Free Slaves

Last week was Spring Break, so it's been a little while since our last lesson. Just a small review: We left off in Ecclesiastes 3 where Solomon says that people should just enjoy themselves, but that we should watch what we do because we will have to answer to God. Then I mentioned in Romans where it talks about the change that takes place within us after coming to God. This lesson is going to center around that change and a common misconception we can get.

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Under the new testament we are forgiven. You and I both know that God's grace is enough to save us, enough to cover all our sins, and that Jesus' sacrifice was enough. Because of this knowledge that we've been saved it seems like Solomon's conclusion of "have a good time" is a great one to come to. This is where that passage in Romans comes into play because it's there that God tells us that this way of living is completely wrong.

Because of this God doesn't seem very appealing to us sometimes. Sometimes letting Christ into our lives can seem more like adopting a list of rules that we suddenly have to live by. It seems like forming a relationship with God might be more like chaining ourselves down because we won't be able to do all the things we could before. Becoming a Christian seems more like becoming a slave.

This is funny to me because six times in the new testament various authors of the epistles call themselves slaves. Whether it be a "slave of Christ" or "slave of Jesus" or "slave of God," they refer to themselves as slaves, which seems ridiculous because I thought God was offering us freedom. I've been told that God was setting us free. Scripture says time and time again that Christ and the Holy Spirit set us free, but from what?

It isn't the freedom to go out and do all these sinful things in the world which we gain, it's a freedom from those things. Have you ever noticed that things of this world tend to tie us down? That there is a gravity which bonds our feet to the ground? It isn't the ability to commit these things that we need, it's the ability to sustain from them. The sinful nature within us is always weighing us and pulling us down so that we become slaves to it. It's in Romans 6 where it says, "Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For When we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin."

The truth is, we're always going to be slaves to something. Because if it is something outside of ourselves that gives us value, that gives us meaning, that tells us who we are, then we will always devote ourselves to that thing. That thing, whatever it is, will become our master and we slaves to it. In 1 Corinthians it says, "Are you a slave? Don't let that worry you--but if you get a chance to be free, take it. And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, the Lord has now set you free from the awful power of sin. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ. God purchased you at a high price. Don't be enslaved by the world."

So really, it's your choice. What do you want to be a slave to? Do you want to live in sin and let the gravity of this world keep you in chains? Or do you want God's freedom from that? Will you devote yourself to God and let Him become your graceful and loving Master? It's your choice. And I couldn't say it any better than Peter does:

"You are not slaves; you are free. But your freedom is not an excuse to do evil. You are free to live as God's slaves."

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Quotations from: Romans 6:6-7, 1 Corinthians 7:21-23, 1 Peter 2:16 NLT

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