Thematic Bible: Servant


Thematic Bible




For which is greater, the man at the table, or the servant who waits on him? Is not the man at the table? Yet I am like a servant among you. Verse ConceptsTablesJesus Christ, Meekness OfChrist, Character OfHumility Of ChristReclining To EatServing PeopleServing

rose from the table, took off his outer clothing, and fastened a towel about his waist. Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, wiping them with the towel that was about his waist.



"Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we mark the slaves of our God on their foreheads." Verse ConceptsForeheadsRestraintDivine Protection, Examples OfHarming TreesSlaves Of GodhurtingChristians Are Called Servants Of God



The right way for a man to think of us is as Christ's servants, and managers authorized to distribute the secret truths of God. Verse ConceptsApostles, Function In Early ChurchBeing A ServantSecrecyMinisters, Description OfResponsibilityVolunteeringMoney Managementsecrets


"Who then will be the faithful, thoughtful slave whom his master put in charge of his household, to give the members of it their supplies at the proper time? Blessed is that slave if his master when he returns finds him doing it. I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his property. read more.
But if he is a bad slave and says to himself, 'My master is going to stay a long time,' and begins to beat the other slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, that slave's master will come back some day when he does not expect him, and at some time of which he does not know and will cut him in two, and put him with the hypocrites, to weep and gnash his teeth.




You must be ready with your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to come home from a wedding, so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. Blessed are the slaves whom their master will find on the watch when he comes. I tell you, he will gird up his robe and make them take their places at table, and go around and wait on them. read more.
Whether he comes late at night or early in the morning and finds them on the watch, they are blessed. But you may be sure of this, that if the master of the house had known what time the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, and would not have let his house be broken into. You must be ready too, for the Son of Man is coming at a time when you do not expect him." Peter said to him, "Master, do you mean this figure for us, or is it for everybody?" And the Master said, "Who then will be the faithful, thoughtful manager, whom his master will put in charge of his household, to give the members of it their supplies at the proper time? Blessed is that slave if his master when he returns finds him doing it. I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if the slave says to himself, 'My master is not coming back for a long time,' and begins to beat the men and women slaves and to eat and drink and get drunk, that slave's master will come back some day when he does not expect him, and at some time of which he does not know, and will cut him in two, and put him with the unbelievers. The slave who knows his master's wishes, but does not get ready or act upon them, will be severely punished. But one who does wrong without knowing them will be lightly punished. From anyone who has been given much, much will be required, and of the man to whom people have intrusted much, they will demand even more.

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"What man among you, if he has a servant ploughing or keeping sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down at the table,' instead of saying to him, 'Get my supper ready, and dress yourself, and wait on me while I eat and drink, and you can eat and drink afterward'? Is he grateful to the slave for doing what he has been ordered to do?

and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." They answered, "We are descended from Abraham, and have never been anyone's slaves. How can you say to us, 'You will be set free'?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. read more.
Now a slave does not belong to a household permanently; but a son does.

Do you not know that when you submit to being someone's slaves, and obeying him, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, whether your slavery is to sin, and leads to death, or is to obedience, and leads to uprightness? But, thank God! though you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from your hearts to the standard of teaching that you received, and so you have been freed from sin, and made slaves of uprightness. read more.
I use these familiar human terms because of the limitations of your nature. For just as you before gave up the parts of your bodies in slavery to vice and greater and greater license, you must now give them up in slavery to uprightness, which leads to consecration. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free as far as uprightness was concerned. What good did you get from doing the things you are now ashamed of? Why, they result in death! But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you get is consecration, and the final result is eternal life.

If you were a slave when you were called, never mind. Even if you can gain your freedom, make the most of your present condition instead. For a slave who has been called to union with the Lord is a freedman of the Lord, just as a free man who has been called is a slave of Christ. You have been bought and paid for; you must not let yourselves become slaves to men.


For the Scripture says, "You must not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain," and the workman deserves his wages. Verse ConceptsEmploymentMastersMinistry, In The ChurchThreshingWord Of GodMuzzlingOxenBinding As AnimalsScripture SaysSpecial RevelationRewardWorth









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Do not accept gold or silver or copper money to put in your pockets, and do not take a bag for your journey, nor two shirts, nor shoes, nor a staff, for the workman deserves his food!

and cinnamon, spices, incense, perfume, frankincense, wine, olive oil, flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, carriages, slaves??nd human lives! Verse ConceptsBabylonFrankincensePerfumeSpirit, Nature OfTradeCinnamonCommerceProviding WineProvision Of OilGroups Of Slaves


































and cinnamon, spices, incense, perfume, frankincense, wine, olive oil, flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, carriages, slaves??nd human lives! Verse ConceptsBabylonFrankincensePerfumeSpirit, Nature OfTradeCinnamonCommerceProviding WineProvision Of OilGroups Of Slaves



immoral people, men sexually perverted, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, or whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, Verse ConceptsTradeSound DoctrineThe End Of LiarsDefilementgaysSexual ImmoralityBeing GayGay MarriageSame Sex MarriageSexual Purity




If you were a slave when you were called, never mind. Even if you can gain your freedom, make the most of your present condition instead. For a slave who has been called to union with the Lord is a freedman of the Lord, just as a free man who has been called is a slave of Christ.











