This is a strong message by Pastor Tan on one of the leaders' meeting, and I believe those who went the meeting was strongly impacted by what pastor had shared. Hopefully it will bring another new level of perspective on what exactly it meant to be a servant(one who serve) and a master(one who take care of his servant).

In Exodus, Moses was called to bring the people of Isreal to a promised land, in another words Moses brought the people out of Egypt, out of salvery to the land of Canan where they will be freed from their salvery. So the system would look this way:

Exodus 21:1-9

1 “Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them: 2If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. 3 If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. 5 But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
7 “And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. 9 And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. 10 If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights. 11 And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without payingmoney.

Now look at this paragraph, you would realized that this whole passage was talking about a Hebrew servant. And v2 is an elaboration of the 4th commandment: Sabbath day.

Now while we are talking about Hebrew servant, we need to find out the origin of how exactly can a Hebrew become a slave/servant? To understand this even further we shall look at Leviticus 25:23-55.

For e.g. If I sold the land on year 2000, and on year 2010 I managed to redeem it back, all i have to pay back is value of the land - 10years value of the land = 39years value of the land.

However, if the person is unable to redeem it, the property that he mortgage shall be returned to him on the Year of Jubilee, in another word after 49years.

29 If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. 30 But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.

Now IF this person still refused to learn his lesson, still have not give up his bad habit, continuously getting himself in huge debt, yet he have no more possession, no more property, no more house to sell to you to pay back what he owe, he will then sell himself to you.

And thats how we got Hebrew servant who served under you. He served under you BECAUSE he forever was in huge debt, so huge that he first used his property, then his house, and all his possession until he have nothing else left but himself only. And yes, it was always because of DEBTS that caused him to be where he is.

Now we finally understand how did a person became a Hebrew servant. Now lets explore the unlying reason why do we have to understand this, and experience the magnificient grace that God gave us.

Now back to Exodus 21, we said that when we bought a hebrew servant, he is to serve us for 6years and on the 7th year he shall be freed and pays nothing. Why 6years and to be released on the 7th year?

• When we are borned in a good family, we got everything we need. We are rich, travelling around the world, enjoy single part of life we could.

  • Isn't this like when we got ourselves a big piece of land, not fearing that we will be poor one day?

• Now when we do not learn from our past lesson, we still spend like we used to be rich, thinking that we could have the world back. Still daydreaming that our credit cards could swipe like annual salary worth 100billions.

• And now we realized one thing, we got no choice but to work in order to survive. In order to feed ourselves, we need to work. Work for the sake of surviving.

**Isn't this ending like, becoming a slave/servant to another master? Employee to employer.

BECAUSE YOU DO NOT HAVE RESPONSIBLITY.

Yup, harsh as it is, but it's all because you lack of responsiblity for youself, that you have to learn to serve your boss. You have to learn new skills, new task, learn to be humble, learn to be resposible for your own action. Yes, that's why a servant had to serve for 6years, because this 6 year is a time frame for us to reflect and learn how to be a humble & responsible person.

That's God intentions for us: to be a humble & responsible person.

So now the system will look this way:

When there is servant, there is master too. Just like there's heaven & there's earth.

And now if you are master, and you have a servant, you are to treat your servant well as well. This is what the bible says - Exodus 21:20-36.

20 “And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.
21 Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his property.
22 “If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.23 But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for the sake of his eye. 27 And if he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he shall let him go free for the sake of his tooth.
28 “If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted.
29 But if the ox tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and it has been made known to his owner, and he has not kept it confined, so that it has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.
30 If there is imposed on him a sum of money, then he shall pay to redeem his life, whatever is imposed on him.
31 Whether it has gored a son or gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. 32 If the ox gores a male or female servant, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
33 “And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his.
35 “If one man’s ox hurts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the money from it; and the dead ox they shall also divide. 36 Or if it was known that the ox tended to thrust in time past, and its owner has not kept it confined, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall be his own.

Picture yourself in this:

You have a maid, do you everyday torture your maid because you want to fully utilised whatever you have paid, or do you shower your maid with love as a master? Think!

When your maid is in trouble, are you the one as a master to stretch your hand to help her get out of the situation with your strength?

When you go travelling with your family, do you bring your maid along to enjoy whatever you are enjoying? Or do you just leave her at home, every now and then call her to make sure that she is not taking a break?

You will see when you and your maid contracts ended, will she leave you or will follow like what the bible said:

Exodus 21:5
"But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free.”

That's the level of love, care & concern you showered for your servant. To the extend that he/she wouldn't even want to leave you and said that they are willing to even serve you for the rest of their life. To be your BONDSERVANT, till they died.