Crestwood Church Blog

“Thus letter is from James, a slave of God. James” 1:1

A lot has been made mention of slaves in recent days, during the days of the early church under the Roman Empire roughly a third of many city populations were slaves. From the beginning Jewish families had slaves who were an important part of their society. Maybe our view of a slave has been clouded to some extent by the slave trade which marred the history of our nation. Today the word slave is often translated servant, you have civil servants who serve the government and servants of royalty, but this waters down the meaning of the word, a slave had little rights and was not paid a wage, but In Jewish law a slave had various laws that prevented them from being badly treated.

In Exodus 21:2 There was also a way to freedom.

“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he may serve for no more than six years. Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom.

The seventh day always speak of rest, from everyday chores and work.

James, probably the brother of Jesus is saying I am a slave of God, he sees it as an honour and a privilege. A slave is one who is brought with a price and follows the master in his service. We have been brought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus, when he laid down his life as a sacrifice for us. But how many of us are prepared to say, I am a slave of God. He is my master and my Lord.

Exodus 21:5 goes onto say 

But the slave may declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I don’t want to go free.’ If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door or doorpost and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will serve his master for life.

The old word for this kind of slave was a bondservant. How many of us once we come to Christ, want to run away and go back to our lives again. Are you prepared to choose and say, I want to remain in the house of my master and serve him for the rest of my days. In God we are not talking about a great tyrant who wants to destroy you and abuse you. We have one who is a master of love, who wants us to obey him and his commands, because this is what will give us the greatest satisfaction in our life.

The question here is this, are we prepared to allow God to have your life and make it his own. Are we prepared to say I don’t want to live for myself anymore. The church are a people who are living in the seventh year, we have freedom from the curse of sin and all its problems.

If we put our hands into action for our Master, we will understand freedom even though we are servants of the living God. Christianity is not for weak and fainthearted it is for those that are prepared to trust God in every circumstance and live for him, today, tomorrow and for all our days.

Andy Hodson

Labels: Priveledge, Servant, Slave

In Philippians 1 Paul is determined to lift and encourage the believers at Philippi. A church he had grown to love, because of their faithfulness, fellowship and support, both financially and more importantly, in the work of the gospel.
He gives us three situation where loosing is not an option.

1- Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message
about Christ is being preached either way v18

Paul was in chains he was under house arrest in Rome, but either way the gospel would be preached, by himself if he was released, or by the many who had risen to the challenge of furthering the gospel while Paul was in prison.
It was true that some of the motives were not altogether pure, but either way, the gospel was being spread across the Roman Empire and even into the courts of Rome.

2- For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. V21

Paul was not sure what was best, to live and live for God, or die and be with God, either way it was a real privilege and a joy.

3- Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about
you, I will know that you are standing side by side v27

Paul was confident that the work of the gospel was going to continue. He was unsure about his release, he was unsure if he would ever see his colleagues in the gospel again. But because of their growth, the work of the gospel would continue without one of its leaders. Such is the power of the gospel, it is not a work of man that will fail when the next generation comes along. But something that will not just continue but multiply.

Are we citizens of heaven who are willing to take the gospel to our generation and the one to come.

Labels: Encourage, Generation, Gospel, Priveledge