and the One who walks with me on it.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Slowly into Slavery


       Are we free?  We have so much and can do so much in this country.  Think of all our freedoms: what we believe, eat, drink, buy- where we work, worship, live, go to school- how we live, transport ourselves, spend our free time- who we marry and how many children we have…  There once was a man named Jacob who brought his family- all 66- to live in a foreign country where his son was living (Gn. 46).  They were given a fertile land on which to feed their herds, lived a prosperous life and grew into a nation (Ex. 1).



And there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are many and mightier than we. Come, let us deal slyly* with them, lest they multiply… Ex. 1:8-10

       All was going well for Jacob’s descendents when a new king/ pharaoh came who didn’t acknowledge Joseph or what he had done for Egypt.  Since the people were multiplying so much, the new king feared the Israelites would try to take over the country and this fear lead him to bring the people into bondage using ‘worldly’ wisdom, slyness or deception which began with forced labour under overseers to keep them occupied and humbled and ended with the murder of male babies and harsh slavery.

       I often wonder if we are truly free, or if we can keep our freedoms only if we live within the confines of socially acceptable morals, values, beliefs and actions.  We must buy this, we must act this way, we must watch this…  We are in bondage to our possessions (need more- fix more- more to clean- replace), cell phones and constant connection but only surface relationally, the need to be more and do more, succeed as society deems success, etc.  So we haven’t truly left our bondage behind.

Don’t let the world slyly keep us there through deception, flesh and lethargy.

Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever practices sin is the slave of sin. Jh. 8:34
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? Rm. 6:16 ESV

       Then we became born again, a new man (2Cr. 5:17; Ep. 4:24; Cl. 3:10) and yet we continue to act the same: spend our money, keep attitudes and values, watch same shows, play same games, same sluggish morality, etc.  In fact, ‘the world’ can’t see much of a difference between us and them- except for the judgmental attitudes we often display.  Oops!  But as the Israelites were called out of Egypt into God’s promise, so we are called out* of the sinful world and its bondage. (*church- ekklesia- a gathering of those called out)

We are called out of the bondage of our old lives, but into the new life given by Jesus Christ through His blood.  Buried with Him.  Alive to God through Him.

Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father; even so we also should walk in newness of life. Rm. 6:4 (Dead people can’t sin)
knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from now on we should not serve sin. Rm. 6:6
Likewise count yourselves also to be truly dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rm. 6:11

True freedom only comes through giving up our present bondage and completely surrendering ourselves to Almighty God, trusting in Him to do right by it.  Only then can we be completely free.

Therefore if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
Jh. 8:36


*many translations read wisely, but the word chakam here is in the hithpael form which in the BDB dictionary means: to show oneself wise, deceive