“If your brother beside you becomes poor and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave. He shall be with you as a hired servant and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of jubilee” (vv. 39-40). This signifies that if a brother becomes poor spiritually and is in debt to you, you should not consider him as your slave but as a helper to you until a revival comes to him. In this point we interpret jubilee as a kind of spiritual revival.
In the church life a certain saint may be in debt to you spiritually speaking. Because a saint may owe you something, it is easy for you to consider this one to be your slave. We may have such a feeling in our heart, and our attitude and spirit may express the feeling that the one indebted to us is our slave. This is wrong. No matter how much a saint may owe us spiritually, we should consider that one not as a slave nor even as a servant but as a helper until he is revived by the grace of God. Then this one who has been under our care will be fully recovered. In a number of cases, certain brothers rendered spiritual help to a weaker one, but this kind of help eventually became an offense to the one who was helped. The more a saint was helped, the more he was offended. From this we see that it is possible for our spiritual care of others to cause offense. If our spirit and attitude are wrong, if we consider ourselves superior to the ones we are helping and look down on them, if we regard them as lowly slaves or servants, our help and care will, in the long run, result in offense. This should be a warning to us. Whenever we are helping or caring for a weaker brother, we need to respect him. Even in gospel preaching we should not consider ourselves superior to those to whom we preach. Likewise, in home meetings and in small group meetings, we should never regard ourselves as leaders and think that we are higher than or superior to the ones we are helping. Such an attitude offends others.
In helping others we should have the attitude that we are their servants. In 2 Corinthians 4:5 Paul says, “We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.” Paul was an apostle and he had God’s oracle, yet he did not behave as one superior to those whom he served. It is altogether wrong to have a superior attitude. Concerning this, we need to learn of the Lord. When He came as our Savior, He came to serve us as a slave. He was God’s Slave serving God’s redeemed ones. This is our example. If we keep this in mind, we shall be able to help the brothers properly for the long run.
“Then he shall go out from you, he and his sons with him, and go back to his own family, and return to the possession of his fathers” (v. 41). This signifies that at the time of revival the brother who is in debt to you spiritually will be released from you.
Actually, we may not be able to help a younger brother or a weaker brother very much, but we may help him to remain in the church until the jubilee, a time of revival, comes to him. This revival brings in God’s sufficient and adequate grace to meet the brother’s need.
We should always remember that what we can do for others really does not mean very much. At most, we can help to maintain a situation. Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made to grow; so that neither is the one who plants anything nor the one who waters, but the One who makes to grow, God” (1 Cor. 3:6-7). Here we see that neither the one who planted nor the one who watered could do anything to give life to those whom they served. God is the One who gives life. We, therefore, must learn the lesson of humility. Yes, we may do a lot, but not a lot can be accomplished. We may plant and water, but the plant will not grow unless God gives the growth. When God gives growth, there is a revival, a revival that brings in all the grace needed for the spiritual life.
Whether we shall be a profit to the church life or a loss depends on our motive, our spirit, and our attitude. In helping a weaker one, your attitude unconsciously may be that such a one is your servant or that he is beneath you. While he is under your care, he is actually under your bondage. Thus, the helped one is in bondage to the helping one. However, when a revival comes, the brother who has been in bondage to you will be released from your bondage. If you do not realize this today, eventually you will realize that the one whom you help may be in bondage to you and needs a jubilee, a spiritual revival, in order to be released from this bondage.
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