What the Lord Means for Me to be His Slave

As I’m finishing up my first read of John MacArthur’s powerful book, Slave: The Hidden Truth About Your Identity In Christ, my Lord revealed to me one very large component of what He wants me to understand as being His slave (beyond what might seem obvious).

Just as the apostle Paul acknowledged his Master’s sovereign authority over all by declaring himself a prisoner of Christ (and not Caesar) as he neared the end of his life, so I am to recognize myself as a slave of Christ by humbly (for the joy He has set before me) submitting to, enduring, and ultimately transcending the unjust sufferings and humiliations inflicted on me by my political overlords and slave-traders that rule America’s increasingly corrupt and rapidly decaying political system.

“Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are crooked. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience towards God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unrighteously. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this finds favor with God. For to this you have been called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps [emphasis added], WHO DID NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; who being reviled, was not reviling in return; while suffering, He was uttering no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” (1 Peter 2:18-23, Legacy Standard Bible)

Truth be told, this flies in the face of my political orientation in this physical dimension (which is not my home), in my “natural man” as an anarcho-capitalist (or “ancap”). As I view the political landscape in my natural man through this ideological paradigm, no man has the moral right to rule another; certainly not against their unmanufactured, unmanipulated consent; and more assuredly, no one deserves to have that power that seeks to have it. Therefore, in my natural man, I sees any and all forms of political governance (absent 100 percent voluntary consent) as both immoral – and therefore illegitimate – and inherently inferior to free markets consisting of voluntary transactions and relationships.

So, the Lord Jesus is applying the cross to my natural man in this regard through 1 Peter 2:18-23 and other similar exhortations. And now I find myself praying Christ’s prayer in the garden of Gethsemane: 

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.... My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done....” (Matthew 26:39-42, English Standard Version)

Am I being a bit dramatic? Perhaps. But such is the nature of this cross as it is applied to this part of my natural man, given how unpalatable subjection to my political oppressors is to me in my flesh.

And I am reminded that Paul transcended his political oppressors. Presumably John the Baptist did, too, despite his sudden martyrdom at the shameful whim of a corrupt ruler. And most assuredly and most compellingly, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ endured and transcended the most vile, brutal, and humiliating abuse – all completely unjustified – so that, for the joy set before Him, He might redeem and reconcile us and the entire cosmos unto Himself, glorifying His and our gracious and loving Heavenly Father in the process.

These are our examples. May the life of the resurrected Christ within us light and power the way as we strive to be exemplary slaves and follow in their path. 

PS: As our Lord reminds, “be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 King James Version).

The same life that lived in Christ when He lived upon the earth now lives in each believer and will prevail within you just as surely as it prevailed within Him, if you steadfastly abide in the Lord.

Amen.