Friends: We are called to be servants yet we are also heirs.  How does that work? Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #958

March 25, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Heir Apparent    

By Bob Walters

“Therefore, angels are only servants…” – Hebrews 1:14 (NLT)

“The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.” – Jesus, Matthew 20:28

“I no longer call you servants … I call you friends.” Jesus to the Disciples. – John 15:15

“You are no longer a slave but a son…God has also made you an heir.” – Galatians 4:7

One thing my long-time Bible and faith mentor George Bebawi impressed on all his students was that when Christian believers die, we do not become angels; we become fully human and heirs to the Kingdom of God.

That’s because humans were created in the image of God, and God created angels differently: “Angels are only servants – spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). Does that mean Christians are not servants? Or that Jesus was/is merely an angel?  We are the sinners, yet Jesus is a servant?

We know that in this life we are to be servants of God exemplified by our faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is Lord and Savior; He is God the Son and the Creator of all things (John 1:2). Jesus is Kings of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16). Our salvation is worked out in our obedience to God the Father (Philippians 2:12), who calls us to faith in His Son (John 6:44), and Jesus is the only door to the Kingdom (John 14:6).

Humans with faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior – in other words, those who overcome the world’s temptations and vices – Jesus says, have the right in eternal heaven “to sit with me on my throne” (Revelation 3:21). That is our full humanity.

That all sounds nice, but why did the King of Heaven join human life as a servant and we as servants in this life will one day sit on a throne in heaven? It occurs to me that the answer to that question is the answer of what salvation actually is: restored relationship with God the Father that was interrupted by human sin.

That Jesus is a king and servant isn’t so much a paradox as it is an explanation: He entered this life for the sake of God’s glory to bring us back to port.  Jesus is rudder, sail, hull, tiller, anchor, and captain of this great big ship of human life, and he gathers us as passengers to sail with him in this storm of sinful fallenness. The journey isn’t safe and only Jesus knows the way home. We are either on His ship, or we are drowning.

As Jesus is the way, truth, and life, it’s odd that he is the one people reject. Yet for some reason – maybe because they ask nothing of us – almost everyone believes in angels, or so it seems.  I certainly do.  I have no doubt demons exist as well and that both angels and demons traverse this earth and life as helps and hinderances to the work of Jesus. Angels are on the side of God’s glory; demons work to wreck our ship, not on the rocks of salvation, but far from God’s glory.

Jesus actually is God’s glory.  He is a servant to God and humanity, showing us the way home including his perfect defeat of death on the cross. Jesus calls us friends; he is our master yet makes the Father’s plans known to us.  We escape the slavery of the Old Covenant Law and become Kingdom heirs with faith, hope, and love.

Under the full sail of Jesus, our eternal destiny couldn’t be more apparent.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) links an old column “Whatever gods might be” about “Invictus,” the poem that says “I am the captain of my soul.” Uh, no, we aren’t.