The Sacrifice of Christ: Is it enough?

When the Sacrifice of Christ Is Just Simply Nowhere Near Enough!

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:4-8).

Both God and Jesus knew long before They ever made man or even the universe that would house him (Ephesians 1:4, 3:8-11), exactly what man would do to sinfully sever his relationship with Them (Isaiah 59:1-15a). They also knew exactly what it would take to fully and finally fix and re-establish that relationship forever (Isaiah 53:1-12, 59:15b-21) – the absolute and all-out sacrifice of no less than the sacred and sinless, only begotten Son of almighty God Himself for the sins of all mankind from Adam forward (Romans 5:6-8).

As Philippians two above assures, that would require Jesus voluntarily giving up, or emptying Himself, of some of His “God-attributes” for a time (such as being beyond being tempted – James 1:13; Hebrews 4:15); leaving His heavenly home in glory behind; being squeezed into human flesh and becoming more vulnerable to Satan’s reach (Matthew 4:1-11, 16:23; Luke 22:53); and being maligned and mistreated, beaten and rejected, scourged and spat upon, and finally crucified and separated from His Heavenly Father for the first, last, and only time in all of eternity (Matthew 27:46) as He did not just “carry our sins on His shoulders” as it were, but as the Scripture would indicate in what is a much more intense and invasive manner, “For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:17; underlining mine – DED).

And that sacrificial redemption story of Jesus, “according to the Scriptures” (Luke 24:44-47; I Corinthians 15:1-4), was all the message the apostles needed. It was with that one, simple, single, straightforward gospel message that they went armed into all the world (Mark 16:15-16; I Corinthians 2:2); attracted and converted untold thousands – and more likely tens of thousands – of lost sinners to saving and obedient faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 2:22-47, 4:4, 5:14, 11:19-24, etc); and turned their entire world entirely upside down (Acts 17:1-6), taking that one gospel message to their entire world in just one generation (Colossians 1:21-23).

And that sacrificial redemption story of Jesus was also enough for even the almighty God and Father in heaven Himself! “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

But apparently that sacrificial redemption story of Jesus is no longer enough today – and in fact, is believed and portrayed to be pretty near worthless, having been relegated to the trash heap of obscurity in many places. Apparently there are many man-made and originated elements that many so-called “churches” consider to have a far greater value, worth, and “pulling power” than either the story or the name above all names – according to God – of His Son Jesus!

Just consider this for a moment. Many churches today are suffering a general decline in attendance, and so are “pulling out all the stops” as it were, to attract and maintain a crowd as they compete for congregants. People in this position, whether in the secular world or the world of religion, will therefore put out before the general public what they believe will attract the most people – and the vital, spirit and truth, soul saving, grace laden gospel is nowhere to be seen in many places. Instead, countless churches are using games, gimmicks and giveaways to get people into their buildings. I was recently made aware of a story wherein a large metropolitan church was going to be giving away free, large screen television sets to the first I-forget-how-many visitors to their Sunday services. Apparently, large screen televisions are now worth far more than Jesus’ sacrifice, which is no longer powerful enough to pull in people – or it would have been put out front and center instead…

And then of course, there is the “Clowns, Cowboys, and Entertainment Crowd,” wherein everything from rodeos, to hayrides, to haunted houses are incorporated and utilized by churches, because of those things’ being perceived as being more valuable and powerful than the once all-important and exclusive New Testament gospel – which has therefore, in reality, whether they will admit it or not, been rendered and relegated to a far less powerful and prominent position in these places than their present, man-pleasing and appeasing ploys.

And lest we think that the Lord’s church is immune from such immense and incredible blasphemies: Our little congregation recently received an invitation from a congregation of the “church of Christ” in a nearby city, to come and purchase tickets and attend a concert by some instrumental music playing, world-imitating, religious “boy band” they were holding at their church building…

And; as to Jesus’ God-given “name that is above every name,” apparently there are those who think it powerless, worthless, and in deed and practice think it worth far less than “guts,” “community,” and “life,” or the phrase “on the move,” as well as the entire gambit of other faithless replacements they replace Christ’s name with. Instead of being referred to as “churches of Christ” the way the divinely-inspired record instructs and insists upon in Romans 16:16 for instance, they insist on replacing His name when they refer to their group, culminating in identification phrases such as “Guts Church,” “So-in-So Community Church,” “Life Church,” “Church on the Move,” and a thousand other lesser names that all move the Name above all names – and the only one under heaven in which there is salvation (Acts 4:12) – down into the basement of their belief system.

