Do you think about this? I am Christ slave and gladly; he has purchase me. What are the implications of that? It means I live with him, as one would be a slave in someone's house. He is ever near me and watchful of me. I am his slave, his servant.. I am fed and clothed daily by him. Best of all, I am clothed in his righteousness, and have access to God. I am clothed anew from his word, and helped, encouraged, and comforted every day. I gladly do everything he asks. Think of the concept of being a servant. Do you gladly do all that Christ asks of you? He is your Lord and you are his servant, his bondservant. I will never leave him or forsake him, because he will never leave or forsake me. But I belong to him; I am owned by him; I cannot contradict him. I will meet with him at the appointed times. If my master summons me and appoints certain times when I go to take instructions, I keep those appointments. Do you? Lord's day morning, Lord's day evening, weeknight prayer time, Bible study, daily devotions? Do we keep appointments as if we were slaves in a house?
We remain clean to please him. The slave would wear a simple garment; he would not allow it to be torn or soiled, and if that happened, he would clean up and change it if it was going into the presence of his master. Keep your garments clean for your Lord, who you serve. Bring no discredit on his house. How shocking for a slave to disgrace the house in which he served! How shocking for us to bring the gospel into disrepute by any means! If I think of myself as a bondslave of Christ, it helps me to see the standards.
The slave would go and serve in the gardens and in the fields and bring back to his master the produce of his labour. Do you bring back every day the produce of your labour to the one to whom you belong, to Christ? A word of witness to represent him, to live for him, to stand up to aggravation and provocation with courtesy and kindness, to worthily represent him. Are you able to bring back your produce, your fruits of holiness and witness to the Lord every day? This is the concept: I am a bondslave of Christ.
Do you ask your master's permission, which you are bound to do as a bondslave for everything you do? Did you suddenly swerve aside to some place of entertainment without asking him, without consulting or seeking his will for that particular thing? Did you give time to some venture and you never asked? Something that shapes your life perhaps, even a change of employment, and you never brought to the Lord? We are his bondslaves. We ask consent for everything.
It is going to help us from being opinionated. Some people - their minds are very active; their views are sharp, and temptation is to become rather opinionated. What holds it in check? To remember that I am a bondslave of Christ. I represent him. I must consult his will in his word. It checks my liberty of opinion. It checks my proud self-seeking; it keeps us approachable for Christ’s sake. We may be people who naturally keep ourselves to ourselves and shun approaches for counsel, advice, help. But no, because we are serving Christ and we represent him, we will be approachable people and we will treat everyone with courtesy and kindness. Most of all in the family because we represent him, we will treat wives, husbands, family, friends, with utmost courtesy, no matter what, and patience and kindness.