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Servant and Apostle Of?

(child thread of FoundationsOfTheLikePreciousFaith series begun by RandyP - Revised 4/11/2017)

kjv@2Peter:1:1 @ Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ...

Contextual Anchors - Servant/Apostle

Note: There is an overwhelming amount of scripture needing to be provided here, so where appropriate key foundations have been broken off into digestible pieces. It will become more and more important to keep coming back to these foundations and explore each morsel's greater depth and individual context as they will become the fuel that ignites true spiritual productivity. These pieces then can be used as element specific study/meditation tools.

1. Servant:

G1401 doulos - bond servant/subject strkjv@STRING:G1401
(see: Word study - DoulosServant or slidy:DoulosServant )

MAJOR SUBJECTS:

TO SIN/UNCLEANESS/CORRUPTION
TO CHRIST/LORD
TO CHURCH/ALL/YOUR
TO EARTHLY MASTER
AS FREEMAN
AS BOUGHT WITH PRICE
AS HEIR/BELOVED
AS SEPARATED UNTO
AS YIELDING/OBEDIENT/SUBJECTED
AS A TESTIMONY/REVELATION
AS EXEMPLIFIED BY CHRIST

2. Apostle:

Quoted resource: strongs 'G652'

G652 @ ἀπόστολος apostolos ap-os'-tol-os From G649; a delegate; specifically an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ (apostle) (with miraculous powers): - apostle messenger he that is sent.

(see: Word study - ApostolosApostle or slidy:ApostolosApostle )

MAJOR SUBJECTS:

CHRIST AN APOSTLE
APPOINTED/BY WILL OF GOD
HAVING SEEN CHRIST
CALLED/COMMANDED
RECEIVED
CONFIRMED BY WONDERS
OF GENTILES
OTHERS AMONG NOTE
WORK OF
FALSE

Jesus Christ:

Note: We will hold off for the moment fastening bulk context till the next page foundation. Suffice it for now that all the context that would be for us to consider in this present regard ties into the " FaithObtainedThroughRighteousnessGodSavior " clause upcoming. We will also consider this further in the KnowledgeOfJesusChrist section ahead.

Doctrinal Context: Sanctification

(see: Topical study TorreySanctification or slidy:TorreySanctification )

Is separation to the service of God
Effected by: God
Effected by: Christ
Effected by: The Holy Spirit
In Christ
Through the atonement of Christ
Through the word of God
Christ made, of God, to us
Saints elected to salvation through
All saints are in a state of
The Church made glorious by
Should lead to: Mortification of sin
Should lead to: Holiness
Offering up of saints acceptable through
Saints fitted for the service of God by
God wills all saints to have
Ministers: Set apart to God's service by
Ministers: Should pray that their people may enjoy complete
Ministers: Should exhort their people to walk in
None can inherit the kingdom of God without

Practical Aspects

The essential regeneration discussed in the previous SimonPeter anchor goes hand in hand now with the present focus on ServantApostleOf. It is because Peter has been regenerated and is lead by the Holy Spirit that he is no longer bound to serving the operations of the natural mind and all of it's many corruptions of things; he is then (and only then) free to give himself over as a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. By any other means than this regeneration he is but a servant and apostle of the natural mind. So too are we.

This concept is not so hard to fathom, it can be observed all around us. The collapsing marriage is one that has been ill served by two partners tied to the leading of their natural minds and all that it has been capable of making out of first their satisfaction and then their dissatisfactions. The drug addict also is a servant and apostle of the natural mind, a mind and will that are drawn stedfastly to the further corruptions of heroine or the such. The rebellious young adult serves her natural mind as does her sedentary counter part. The violent hostile man is servant to the corruptions of the natural mind's sense of righteousness and rage. Not to mention the more subtle manifestations even in the lives of confessing Christians. We have but barely scratched the surface of our lives and this society.

So then to apply this to biblical counsel we have to ask the question "who/what is this counsel intended to serve". Too often the counsel we are looking to receive is limited to serving our own problems and our own assessment of them. "Lord, I have this issue that I want to get rid of (or set back upright)... Come please serve me by making this not an issue so that I can get back to what my natural mind is telling me that I really want to do (which is pretty much what I've been doing all along)". Too often as lay counsel we fall into the trap of feeding them the same type of counsel as they are naturally looking for. We are not regenerated in Christ only to remain servants of our own problems, nor are we to be servants of everyone else's problems either as men pleasers. We are to be regenerate servants and apostles of Jesus Christ in both instances and it is because we have been made fruitful by the leading of the Holy Spirit in the first regard that we are able from fruitful experience to be conduits of that to other people.

Further, Like their master, the servants and apostles of Jesus Christ are not the ones most naturally minded people are running to for advice, they are usually the one's being slandered and persecuted.

Ask yourself this:

the counsel that I am seeking, is it to serve my natural mind or my regenerate soul?
the counsel that I am receiving, who/what is the counselor serving by giving me this?
the counsel that I am giving, is it serving the problem or our mutual Lord and Savior?

Let's consider our biblical counsel then in the light of our compound elements in terms of where it is coming from and what it is attempting to serve:

Serving:	Former Nature?	Regenerate+Spiritually Set Apart?
VirtuousFaith
KnowledgeableVirtue
TemperateKnowledge
PatientTemperance
GodlyPatience
BrotherlyGodliness
AgapeBrotherliness

The oddity of this present exercise is that without knowing the "righteousness of God and Savior" soon to be examined, we cannot reliably confirm whether we indeed serve the Jesus Christ beyond our own wish and manufacturing. Yet, this odd dilemma is exactly where the majority of all believers seem to be at; we believe in a Jesus Christ for their salvation one day future and for the provision of our many daily needs, but little is sought out about the essential righteousness that makes Him any different from the image of Christ that they (or anyone with/without Christ) would themselves manufacture. We are stuck at the same point of only serving what seems right or feels best according to us. Some of us are even operating as if it is Jesus Christ needing to serve our wants and needs.

Note: Please take the time to examine all of the scriptural and doctrinal context provided here at some point. You may want to go straight through the series in order to familiarize yourself with the general flow, but please come back to these many scriptural references to get to the meat of these important matters.

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