Are You a Servant?

James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. 

I apologize for the break in the Reflecting the Son devotionals.  Hopefully I can keep them going now.  We will start a new study today in the book of James.  I hope you get something out of it.

James starts of this letter writing primarily to Jewish Christians that are scattered about because of the persecutions by the Romans.  Please make sure that you understand this...They are of Jewish heritage, Jewish heredity, and Jewish nation, but NO longer of the Jewish religion.  They are Christians.

James starts off by identifying himself as a servant of God.  This is a tough label for any human being to apply to oneself, because we all strive to be FREE!  However, it was particularly difficult for the Jews to accept this role.  Notice this conversation that Jesus had with the religious leaders of his day.

John 8:32-33 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (33) They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? 

They argued with Jesus that they had NEVER been in bondage to any man.  But did they forget about the Egyptians?  Did they forget about the Philistines?  Did they forget about the Persians and Babylonians?  Did they forget that they were currently under the rule of the Roman government?  Their arrogance made it very difficult to recognize that they were under bondage and so voluntarily submitting oneself to servitude would be a very difficult task.

However, are we really any different?  Do we really desire to be servants of anyone any more than the Jews.  Of course not!  But we must train ourselves to think that way to be the proper followers of Jesus.  Just look at what the apostle Paul to the Romans.

Romans 6:13-18 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (14) For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (15) What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. (16) Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (17) But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. (18) Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 

Paul basically concludes that we have one of two choices:  To be servants of Sin and Satan or to be SERVANTS of God!  There is no other choice.  

Some might say:  “Well, when we became christians, didn’t Jesus set us free?  Certainly!  But that freedom is a independence from the bondage of sin, NOT a freedom to live any way that we choose.

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 

Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 

Clearly then, we are free from sin, but we are still to be servants of God!.  Let us  work to do those things to please our savior and to continue that mission that he left us to do.