The Bible has three different New Testament words for a “servant.” “Doulos” refers to the slaves that were captured by an invading army and put into servitude. Their jobs were assigned to them. Often, they had no choice but to work or be beaten.

The second term is “diakonis” which is usually translated “deacon.” It literally means “one who waits on tables” and an example might be the men in Acts 6 who aided the apostles by serving the widows in the early church.

The third term, “huperetes” shows up in I Cor. 4 where Paul refers to himself and Apollos as servants. That word comes from the world of shipping. In the first century, merchandise usually moved around the Mediterranean Sea by ship. Some of the larger ships were called “trireme vessels.” They were huge and had three large decks filled with oarsmen.

The lowest deck, way down in the bowels of the vessel was often covered by slaves. They might be chained to the floor. They were certainly not there by choice and their life was miserable.

But maybe one deck up was a different group of oarsmen. They were there by choice. They were the “huperetes,” the under rowers. Their job was also back breaking, but they wanted to be there. They were earning a living.

These “under rowers” could not see where they were going. They had no reference points to follow except for the sound of a drum. The captain stood on the bow, watching where he wanted to go. The drummer stood next to him pounding out a rhythm while the “huperetes” rowed to that pattern.

By faith they pulled on the oar and leaned into the process. By faith they continued over and over, trusting that the captain knew what he was doing. When they made it safely to shore, they got paid and moved on.

You and I are those servants, the “under rowers” of this story. We are where we are by choice. We choose to follow our Captain. We can’t see where we are headed. We can’t anticipate all the impediments along the way. We can’t even judge the weather. We just row to the drumbeat.

And as the song “Firm Foundation” declares “I put my faith in Jesus ‘cause He’s never let me down. He is faithful through generations. So why would He fail me now? HE WON’T!”

Just keep rowing!