|
Freedom Through Bondage
There is
a growing belief among many in the Lord's church that our freedom in Christ
equates to freedom to live as we see fit. The belief that strict
obedience to God's will is unnecessary is gaining an ever increasing
following. I have had discussions with denominational people who have
said they believe that strict obedience to the will of God is too
burdensome. One of the arguments they use is that through the gospel,
we have freedom in Christ and that this freedom releases us from God's law.
The wording they use to promote this is deceiving. They say that
our salvation in Christ is by grace through faith and that Christians have
been set free from the bondage of law. Well, in the proper context,
that is a true statement. However, that statement is used to promote
the idea that strict observance to God's law is no longer necessary under
the gospel. We have been set free from the bondage of the old
law of Moses. We are not set free from the law of God as some are
promoting. The purpose of this lesson is to examine what true freedom
in Christ really is and what one must do in order to be truly free in
Christ.
There's
a story about a young boy who was playing with his new slingshot. He
set up a target and practiced shooting stones from it. But after
several hours, he was still unable to hit the target. Frustrated, he
gave up and started walking back to his home. He happened to see some
of his mother's chickens in the yard and took a random shot at one of them
with his new slingshot. Sure enough, he hit one of the chickens in the
head and killed it. Not wanting to get into trouble, he dug a hole,
buried the
chicken and went on about his business.
Unknown to him, his little sister witnessed the whole affair but didn't let
him know it at the time.
Later
that day, after supper, the young boy's mother told his little sister to
wash the dishes. She was setting next to him at the table and quietly
whispered just loud enough for her brother to hear, "Remember mom's
chicken". Then she announced to her mother that her brother had
graciously offered to do the dishes for her. Not wanting to get into
trouble for killing his mother's chicken, he reluctantly performed his
little sister's chore. Later that evening the little girl was directed
to pick up her dirty clothes and put them in the washing machine. The
same low whisper in her brother's earshot to "remember mom's chicken"
resulted in her laundry being done by her older brother.
For the
next 2 weeks, the young chicken slayer was stuck with all of his sister's
chores. Finally, he couldn't stand it any longer and decided that
being punished for killing his mother's chicken was not as horrible a fate
as doing all his little sister's chores for the rest of his life so he
decided to confess the murder of the chicken to his mother. So with
head hung low, he humbly went before his mother and told her the whole
story.
His
mother kneeled down and kissed the young hunter on the head and told him she
already knew that he had killed her chicken. She explained that she
watched him bury her chicken from the kitchen window.
Then, she said, "I just wanted to know how long you would be a slave to your
sister".
A few
weeks ago, Bobby made a comment in a sermon to the effect that God's law
does not restrict us, rather it liberates us. I agree with that whole
heartedly. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought it
would be a great topic to study.
As I have experienced children growing up, my appreciation
of this fact has grown considerably. As a young boy growing up, I felt
that the rules I had to live by were restrictive. While I knew the
rules were put in place for my own good, I did not appreciate them because
they interfered with what I wanted to do. I saw rules of any
kind as being a hindrance to my freedom. I didn't want any rules at
all. I wanted to do what I wanted to do without any consequences.
What I did not realize at the time, was that for every action, there can be
consequences. And those consequences are more restrictive than the
rules were. When we refuse to live by the rules, we make ourselves
slaves to the consequences.
When we
apply this principle to God's laws it's easy to see that our freedom in
Christ is realized only when we are living in subjection to His will.
By making some comparisons between the rule system we have with our children
and the law of God, it is easy to see how true freedom is through bondage.
First of
all, why do we make rules for our children? The answer: because
we love them. The rules we put in place for our children are
ultimately for their own well being and/or protection. For
example, we tell our children not to drink alcoholic beverages because we
know that if they do they place themselves and others in danger. We
know that the consequences for drinking is much more enslaving to themselves
and others than the rules against it. Our rules for our children are to keep them
and others around them from becoming slaves to the consequences of their
actions.
