Free As A Slave (7/30/12)

Shalom,

Please begin by reading Rom 6:15-23.

"Don't you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master?" Even after accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior it's possible to give ourselves over to a life of sin and evil. The word choose is very important here. We don't lose our free will after we get saved. We still have the ability to choose, and we must choose wisely. The price for choosing wrongly is spiritual death, slavery to sin, picking up the chains we laid down. The best thing we can do is fully surrender to our Lord and Master as slaves of righteousness. This is what frees us to be holy servants of the Most High God.

Most of us are uncomfortable with the terms "slaves" and "slavery." We normally see slavery in highly negative terms. Or we see it rather light-heartedly when we talk about our slavery to chocolate, cigarettes, weight-loss, and many other indulgences. Yahweh wants us to seriously consider who we choose to become a slave to. He doesn't want us to fall under the influence of our human weakness or the strength of other humans. He doesn't want us to surrender to the pull of our sin nature. He wants us to choose serving him.

Now freedom doesn't mean the absence of rules. Americans live in what's called a free country, but we're not free to steal from one another. There are laws set in place to help us live in harmony with one another. If we're to have an orderly society, the majority of people must agree to abide by ongoing rules of conduct. If everyone can make their own rules or decide what's right and wrong for themselves, we'd end up in chaos and anarchy. If we're going to enjoy peace and have a civilized society, there must be rules that everyone must abide by. It's how our Creator designed things to work for us.

We need to understand that our "bondage" as Christians isn't imposed on us, but it comes from our obedient service to our Lord and Master. We must submit ourselves to his Lordship and become voluntary slaves for Jesus. Ex 21:5-6 explains the process of voluntary slavery within the Hebrew nation. If a slave wanted to continue working for his master after his time of service expired, the two would go before the town judges and declare this intent. This isn't imposed slavery, but indentured slavery. The person has contracted himself to a master for a specified period of time. To become a permanent worker at this household the master and slave would return to the master's home where the servant's ear would be pierced by an awl into the doorpost. This attached the servant to his master for life.

The marking of a slave sounds kind of rough or gruesome to us, but we need to remember we receive a spiritual mark when we're saved. Col 2:11 tells us how Jesus circumcises our sinful nature from us. We bear the scar, the mark of obedience, which displays to the world our allegiance to Jesus. Think of the scars Abraham and Isaac bore after their "test of faith." All of us are tested in many different ways. Like Abraham, we also have to put our full trust in Yahweh. To be obedient servants of the Lord Most High is serious business. We must avoid being half-hearted in our devotion and service to our Lord.

According to verse 19, before we were saved we were "slaves of impurity and lawlessness." Impurity refers to moral filthiness, especially sexual sin. If you look around our world today there's a constant barrage of sexual imagery in our advertising and entertainment. What used to be done in private is now much more open. Lawlessness refers to an ever-increasing movement toward wickedness. As we come ever nearer to the end of time, lawlessness is increasing. People are throwing off all restraint in their pursuit of pleasure and self-satisfaction. Before we became Christians we used to be bound up in these things that were harmful to us and to the people we interacted with.

But now as Christians we're told to "choose to be slaves of righteousness." Choosing here refers to making an offering, to put at the disposal of someone else. We can't be righteous without the direct help of our Savior Jesus. So put yourself at his disposal and allow him to work righteousness through you. All that we have and are must be laid at his feet. We must allow him to control what we use and how we use it. Instead of allowing our sin nature to rule our lives, we choose to allow the righteousness of our Lord Jesus to be our primary reason for living.

The idea is that we're all slaves to something. We're either slaves to sin or Yahweh. It's best to choose the slavery that's beneficial to us. It all comes down the the question of which master we'll bow down to. There's no such thing as running in neutral. And we all know the limits of the personal reforms we often attempt in the pursuit of improving our lives. Good intentions and hard resolutions aren't often lived up to. Our inborn stubbornness too easily weighs us down and causes us to quit pursuing anything that takes hard work. Our pig-headed ways don't very often allow true goodness to affect any real change in our character.

That's why we need to submit to our Lord and Master as his slaves. Our passion needs to be for obedience to our Creator, not to our personal lusts. In the beginning of our faith walk we need to start small, and then as we mature in our faith we still need to remember the small things, the basics. Professional sports teams all have some form of training camp where these athletes must spend time working on the basics of their sport. Normally the teams who do the basics best are the ones who are the most successful. If we become solid at doing the basics of our faith, we'll also become more successful in fulfilling our Lord's call. It's great when we get it right because when we rightly submit ourselves to Yahweh and follow his instructions we become instruments of his righteousness.

