Tag: Master

Individual Responsibility, Living in the Image of God

Household Interactions and Relationships—Child and Househelp

Living in the Image of God M05S14

To conclude the bible study series on individual responsibilities in household interactions and relationships, we discuss interactions regarding child and househelp; to understand the responsibilities of parent to child, child to parent, househelp to master, and master to househelp; anchored on Paul’s letter to Ephesians. The key responsibilities of parent to child are to provide for the child’s basic needs and train the child to perform his or her responsibilities to others. A child’s responsibilities to parent are anchored on positive fear, which motivates the child to perform other responsibilities. We define househelp to represent a household member that is neither parent nor child and master as the head of household. The responsibilities of househelp to master and master to househelp are guided by the reciprocity of Living in the image of God.

Household Interactions and Relationships—Child and Househelp 21:18

This study concludes a series on individual responsibilities in household interactions and relationships. The series started with a discussion of the responsibilities of the head of household for spiritual commitments and prayer on behalf of the household; and continued with husband-wife interactions, based on understanding that household interactions and relationships constitute the core of the human interactions network that God establishes around every person. The series concludes with the current study, where we discuss household interactions and relationships regarding child and househelp.

The discussion is anchored on Paul’s letter to Ephesians, where he describes specific responsibilities of parent to child, child to parent, househelp to master, and master to househelp. In the study, we define househelp (referred to as slave in Paul’s letter) to represent a household member that is neither parent nor child; whereas master represents the head of household, usually the husband but at times delegated to his wife.

The responsibilities of parent to child consist of providing basic needs (food and drink, clothing, shelter, protection, and community values training) to bring up the child physically and training the child to perform his or her responsibilities to others. The responsibilities of a child in parent-child interactions are anchored on positive fear of parent, which motivates in the child respect, appreciation, obedience, love, and wholehearted service.

The responsibilities of househelp to master and master to househelp are guided by the individual responsibilities in positive human interactions (i.e., Living in the image of God). Similar to the principle for child, househelp responsibilities to master are anchored on positive fear, which motivates respect, appreciation, obedience, love, and wholehearted service. The responsibilities of master to househelp are based on caring for the househelp as God expects a person to care for another: that is, in the Image of God.

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From the Gospel, Living in the Image of God

Compassion in Humility

Living in the Image of God M03S17

Jesus washed his disciples’ feet to illustrate a motivation for service fundamental to leading or following: “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.” To serve in humility, elevate others in your mind to the status of master and humble yourself to the status of servant; recognize the master’s need; and provide for the need diligently, wholeheartedly, and in humility, as a servant would to a master. By washing his disciples’ feet, Christ conveys a message that a call to lead or follow is a call to service: to humble self to serve others as a servant would serve a master. God promises blessing to those that serve in humility.

Compassion in Humility 14:40

We discuss an interaction between Jesus and his disciples when he washed their feet individually to teach service in humility. Jesus humbled himself to the status of servant and elevated his disciples in his mind to the status of master. Then he washed their feet individually as a servant would wash the feet of a master. He did this to teach the principle of humble yourself to serve others.

In several previous studies (such as Call to Compassion Example—Good Samaritan), we describe compassion as an act of providing service to alleviate the need of others. We focused on the category of compassion whereby a person more capable provides goods or service to alleviate the need of a person less capable: such as in the Parable of the Good Samaritan that describes a person providing for the need of a robber victim that was incapable of helping himself. However, the current bible study focuses on a category of compassion whereby the service provider is motivated by humility but not necessarily by a superior capability to provide the service.

Compassion in humility describes a motivation for service that is fundamental to leading or following. Christ demonstrated the principle by washing his disciples’ feet: “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave” [Matthew 20:26–27]. To explain the interaction, he declared: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” [John 13:14]. Therefore, by washing his disciples’ feet, Christ conveys a message that a call to lead or follow is a call to service—to humble self to serve others, even as a servant would serve a master. God promises blessing to those that serve in humility: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” [John 13:17].

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Master versus Innovative Subordinate: Saul Tries to Kill David

Saul Tries to Kill David: Jealous and Afraid

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How Should a Master and an Innovative Subordinate Relate? Interactions between Saul and David after David killed Goliath indicate useful answers. David remained in Saul’s service after killing Goliath and was threatened by Saul because Saul was jealous and afraid of him. Saul was jealous of David because he killed Goliath and led Israel to victory over the Philistines at a time that Saul, the king, was visibly too frightened to try. He was afraid of David because God was with David and had left Saul, and David was successful and impressed the people of Israel in everything he did. Therefore, Saul, the master, felt out-performed by his subordinate, David, and reacted by threatening to kill him.

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