SERVANTS OR SLAVES?

Many have been serving, but they have their mind as a slave of Egypt. They don’t know the difference between being a servant and a slave. What is your mentality about that? The religious will say, “I am a servant of God,” but Jesus says, “I don’t call you servant anymore but friends” (John 15:15). Friends that are closer than acquaintances. Friends are for one another. They are not like strangers; they are more open and freer. We will always be servants, but when all we do is for Him, then we will be positioned to receive. 

Servants go beyond what they are told to do! A servant gets to. A slave has to. There are people who do things for other motives: Self, money, fame, fortune, lust, or covetousness. The list of motives can be relentless. When you have covetousness, for example, you are always trying to get what others have. And you even use excuses like, “I want to have more time to serve the Lord.” These are all demonic mindsets because Jesus has taken care of that type of mindset in His Word. For example, the Word says, “Be faithful in the little” (Luke 16:10). But you make excuses like, “If I was in someone else’s shoes, I could have more… (more money, more time).” You are always making some excuse and are never satisfied. 

Just like what happens in the Kingdom, no man can get the Kingdom in any other way. They are thieves and robbers. Therefore, if we try to get anything of the Kingdom by serving for the purpose of gaining, you fit in those categories, and will never obtain anything from God. Servants are free. Slaves are in bondage. So, when we do not have a servant’s heart, we make ourselves a slave. A slave does the minimum. A servant goes above and beyond. Everything we do must be unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23), not to get ahead or to receive something, but for love and for our first love. Even Jesus came not to be served but to serve and to give! Jesus is the One we are supposed to follow. Jesus is that high calling: to know Him and the power of His resurrection. When we live His resurrected life, we are living a powerful life. This is the highest form of freedom because it’s your choice! He gives us power!

Many are slaves because they have an “I have to” mentality. A slave says, “I have to go to church.” A servant says, “I get to go to church.” They are all excited about gathering! But some of them have changed as time goes by, and they think we can change God. That will never happen. You better get your heart changed back to how it used to be. I love because He first loved me; I give because He gave His life for me. Freedom comes from wanting: Joy, Peace, and Happiness. Freedom comes from a desire to do it! A servant becomes a slave when that servant becomes religious! Religiosity is not the Kingdom of God. Religiosity comes from the “have to”. When we are religious, we say to ourselves, “I am so good. I am doing this and that. Where is my heritage?” God is saying to you, “I don’t like this attitude. Because it is a covetousness attitude.” A lot of people can say “thank you” but is that coming from the overflowing of the heart or from the tradition of being polite and the religiosity of just saying “thank you”? A lot of people think, “I better say that I am thankful because I read it in the Word, and we are supposed to be thankful.” So, this thanksgiving is all lip service. 

Let’s identify our heart’s obstructions: motives, intentions, and expectations. All of these have to do with the posture or position of one’s heart. When we serve and complain, we are just slaves! When we serve and want recompense, we are just hirelings! When we serve for that reason, we are just those who preach for money or see this calling as a job. We are just doing what we are called to do, but no, the Word reveals your heart and says, “It is all about you.” You don’t care about what God cares about, and that is the sheep. But when we do all, and when we do all as unto the Lord, we are being as Christ was and taught us to be! Servants have a willing heart. Slaves have a demanding heart! Some servants get corrupted when they get paid for the service! Sometimes, God starts showing His faithfulness to people, but all of a sudden, in their minds, they start connecting serving with the rewards, and their hearts start changing, and the reason why their serving started changing is because they are expecting to receive as they did the last time. They think they deserve even more. Payment can be anything: it can be the “give me back for what I did for you.” It can be reward, money, attention, recognition, or honor. 

Servants can turn into hirelings at the flip of a coin! This is why we do not put a price tag on serving! This is why there are so many in the pastoral and religious system because many get a paycheck. Wrong! There is nowhere in the Bible that says we should treat the church like a business. It is all about serving God and one another! That is why so many are searching for big churches to serve so they can get paid. We must guard our hearts. Judas’s heart got infected because all he did was for another reason. We can find scriptures in the Word to back all our manmade structures, but I would say our examples to follow should be the primitive church - the first foundational Church of the Book of Acts. From then on, things have changed, but it was not God changing things. It is man that is doing the changing. You can see the evidence of it is the type of fruit and the lack of power. If we want what the Church of the Book of Acts had, we are going to have to do what they did and even greater. 

