A Son Versus a Slave

 

Liberty reveals the true character of the one who possesses it. When you visit the zoo, the animals are behind bars, or in some other kind of enclosure that makes escape impossible. Why are those barriers there? Because everyone knows what the nature of those animals is like: wild and potentially dangerous. There have been instances of animals escaping from circuses or zoos and injuring people, sometimes resulting in the execution of the animal. Had the animal stayed confined to the enclosures prescribed for it, it and all those in its path would have been better off. That's why you'll never see a tiger or elephant roaming free in American society.

    So it is with people. Humans have a default nature: sin. Many institutions have been put into place by God or society to govern those controlled by the sin nature and to curb the destructive effects of their actions. The first one we encounter in our lives is the God-ordained institution called the family. Dads and moms are the authority in this unit, and have all say so in what the children may or may not do or how they may or may not act. In fact, the child is given very little liberty, and must be governed almost as a wild animal that will do its self and others harm if not kept under close watch. Scripture says that a child left to him-self brings his mother to shame. Why? Because of the child's nature which leads him only towards sin.

Pr 22:15 ¶ Foolishness [is] bound in the heart of a child; [but] the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

It is true that a child, by nature, has no true ability to govern his or her self sufficiently. It is necessary to even bring corporal punishment (spanking) at times, so strong is the stubbornness of a child in his foolish intentions.

    On the other hand, as a child begins to mature into an adult, and begins to see the good in being responsible, and in making wise decisions, and gaining trust with the parent, he or she is granted, little by little, more liberties. As the child proves their ability and willingness to be trusted in small ways, greater permissions, liberties, and responsibilities are granted. Rules that had been in place before to protect the child from others and themselves are no longer necessary. The relationship to the parent soon becomes one less of Master and slave to one of being true Father/Son and Father/Daughter relationship. They begin to work together oftentimes, the son even sometimes joining dad in the family business. In adulthood, the son makes his own decisions, and in a good relationship he relates to his Father in love and co-operation.

    Even as an adult, we are under some broader authority, the law of the land. Even adults, sin nature intact, prove that they are not by nature loving and self-governing. Why then would there be police officers, judges, juries, divorce courts, civil courts, prisons, and executions? What then would be the need for such things and institutions, for laws? Laws only exist for those who do evil, who will not of their own accord love others.

    The Kingdom of God mirrors parent/child relations and civil institutions.

 

1 Timothy 1:5
¶ Now the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

6 Some have deviated from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.

7 They want to be teachers of the law, although they don't understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on.

8 Now we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately.

9 We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers,

10 for the sexually immoral and homosexuals, for kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching

11 based on the glorious gospel of the blessed God that was entrusted to me.

 

The law is not made for one who walks according the Gospel, who has Jesus in Him, with the love of God at work and ruling over his heart, words, and actions. He doesn't need it; the same way a free person never intent on doing crime doesn't need a house-arrest ankle bracelet on him at all times. The same way a dog that isn't going to run away and kill the neighbors' chickens doesn't need to be kept on a leash.

Galatians3:22 But the Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin's power, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23 Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed.

24 The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.

25 But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

26 for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Before we have faith in Jesus, we have to have an outside source of restraint to govern ourselves, because it isn't in us to love as Jesus loves. But once we put on Christ, something entirely new happens. We are transformed from being slaves who do their duty out of fear of being punished into sons who bear the resemblance to their Father and obey Him in love, and who know they have an inheritance with Him forever. We have the power, authority, and right to carry out the will of our Father. We transition out of a childish understanding of obedience (obey or get spanked or grounded), to one of actually partnering with our Father in the family affairs and purposes. We get adopted! Here's what Galatians says in reference to slaves and sons:

 

Gal.4:1
¶ Now I say that as long as the heir is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner of everything.

2 Instead, he is under guardians and stewards until the time set by his father.

3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were in slavery under the elemental forces of the world.

4 But when the completion of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba, Father!"

7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

8 ¶ But in the past, when you didn't know God, you were enslaved to things that by nature are not gods.

9 But now, since you know God, or rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and bankrupt elemental forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?

Here's an awesome promise for us:

John 8:35
A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever.

36 Therefore if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

 

Remember, a slave has no rights to anything of the head of the house, or to any continuing relationship with him. Only a son does.

A man in religion but not in Christ is very much like a man in prison. He has to have the threat of retribution in the back of his mind to keep him from doing what he really wants to do, and that's to sin. Many of the worst sinners I have ever known or heard of were "religious". So law instead of Holy Spirit power eventually not only fails to make you right with God, but actually sends you into a worse and worse spiral of depravity and helplessness.

So how has it been with you in your experience with God, with Christianity? Does it seem to you that you are a slave to religion, to what someone else is forcing you to do? That's a miserable way to live. Why not humble yourself and ask God to change you, to make you a son who cries "Abba, Father!" to give you real love and holiness with a new heart which is only in Jesus. One who is a child of promise and grace and not of religious bondage.

