A Slave of Christ

I have been offline for several years.  After being spiritually challenged I have come back online.

I attended a Voice of the Martyrs conference a couple of weeks ago.  My wife and I have been a supporter of this ministry for a while now as I have had compassion for those suffering in the name Christ, but honestly I never really fully comprehended the extent of their suffering or how it should affect me.  After the conference I felt my heart bound to our brothers and sisters around the world and have been intensely studying the persecuted church.  If we are the body of Christ, consider this analogy -

As you climb out of bed in the dark you stub your toe on the headboard.  What happens?  Usually, you have to bite your tongue to keep your mouth from proclaiming how much your toe hurts (maybe even holding back bad words you want to say).  My brothers, as the body of Christ, we have far more than just a stubbed toe - we are being beaten, bones broken, raped, burned, and slaughtered, more so in the 20th century than any previous century.  Our body is hurting and we should be crying out on behalf of our body, our suffering brothers and sisters!

Consider Romans 1.1, "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus…"   Did you know the english translation of the Bible has watered this down?  In Gk it means, "Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus…"  We were purchased, as a slave at a market, by His blood.  We are slaves of our Lord and should be in complete servitude to Him.  Throughout scripture we are told if we serve Him, we will suffer persecution and be hated.  Yet our American church does not emphasize this.  Instead, we spend far to much time talking about establishing a relationship with God, emphasizing how He loves us, as if His only role is for us.  We spend our time making sure we are comfortable, secure, happy, and safe.  A friend's wife recently pointed out that while attending a prayer meeting everyone prayed for "nothing to happen to our kids," no adversity.  Very rarely if ever do we hear a full exhortation on the suffering of the church even though persecution/suffering is mentioned in almost every book of the NT as normal for the Christian life.  This is totally opposite of what we are called to be - slave.   See "Slave or Servant?" sermon for a more complete exhortation on this topic. 

Here is a prime example of an American currently suffering in Iran - Pastor Saeed

I have been doing some very heavy thinking and prayer. I know I am not in complete servitude to my Lord and unfortunately fell prey to focusing on my career more than my service to Him.  This year I turned 44; my folks both died before 60.  I am very aware of my mortality and want to just finish well.  I want to hear Jesus say, "Well done good and faithful slave."     I think I have been trying to serve two masters - a slave can only serve one.  It is only by His grace I am here and it is only by and through His grace that I have the privilege of serving Him.

JS