Many servants have been corrupted by being blessed because now they start serving with expectations of reward or gain, mammon, and idolatry! “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). You cannot serve for the sake of mammon! God will reveal the hearts during the servant test. There is no pay for hire. Then you become a hireling.

We need to have the fear of the Lord. If a true apostle, a true pastor, and true offices in the Body of Christ don’t get paid and they labor the most, nobody else in the Body should. When we have the right heart… “Behold the Kingdom of God is for you,” the less you seek, the more you have. In the system, people are trying so much to get kids to school, to higher worldly education because this is what good parents do, but we go by what the Bible says, not by what the world says, so now we have worldly churches instead of Kingdom of God hubs and glory chambers, and we end up handing our children over to the hands of the devil. And they grow up and get frustrated, having no heritage. They become slaves because they are outside the will of God. They never learn to become servants of the living God. That is because we have mixed the seeds, and now we have a mixed harvest. We are living like the Bible tells us so, and they call us an extremist. But our children shall be taught of the Lord (Isaiah 54:13). No education, no institution, can raise or teach a child like the Word of God and the Spirit of God. If we apply the Word and serve the Word and the Spirit of God, then we are blessed. 

When our motives are pure, our worship is pure, and we are always thankful and grateful! We don’t have to be told to be thankful. Many people think they are thankful because they say, “Thank you.” But God hears things that man has not said! Have a clean heart, so even if you are holding the plow (serving), He will be doing all the work because now you have become a true servant. When we do things for money, we always compare our abilities and our gifts and our talents with others, and then we think we should get more money! You start to sell yourself. In the system, they encourage us to “better ourselves” at all costs. These are all sacred cows that must be tipped over and not ridden on! We do not sell ourselves; if you do, you are a slave. This is what the world does, lives, and seeks: Promotion! But Godliness with content is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6)! A servant goes lower to be the greatest! Servants serve well! “But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth” (Luke 22:26-27).

A servant who takes a position that’s not given never has the authority of that position! This is what happens in the religion system. A pastor, not God, gives you a position, but there is no oil as you step into it. You just labor as a slave, and you become very self-righteous because you think you deserve it all. If God has not sent you, you will be doing it all on your own and, even worse, with a slave mentality and heart. David fit the checklist of God, but on God’s checklist, there was only one thing required: a clean heart. When David was in the field, he was not just doing what he had to do, but what he loved to do: to take care of the sheep. Here comes the prophet with oil, with the calling, and with the anointing. And suddenly, David was king. He may not have taken the throne just yet, but God chose Him because of His servant heart, because of his heart for God. He was not positioning himself to be king yet. He was being groomed by God.

 He was hand-picked by God, not by man. You can get on your own the spouse, the money, the position, and the honor of man but without oil. You may even receive all of that, but you will throw it all back, just like Judas did (Matthew 27:3-5). This is why we have a bunch of titles but no authority, a bunch of titles but no revelation, a bunch of titles but no anointing! A bunch of titles but no power! This is man’s kingdom mixed into the Kingdom of God. It has forms of God but is lacking oil, lacking power, and lacking grace.  

Passing the servant test means still serving when all hell breaks loose in your life! If we serve when we feel like it, we’re not a servant of Christ…Speaking about all of these, let’s look at this story in the Old Testament. Rebekah went well beyond what she was asked to do! She was chosen by God because she excelled in all she did! But she only excelled because it was her nature, not because she was trying to get somewhere or to get something. Without being asked, she offers to draw water for the camels. Read the story in Genesis 24. The servant went out to find a wife for Isaac, and Rebekah became his wife! Then that servant of Abraham was sent to Abraham's relatives with ten camels loaded down with treasure and blessings. When you are a servant of a man like Abraham, you end up being a servant of the Lord in that time. 

That’s a lot of work if you realize how much water camels drink. Every camel got water, and all the servant asked for was a glass of water for himself…She just did it. This is a servant attitude. Rebekah set herself up for a “suddenly” in her life. A slave waits until he is told. She saw the need, and she just did it! Do you know how many gallons of water camels drink? Do you know they store water in their bodies? When camels drink, they can drink up to 35 gallons of water at a time. That’s 132 liters. Regardless of whether they drank 25 percent of that much, that is a lot of work, and she was not even asked to do it! Oh man, receive a prophet as a messenger and receive a reward (Matthew 10:41)! 

