But [the elder son] was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years I HAVE BEEN SERVING you, I never transgressed your commandment at any time, and YET, YOU NEVER GAVE ME a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him. "And he said to him, Son, you are always with me, and ALL THAT I HAVE IS YOURS.[Luke 15:28-31 NKJV]

The above passage showing the grievance of the prodigal sons elder brother to his father, speaks a lot about the degraded state in which many so called children of God (like this elder son) today have sunk. Many have left the purpose of sonship, and are comparing themselves to mere slaves.

The conversation above could read thus:

Elder Son: Dad, I have been serving you, yet you never gave me... even though you gave gifts to others...

Father: Son, I do not need to give you things, you probably do not know who you are, that is why you are comparing yourself with ordinary slaves. You are my heir, the owner of all my estates, it is only slaves who demand for gifts, servants are they who get paid, they are limited, but my heir owns it all...

Many people serve The Lord for the wrong reasons. They have been told in churches to serve God, but with wrong motives. People today seek God so that He can bless them (do you wonder?). Many are with God because they want to collect and gather from Him like the prodigal son. They are in church because of what they want God to do for them. They seek The Lord quite all right, but it is for a hidden agenda.

When a census of men in church is taken, you will find out that many come to God for different reasons. Some say:

- I want God to bless me.

- I want God to heal me, provide for me, and meet all my needs.

- I do not want to go to hell, I do not want God to put me in hell (as if God is one tyrant that sends people to hell).

- I want God to grant me promotion, good job, great things, protect my family...

These and many other reasons are at the back of many minds whenever the issue of God comes up. It is rather unfortunate because these are not the real reasons why a man should serve God. This is more like a slavery or servanthood reason for being under the employment of a Master, and NOT a Sonship reason for being a child of the Father.

A servant serves basically for what he wants to get. He does all his expected duties for the Master because he is expecting some reward commensurate to his service. He does not have claim to anything the Master has (because he is not a child, a son, or a wife in the home). So, his aim is to grab whatever he can, use his energy to work however he can, so that he can get wages for his labours at the end of the day.

It is imperative that every Master must pay his workers their wages based on their labour as at when due. But these are workers, they are not sons of the father. Servants work for pay, but sons work in love as a part-owner. The servants relationship with the Master is not a Father/son relationship, but a Master/Slave one. He sees the Master as the One to be obeyed, one who has everything in his custody, but who must be served before he can release any benefits to the servants.

The servant or slave forever remains a pauper, he must be paid for whatever he does and that is all he gets. Whatever he does not do, he has no claim to any dividend thereof. He is NEVER a rich man, he can only get a meagre portion of the inexhaustible wealth of the Master. His wages is only commensurate to his labours, hence, his greatest input determines the limit to what he can ever get. He is short-changed by his energy, and can never stretch beyond his height. He is bound by his WORKS alone, hence, bountiful riches through the Masters GRACE never attend him. But for the son, his ownership is universal. Whatever the father has belongs to him, he is not doing anything for the father just because of what he can get from him. He knows already that the father does not give him things by measures or by his services in the house, rather, whatever the father has, automatically belongs to him, not because he worked for it, but because he is His child.

It is the responsibility of the child to serve the father, and service is NEVER attached to any reward. O yes, the father may reward the son for some services, but that (the reward) is not the basis of his service. He knows he must serve, he knows that there is no other thing he should do but to serve, because that is part of being a child. He serves because he loves the father and he loves the home. He serves because that is one of the duties of sonship. He serves because he sees all that the father has as his own. He is not cleaning the car for any reward, he knows that it is for his own good and benefit because he is a joint owner of the estate of his father.
The relationship between God and us is NOT a Master/Slave relationship, rather, it is a Father/Son, it is a Husband/Wife relationship. Though we will work for God and render our services to Him, because the Master/Servant relationship is equally embedded inside the father/son or the husband/wife relationship, yet, our labour is never for what we will get out of Him. When a man begins to serve God based on what he will get from Him, he has reduced himself to a mere slave. Though God may release some things to him, but it will be by trade, not by grace.

The relationship between a Civil servant and his employer CANNOT be used to explain that between God and His child, because no matter how devoted or committed the civil servant is, he works with the salary in mind, and his labour is commensurate with his pay. I am not serving God just for what I will get from Him, no, I serve The Lord because I love Him. For the very reason that I have become His son through salvation ALONE, is enough reason to serve Him for the rest of my life without asking for anything in return or tying my service to some rewards.
The elder son was serving the father faithfully, but with an eye for a reward. His heart was for goods and benefits, never for God and God alone. His service did not flow freely from his heart, he must have been calculating and accumulating his would-be benefits for every stroke of labour.
Do I go to church so that God will bless me with tangible things, or do I just serve The Lord because I love Him? I must have it settled in my heart that as it is my responsibility to serve God without strings attached, but in love, so is it the responsibility God too as my Father to bless me, take care of me as His dear child. Though I request of God to do things for me, yet, it is not because I have bribed Him with my service, that will be slavery.

