"Enslaved by Freedom!"

The Apostle Paul was no stranger to plenty and certainly no stranger to want.  He writes a piece that suggests how one should live out his faith. It is in these various circumstances that he finds contentment.  Such contentment then gives him freedom.  He writes,

"Not that I speak of want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need..  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:11-13).

There is one thing that this man understood and it was and continues to be what allows the Christian to enjoy contentment and comfort in the most dire of circumstances.  It is this "God is God and I am not!"

How can this be?  It is all in building a trust relationship with the Heavenly Father.  Paul understood that point quite clearly and in fact such trust underpins much of what he writes about.  He understood that in that trust relationship he was a slave to Jesus--he had freely made the choice to be in a slave-master relationship with God!.  Here is this very trained and accomplished man with accolades beyond number who counts it all as "refuse" and assumes the position of a slave.

While many have chosen to employ the word servant in order to attempt to take the sting out of the original word, however translated or mistranslated it is, in the original the word is "slave." The interesting point is that everyone is a slave to someone or something.  One cannot be a slave unless one has a Master.  Such being so, one must choose carefully one's master whether it be Jesus Christ, the insatiable self, or the evil one.

So it was that the Apostle, vested with great power and authority in the first century church, still understood that he was but a slave--a love slave under the tutelage and direction of his Master, the Lord, Jesus Christ.  It is from that perspective that he sets the example not just for Christians of his day but for every Christian who has named Jesus as his Master!

People of that day unlike we in the west today, would understand the meaning of this since a high percentage of the Roman economy and culture was based in the owning of slaves.  Within that population there were those who chose to be permanently attached to their master and as such never sought freedom.  They freely gave themselves most often it was to a benevolent master.  What a picture of the Christian's relationship with Christ.

Therefore, once one is born again it is into the relationship with Jesus Christ.  As noted then one is to becomes a slave with Christ as the benevolent Master.  So it is that one would sell himself into slavery with Christ thus we might well say, Jesus is Lord and Master, I am not!

Jesus Christ does not demand that anyone enter this relationship.  In fact, if it is not a relationship entered freely and without reservation, no Christian relationship exists.  But here is the key.  If one chooses to be a slave of Christ, he then chooses a life style of obedient service.  Some years ago the USAF had three core values.  "Service before self,  Integrity, and Excellence in all we do."  What great core values for the slave of the Lord.


However, if one does not become a slave of Christ, Jesus it is very likely that he will become a slave of another.  It begins with being enslaved to self and self gratification.  Even those who are altruistic in effort when quarried will often respond with "Serving makes me feel so good."

However noble its beginnings, without Christ such slavery spirals downward into bondage and other forms of incorrect enslavement.  These are not without spiritual elements and thus one become enslaved to the Kingdom of Darkness and to its malevolent master, Satan.

In other words, one is either knowingly a slave of the benevolent Christ or one tacitly is enslaved to self leading to one's enslavement by the malevolent evil one.  Either way such slavery shapes one's life-style.  Such brings changes in thinking--both content and process.  Changes in thinking then brings about changes in attitudes.  Relationships are scaled up or down according to whose slave one might be.  The list goes on and on as to the effects upon the slave.

The notion that to come to faith in Christ and to enter such relationships as He has designed is to lose one's freedom is in fact not true.  It is the one who demands his own way and then becomes enslaved to that way that loses his freedom.  Said another way, in giving one's self to Christ Jesus and then living out life in the power of His resurrection grants true freedom--freedom from bondage, oppression, etc.  Freedom to contentment, faith, trust, and confidence in God.  It is these latter things that once established in one's life grant freedom no matter the circumstances in which one finds himself.

The Most Heinous Slavery Ever Known To Man

The most heinous slavery ever known to man is not the human trafficking of young girls, the enslavement of Christians by Muslims, the enslavement of Africans by Westerners, the enslavement of American Indians by those of other tribes, or any of a number of other periods when one peoples enslaved another people.  Read on and you will find out the enslavement that underlies all others and thus is the most heinous unknown to most men.

Perhaps you have notice that people will sacrifice much in order to achieve freedom and stability.  It may be in some kind of transaction, it might be in relationships, it could be in some emotional issue, it might be in a health issue, it could be in any of a number of other venues in life that people seek freedom and stability.  Some have even referred to it as closure.  This is such an important issue that many will even suffer the loss of materials goods, physical capability, position, etc. in order to find the peace of freedom and stability.

The reason may well be found in the word tension.  In fluid and changing situations there is a loss of control and an attendant loss of freedom and stability.  That need for stability creates a certain tension and often that tension is found to be difficult if not intolerable.   Of course knowing that to be so, there are those who for some pathological reason or another, go about seeking to disrupt and control others by creating and fostering tensions in the various relationships venues of their lives.

Yet there can be a solution to the instability and tension and it is all found in two questions or conditions.  First is the question of the trustworthiness of the person with whom one is in relationship.  The second is in the type of relationship one has with that person.  Of course the most trustworthy relationship is a genuine relationship and such a relationship can be no more genuine than when it is with Jesus Christ as Lord.  Be aware that there are a number of facsimiles but only one genuine.

Then assuming it is a genuine relationship, the question then is what is the quality of that relationship?  For it to work properly, the relationship must be one of implicit trust. 

The epitome of a trust relationship is to give another complete control of one’s life, material goods, relationships, and even the internal faculties, to include beliefs, attitudes, and thought processes. 

 The only place that such a relationship can be found to be completely and totally trustworthy is in one’s relationship with Jesus Christ.  It is as the one who comes to Him humbles himself, surrenders to Him as Lord.  The actual word is for Lord in the Scriptures means master or one who has supreme or ultimate authority.  Now to name Jesus Christ as Master means to acknowledge Him as an owner and, well you guessed it that makes the genuine, real deal, follower of Jesus that which He owns.  Said another way the follower becomes His slave—the slave that He bought with the sacrifice of His own life.  Thus we have the reason for His sacrificial death on the Cross.

Is this a mystery or what?  Just to think that Jesus, who is described as God living among us in our humanity, gave His life in order to buy us back from our own enslavement to sinfulness and evil.  Such is beyond our comprehension.  Some would argue what me enslaved?  Yes, for our measure is against a culture that is enslaved and thus it is normal and therefore other than the condition is unknown to us.

So here is the genuine pathway through instability and tension.  It comes when we do not own ourselves but are owned by the benevolent Master—the one who cared so very much for each of us  with a genuine love--a selfless love that He left His place of royalty and came to earth, became a man, lived among people like us, and then gave His life to pay for our sins and failures.  In doing that He redeemed (bought back from slavery to sin) each who would name Him as Slave Master and commit to be His slave.

So what is the most heinous slavery?  It is the slavery that underlies all that is evil, all that we see that is wrong with culture, religion, relationships, etc.  This enslavement to sinfulness is indeed unknown to most for man is so surrounded by sinfulness that it is the norm, not the exception.  It is the slavery that enslaves those who have not found the freedom that is available to the one who has become a slave of Jesus Christ.