If you were a slave when you were called, never mind. Even if you can gain your freedom, make the most of your present condition instead. Verse ConceptsCivil LibertySlavesConsider Your Call To SalvationPeople Freeing SlavesOpportunityReligious FreedomslaveryFreedomPositive ThinkingBeing ContentMoralityfree
















and rescued him from all his troubles, and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor of Egypt and of his whole household. Verse ConceptsGiving, Of TalentsDiscernment Of GovernorsRescueRulersWisdom, Human ImportanceGod Gives WisdomAfflictions


I have seen all the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groans, and I have come down to save them. So come! I will make you my messenger to Egypt!' Verse ConceptsAnswered PrayerOppression, God's Attitude ToRescueAnswered PromisesGod Seeing Their AfflictionGod Saving From EnemiesOppressorsGod Sending His SonGod Sending Prophets


He took advantage of our people and oppressed our forefathers, making them abandon their infant children, so that they should not live. Verse ConceptsSanctity Of LifeInfanticideOppressorsKilling Sons And DaughtersThe Death Of Babies

And the man who had received the one thousand came up and said, 'Sir, I knew you were a hard man, who reaped where you had not sown, and gathered where you had not threshed, and I was frightened, and I went and hid your thousand dollars in the ground. Here is your money!' His master answered, 'You wicked, idle slave! You knew that I reaped where I had not sown and gathered where I had not threshed? read more.
Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and then when I came back I would have gotten my property with interest. So take the thousand dollars away from him, and give it to the man who has the ten thousand, for the man who has will have more given him, and will be plentifully supplied, and from the man who has nothing even what he has will be taken away. And put the good-for-nothing slave out into the darkness outside, to weep and grind his teeth there.'

And the other one came in and said, 'Here is your twenty dollars, sir. I have kept it put away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, for you are a stern man. You pick up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.' He said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will convict you, you wretched slave! You knew, did you, that I was a stern man, and that I pick up what I did not lay down, and harvest what I did not sow? read more.
Then why did you not put my money in the bank, so that when I came back I could have gotten it with interest?' And he said to the bystanders, 'Take the twenty dollars away from him, and give it to the man who has the two hundred!' They said to him, 'He has two hundred, sir!'??26 'I tell you, the man who has will have more given him, and from the man who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away!

"For it is just like a man who was going on a journey, and called in his slaves, and put his property in their hands. He gave one five thousand dollars, and another two thousand, and another one thousand; to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The man who had received the five thousand dollars immediately went into business with the money, and made five thousand more. read more.
In the same way the man who had received the two thousand made two thousand more. But the man who had received the one thousand went away and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. Long afterward, their master came back and settled accounts with them. And the man who had received the five thousand dollars came up bringing him five thousand more, and said, 'Sir, you put five thousand dollars in my hands; here I have made five thousand more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my excellent, faithful slave! you have been faithful about a small amount; I will put a large one into your hands. Come, share your master's enjoyment!' And the man who had received the two thousand came up and said, 'Sir, you put two thousand dollars into my hands; here I have made two thousand more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my excellent, faithful slave! you have been faithful about a small amount; I will put a large one into your hands. Come! share your master's enjoyment.'

So he said, "A nobleman once went to a distant country to secure his appointment to a kingdom and then return. And he called in ten of his slaves and gave them each twenty dollars and told them to trade with it while he was gone. But his countrymen hated him, and they sent a delegation after him to say, 'We do not want this man made king over us.' read more.
And when he had secured the appointment and returned, he ordered the slaves to whom he had given the money to be called in, so that he could find out how much they had made. The first one came in and said, 'Your twenty dollars has made two hundred, sir!' And he said to him, 'Well done, my excellent slave! You have proved trustworthy about a very small amount, you shall be governor of ten towns.' The second came in and said, 'Your twenty dollars has made a hundred, sir!' And he said to him, 'And you shall be governor of five towns!'




"Listen to another figure. There was a land owner who planted a vineyard and fenced it in, and hewed out a wine-vat in it, and built a watch-tower, and leased it to tenants, and left the neighborhood. When the time for the vintage approached he sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his share. But the tenants took his slaves and beat one and killed another and stoned a third. read more.
Again he sent other slaves and more of them than he had sent at first, and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw his son, they said to one another. 'This is his heir! Come on, let us kill him, and get his inheritance!' So they took him and drove him out of the vineyard and killed him. When the owner of the vineyard comes back, therefore, what will he do to these tenants?" They said to him, "He will put the wretches to a miserable death, and let the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the vintage when it is due."

