A few years ago I did a bible study that mentioned the ceremony of the bond servant that’s recorded in Deuteronomy 15 and Exodus 21. I must have read those passages several times before, but for some reason a few years ago when I was doing this study, it really stuck with me and it’s something I had not considered much up to that point.

Deuteronomy 15:12-17, “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same.”

The ceremony of the bondservant applied to both male and female servants, and when they got done serving their time and it was time for them to be set free, they were given the choice of being set free or remaining with their master and his family. The choice was given to them. They had fulfilled their obligation; their duty was completed. It was their choice to stay or go, but the fact that they chose to say really says a lot about their time and experience with their master. Notice in verse 16 it says, “But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household…” The reason the bondservant chose to stay with the master and the master’s family was because of his love for his master. That’s pretty incredible love!

The choice to stay activated the ceremony of taking an awl, which was just a tool that would bore a hole into something, and they would pierce the ear of the servant. This act indicated the person made a decision of their own will to be the servant of their master – forever. Don’t miss that! This decision was a permanent status – a lifetime commitment. So, if that slave loved his master and he wanted to continue residing with him, he was not required to leave at the end of that seventh year. The bondservant was given a choice. When the servant made the declaration of love and devotion to his master, he showed everyone attending that ceremony that he was a very willing slave. He was not forced to be there against his will; he was free to choose, and yet he chose – because he loved his master!

Exodus 21:5-6, “But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”

The passage in Exodus echoes that word again: love. There is devotion. There is affection. There is a desire for the slave for the servant to stay with the family – to make this a lifelong commitment to stay with the master. This passage in Exodus also gives us greater detail into the bondservant ceremony with the fact that the master is bringing the servant to the judges. The status of the servant’s life is made legal through this ceremony.

Jesus was the ultimate example for us of what this looks like. John 13:16 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” Jesus is our Master and in servitude he showed us what it looks like to walk as a bondservant of God the Father. Philippians 2:7 tells us He, “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” He took the “form” of a bond servant. In doing this, He wasn’t laying aside the form of God in the sense that He was ceasing to be God. He was taking on the form of man; so He is fully God and fully man. Just because Jesus came to earth doesn’t mean He stopped being fully God. No, rather He added on to that being fully man.

That word “bondservant” comes from the word “slave” in the Greek, which is “doulos.” That word is often mistranslated as servant, implying a voluntary status. That is not a correct understanding of “doulos.” This word means “slave” – one who is owned by another person. So, either they are bought as a possession or they are owned for a time until they pay off their debt. That’s very different from a servant. A servant is paid for their work, their position is voluntary – it’s their own choice to be there. Whereas in the Old Testament, if you had a debt, you were forced to go and fulfill that debt. It was work out of obligation. As a slave, you are not a free man. A servant is a free man; he can return home at night. But a slave never stops being a slave; they’re owned by someone else whether they like it or not. They have to stay at the bidding of the owner.

When Jesus took on the form of a bond servant, He is surrendering His rights to the will of His Father. And He did it for you and for me. How amazing that He did this! John 13:1-17 describes how Jesus laid to the side His outer garments, wraps a towel around Himself, and performs the duties of a slave. That towel, the symbol of His position as a bond servant, shows us the humility that He clothed Himself in Matthew 20:28.

“Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)

Pastor and theologian Keith Krell talks about Christ taking the form of a bond servant and he says, “Jesus became a particular kind of man, a slave, the lowest position a person could become in the Roman world. The King of the Universe, the Lord of glory, voluntarily became a pauper for our sake. He had to borrow a place to be born, a boat to preach from, a place to sleep, a donkey to ride upon, an upper room to use for the last supper, and a tomb in which to be buried. He created the world, but the world did not know Him. He was insulted, humiliated, and rejected by the people He made. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Jesus went as low as He could possibly go.” (https://bible.org/seriespage/work-your-way-down-ladder-philippians-25-11)

The call of being a bondservant is the call for all believers, and a servant is known chiefly by his obedience. We read in Romans 6:16, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves you are slaves to the one whom you obey, whether you’re slaves to sin which leads to death or to obedience which leads to righteousness.” As we look back through the Old Testament, we learn that it wasn’t just Moses and Aaron, or even the priests and Levites, who were God’s servants. All the Israelites who’d been redeemed from slavery were God’s servants. He was the Lord their God! We also see this concept through the New Testament. The disciples identified themselves and introduced themselves in all the letters they wrote. Look at the letters of Paul, James, Peter, Timothy, even in the book of Jude.