When exactly is the name and sacrifice of Jesus just simply not enough? The answer is simple: Whenever you see men and women willing to replace either of them with other names and worldly things that they must apparently therefore feel are worth more and are more important, as evidenced by their replacing them with worldly – and what they apparently must also therefore perceive to be more important – things!

 

 

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Education, Freedom, and Religion

“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). One can imagine how this verse would have stood out to the early American settlers as they began to form an independent government. Having been educated at Cambridge University, many of the first settlers were intelligent men who knew the Bible. But they recognized that without proper training in God’s Word, the new colonies would quickly deteriorate into a slothful nation given to debauchery. These early settlers also had vivid memories of the civil abuse that could take place (the Inquisition, the Crusades, etc.) when the common man was not biblically literate to accurately discern right from wrong. They knew they had to educate men, or their new society would fail.

This need for biblical literacy spawned one of the very first laws providing for public education in the United States. Known as the “Old Deluder Satan Law,” this unusually named law served one very strong purpose: it demonstrated not only the need for people to be educated, but also proposed how it was to be accomplished. The law noted:

It being one chief point of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of Scriptures, as in former times, by keeping them in an unknown tongue, so in these latter times, by persuading them from the use of tongues that so at last the true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded by false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers, that learning might not be buried in the graves of our fathers, in church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavours…

The law continued: “It is therefore ordered… [that] after the Lord hath increased [the settlement] to the number of fifty households, [they] shall then forthwith appoint one within their town, to teach all such children as shall resort to him, to write and read…. And it is further ordered, that where any town shall increase to the number of one hundred families or householders, they shall set up a grammar school…” So with the “Old Deluder Satan Law” in place, public education in the United States was born. This would be far from the last indication that public education was centered on the Bible and the ability of the public to read it.

In 1690, Connecticut passed this country’s first “no child left behind” act- the literacy law of 1690. In this law the early settlers stressed, “This [legislature] observing that . . . there are many persons unable to read the English tongue and thereby incapable to read the holy Word of God or the good laws of this colony . . . it is ordered that all parents and masters shall cause their respective children and servants, as they are capable, to be taught to read distinctly the English tongue.” In 1918, Arthur Raymond Mead commented on the enforcement of this law in a book titled The Development of Free Schools in the United States. He observed, “To enforce this order, the grand jury was required to visit  families suspected of evading the law, such visits were to be made once a year, and evasions to be reported by the jury to the ‘next county court where the said masters or servants shall be fined 20 shillings for each child servant.’”

Proficiency in the Scriptures and morality were the driving forces for public education. In fact, fifty-four years earlier Harvard University had recorded in their rules and precepts:

“Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3 and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, Let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of him Prov. 2,3. Every one shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein.”

Consider that similar rules and precepts were laid down by well-known universities such as Yale, Princeton, William & Mary, Rutgers, etc. Clearly, the basis for education was to teach and further propagate the fundamentals of the Christian religion. Even the Supreme Court held a strong religious view toward education, ruling all the way until 1844 that:

Christianity…is not to be maliciously and openly reviled and blasphemed against to the annoyance of believers or the injury of the public…. It is unnecessary for us, however, to consider… the establishment of a school or college for the propagation of Judaism or Deism or any other form of infidelity. Such a case is not to be presumed to exist in a Christian country. (Vidal v. Girard’s Executor’s, 1844)

Yet, consider where the educational system rests today. A system created to teach and promote Christian values is now discriminating against those very values. The God public education was designed to teach children about has been effectively banned from the classroom. One wonders how much longer our current generation will fall under the spell of the Old Deluder, Satan.

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Beverage Alcohol

There is nothing right about beverage alcohol.  As reported by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, 12,998 people were killed as a result of “alcohol impaired” drivers.    By comparison, the number of U.S. Casualties in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is 4,955 and this is for the entire time that our forces have been there.  We hear the outcry in regard to our fallen soldiers.  Where is the outcry in regard to the fallen related to drunk driving?  Our soldiers died fighting for an ideal; victims of drunk drivers die as a result of one selfish person’s “pleasure.”  This nation has absolutely no excuse for the loss of these lives.  Shame on us for allowing the beverage alcohol industry to perpetrate its lie!