Look what she got: “And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold.” Genesis 24:16-22

Rebekah said, “I will draw water for the camels.” Nobody asked her. She had a true servant heart. She ran to fulfill the need! She did not know what was about to be given to her. Maybe that is why God chose her because He had been watching her throughout every season. She was willing. When you are doing for just doing, God is one that will reward up. If you are serving for money, it can corrupt your heart.  

God even led Abraham’s servant in what to pray in his own heart: “And I came this day unto the well, and said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go: Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink; And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman whom the Lord hath appointed out for my master's son.And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee.And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also.” Verses 42-46

The servant of Abraham wanted a sign and wonder from God to choose the right wife. Before he even had finished saying that in his heart, Rebekah was already doing what the servant was asking God. What a setup! We know that God chose Rebekah even before the foundation of the world because He saw her in time. God is the one that will move the heart of man to bless you; it is not going to be you! This man was a real servant of Abraham! Every perfect gift comes from God (James 1:17). I don’t want anything that does not come from the Lord. I don’t need people to serve me because I did not come to be served. I don’t want to have slaves around me either, but how refreshing it is to have servants around me. Sweet fragrance unto the Lord! Acceptable. Living sacrifice unto the Lord. Imagine if everyone lived like that, loved like that, and was as Christ has said?

Let’s go to verse 63: “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.”

The servant did not get all tired out with all the work with the camels. No. He was excited about the faithfulness of the God of Abraham and with the miracles of God.

 He was not complaining about all the hard work. He asked for a sign, and it happened! Rebekah, in one day, received a nation, a husband, and an abundance of riches for her family. There were so many things that happened to her just because of her heart. That was the day seeds were planted! Wow, Rebekah never knew that when she was giving water to all the camels, all the treasure on them would be hers! This is how God moves! She ran! Slow serving is not serving at all! She ran to serve. She honored a stranger! She did not know that she was about to be honored as Jesus said to do. Look what God, not man, did! God… She got husband, nation, riches, and treasures, and she was not even desiring any of that… She was not serving because she had covetousness. God watches everyone all the time. She got married into a covenant and a promise. Just like the bride and Christ! It is like we now are all Rebekah, and Isaac is representing a shadow of Christ. 

“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods” (Matthew 24:45-47). Blessed is the servant and not the slave! Rebekah was blessed. The servant came and found her doing! Will He find you in your prayer time, in your job, doing! When He shows up, will He find you serving as a true servant? Everything we do, we must do as unto the Lord! 

So, when you say things like, “Hey, look! I have been doing this all day,” and then you put sweating emojis or fainting gifs, you are showing to God that you are just a slave, even though you are serving. But this is not a servant’s attitude… Rebekah did not go to the servant and say, “I do everything for everybody in the city.” No. She did not let him know all she did. If you don’t get this in your heart, you will never become a true servant. What one values, they give to it! When honoring the prophet, you receive the prophet’s reward! Serving is the reward! Anyone who gives a cup of water in my name! You are honoring me! When we value souls, we do anything for souls; when we value the sheep, we do anything for them; when we value the Kingdom, we do anything for the Kingdom and for the King! This is what true ministry is. It is not lights or the showing off of the gifts. It is pure worship in humility! 

Slaves live in a dry land, but servants live by the tree that is planted by the river. In other words, you will get to a place where it does not matter what season you are in; you will always bear fruit! Jesus valued His apostles. He values everything and every good gift from the Father. When His purpose becomes our purpose, His reward becomes ours! When Rebekah gave to that man, God gave her the Kingdom! Honor the prophet and receive the reward of the prophet! That’s all of us who have Christ in us! “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). “Let Christ be true and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). 

“If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. What you have done unto the least of these you done it into me!” (John 12:26). So, let Christ be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4). 

The servant of Abraham was sent to God. But that perfect, good gift to Rebekah came from God, not from the servant. Don’t look to the servant you serve but to God, where every perfect gift comes from. We serve from above, and that is His will! Servants do not quit. Hirelings work until the job is complete or they meet the obligation! A slave is told when they can stop! So, I have news for you! We always preach about hirelings as paid ministers or pastors! The Spirit is saying a hireling can be all of us! Because if you are doing it for gain or for monetary profit, and you’re doing it for yourself and not for Him, then you’re just in it for yourself! You’re a hireling because you are not doing it for the Kingdom, for the sheep, or for God! 