    

Freedom is in the Eye of the Beholder

 

The devil has tempted God's offspring to question the goodness of God from the beginning of time. The whole deception Satan used against Eve in the Garden of Eden was that God only forbade them from eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil because God was trying to keep them down, to rob them of some knowledge or wisdom that was good to have. He painted God as being an insecure tyrant who didn't want Adam and Even to become His equal by having such knowledge. He also called God a liar, when he disputed the statement where God said they would die in the day they ate of the fruit. He promised them freedom even as he was seeking to bring them into bondage. That bondage was soon known and felt by the two hapless innocents who called paradise their home. Where they had been free to wander about unclothed without shame, they soon knew their nakedness and became enslaved to shame. This then led to them hiding from God, showing they were now slaves to guilt and fear. As God pronounced the curse that sin brought, they discovered they would be slaves to hard toil, hard childbirth, and many other curses. They had to know at last what fools they were to believe the serpent's message of freedom. They didn't know how good they had it. It's true what they say, sometimes you don't know what you got till it's gone.

    Here's something that may sound familiar in a backwards sort of way. The way to life for Adam and Eve was broad and wide. The path to destruction was very narrow and difficult. Why? Because they were free to eat from any tree in that whole vast garden, except the one. Their life was easy. Most every way they turned meant only more pleasure. Complete freedom. They knew God and had their life sustained forever in Him. NOTHING was required of them. Except believing God. They weren't even under His wrath. They had no need of repentance, or of dying to sin ,or of fighting the temptations and hostility of a corrupt world system that was against God. No fighting with a sin nature. But there was a path to destruction and it was narrow and difficult. One lousy tree off limits. Seems it would be pretty hard to mess up the good thing they had going. A slim, narrow chance of blowing it. But they managed to. A difficult thing to pull off you might say, based on the odds of success seemingly stacked in their favor. But such was the power of deception over them.

    This whole thing played out in such a way as to prove Satan a liar. First, if God were really the tyrant the devil claimed He was, He would have never allowed the temptation and the sin in the first place. If He were really so insecure, the choice would never have been there to eat of the tree. He did not desire puppets, and still doesn't. He knew He would send Jesus to the cross even way back before this all played out. Adam and Eve did not believe God's love for them, even when they were His friends. Once they were banished from the garden, He left clues that the door back in would be re-opened someday. He left the tree of life there. The way out was centrally related to the way back in. Both trees, it is written, were put in the middle of the garden. They were not so far from each other physically. The one was partaken of through unbelief in the goodness of God. The other is partaken of in the opposite way, through faith in Christ, the very representation of the love and goodness of God. God did something so incredible. We became enemies of God that day, through taking into our innermost being the sin nature, which is opposed to God in every way, through our heredity from our first father Adam. We, as a race, gave rule of our lives to Satan that day. But God, willing to show His goodness to the children of Adam once again, sent His only begotten Son to die for us, to bring us back to Him. To all who are over-comers of this present world, this God-hating kingdom, through faith in Jesus Christ, He now gives the right to eat of the tree of life. Jesus said the way back is difficult and narrow. Why? Because the way out was. The way back is difficult because when you love and trust God in a world that doesn't, you get your share of trouble. Narrow, because Jesus said He is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him.

Faith is not easy. Why? Because it often contradicts what you see with your eyes and hear with your ears. Freedom, to the natural eye, is not withholding from my-self what pleasures this world has to offer; no one telling me who to be or how to act; freedom to be self serving, to see what knowledge I can gain, to write my own rules. To believe in God, or not to. To believe about God what I think He is like. Even so far as to believe I am good enough to please God, because I know right from wrong, and I do my best to do what is right. Yes, the freedom to feel like I will live forever in heaven because I do some good deeds. I have the freedom to think that I know every bit as much as God. This is all deception at its finest, believed by Adam and Eve and all who came after them.

Will we go with the flow? Or have faith in the goodness of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Will we see obedience to the Gospel as bondage? Or can we see the freedom God has provided in being His friend through Christ and the rebirth of our nature, one that was His enemy, but now loves Him? Jesus said whoever sins is the slave of sin. Some don't see it that way. They see sin as freedom. Those not born again cannot see the Kingdom of God. Freedom is in the eye of the beholder.

Jesus said that whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Do you fear bondage from God? Taste and see that He is good. You'll become bound to forgiveness from your sin, and a clean conscience, bound to friendship with God for eternity, and bound to walking with Jesus Christ, the one who loved you and gave Himself for you. Do you feel like messages of hell and condemnation in a lake of fire have been spoken for God to threaten you into coming to Him? These things are real. But hell is not simply the lesser of two evils, a worse alternative to being a slave to boring, kill-joy religion. It is simply the natural outcome for those who won't believe the goodness of God, and come to Him for salvation from the wrath to come. God is not wishing you to perish. He has given you opportunity for true freedom.