Then he began to speak to them in figures. "A man once planted a vineyard and fenced it in and hewed out a wine-vat and built a watch tower, and he leased it to tenants and left the neighborhood. At the proper time he sent a slave to the tenants to get from them a share of the vintage. And they took him and beat him and sent him back empty-handed. read more.
And again he sent another slave to them. And they beat him over the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another; and him they killed; and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. He still had one left to send, a dearly loved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But the tenants said to one another, 'This is his heir! Come on, let us kill him, and the property will belong to us!' So they took him and killed him, and threw his body outside of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come back and put the tenants to death and give the vineyard to others.













But the captain answered, "I am not a suitable person, sir, to have you come under my roof, but simply say the word, and my servant will be cured. For I am myself under the orders of others and I have soldiers under me, and I tell one to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes, and my slave to do something, and he does it." When Jesus heard this he was astonished, and said to his followers, "I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such faith as this. read more.
And I tell you, many will come from the east and from the west and take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of Heaven, while the heirs to the kingdom will be driven into the darkness outside, there to weep and grind their teeth!" Then Jesus said to the captain, "Go! You shall find it just as you believe!" And the servant was immediately cured.

A Roman captain had a slave whom he thought a great deal of, and the slave was sick and at the point of death. When the captain heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, to ask him to come and save his slave's life. And they went to Jesus and urged him strongly to do it, and said, "He deserves to have you do this for him, read more.
for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue." So Jesus went with them. But when he was not far from the house, the captain sent some friends to him, to say to him, "Master, do not take any more trouble, for I am not a suitable person to have you under my roof. That is why I did not think I was fit to come to you. But simply say the word, and have my servant cured. For I am myself under the orders of others, and I have soldiers under me, and I tell one to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes, and my slave to do something, and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was astonished at him, and turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such faith as this even in Israel!" And when the messengers went back to the house, they found the slave well.












And as he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all he had, in payment of the debt. Verse ConceptsLordship, Human And DivineDebtorsOther WivesSettling AccountsUnable To Do Other ThingsDebt



While Peter was down in the courtyard, one of the high priest's maids came up, Verse ConceptsCourtyard
















And he went and hired himself out to a resident of the country, and he sent him into his fields to tend pigs. And he was ready to fill himself with the pods the pigs were eating, and no one would give him anything. When he came to himself he said, 'How many hired men my father has, who have more than enough to eat, and here I am, dying of hunger! read more.
I will get up, and go to my father, and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your eyes; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired men!" '

When he came to himself he said, 'How many hired men my father has, who have more than enough to eat, and here I am, dying of hunger! Verse ConceptsSelf KnowledgeRegaining SanitySoliloquyNo FoodDeath Of A Fatherhomecoming

I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired men!" ' Verse ConceptsServants Of The Lord








For the Kingdom of Heaven is like an employer who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. He agreed with the laborers to pay them a dollar a day, and sent them to his vineyard. He went out about nine o'clock and saw others standing in the bazaar with nothing to do. read more.
And he said to them, 'You go to my vineyard, too, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. He went out again about twelve and about three, and did the same. About five he went out and found others standing about and he said to them, 'Why have you been standing about here all day doing nothing?' They said to him, 'Because nobody has hired us.' He said to them, 'You go to my vineyard, too.' When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' When those who were hired about five o'clock came they received a dollar apiece. And when those who were hired first came they expected to get more, but they too got a dollar apiece. And when they received it they grumbled at their employer, and said, 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have put them on the same footing with us who have done the heavy work of the day and have stood the midday heat.' But he answered one of them, 'My friend, I am doing you no injustice. Did you not agree with me on a dollar? Take what belongs to you and go. I wish to give the last man hired as much as I give you. Have I no right to do what I please with what is mine? Or do you begrudge my generosity?'




For the Kingdom of Heaven is like an employer who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. He agreed with the laborers to pay them a dollar a day, and sent them to his vineyard. He went out about nine o'clock and saw others standing in the bazaar with nothing to do.






Once you found him useless, but now he has become useful to you and to me, Verse ConceptsUseless PeopleUseful People


Once you found him useless, but now he has become useful to you and to me, Verse ConceptsUseless PeopleUseful People



I write you in full reliance upon your obedience; I know that you will do even more than I ask.



I write you in full reliance upon your obedience; I know that you will do even more than I ask.


When the angel who had spoken to him was gone, Cornelius called two of his servants, and a devout soldier who was one of his personal attendants, Verse ConceptsDevout MenTwo Other Men

He agreed with the laborers to pay them a dollar a day, and sent them to his vineyard. Verse ConceptsAgreeing For GoodMoney, Uses OfNegotiationCoinsAgreeingOnce A Day


For I am myself under the orders of others and I have soldiers under me, and I tell one to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes, and my slave to do something, and he does it." Verse ConceptsCommands, in NTServants, GoodHuman Authority, Nature OfAuthority Delegated To PeopleMen's OrdersObeying PeopleExamples Of Good Servants


But members of the synagogue known as that of the Libyans, Cyreneans, and Alexandrians, and men from Cilicia and Asia undertook to debate with Stephen, Verse ConceptsAlexandria The CityConfrontationMissionaries, Support ForSynagogueGod, Impartiality OfFalse Teachers, Examples OfDisputes