Drinking beverage alcohol is irresponsible.  By its very nature, when alcohol is consumed, it reduces the responsibility of the individual.  Responsibility is affected by brain activity.  Brain activity hinges upon a small gap found between nerve cells (neurons).  This gap is called the synapse, and alterations here affect all brain activity.  Any alteration to brain activity affects responsibility.  Alcohol certainly affects brain activity because it affects the gap between nerve cells.  One researcher writes, “The behavioral effects of alcohol are produced through its actions on the central nervous system (CNS) and, in particular, the brain. Synaptic transmission—the process by which neurons in the CNS communicate with one another—is a particular target for alcohol actions that alter behavior. Intoxication is thought to result from changes in neuronal communication taking place while alcohol is present in the brain” (Emphasis added, KRC).  The same researcher concluded, “Extensive research has shown that many aspects of synaptic transmission are altered by alcohol at doses and brain concentrations encountered during drug ingestion.”    This research upholds the old saying, “When you take one drink, you’re one drink drunk!”

Christians ought to have nothing to do with beverage alcohol because we are called to sobriety and responsibility.  1 Thessalonians 5:7-8a states, “For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober.”  According to the research above, it would curtail our efforts to bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).  Consuming beverage alcohol, in and of itself, is the epitome of a fleshly lust that wars against the soul and something from which we are commanded to abstain (1 Peter 2:11).

The problem of social drinking simply exacerbates the problem of beverage alcohol because it compounds the error by one’s example.  Jesus was speaking of example when he said, “But whoso shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble, it is profitable for him that a great millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of occasions of stumbling! for it must needs be that the occasions come; but woe to that man through whom the occasion cometh!” (Matthew 18:6-7).  The same judgment awaits the social drinker for his bad example and influence as awaits the drunk driver for his criminal negligence.  Does society not hold those who encourage murderers equally responsible for murder?  My mother-in-law once sat on a jury in which a person was on trial for murder.  The person had not done the act himself, but knew of it and failed to prevent it and was found guilty of murder.  So also God will hold those who participate in social drinking guilty.  Romans 1:32 seems appropriate here: “who, knowing the ordinance of God, that they that practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also consent with them that practice them” (ASV).

Typically, some will object with the thought, “But Jesus drank socially” or “social drinking is done with God’s approval in the Bible.”  Various passages will be cited to support the argument.  No one is questioning whether Jesus drank wine.  The question is whether Jesus drank beverage alcohol.  He did not.  Such would have implicated him in some of the worst sins in Biblical history.

The problem is clarified when we appropriately recognize that the word “wine” in the Bible is used for both intoxicating and non-intoxicating beverages.  Ancient literature attests to this fact.  An ancient Roman agrarian, Columella, stated that some wine did not intoxicate.  He describes one of these “wines” in book three of his twelve-volume work “On Agriculture.” He says regarding a particular good wine, that he calls “Inerticulan,” that it was inert, non-intoxicating, not harmful, and ineffectual on the sinews or nerves.  He categorized both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages as “wine.” Moreover, even “good wine” can, according to the ancients, refer to something that is non-alcoholic.

But doesn’t grape juice naturally turn into wine when left alone to ferment?  When left alone, grape juice will most likely become vinegar due to the naturally occurring wild yeasts on the skin of the grape.  In order to produce the kinds of alcoholic beverages that are socially consumed today, one must introduce cultivated yeasts that break down the sugars into alcohol.  The product must then be preserved in that state through additional artificial processes.  Yeast cultivation is a product of modern science.  Ancients made alcohol through the manipulation of naturally occurring yeasts but did not know the types used today.

Preservation of non-alcoholic wine, however, was done through various processes.  Grape juice would be boiled and reduced to a syrup which could be preserved; it would be reconstituted in water as a beverage at a later time.  Sometimes the juice was preserved in cold water or buried in the ground.  Wineskins could also prevent fermentation by cutting off oxygen to the naturally occurring wild yeasts.

In Matthew 27:34, we read that soldiers gave Jesus wine to drink that was mingled with gall.  Wines were often mixed with spices like gall.  This was likely alcoholic wine (Proverbs 23:30).  Even though he was suffering on the cross, Jesus refused it.  There is no excuse for a Christian to be a social drinker.  Beverage alcohol is a dangerous drug which results in the deaths of thousands of people each year on our highways.  This does not even take into consideration other social effects of alcohol: child abuse, spousal abuse, wastefulness of financial resources, crimes committed by those under the influence, etc.  Were alcohol to cease in our society today, many evils would disappear overnight and we would be a better nation for it.

[1] National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “2007 Traffic Safety Annual Assessment” DOT 810 791. Washington DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, July 2008. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811016.PDF

[2] Lovinger, David M.  National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.  “Communication Networks in the Brain: Neurons, Receptors, Neurotransmitters, and Alcohol.” Bethesda: National Institutes of Health. http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh313/196-214.htm

[3] Columella. De Rustica.  Book III.  P.247.  http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Columella/de_Re_Rustica/3*.html See also Pliny, N. H. XIV.31 and Isidore, Orig. XVII.5.24 which are referenced in footnote 30 of the Columella text.