• James 1:1, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ…”
• 2 Peter 1:1, “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ…”
• Philippians 1:1, “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus…”
• Titus 1:1, “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ…”
• Jude 1:1, “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ…”

These New Testament disciples introduced themselves right off the bat, first thing, by identifying themselves as servants or slaves of Christ. It was not only the disciples and apostles, but many other believers who came after them. Isaiah 56:6 says, “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants.” Therefore, Paul says we are not to serve, “with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:6). Consider also 1 Thessalonians 1:9 where it says, “You turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” In 1 Peter 2:16, we are told to “live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil live as servants of God.” And in Revelation 22:3 we read that even in heaven the saints shall still sustain this relationship and character when it says, “His servants shall serve Him.”

When we come to faith in Christ and receive salvation, we change our status. We become bondservants – forever! When we dedicate our lives to the Lord, it should be a permanent decision; a lifelong and eternity-long commitment. So how are we to live out the rest of our years on this earth when we have made that commitment, when we’ve put our faith and trust in Christ as our Savior? We take on that title, just as those disciples in the New Testament did.  We’ve chosen that role because we love our Master. He loved us first, and then when He extends grace to us, He allows us to have the faith to put into Him and receive His gift of salvation.

How are we to live as slaves of Christ? How are we to conduct ourselves permanently through our life on earth? Well, we’re told by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God and you are not your own, for you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” That’s the concept of a slave. You are not your own. You’re somebody else’s property.  As believers, we are not our own. We are God’s property. We are to give Him our eyes, our ears, our mouth, our mind, our heart, our hands, our feet, our resources, our gifts, talents, and skills. Everything should be used for God and given back to God. We are not our own. Why? Because our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. If you have salvation, if you’re a believer in Christ, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. That’s why your body doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to God because He’s indwelling you, but also because He bought you. That’s why you’re not your own. He bought you. God paid a price for us. What was that price? It was the blood of Christ. Since God purchased us with the precious blood of His only Son, we need to respond by glorifying God in our body and in our spirit. Our body needs to be put to use to glorify God, and that comes by doing what He has called you to do. Remember, as a servant, one of the most important roles we have is obeying our Master. We are to be in service to God the Father, and Christ Jesus our Master. We are to reflect the character of our Master to others.

Although we don’t practice the Old Testament ceremony today, and Jesus doesn’t come down in the flesh and hold our ear to the doorpost and use a boring instrument to run a hole through our earlobe, it’s the same concept spiritually with our heart. When we believe with our heart that Jesus is Lord, confessing our sin and repenting, we are making the decision to be committed and devoted to Him. We then live our lives to the best of our ability in obedience to God and His Word. It also pictures the crucifixion of the flesh. When we crucify our flesh, we’re laying down the old man, we’re becoming a new man in Christ and putting a mark on our spirit that we belong to Him. We have a new heart; we’ve been changed. And then we’re following in the footsteps of our Master. He’s the one who started it. He laid down His life. He was surrendered to God the Father. And He’s showing us how to do the same. If you’re a believer and you’re calling Christ your Master, are you living the life of a servant? Are you trying to walk in the shoes of the Master? Are you giving complete control of your life to Him? Or are you still trying to call the shots in your life?

Are you experiencing a dry season in your walk? Instead of being committed to the Master and devoted to Him in His house, are you starting to walk back to your own house? Even as believers, we can often backslide and turn away from God. However, if we call ourselves believers, if we’ve received salvation, I pray the Holy Spirit convicts our heart and speaks to us and encourages us to return back to our Master. If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, if you’ve never received salvation, the idea of becoming a bondservant of Christ may be a foreign concept to you. You may be wondering why anyone would want to be a slave of Jesus. Well, as a believer, I would tell you it is for the same reason we discussed above from the passages in Deuteronomy and Exodus. We chose. Nobody forced us to receive salvation. Nobody twisted our arm or forced us to get saved. It was out of love – because God first loved us. We were broken over the fact that we’re sinners and humbled by the fact that Christ would give His life for sinners like us. So, we come broken to the cross and receive His salvation. We come genuinely, ready to receive the gift that He offers to anyone and everyone. The bible says, “Whosoever will come…”

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but will have eternal life.”

You are a whosoever. I’m a whosoever. But God is not going to make that choice for you. You have to make that choice; and the offer still stands for you. If you are riding the fence, if you’re just walking the line, and you’re acknowledging that you know about Christianity, but you don’t know if you want to commit yet. God is not going to force you to make the decision. Maybe you are familiar with the bible, but you don’t have a personal relationship with Christ, you’ve never accepted salvation, then please know that He’s offering that gift to you today. Will you humbly come and surrender your life to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive the gift of salvation?