Servants or Friends

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Are we servants or friends of Christ?

-- jean bouchard (jeanb@cwk.imag.net), June 30, 1999

Answers

Jean, Your question was thought provoking. My 2 cents. It would seem that this is really a 2 part answer and an evolution of thought concerning Divine revelation. The term servant has the sound of oppression to it. It is very lawful and would seem to apply itself to the Old Testament. However the term friend sounds very much the opposite of the Law more like the Gospel. How does Christ speak of these terms? He says come to me all who are burdened and I will give you rest, My yoke is light, I no longer call you servants but friends. With the Gospel of love poured out on His church, His church responds with great love back. Servants don't necesarily love but friends do. With this love the burden (yoke) is light and so love and serving practically become synonomous. What was dreaded works before becomes instead a spontaneous fountain of works done in love and joy. All this is the working of Christs love through the Holy Spirit in us. It is God's work in us that gives us the freedom to be friends that serve with joy.

-- Pamela Brink (Rosylace@aol.com), July 01, 1999.

jean,

I would say that the proper response is that we are supreme friends, indeed lovers with Christ. No greater Love is to serve our Lover.

Servitude that is absoloute - total self donation, a mirror of Christ's Love defining self-donation on the Cross. A servitude that is so radical that through total servitude one find the only true and complete FREEDOM!

Embrace the Passionate Lover!!!

-- ubi (ubi@petros.com), July 01, 1999.


We are both. But the Scriptures only call us friends of Christ once, whereas we are called servants of Christ many times. So there's a big difference in emphasis.

What we a not is buddies of Christ which is what so many of our modernist coreligionists want. An intimate relationship with Christ is to be striven for, but He is our Lord, our Master, our High Priest, our Savior, our God....and yes, our friend and brother. But those other categories must be kept in their proper Biblical and Traditional perspective to avoid the loss of proper respect for our Lord.

-- David Palm (djpalm64@yahoo.com), July 01, 1999.


David' Forgive me for asking but you do not sound Catholic . Are you ? You sound very lawful more of an evolved protestant removed from the teaching that God blesses us and comes to us through His Sacraments. Instead of Christ forming us we conform to him of our own power. Is that what you think? I will never believe that Jesus wants us to emphasis the law over the Gospe since His fulfillment of the law with His sacrifice on the crossl. He came to reconcile us to Himself. To love us. He not only calls us friends he goes much further in intimacy and calls us His Bride. What kind of marriage do you have if you are not friends? God likens the sacrament of marriage to His own relationship with us. Far more than friends but bethroled. This makes us revere Him and love Him more. He loved us this way first. It was His idea and plan for salvation.. We don't strive toward Him. He seeks us. All we do is with His help lest should we become boastful and start trusting our purely earthly ways of gain.

-- Pamela Brink (Rosylace@aol.com), July 01, 1999.

Pamela, from one who is not Catholic, I would say that your position is the predominant one held by Protestants. Most Protestants view themselves primarily as friends and lovers with Jesus and secondarily as a servant. I'm not saying that it is incorrect, just to point out that I also see that the perception of Jesus as friend and lover sometimes can lead to an attitude of unholy familiarity among some. By that I mean that Christians sometimes treat sin as not so big a deal because they know that Jesus their friend will forgive them. But the Word cautions us to "consider both the kindness and severity of God". We need to live in the fear of the Lord. Our deep respect for His holy nature should lead each of us to a path of holiness, obedience and Christlikeness.

I've always viewed our servant relationship along the lines of a bond servant -- voluntary servitude. We submit to Jesus willingly out of love and trust, but also out of fear if we refuse to which is the seed of anarchy or rebellion from God.

-- David Bowerman (dbowerman@blazenet.net), July 01, 1999.



David, Wow, there are a lot of Davids around here. You are very preceptive. It really all boils down to the proper use of Law and Gospel doesn't it? A sinner secure in his sin needs the fear of the Law. The repentant sorrowful, scared child needs the comfort of the Gospel. However, I still maintain that the Holy Spirit works the power of the Gospel in us to flee from sin and respond to His love. This power (grace) comes from the liturgy (God's Word whether through written letter or tradition handed down through the apostles) and the Sacraments of the church. It comes from the Gospel! David, you must be very protestant. Nice to talk with you!

-- Pamela Brink (Rosylace@aol.com), July 01, 1999.

I was thinking of an example that may be relevant here. Consider Ananais and Sapphira. The church had just been birthed. Everyone had just been filled with the Holy Spirit. They were celebrating the joy of being set free from the Law. They were joined together in a loving community worshiping God and sharing all they had with one another as God intended. Grace and forgiveness filled the air and many were being added to the disciples daily.

Then, Ananais and Sapphira conspire to lie to the Apostles and indirectly to the Holy Spirit who was manifestly present among them. They agreed to present money to the apostles from the proceeds from the sale of their land and then lie in saying that it represented ALL of the money from the sale (presumably to gain greater status in the community for their "sacrifice"). Well, you know the rest of the story. When Peter confronted them with their sin (the Holy Spirit having revealed it to him), they were judged instantly and died by God's power.

This event had an immediate and telling impact on the church. Everyone (especially unbelievers) heard the story and the fear of the Lord spread throughout the city. Interestingly, Acts tells us that "no one dared join them", yet it also says "nevertheless, more and more men and women were added to their number daily". It also indicates that the city gained significant fear/respect for the apostles (particulary Peter) as it says that they gathered the sick so that Peter's shadow might fall on them and they would be healed.

So we can see that the fear of the Lord had an impact on both believers and unbelievers. In essence, everyone knew . . . "hey, God is loving and forgiving and is offering eternal life for all who believe . . . but remember, this is God Almighty we're talking about here. God, Himself, is with these folks. Don't come here playing games. This is serious business."

On the one hand, those who were serious about repentance and getting right with God saw that God's power and Presence was very real among the believers, and they were drawn by that. On the other hand, those who were curious, but not really serious about surrendering their lives to live for Jesus, knew better than to mess with them.

I bring this up because I think it illustrates the critical importance of the fear of the Lord and what role it plays in our faith. Hope this helps.

Pamela, it's a pleasure talking to you as well. Please continue to contribute. I enjoy reading your posts. Not quite sure what you mean when you say "you must be very protestant". I grew up Catholic and changed to Pentecostal when I was baptized in the Spirit at 22. I consider Catholic believers to be my brothers and sisters. We may live in different houses, but we share the same parent :-) I visit here because I enjoy the discussions and I believe that Protestants have as much to learn from Catholics as Catholics have to learn from Protestants. Have a great day.

-- David Bowerman (dbowerman@blazenet.net), July 01, 1999.


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