Paul wrote in Ephesians
6:1-3, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2
"Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise:
3 "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth."
Paul is tells children to be obedient to the rules made by their parents.
He even points out that there is a promise associated with their obedience.
Paul promises children that if they are obedient it will be well for them
and that they will live long on the earth. Paul says obedience to
parents comes with a promise of good things. Now these good things are
not miraculous in nature. God isn't going to automatically bless
obedient children with everything they want and grant them a longer life.
What Paul means here is that children who live according to the rules of
their parents will live a better life, free of the consequences for the bad
decisions they can make. There is not one of us driving on the roads
today that has not seen a roadside memorial for a child who died because of
a bad decision by someone. You can often see the names of the deceased
child or children on these memorials. They are slaves to the
consequences for the bad decisions of someone. In this case, their
bondage to the consequences is permanent. Someone broke the rules and
set up a chain of events that prevented those children from living long on
the earth. Our rules for our children are there for their own
well being and protection. Our rules for our children are designed to
prevent them from becoming slaves to consequences.
So what about God's
laws? God is our spiritual Father is he not? Paul wrote to the
Christians in Galatia in chapter 3:26, "For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus." We give our earthly children
rules because we love them, so does God give us His law because
He loves us? 1 John 5:3-4 teaches us, "For this is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome"
(NKJV).
So, like earthly, fleshly fathers,
our Spiritual Father in heaven give us rules which, if obeyed will protect us and
those around us from the bondage of the consequences for bad decisions.
We can see the love of God displayed in the laws He gives us. Let's
turn to Galatians 5:19-21 for some examples, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these;
"Adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness," All of these are sexual sins.
From these we have broken homes, disease, human sex slavery, human
trafficking, children sexually molested, emotional pain and anguish,
children growing up in broken homes. Sexual sin can be linked to all
kinds of misery and God knows this. He knows that this kind of
behavior lead to a bondage or slavery to the consequences. And
this bondage is not just confined to the perpetrators either. This
type of behavior places the innocent into the bondage of consequences as
well. As Christians, we MUST be conscious of the effect that our
actions have on others.
"Idolatry" Takes all kinds
of forms. In the context of this study, the elevation any material
thing above that which is right. For example, forms of entertainment
such as TV or sports taking precedence over family obligations. Buying
big boy toys and allowing one's children to go unclothed or unfed. The
sin of Idolatry is not only offensive to God, it often leads to the neglect
of oneself and others. It is self destructive. Idolatry is a sin
which not only effects us, but effects others around us.
"witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies": All of
these are not only self destructive, they are harmful to others around us.
God doesn't just look at one's actions for how they pertain to themselves
personally. He looks at how our actions affect one another. His
law is for the well being of all. His laws, when obeyed, keep us from
suffering the bondage of our own consequences and to keep us from hurting
the innocent. Our sins have collateral effects on others.
"Envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like": More sins which not only
effect us, but have devastating effects on others. We need to
understand and to see that God's laws are for the benefit of all. Our
bondage to His law frees us and others around us from being slaves to the
consequences of sin.
God gives us law because
He loves us and wants us to live free from the consequences of sin.
Take a moment and imagine if
you will a world where everyone in it lived according to God's law. If
every one alive lived in accordance with God's law what kind of a world
would we see? No more wars. No more broken homes through
divorce. No more children growing up with their parents living in
separate homes. No more thieves. No murders. No child
abductions. No kidnappings. No rapes. No more racial
bigotry. The list goes on and on. Our society is in a moral tailspin.
Humanity as a whole has made themselves slaves to the consequences of sin.
God's laws do not enslave us. They liberate us. They liberate us
from the consequences of our own sin. They liberate us from the
consequences of the bad decisions of others. All of God's laws
are for the benefit of mankind.
The bondage of sin has a
devastating effect on humanity. But the consequences for sin are
further reaching than just our physical lives on earth. Sin also
condemns mankind to eternal damnation in Hell, (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9) "and
to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed
from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on
those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power" (NKJV).
