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| “This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.” |
| —1 Corinthians 4:1 |
How are you regarded? Said another way, what do people think about you? What description pops into their thinking when you come to mind? Do most people like you? Do most people dislike you? Are people quite neutral regarding what they think about you? Do some people like you a lot and others can hardly stand to be around you? Do some people consider you a leader, a role model, or even a hero?
The Apostle Paul had no patience with hero worship. Even though Paul certainly had achieved the status of a spiritual super-hero, he wrote these words in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2:
This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants [or “bond-slaves”] of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
Early Christians in Corinth had begun to identify with their favorite preacher or teacher. In the verses immediately preceding the ones quoted above, Paul challenges them to put away such foolish thinking. Instead Paul urges them to recognize that the one sharing the good news of the gospel with them is nothing more than a “bond slave of Christ and steward of the mysteries of God.”
A bond slave is a “now-freed-slave” who willingly attaches himself or herself forever to his or her Master. God gave His chosen people, the Jews, a process for a fellow-Jew to use when his or her time of indentured servitude had come to an end, or when the Year of Jubilee occurred. This process is described in Deuteronomy 15:12-18:
If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free. And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.
But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.
Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
So, from this passage of Scripture, we can discern that someone given the title of “steward” can be defined as “a slave elevated to a position of responsibility in his or her Master’s Kingdom.” Such an individual remains a slave because he or she has purposefully chosen to remain a slave. But, such a person has earned the trust of his or her Master. And, as one who has earned such a trust, has been elevated to have a greater responsibility within his or her Master’s domain.
By definition, a steward has no interest of his or her own. He or she is not interested in self-advancement or self-actualization. Instead, a steward has only one interest: doing what is best for his or her Master. Constantly, a steward asks: “What can I do to advance my Master’s Kingdom?”
How do people regard you as a Christian? Are you a bond-slave of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God? That is certainly what I desire to be, what I seek to be. And, I hope you endeavor to do the same.
Originally posted on Friday, February 27, 2015