Let’s look at the New Testament. Here is another example of a true servant. Jesus, just as the servant of Abraham, was tired and thirsty. This woman went there to get water for herself and for others. God is attracted to servant hearts. That woman at the well dropped the bucket, which means she dropped her carnal mentality and went to serve: “Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” John 4:6-19

Now, look at this parallel. Wow! Jesus comes as a servant to God - His Father - to the world to find a Bride for His son, the bridegroom. He sends Him to a well, and the woman was one of the first strangers (like Abraham’s servant was) – she was the first non-Jew to be saved, and how symbolic. God the Father (like Abraham); Jesus the servant of all the sons of God (Abraham’s servant); and a Bride for Isaac found by Abraham’s servant (Rebekah). We are the Bride of Christ found by the servant, all servants of Christ Himself for Himself. What a revelation! Jesus said to the woman at the well, “Give me a drink,” just like it happens in the story of Abraham’s servant. 

The woman said, “The well is deep, and I have nothing to draw with.” Then we see Jesus talking about the living water, and she says, “Sir, give me this water.” Give me this Kingdom. Give me this nation and this husband. Now we say, “Give us this Truth. Give us this anointing. Give us this Father. Change our hearts and minds. Spirit of wisdom and revelation and of the knowledge of you, Father, we are thankful because our reward is You! Our reward does not come from flesh and blood. Our reward comes from You. Let us be faithful in all we do! Father, give us eyes to see and hears to hear. Let us be like Rebekah, like the servant of Abraham. Let us be like Jesus, the servant of all, and give honor to whom honor is due!”

That woman at the well was written in the pages! She was not trying to get anything, and God was trying to give her everything. Imagine. In one day, she got everything…. Suddenly… How many suddenlies have happened to those who honor the prophetic voice? Suddenly you are about to die with your son, and you have a few cakes of meal (1 King 17:7-16), and there is a knock at the door, and Elijah is standing there and says, “Give me your last cakes.” Then she served Him and got the miracle. Imagine giving a room to the servant of God, being barren, then by the same time next year, she bore a child. Suddenly, God sees you. Just because it was in her heart to do it, and God moved in the prophet’s hearts…” What do you want? Because you have a clean heart and a beautiful heart, tell me what you want?” … “I want a child,” she says. “Next year, by this time, you will have one,” and she had the baby. Things that we do in secret are memorable. There was another man that gave alms unto the Lord (Acts 10:1-6). He was not giving it to be seen by man. He was doing it in secret. The Word says, “Do your alms in secret so the Lord that sees you will reward you openly.” What is the reward? Whatever that is, it will be given in the open. 

Some say, “I am a servant of the Lord.” Are you? It sounds more like you are a slave. We must serve Him in all our ways. Serve Him. Do it for Him, serve. Elijah was representing God. “Give me first.”…. Jesus came and tried to help his disciples to understand the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is like… Oh, when was Jesus thirsty? When you took that cup and gave it to the least. When you watered those camels? What we do to the least of them, we are doing unto Him (Matthew 25:4). Is Jesus thirsty? Is He hungry? Is he naked or in prison? What is the first? Your motives, your intentions? You know that when somebody does something in secret, it for sure is done for God because what makes a man do something in secret? A servant’s heart! Everything is about the heart! Suddenly… because you are not expecting anything, He comes and knocks at the door of your heart! 

“Father, we thank You because we serve You. We love You. We know no matter what situation that is in our lives, we must seek and serve You first, seek first Your ways, seek first to be the servant of all! Father, we are seeking You, and all the things You said today, we ask: Give us a heart of a servant.”  

This is what Jesus is saying today to all who serve: Are you a slave or a servant? Our reward is Him! Don’t try to get things outside of Him, or you will have to throw it back and repent! There is nothing that man could take if that came from God. Deep down, we still want so many other things, when God has for us every good and perfect gift. Being faithful in the little means in every aspect. Because He is a rewarder of those who seek Him, you can seek someone without serving Him. 

God is exposing your heart through this message, and you may see yourself now with a rotten heart. Don’t think about anybody else. God is talking about you. God does not want us to glean from people’s harvests. He wants to give us our own harvest. But first, we need to learn to become a real servant and not a slave. He did not come to be served but to serve. 

“Father, we receive this new heart! We don’t seek to be prosperous. We seek your Kingdom! We don’t seek to be known. We seek to be known by You! We seek You! You are our reward! It is in You that all things are made alive! In our hearts, we can be doing all these things and not receiving the blessing and the reward because our hearts are not right with You! Put our lives in order. Put our hearts in order so we can be Your true friend that has a true servant heart, and no longer a slave that serves thinking they are a servant.”

Amen. 

Shane Roessiger

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