John 5:28-29, "the hour is
coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come
forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who
have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation"
So we learn from these
passages and many others that all who refuse to submit to God's authority on
earth not only live as slaves to the consequences on earth, they will be
condemned to the bondage of eternal damnation. The alternative
to living in the bondage of the consequences for sin is to live in bondage
to the law of God. Paul commanded the Christians in Ephesus to live as
bond-servants of Jesus Christ in Ephesians 6:5-7, "Bondservants, be
obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and
trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice, as
men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the
heart" (NKJV).
The bondservant figure is
here used to represent someone who's debt has been paid by Jesus Christ.
Christians do not belong to themselves. Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
that we were bought with a price and that we are not our own property
anymore. We literally belong to Christ. He paid our sin debt thereby
purchasing us from condemnation. We cannot repay that debt.
Christians are indentured servants of Christ.
Yes we are free in Christ, but not free to live as we see fit. And this is
where a lot of folks get hung up. They refuse to wrap their minds around the
fact that everything they have and everything they do already belongs to
Christ. We have nothing to offer Jesus Christ which he does not already
possess because he literally purchased our lives with His death.
Our acts of obedience and/or service already belong to Him. People today are
all about what they want to do. They want their freedom in Christ to be
freedom from Christ and that just isn't possible.
What many fail to realize is that this indentured servant/bondservant
relationship is the source of total freedom. People get so hung up on self,
they miss the benefits of living as a bondservant of Christ. A Christian's
freedom is rooted in their service to Christ.
We need to get rid of self and come to the realization that our bondservice
is our freedom. Paul taught in Romans 12:1 that we are to offer our
bodies as living sacrifices to God. God wants all mankind to live
according to His righteousness. God knows that sin destroys life and
out of His love for mankind, He has given mankind His law which if obeyed by
all, would result in a world very much different than what we are living in
right now. We should be able to look at the world around us and see
for ourselves what the consequences for sin are. We should be able to
see for ourselves that the world is living in the grip of the consequences
of sin. The world is a slave to the very sin which is eating it up
from within. Those living outside the body of Christ
refuse to see it.
God has a remedy for war.
He has a remedy for burglary. He has the solution for bigotry, hate,
and for the death of innocent unborn children. He has the cure for
sexually transmitted diseases. If every man and woman on this earth
has one partner for life as God directed, STD's would disappear from the
face of the earth in a single generation. God has the answer the world
is looking for. The world is looking for freedom in all the wrong
places. God knows where true freedom is really found. True
freedom is found only through bondage to His law.
If we want to be truly free,
then we must be slaves to God's righteousness. Slavery to God's
righteousness means we must be diligent in it. Someone who is a
slave to God's righteousness does not pick and choose through God's law and
obey what is convenient and easy to obey. Slaves of righteousness obey
all of God's law, no matter how inconvenient it may be or how trivial it may
seem. Jesus taught in Matthew 5:19-20, "Whoever therefore
breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be
called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he
shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul
wrote this: "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into
captivity to the obedience of Christ" Paul used the word
'Captivity' for a reason. We are to be captives of God's
righteousness. We are to be in bondage to the law of God if we want to
be free from the slavery of sin.
Our slavery to Christ is where our freedom comes from.
Now what we need to finish this lesson off is some scripture which says all
of this. Does the Bible tell us anywhere that our freedom in Christ
comes through bondage to Christ? Turn with me to:
Romans 6:16-23
Don't you know that when you
offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one
whom you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to
obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that,
though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of
teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and
have become slaves to righteousness.
19 I put this in human terms
because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the
parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness,
so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When
you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21
What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed
of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free
from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to
holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I quoted from the NIV because it did a good
job of bringing out the meaning of the original language in easy to understand terms.
Sin destroys life. Sin places mankind
in bondage. 1 Corinthians 7:22-23 "For he who was a
slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he
who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave."
The only freedom that really matters comes
from bondage to God.
|
