Jude the Bond-Slave of Jesus Christ
II. The Bond of This Servant
A bond slave or servant had a bond, something he was bound to do. That bond was very simple. The servant would always do the work of his master. Nothing would ever come before the master. Jude identities his Master as the Lord Jesus Christ.
In this age of apostasy, we need to determine that our business in the world is not to see who we can master or what we can master but whom we are going to allow to master us. We need a master. I am glad that my Master is Jesus Christ.
In this marvelous wisdom of Almighty God, He has designed the Christian life so what when we give Him preeminence, things work best in our lives. Is Jesus Christ truly the One and only in our lives? Does He have the preeminence?
In Romans 1:1, Paul calls himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Such a sense of utter devotion springs from an awareness of the great love Christ has demonstrated by His sacrificial death. In Paul’s mind, and Jude’s mind, since a Roman slave was answerable only to his master, they were not just servants to the Lord but a slave as well and answerable only to Him.
The word “servant” or “doulos” is an interesting word. Literally it means “bond slave.” This is nothing like the servant we think of today. A bond slave was someone who was purchased out of the slave market, and who is in complete subjection to his master. He had no mind of his own, had no will of his own, had no way of his own. This is how Jude described himself, “a bond slave of Jesus.”
I believe this is the description God wants all of His children to be known by. How about you today? Are you a “bond slave” to Christ? God calls on each one of us to submit to His leadership, His Lordship over our lives.
Do not confuse the matter of Christian service and Christian living. It is not first what we do for Him, but loving Him that our Lord wants. The bond of the servant is that his master is always preeminent.
Jude says, “I am a bond slave of Jesus Christ,” using the word for servant which actually means “born into servanthood.” Can you imagine growing up in the same household and saying, “I am born His servant?” This is what Jude said of the Lord Jesus Christ. His bond was that the Lord Jesus was always preeminent.
III. The Burden of This Servant
I use the word burden not to imply that what we do for Christ is unpleasant, because the Bible says that His commandments are not grievous (1 John 5:3). On the other hand, the Bible says, “The way of transgressors is hard” (Proverbs 13:15). It is because God loves us that He makes the way of the transgressor hard. If He did not make the way of the transgressor hard, people would live in transgression continually. Every time it gets hard on the transgressor, the transgressor is caused to think, “the Lord’s way is the best way.”
What is our burden or our consuming passion as servants of the Lord Jesus? It is to love Him and serve Him from that heart of love. Who will do the work of the Lord? The servants of the Lord must do the work of the Lord.
As we walk through this hallway into the Revelation of Jesus Christ, notice carefully on the walls that there are examples of apostasy surrounding our walk. Our Lord desires to have servants who know that they have been born into His family and have a bond with Christ to do His work with their lives.
I am on this earth to do His work. There is no doubt in my mind, as I consider my life, that I am here to do His work. We must tell people how to be saved. If families are going to hear the truth, we must tell them the truth.
Have you ever seen a mother in a store with her child at her side…dragging him around and hitting him as she dragged him around. That woman needs someone to instruct her. One could be very critical of someone like that, but more than likely she has grown up without God and without God’s Word and knows very little about the kind of discipline taught in the Word of God.
How are people going to know what God wants them to know? Someone who knows the truth must tell them the truth. We are His servants. We have been given His work to do. This is our job. God has raised up churches to do His work.
The Bible says in Revelation 1:1, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.”
Notice that John uses the word “servants.” Did you know that those of us who are saved, who are bond slaves of Jesus Christ, who have recognized our place in the family of God, have an awareness about the world that the world does not have about itself? We have an awareness about what is going on in the world, and we have an understanding that the world does not have.
We get this understanding from God. We know that there is a real Heaven and a real Hell. We know there is a real lake of fire awaiting the lost. God has told us things in His Word, and we believe Him.
Because of these things He has shown us, we are accountable to God to tell people the truth. We are the people who know the truth, have heard the truth, and have received the truth. As God’s children, we must have a burden to get it out. So many are still in darkness. They are under the night of sin. We must get the message out! This is our responsibility in this age of apostasy. It is what God has given us to do.
I want to know what God wants done in the world He created. I want to know so that I can do it, not just to be informed. The better I get acquainted with His Son, the Lord Jesus, the more I know about the heart of God. Jesus Christ is God.
The time is so short. The need is so great. The labourers are so few. May the Spirit of Go help us to be obedient to Christ as we study and apply the lessons in this little epistle.
“ I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” — Psalm 4
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