"Serve
wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men,"
I have always had a problem with the issue of Faith and Works. This has
bothered me until I realized that others, like James and Luther had similar problems. Even
Paul, the practical theologian of the early church, seems to have had a problem with
works/faith. How can we be saved by faith and yet be required to do good works?
Paul in Ephesians 6 tries to explain this in terms that I can
understand. He talks about the relationship of parents and children, of slaves and
masters. He talks of status and of deeds, of willing obedience and willing actions.
The slave’s status is not dependent on his actions. He can be the
best, most willing, smartest slave in the household. He can be the worst, slowest, dullest
slave. In both cases he is a slave. I have read (don’t ask me where) that slavery in
the South was doomed even without the Civil War as slavery by its very nature is
uneconomical. Lacking any positive incentive to work, slaves did not work as hard as they
could. A few willing workers replaced many more slaves on southern plantations after the
Civil War.
As I see it, I am a slave. I have willingly sold myself into slavery. I
now have a master. My slavery will not end if I do not work my best. I work willingly, I
hope, because I have the best master in the world and he asks for my help. This is a
master that even died for me, his slave. I work, not because I have to, but because I want
to.