[4] Bacchiocchi, Samuele. Wine in the Bible: A Biblical Study on the Use of Alcoholic Beverages.  Berrien Springs: Biblical Perspectives. 1989.  Online at: http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/books/wine_in_the_bible/3.html.

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The State of the Church

Facts About the Church in Our Time

Today we are living in a time when the economy in our country is as bad as it was during the great depression of the late 1928-1940s. There is perhaps 35% of the working class in America that cannot find a job sufficient to support their family. When we look at this situation it is surely also effecting the amount of money that is being contributed into the treasury of each congregation in the country and also effecting the amount of support from good Christians that supply benevolence and evangelist needs in other countries.

What is the answer? We must continue to do whatever we can with our personal resources When we meet to worship as regards our contribution; Yes, surely many Christians today are severely effected by the down-turn in jobs and income due to the high cost of taxes on nearly everything that we possess. Add to this the political and moral laxity that is now being paraded via the w.w.w., movies, and TV and we have a crisis not only of economics but also a crisis of morality and temptations of Satan to draw away the weak and marginal church attendees.

Recently I have seen a copy of a report on the condition of the Lord’s church in the Los Angeles, CA by brother Royce Bell that states, and I quote – “My association with the Venice CA. church is one of the oldest churches in the Los Angeles basin, having a rich heritage of faithfulness through the years. In the past 20 years or so, over 25 churches in the LA area have simply closed their doors. Venice is the only congregation in the entire area numbering about 15 souls.” From this report we can see that things are not progressing very well in the California area but lets be honest; how many congregations in the area where you attend worship has grown significantly in the past 10-20 years? Perhaps it is the problem we have already referred to in this article but it may be that the world (i.e. the Devil) is having some success with the past two generations that has caused much of the lack of growth and maturity in many churches.

Friends, brethren, we have to wake up to the problems that are current among us; where will the church be 25 years from now where you attend worship? I wonder if many of the current sound churches will be in existence “don’t you?” The Bible is our guide and that must always remain a steady fact for future efforts at building up the church locally and in other places. We must use whatever resources we possess in evangelism and teaching locally as much and as often as we can establish a study session with the un-churched, the backslidden, and the just used to be Christians as well as our family and in-laws. The Great Commission is still our call to work as it has been since Christ arose from the dead – let us all shoulder whatever responsibility we possess with our knowledge and ability as we ought – cf. Matthew 28:18-20. Indeed; may we reconcile ourselves to the task before us and take the time to spread the gospel as much as possible while we are still here in the world – cf. Eccl. 11:5-6 – 5 As thou knows not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knows not the works of God who makes all. 6 in the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knows not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. KJV

John 6:27-29

27 Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

28 Then said they unto him, what shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. KJ

James 1:25

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work , this man shall be blessed in his deed. KJV

Titus 3:1

1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, KJV

1 Thess. 1:3

3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; KJV

John 6:28-29

28 Then said they unto him, what shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. KJV

Consider This:

Perhaps I am just an alarmist but in recent years I have witnessed a decline in many congregations where I have been privileged to visit for gospel meetings and other matters. Many brethren are concerned and worried about the state of the church. Can we simply say; brethren we must be about our Heavenly Father’s business (i.e. the business of saving souls that are caught in the grips of sin) – cf. As our Lord says; “I must be about my Father’s business” Luke 2:44-49 – 44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. 45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. 46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. 47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. 48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. 49 And he said unto them, how is it that ye sought me? know ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? (KJV)

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Freedom through Bondage

There is a growing belief among many in the Lord’s church that our freedom in Christ equates to freedom to live as we see fit.  The belief that strict obedience to God’s will is unnecessary is gaining an ever increasing following.  I have had discussions with denominational people who have said they believe that strict obedience to the will of God is too burdensome.  One of the arguments they use is that through the gospel, we have freedom in Christ and that this freedom releases us from God’s law.  The wording they use to promote this is deceiving.   They say that our salvation in Christ is by grace through faith and that Christians have been set free from the bondage of law.  Well, in the proper context, that is a true statement.  However, that statement is used to promote the idea that strict observance to God’s law is no longer necessary under the gospel.   We have been set free from the bondage of the old law of Moses.  We are not set free from the law of God as some are promoting.  The purpose of this lesson is to examine what true freedom in Christ really is and what one must do in order to be truly free in Christ.  

