The Mark Of A Servant Series

I’m not asking the question to make you feel guilty.

And I’m not asking because I think you need to fill some quota of good deeds.

I’m just asking: are you so consumed with love for Jesus that you literally want to please Him in everything you do?

Now, two more things:

1st – it says here in Deuteronomy 15 that the servant was marked for life.

Are you are marked?

Well, yeah. Once you became a Christian… God marked you.

Ephesians 1:13-14 says “… you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, YOU WERE MARKED in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession— to the praise of his glory.”

Really!

God has placed His Spirit inside of every Christian.

And when God looks at you, He looks to see His Spirit inside of you.

But that Spirit is not just some dormant mark on our body.

That Spirit is given to us to guide us, teach us, rebuke us, comfort us, pray with us. God’s Spirit is an active power force that dwells within you and I to strengthen us and help us as we walk beside God.

And when do we get that Holy Spirit?

Ephesians says “Having believed”

Now, there are churches that say that this is all you have to do.

They lead people in a “Sinner’s Prayer” and have them ask Jesus into their hearts.

Now, I like that idea. It’s very appealing.

But there’s just one small problem with that approach.

Do you know what it is? (That’s right – this Sinner’s Prayer is not found taught ANYWHERE in Scripture).

Besides, we already discovered that God requires us to “confess that Jesus is our Lord.” That action alone requires more than jus “faith”. It requires a conscious decision to act on that faith.

Additionally, it doesn’t match the symbolism of Deuteronomy 15. To say that faith alone saves you would be like having the servant in Deuteronomy 15 simply “declare” that he/she wanted to belong to their Master… and stop there.

But that servant wasn’t allowed to “stop” with a simple declaration, and neither are we. The crowd at Pentecost interrupted Peter’s sermon to ask “What shall we do?” To which Peter replied: Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38

Faith should lead us to repent and be baptized.

Now this makes sense for two reasons.

1st – the servant who had his earlobe pierced surrendered something.

He surrendered all his past to his master (not going back to his old life)

When we repent… we surrender all of our past to God.

We declare to God that we are turning away from the way we used to live. We don’t have any desire to go back that old way of life.

And we turn toward God.

That’s what repentance is. Repent means to turn. Turn away from our way of life and turn to God.

2ndly – The servant’s ear was pierced.

When you became a Christian, do you remember having of your body parts pierced?

No?

Come to think of it, I don’t remember that being part of what we do here.