Those that encourage us to tie the blessings of God to our service, to our gifts, to our offerings, they are only encouraging us to serve The Lord WITHOUT OUR HEARTS INVOLVED. Relationship with God is not superficial, it is not physical, it is not heartless, it is a love affair. This is what differentiates Christianity from every other religion. It is a pity today that we practice Christianity as a religion, do this and you will get that it is no more as a relationship. We now pour cold water in front in other to step on cold ground.

The preachers of today have promoted a cold affair between God and His children. The reason why our hearts are so tied to the world is because of these things. We are more concerned about what we will get from God to consume here in the world than knowing and loving Him. Several people are so committed in giving offerings, vows, pledges, tithes,... because their eyes are on the bountiful blessings that will be released unto them afterward by giving. We have become businessmen with God. Virtually in every church, our covetous eyes are on WHAT WILL I GET.
We encourage things like SOW A SEED, GIVE THE PROPHETS OFFERINGS, MAKE A VOW TO GOD, GIVE A PLEDGE..., and all these is not because we just love God, they are tied to how much will God release unto me. This is the best way to remain heartless and poor forever. What the Father has cannot be yours because you have made yourself a slave rather than a Son, and you can only receive what belongs to a slave. You may have goods here, but it would be hard to be a partaker of heavenly riches because your hearts are tied to goods below.

There are some terrible practices springing up in the churches, it is from a selfish, covetous hearts trying to use God as a means of serving mammon and the flesh. Our hearts have departed from the Lord, we do not love God again, and neither do we seek Him for who He is. Our hearts are not in heaven, they are in this world, so every means of extorting God to settle ourselves here below is being employed judiciously. Some people speak and prophecy on their offerings as if making incantations, they tie other needs of theirs to their MEAGRE offerings before they give it. Tithes are given to God not as a reasonable service of love, but as a means of collecting more from Him. Vows are made out of greed either of the demanding pastor or of the covetous member. God is painted as a Tyrant who demands before He can release. No one is interested in yielding his all to God but, we are only interested in ourselves. We are like this Elder son who appeared to always be in the house, but his heart has silently departed from the love of the Father to the things he can get.

The apostles of old left everything, gave everything, submitted everything as their response to God because of their love for Him. Some of them died as martyrs and were so glad when their whole lives were yielded to Him. THEIR HEARTS WERE NO MORE IN THIS WORLD, BUT IN HEAVEN, ALL THAT THE FATHER HAD WAS THEIR PURSUIT, AND NEVER THE MUNDANE THINGS OF THIS WORLD THAT WILL SOON PERISH.

I should seek The Lord as a wife/bride seeks the husband. The bride serves her husband, prepares his food, gives herself, her body, her totality to him, not because of the money he wants from him, but because she loves him. Many husbands are not even rich, yet they have loving wives. Our affection for God must be rich, deep and without strings attached. Heavenly minded Christians love God explicitly whether He blesses them or not. This trust and love for God is what positions heaven to even go any length to bless them.

• Are you serving God with strings attached? Are you doing all you do for God so that men will praise you, so that God will bless you, or so that you will be rated high, respected, and be great before men?

• Are you even serving God so that He can give you power and anointing? Is there something in you that you have attached serving God to? Is it so that you can be great in society or be a great man of God? Do you serve Him so that you can be famous???

All these are slavery reasons. I must serve God ONLY for one purpose I LOVE HIM...

The way you are serving God in the city now, can you serve Him the same way in the village? Are you not committed to God today because of the comfort you are enjoying in the rectory? Is it not because of the fat salary and the fringe benefits attached to the clergy that you have decided to go into full time ministry?
Why are you into ministry? Is it not because you have tried other businesses and failed? Is it not because you do not have good certificate in college, and you feel that “though the Civil Service rejects you, God will not cast anyone out”, so you went into the work of God to cover up your shame and also earn a good living?

Why are you so zealous in church? Is it not a display of talent? Is it not a display of personal excellence so that you can be known as the greatest pianist around? Is it purely for Gods glory or there is something you are getting from it?

Why are many ministries setting up branches in the big cities of Lagos, Abuja, London, New York..., why not in the villages of Amukoko, Egbeda and the hidden suburbs?..., is not there some self-importance attached?, is it all out of love for God and souls, or out of love for fame, name and money?

Why are you so committed to building the best edifice for God? Are you sure it is purely for Gods glory or just looking for prominence, so that your churchs name may be inscribed in the Guinness book of world records?

Why are you so involved in helps and giving? Is it not that men may praise you? Do you do things so that they can sing your praise, or just out of love for God?

Can you die for Jesus in the village, or you prefer that if I want to die at all, let me die in the city so that I can be immortalised?

SELAH…