This is part of the book: "The Warnings of the New Testament".

What shall we do then now? Serve the Lord!

Closing this study, the question may be: and now what do I do? I believe that the first thing one should do is to take his New Testament and start a careful reading of the gospels and then of the epistles and Revelation, without the glasses of familiar and cherished doctrines, confirming for himself what we saw in this study. As the Bereans were checking Paul from the Scriptures, so you should do also concerning the material in this study.

In addition I would like to present, as a conclusion, the following to you: The Lord is called Lord because He is the Master, the Boss, the one who commands. We, on the other hand, having made Him our Lord are by definition His servants. In fact the word servant in the New Testament has more the meaning of a slave i.e. the meaning of somebody who is completely devoted to doing the will of His Master. As Romans 6:20-23 tells us:

Romans 6:20-23
"For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Before we believed we were slaves of sin. But after believing and being set free from sin we have become slaves of God. This is not reserved for some special ones who make a special commitment to the Lord, but for everyone who has made Jesus His Lord. For by making Him his Lord he has simultaneously made himself the servant of this Lord. And here is what the Lord said about those who serve Him, keeping the Master’s word and commandments:

John 12:26
"If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him."

John 14:21
"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

John 14:23
"Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."

Speaking about the one that serves Him and keeps what He, the Master, says (i.e. His Word, His commandments, what the Master commands) the Lord said that: "The Father will love him", "the Father will honor him", "I will love him and manifest myself to him", "Me and my Father will come and make our home in him". Wow!!! The phrase "to have fellowship with God" has ended up to be used as a cliché, a phrase that we hear countless times but whose meaning is left vague. But what we read above is not at all vague. Christian life is indeed fellowship with God and having the Father and the Son making their home in us. Having the Son manifesting Himself to us, is the very definition of this fellowship. This is nothing abstract but something that will indeed happen. But to whom? To those who serve God and carry out His Word and will. If we do not care about this will, if we do not consider ourselves slaves of God but rather "believers" who can carry on as being slaves to sin, no such fellowship will be realized. The Lord is very clear: those who love him are those who keep His commandments, His Word. Those who do not do this, they do not love him and the Lord will not manifest Himself to them.

What should we do then? We should make a commitment to follow Jesus, to be His faithful servants, whatever it takes, whatever the cost, living then our lives no more as slaves of sin but as slaves of God.

To avoid misunderstanding: this does not mean running around like panicking chickens, doing whatever comes to our head as the will of God. It rather means checking His Word and finding out what He wants us to do and at the same time be in tune with Him to hear further instructions and commands from the indwelling Master, through the holy spirit in us. Such commands and instructions, if they come from the Master, will never violate the written Word of God but will give us direction and wisdom about specific things that God may want us to do and which are not described in detail in the Bible.

See for example the instruction that Paul received to go and preach the Word in Macedonia. He and his team were seeking God on the matter of where to go next and the Master gave them His command, through His indwelling Spirit (Acts 16:6-10). They then as slaves of the Master carried out His will. It is the Master’s job to call His servant and the servant’s job to be tuned in with the Master so that when He calls, he immediately reacts, carrying out His will.

Do we know the will of God as this is written in the Bible? Are we tuned in with the Master to receive further instructions from Him concerning what He may want us to do? Have we made a commitment to follow the Master no matter what, no matter the cost? If not may be now it is the time to do it.

Appendix 1: The present tense in Greek. A demonstration using John 3:16

Author: Anastasios Kioulachoglou