Servant of Christ

"Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ"

Jude v 1

 

Freedom is a word that perplexes me. We live in a time and country that makes freedom the root of happiness. In fact, it is one of the basic principles on which our country is founded and for which we fight to give to others around the world. Nowadays the idea is that we should be free to make our own choices and decisions about our lives without thought to how anyone feels or thinks about it. When we can come to that point of not caring how others view us and live exactly how we want to live we are said to have true freedom and happiness. But, why doesn’t Jude speak to us in such a manner? He does not call himself free, in fact, he does the opposite. He speaks boldly and happily about being a slave to Christ.

                Before Jude was a servant of Christ he was in a sense free. He was free to live just how he pleased and desired. And in that freedom he mocked and rejected Christ, “not even his brothers believed in Him” John 7:5, and the gospel of Mark says his family thought He was crazy. During that time Jude made his choices willingly and free. But, his heart and his will was bound by sin. He was chained and controlled by the sin of his heart, and it could be said of him “ye were the servants of sin” Romans 6:20. In his freedom Jude chose sin. That sin which he desired, was his master. But Christ breaks these chains and calls us unto Himself. Then it is said of us “being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness”

                But is it enough to go from on master to another? Paul did not say we were made free from sin and became free to ourselves. In fact he tells us “know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price” I Corinthians 6:19-20. We are not our own master, we belong to Christ and are truly His servants. But is it slavery if it is happiness? The Bible speaks in terms that seem strange to us. “I will at liberty: for I seek thy precepts” Psalm 119:45. The Psalmist says that doing or at least trying to do what God commands is to him freedom or liberty.

               "God loveth a cheerful servant in every piece of service...This makes the service pleasing to Master and servant too; acceptable to the former, easy to the latter. Nothing is hard to a willing mind; willingness is the oil to the wheel. A servant cheerful at his work is as free as his master: if his master make him not free, he makes himself free" - William Jenkyn

                We never have more freedom than when we perform our designed purpose. Everything is made for a reason. But, when things are used for reasons other than their designed purpose they do not work properly or efficiently. We are made for the purpose of glorifying God and using our lives for that purpose.

                “God’s glory is the end of our being and doing, for being and doing are both from him, and therefore for him alone….if I were a nightingale I would sing as a nightingale, if I were a lark I would pere as a lark. If I am a man what should I do but know, love, and praise God without ceasing, and glorify my Creator?”   - Thomas Manton

                He is the master of our fate and the Lord of our hearts, and we are the happier because of it. I have been made free from the power of sin, and that is truly a wonderful thing. But to be a servant of Christ is to be free from ourselves, and to serve Him is our one true delight and happiness