HAVE WE BECOME SLAVES WITHOUT KNOWING IT?

Have we become slaves in ways hidden to us? Scripture warns us to not become anyone’s slave:

·       Were you a bondservant [often translated as “slave” from the Greek “doulos”] when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. (1 Corinthians 7:21-23 ESV)

We are only to be bondservants to our Lord. To have other masters is to compromise our allegiance to our Lord, as Jesus had warned:

·       “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other…” (Matthew 6:24)

Does this injunction apply to our employment? Why shouldn’t it! Here is the distinction we must make. Are we yoked to our jobs in such a way that we have become so dependent upon it that we cannot leave it? If we are no longer free in this regard, then we are yoked to another master. Therefore, Paul had warned:

·       Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing… (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)

When we are yoked, we are no longer free to serve the Lord. The same pertains to our relationships. We can have friends and family who do not share our faith. However, we cannot be so yoked together that it takes away our freedom to leave, if leaving is what would honor the Lord.

This doesn’t mean that we cannot work for an unbeliever. Many of God’s people had worked under kings and pharaohs without compromising their relationship with their Lord, our ultimate King. Daniel served under Darius, King of the Medes and the Persians. However, Darius had signed an order requiring that, for a month, no one could petition any other deity apart from Darius. However, this didn’t stop Daniel from praying to the God of Israel. However, Daniel was caught and brought to the king, who was required, by his edict, to throw Daniel to the lions, but, his God rescued him:

·       Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. (Daniel 6:23)

Would we have followed the King’s edict, or would we be a Daniel who “had trusted in his God?” If we had joined the military, would we serve in an unjust war and allow the military to be our master at the expense of our relationship with God? Or would we continue to be a light for our Lord?

This is a hard question for me to ask, since I believe in the necessity of a strong military and the “just war” concept. However, would we be willing to take a stand against this “master” if our Lord required it? If not, we shouldn’t place ourselves in such a position. Since we are His bondservants, we would have to flee from any situation that would force us to compromise:

·       Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Romans 6:16)

Would we be willing to entrust ourselves to God as Daniel had? This same question pertains to sending our children to public school and university. What is our responsibility for them before God? Before all else, they belong to Him and have simply been entrusted into our care:

·       “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

No longer can we expect the secular system to train up our children in a way pleasing to God. Instead, the system has become antagonistic to God. Therefore, to send them to such schools is to send them to wolves who seek to devour their minds. Are we free to do something about this, or have we chosen a lifestyle – a master – that requires us to have two incomes at the expense of our children? Have our jobs and lifestyles enslaved us so that we can no longer serve the Lord?

Our Lord does not want us to be bondservants to the system, dependent upon it for our lives. We were made to be free to serve and to worship only the Lord:

·       Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” (Matthew 4:10)

This must also be our motto! However, I don’t think that we can serve the Lord sacrificially, in this manner, unless we are convinced that our Savior loves us so much that He died for us even when we were His enemies (Romans 5:8-10) and that nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). We also have to be convinced that it is a joy and an honor to serve Him above all else. However, this conviction can only be bred out of a steady diet of the Scriptures.

God first loved us so that we can love Him (1 John 4:9-11). If we don’t understand this, trying to live like a Daniel will prove to be oppressive, and eventually, we will succumb to slavery.