for the reward of his work,“—Job 7:2 (AMPC)
Because these hirelings serve for their own benefit their allegiance can switch to something or someone else that seems to make them a better offer, like the priest in Judges 18 who simply switched allegiances from the house of Micah to the tribe of Dan when he got a better offer. Hirelings look out for themselves first. They put their own self-interest first.
God disdained these kinds of hirelings among his servants.
“The judges in Jerusalem take money to decide who wins in court. The priests in Jerusalem only teach for pay. The prophets only look into the future when they get paid. But yet those leaders say, ‘The Lord is with us. Nothing bad will happen to us.’
“Because of you, Jerusalem will be plowed like a field. Jerusalem will become a pile of rocks. The hill on which the Temple stands will be covered with bushes.”—Micah 3:11-12 (ICB)
Jesus is not a hireling. What He does is motivated by love for the sheep.
“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His [own] life for the sheep.*** ***But the hired man [who merely serves for wages], who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away; and the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. The man runs because he is a hired hand [who serves only for wages] and is not concerned about the [safety of the] sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and I know [without any doubt those who are] My own and My own know Me [and have a deep, personal relationship with Me]—even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father—and I lay down My [very own] life [sacrificing it] for the benefit of the sheep.”—John 10:11-15 (AMP)
There are those in the body of Christ who serve God for what they can get from Him. We could call this group “The Bless Me Bunch.” Often, this is just a sign of immaturity. It is a phase in the growth process. But it is a phase that each believer needs to work through, not staying there, but moving on into the deeper commitment of a bond servant:
“But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’*** ***then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.”—Exodus 21:5-6 (NIV)
Notice that the decision to make a deeper commitment is not up to the master. It is up to the servant to decide on his level of commitment. Becoming a bond servant is the servant’s choice, not the master’s. The servant has to take the initiative to enter into this kind of commitment.
The bond servant relationship is based on love for the master, as we’re told in Exodus 21:5. The bond servant has given up everything. His life is no longer his own. He owns nothing. He is not paid wages because he has given his life to His master. He lives the rest of his life in complete submission to the will of his master. He serves at the beck and call of his master, 24 hours a day, with no days off. He serves with unquestioning obedience and complete submission to the Lord that he loves.
The Outline of Biblical Usage in the Blue Letter Bible describes the bond servant as “one who gives himself up to another’s will, … devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests.” Bond servants are “those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men.”
The bond servant commitment can be seen in the devotion of Ittai of Gath to king David at the time when David was fleeing from Jerusalem and it looked like the king was losing everything he had to Absalom.
“The king said to Ittai the Gittite, ‘Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner, an exile from your homeland. You came only yesterday. And today shall I make you wander about with us, when I do not know where I am going? Go back, and take your people with you. May the Lord show you kindness and faithfulness.’
*“But Ittai replied to the king, *‘As surely as the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.’
“David said to Ittai, ‘Go ahead, march on.’ So Ittai the Gittite marched on with all his men and the families that were with him.”—2 Samuel 15:19-22 (NIV)
This commitment is also seen in the overcomers described in Revelation 14:4 (NASB):
*“These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. ****These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. ***These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.”
The Roman centurion described it this way:
“And I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my bond servant, Do this, and he does it.”—Luke 7:8 (AMPC)
One who has made a bond-servant commitment has no rights. He has surrendered all rights out of love for his Master. The bond servant commitment is not one to be taken lightly because it is a life sentence of total commitment.
*“Now am I trying to win the favor of men, or of God? Do I seek to please men? If I were still seeking popularity with men, I should not be a bond servant of Christ (the Messiah).”—Galatians 1:10 (AMPC) *
