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.

Getting Your Hopes Up

I have begun thinking lately that God is increasing hope in me for certain things. For instance, we've been wanting to sell this mobile home we live in for forever. We've had many interested lookers over the last few years, but most did not have the credit to buy it or what not. Which stinks, because we really would like a back yard where our little ones can run and play and we don't have to worry about them getting out in the road and such. Plus it's kind of tight quarters these days. So we can't look for that house until we sell this place. I just took the attitude with Kelly, "Don't get your hopes up", any time someone inquired about the place. Besides, I figured why would I want a house payment when I wasn't saving any money right now to begin with? How could I even afford more per month? I have always known I should be content with what I have, so I have tried to be, and for the most part have been. This is different now though. I have begun to believe that a different house is something my Father wants us to have. As a result-and I am still thankful for this place- I have begun to get my hopes up. Why? Because I believe God wants something different for us. It's not just the house. I wouldn't be against remaining in this mobile home even on a different piece of property, where the opportunity for the kids to play would be better. But I am not sure the move would be good on the structure, which isn't too sturdy to start with.
Why was I ever afraid to get my hopes up before? Maybe I thought to do so would show I was a discontented, unthankful grumbler about what God had given me. Or I didn't want to be disappointed, or look foolish if I told someone I was believing God for a new home and it didn't happen. But (and I don't mean to take this out of context), my Bible says hope does not make ashamed, or dissapoint. While I know this mainly applies to the Gospel, I believe it also applies to this life, because he is not the God of the dead but of the living. And he loves me as much now as he will in heaven. If the day comes he wants us all to pick up and go live in a tent, I will be perfectly fine with that, too. It is all to do with his will, be it a house, trailer, or tent. We want to talk about being content with little, because that seems more pious. But PAUL (you know the Apostle?) said he learned to be content with little as well as with MUCH. He wasn't afraid of a season of material blessing corrupting him. He knew he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him. And yes, that's the context of that verse. He knew how to do with little, and he knew how to abound. His main hope was not in this world, be it wealth or poverty. He was free of all labels and his citizenship was in heaven. In fact, he said if in this life only he had hope, he was of all men most miserable.
All that to say, in all things (including a yard for my kids!), I'm gettting my hopes up!

Amazing Church

I enjoy God letting me see things lately. Again I was amazed by the love of the saints of Harvest for one another this past Saturday at the wedding of BJ and Lisa and at the reception. I saw people tirelessly serving just to bless Bj and Lisa and their families. Even in the midst of very difficult personal grief for some. And the joy that flowed from the hearts of all in attendance toward the bride and groom. This love is a testimony to me that I serve with those who are disciples of Jesus!

Wonderful Sunday

I've heard it said, and rightly so, that Sunday worship time is not a time to spectate. We come to serve, to worship, to encourage others. But today I was greatly blessed by what I heard and saw. I just kind of took it all in, and the presence of Christ among his people today just caused me to have sweet joy and appreciation for the effectual grace of God in his people. From announcements of joyous occasions-wedding, new baby announcement- to seeing a new worship band led by a guy leading the Sunday worship for the first time with all young people, I was very blessed. And again, Christ was lifted up as the only source of right relationship and justification with God. I am privileged to be a part of the family of God!

Righteousness Part 2

To continue in this topic, let's go deeper into what God has provided for us in Christ Jesus. We should remember, as Mrs. Sheila Atchley pointed out in her recent blog, righteousness is not some thing that grows in us. It is the free gift of God in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us righteousness, wisdom, sanctification, and everything else that pleases God. HE is righteousness incarnate, and all who have faith in Him, who are placed in Him by God, are righteous. 1 Corinthians 1:30 states all this, including the fact that of Him(God), we are in Christ Jesus. We can't even boast of our faith that got us into this grace by which we stand. Vs. 31 states :

"Therefore, as it is written, ' Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.'"


God chose the foolish and base things of the world to confound the wise, so that no flesh can glory, or boast, in God's presence. Paul said that even Abraham had no place to boast before God, though he had some good works.

"For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to Him as righteousness.' Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts in the One who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 'Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.' "

These passages of Scripture so blow me away. They are my bread in times of discouragement. Why? Because I love to sin and get away with it? Baloney! God is my witness, how I have hungered, and thirsted, and mourned for righteousness, from the viewpoint of knowledge of my wicked heart. And Jesus said that is a blessed condition in which to be, for I shall be filled, says He. And filled with Him I am! I know now more than ever what the writer meant by: "..that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." And this verse follows yet another instance of Christ bearing our reproach. Then we get to translate this grace to one another:

"May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God."

How has Christ welcomed us? With forgiveness, with grace, with love which covers a multitude of sins. How much more should we welcome one another, as we all stand in the same grace together, who belong to Jesus, who love Him because He first loved us, the called and chosen saints of God?

Righteousness

Righteousness

What is righteousness? It is something we will not enter heaven without, Jesus makes that clear. So it is upon us to know what this really means. Dictionary meaning of "righteousness":

"The state of him who is as he ought to be; rightness; one who is acceptable to God; morally just"

Jesus said," Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no case enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

So what does that mean? How does the Bible describe the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? First, Jesus said they say one thing, but do another. So, they are hypocrites. Secondly, even what they did do as acts of righteousness were only insignificant deeds in God's eyes, that omitted what were the more important aspects of the will of God. They tithed of every minute possession, such as spices, while neglecting faith, justice, and mercy.

So, the answer is to just get better at obeying the "greater commandments" of the law? No. One scribe answered correctly on which were the greatest commandments: love God with all you are, and love your neighbor as yourself. But with such an answer, Jesus only told him that he was "not far from the Kingdom".

The key to the difference between "not far from" and actually being a part of the kingdom of heaven lies in the fact that knowing the will of God only condemns us the more when we have knowledge of it, but don't do it. The Bible declares that none is righteous (no not one, it says). All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, his glory meaning us glorifying him in loving him or attaining his righteous standard. Knowing that we should love God above all we are, but not doing it, brings great condemnation. Our good attempts earn us no points on judgment day. Isaiah declares by the Spirit of God:

But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.

It can't get any clearer than that. Jesus Christ's blood is for each and every person. All stand in dire, indispensable need of it. Even as a Christian, our righteous acts do not commend us to God; only the righteous blood of Jesus can do that. But it is clear that all who are begotten by Him will be like him. 1 John says:

 

If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

And

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

 

Righteous living, springing from a righteous heart, springing from the life of Christ within us, is the result of eternal life abiding within us, not the cause of it. Trying to do "righteousness" as a way to trick yourself into thinking you have eternal life is a blind method employed by Pharisees since time began. The tree is good or it is bad. God alone can change the nature of anything, anyone. Only God in Jesus Christ can resurrect a dead spirit, with its dead works, its dead religion, its worthless fruit.