Reading: Ex. 21:5-6;
Deut. 15:12-18.
Here we have the ear of
the servant, and right on the surface there lies the
connection between love, the ear, and abiding service.
Love here is connected with the bored ear, and becomes
the basis of this continuous service which is something
that is voluntarily entered into and cannot be legally
imposed. It is something which is taken up by the servant
himself or herself because of a heart attitude and a
heart relationship. The love basis leads to the resigning
of certain rights and liberties. This servant has the
right to go free. He is not a foreigner, he is not a
hireling who, under compulsion, is put to bond-service.
He is a Hebrew, and as such he has rights, and his rights
are in the realm of liberty. He may go out free without
violating any law or obligation. Indeed, it is his master
who is under obligation to him at the time. But this
servant resigns his rights and his liberties because of
love. It is something other than constraint by legal
obligation. It brings into another realm altogether.
Paul himself, who so
often referred to himself as the bondservant of Jesus
Christ, in various statements indicates something of the
meaning of this resigning of liberties. For instance, he
says, "All things are lawful for me, but not all
things are expedient" (1 Cor. 6:12). 'I have
rights, if I followed the line of rights. There is
nothing to forbid me or to compel me so far as law is
concerned, but I am actuated by something more than that;
there are other considerations; the Lord's interests and
my concern for Him lead me to forego certain liberties
and rights; I resign them voluntarily for His sake.' It
is the bond-slave recognising that, while there may be
nothing against certain things as judged by the ordinary
standards of right and wrong, and that on that level
certain courses are quite permissible, yet some higher
interest may come in where the Lord can be better and
more fully served if even those liberties are resigned
for His sake. It is a much higher level, this level of
the servant who says, 'I will not go out free; I might, I
have perfect right to do so, but I will not. I am not
here simply because I must be, because I am compelled; I
am here because of love'. That is a fuller and a higher
world altogether, and it may touch us at many points. We
could... we might... there would be no wrong... but the
Lord's highest interests require that we should on some
things deny ourselves and say, 'Though there is no wrong,
no harm, the Lord will be better served if I do not'.
That is what is here. "All things are lawful... not
all things are expedient"; and when that attitude is
taken, a new relationship with the Lord is set up, a
relationship of service in perpetuity; but now it is more
as one of the household, one of the family. The Spirit of
sonship enters in, and "thou art no longer a
bond-servant but, a son" (Gal. 4:7). Love lifts and transfers, and, although it is still
service, we find a remarkable relatedness in the New
Testament, between the bond-slave and, at the same time,
the son.
We find that the Lord
Jesus becomes the great example. He had rights, very
great rights: He could have held to them. He had
liberties: He could have stood for them. There was no
obligation upon Him legally to do anything but to remain
in the eternal glory with the Father. He surrendered all
His rights and His liberties. He took upon Himself
"the form of a servant (bond-servant)... becoming
obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the
cross" (Phil. 2:7-8). He said "I will not go
out free"; and the Father bored His ear. He is the
eternal Son-Servant. In Him the two combine - sonship and
servanthood bound together in love for the Father. And
what is in its highest and fullest expression in Him is
transferred to us in our smaller way. Love requires
sometimes that we have to say 'No' to some things which
in themselves are harmless, and, in a way, desirable, and
which would be quite permissible if we were serving only
our own interests. To them we say 'No' in the interests
of the One Who has become to us more than Master; He has
become Lord.