One of our big problems is our bad definition of freedom. For many humans freedom means serving our personal needs first. It mostly comes down to each individual doing as they please. Here are some definitions from Webster's Dictionary that we often twist to our benefit. 1) The state of being free of restraints. 4) Exemption from unpleasant or burdensome conditions. 8) Unrestricted access or use. These are used to allow for self-determination. Instead of knowing that freedom comes with boundaries, many humans want no boundaries. They want no restraints, nothing to hold back their lust. They want to be exempt from anything they consider unpleasant or that which they believe is tough on them. They want no restrictions, nothing to stop them from "enjoying" themselves.

Many people believe that surrendering to and serving Jesus amounts to a loss of freedom. They feel restrained and burdened by his rules of living. It feels unpleasant and limiting to fight temptation. You know the lies we tell to ourselves. But being free to do anything we want is called bondage by our Lord. Our only true freedom is found in trusting his boundaries. These boundaries keep us from dangerous things and protect us. The freedom we enjoy within these boundaries is amazing and fulfilling, but somehow we believe in our human minds that we're missing out on something.

Let's dig into some words used in this passage. Verse 21 points out that slavery to sin brings shame. Shame is brought on by doing things that are disgraceful, dishonest, and outside Yahweh's laws. These things should make us feel humiliated, absolutely humbled for our wickedness when compared to Yahweh's holiness. What we did as slaves to sin wasn't beneficial to us. What we did as slaves to sin caused us emotional pain. All the worst of our human nature causes nothing but torture and agony to our spirit.

Verse 23 speaks very strongly, "the wages of sin is death." The word for wages here was used for a soldier's pay. As you do your duty as a slave to wickedness and evil you're earning your pay, eternal death. Slavery to sin leads to eternal punishment. Verse 20 clearly says we "weren't concerned with doing what was right." People will say they haven't chosen to go to Hell. They'll insist that they're good people at heart, but they continue to deny and reject the righteous rules for living our heavenly Father set up for us. The fruit of our lives will clearly show where our heart is focused and who we serve.

But there's fantastic news abut the reality of slavery for Christ. In verse 22 we see that slavery to Yahweh leads to holiness and eternal life. Holiness is something we get from abiding in the presence of our Lord and Master. It sanctifies and cleanses us from worldly pollution so we can be effective ministers of his Gospel. It means we're living a more Jesus-centered life and consequently we're renouncing more and more of this world's influence over us. We don't have to indulge our flesh. We don't have to give in to the lusts of our eyes. We don't have to live separate from our loving Father. We can draw ever-closer to him by submitting to his Lordship and working at spending time in his presence.

The other good news is that slavery to Yahweh leads to everlasting life in Heaven. Doing holy things, obeying our Master, being faithful in choosing right; will all lead to the "free gift of God." The outcome will always be this great gift because our God is faithful to fulfill his promises. Our heavenly Master is kind and generous to all his servants. He expects us to be faithful and obedient to him while we're serving him on this earth. His standards are high. He really expects us to be diligent and persistent in attempting to do all he asks of us. But his retirement benefits are out of this world.

Look at the difference: eternal death is a wage earned and eternal life is a gift received. You can work for yourself and go to Hell, or you can submit to Jesus and go to Heaven. Doesn't seem like a hard choice, does it? But too many people in our world are choosing to go their own way. They're denying the Lordship of Jesus and their need for his saving grace. Left to ourselves we'll find separation from our loving heavenly Father. Surrendering ourselves to him will give us great blessings in his presence. Why is this difficult for so many of us to accept?

Use your freedom rightly. Webster's Dictionary also had this definition of freedom: The right of enjoying all the privileges of membership or citizenship. Notice that it doesn't say the "privilege of enjoying the rights." We gain the privileges after we've surrendered to Yahweh's Lordship. Freedom is a great gift from our Creator. We can't demand it from him. We can only receive it after accepting the fact that we can't be righteous without his help. To become a member of our heavenly Father's family requires submission and surrender on our part. Accept his freedom and use it rightly. Let the Holy Spirit guide you into deeper and deeper levels of the beautiful freedom we can have in Jesus.

Blessings & Peace, Mike