The Mark Of A Servant

same for your maidservant.”

Now, I know a lot of people it’s common for people to have their ears pierced, and their noses, and their belly buttons and their tongues. But I’m just gonna tell you. As far as I’m concerned… that’s just plain dumb.
There’s no way I’d go thru that much pain to put a new hole in my body that God didn’t design my body to have.

But the slave did it deliberately.
He CHOSE to have this mark placed on him.
And he chose that mark because he loved his master and he didn’t want to leave him.

Now, how does that apply to us?
Well, Romans 10:9 says “…if you confess with your mouth, ‘JESUS IS LORD,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

In the days of Jesus, if you called someone your LORD, you were saying they owned you.
They were your master.
They decided where you lived, where you worked, how you spent your time, who you spent your time with, and on and on and on.

Now, most slaves in Jesus day had no choice.
In those days, slaves were slaves forever.
Their only hope was that their master would set them free.
Otherwise: once you were a slave you were always a slave.

But in Romans 10, God is telling us that you can choose to be Jesus’ servant.
You get to choose if Jesus is going to be your Lord/Master.
You get to choose whether or not you will serve Him.
You get to choose if you will allow Him to have ownership of your life.

BUT – that choice is the only way you get to stay with Jesus.
If you sign up to be a Christian it’s pretty much all or nothing.
Becoming a Christian means – Jesus owns you.

ILLUS: When a person wants to become a Christian I explain faith, repent, confession, baptism, etc. but I especially dwell on this “Lordship/Master” thing. I pull out my wallet and I explain: “Confessing Jesus as Lord means that Jesus owns everything I have.”
He owns whatever money I might have (I spend it… but it’s His)
I’m spending God’s money (movies/books/cable/magazines)
He owns my retirement fund/ 401K, etc.
He owns my house/ car/ clothes on my back
He owns mind/heart/soul

Then I turn to the pictures in my wallet… and I point out my children, and I say: As a Christian your children belong to Jesus/ They are His, not yours. AND Your wife/husband belongs to Jesus too.

I Peter 3:7 says “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”

God takes this seriously. If a husband mistreats his wife (or a wife her husband) God WILL NOT listen to their prayers. When we turn our lives over to Him… He expects ALL of our lives, not just part.

Now, I want you to notice what part of the servant God wanted pierced in Deuteronomy.
Do you remember? (the ear)

“…take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life.” Deuteronomy 15:17

The Ear?
Why the ear?
ILLUS: I remember reading about a woman talking with her husband at breakfast table about their son: “It sure is a lot easier to get Junior up for school since he got his nose ring.”

Now, what was that mother saying?
She was saying she was using that nose ring to get her boy’s attention. He might not LISTEN to her… but he’d FEEL her eagerness for him to get up.

God chose