There’s a story about a young boy who was playing with his new slingshot.  He set up a target and practiced shooting stones from it.  But after several hours, he was still unable to hit the target.  Frustrated, he gave up and started walking back to his home.  He happened to see some of his mother’s chickens in the yard and took a random shot at one of them with his new slingshot.  Sure enough, he hit one of the chickens in the head and killed it.  Not wanting to get into trouble, he dug a hole, buried the chicken and went on about his business.  Unknown to him, his little sister witnessed the whole affair but didn’t let him know it at the time.

Later that day, after supper, the young boy’s mother told his little sister to wash the dishes.  She was setting next to him at the table and quietly whispered just loud enough for her brother to hear, “Remember mom’s chicken”.  Then she announced to her mother that her brother had graciously offered to do the dishes for her.  Not wanting to get into trouble for killing his mother’s chicken, he reluctantly performed his little sister’s chore.  Later that evening the little girl was directed to pick up her dirty clothes and put them in the washing machine.  The same low whisper in her brother’s earshot to “remember mom’s chicken” resulted in her laundry being done by her older brother.

For the next 2 weeks, the young chicken slayer was stuck with all of his sister’s chores.  Finally, he couldn’t stand it any longer and decided that being punished for killing his mother’s chicken was not as horrible a fate as doing all his little sister’s chores for the rest of his life so he decided to confess the murder of the chicken to his mother.  So with head hung low, he humbly went before his mother and told her the whole story.

His mother kneeled down and kissed the young hunter on the head and told him she already knew that he had killed her chicken.  She explained that she watched him bury her chicken from the kitchen window.  Then, she said, “I just wanted to know how long you would be a slave to your sister”. 

A few weeks ago, Bobby made a comment in a sermon to the effect that God’s law does not restrict us, rather it liberates us.  I agree with that whole heartedly.  And the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be a great topic to study. 

As I have experienced children growing up, my appreciation of this fact has grown considerably.  As a young boy growing up, I felt that the rules I had to live by were restrictive.  While I knew the rules were put in place for my own good, I did not appreciate them because they interfered with what I wanted to do.   I saw rules of any kind as being a hindrance to my freedom.  I didn’t want any rules at all.  I wanted to do what I wanted to do without any consequences.  What I did not realize at the time, was that for every action, there can be consequences.  And those consequences are more restrictive than the rules were.  When we refuse to live by the rules, we make ourselves slaves to the consequences. 

When we apply this principle to God’s laws it’s easy to see that our freedom in Christ is realized only when we are living in subjection to His will.  By making some comparisons between the rule system we have with our children and the law of God, it is easy to see how true freedom is through bondage. 

First of all, why do we make rules for our children?  The answer:  because we love them.  The rules we put in place for our children are ultimately for their own well being and/or protection.   For example, we tell our children not to drink alcoholic beverages because we know that if they do they place themselves and others in danger.  We know that the consequences for drinking is much more enslaving to themselves and others than the rules against it.  Our rules for our children are to keep them and others around them from becoming slaves to the consequences of their actions. 

Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:1-3, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”   Paul is tells children to be obedient to the rules made by their parents.  He even points out that there is a promise associated with their obedience.  Paul promises children that if they are obedient it will be well for them and that they will live long on the earth.  Paul says obedience to parents comes with a promise of good things.  Now these good things are not miraculous in nature.  God isn’t going to automatically bless obedient children with everything they want and grant them a longer life.  What Paul means here is that children who live according to the rules of their parents will live a better life, free of the consequences for the bad decisions they can make.  There is not one of us driving on the roads today that has not seen a roadside memorial for a child who died because of a bad decision by someone.  You can often see the names of the deceased child or children on these memorials.  They are slaves to the consequences for the bad decisions of someone.  In this case, their bondage to the consequences is permanent.  Someone broke the rules and set up a chain of events that prevented those children from living long on the earth.   Our rules for our children are there for their own well being and protection.  Our rules for our children are designed to prevent them from becoming slaves to consequences. 

So what about God’s laws?  God is our spiritual Father is he not?  Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia in chapter 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”  We give our earthly children rules because we love them, so does God give us His law because He loves us?  1 John 5:3-4 teaches us, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (NKJV).

So, like earthly, fleshly fathers, our Spiritual Father in heaven give us rules which, if obeyed will protect us and those around us from the bondage of the consequences for bad decisions.   We can see the love of God displayed in the laws He gives us.  Let’s turn to Galatians 5:19-21 for some examples, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;

“Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,”  All of these are sexual sins.  From these we have broken homes, disease, human sex slavery, human trafficking, children sexually molested, emotional pain and anguish, children growing up in broken homes.  Sexual sin can be linked to all kinds of misery and God knows this.  He knows that this kind of behavior lead to a bondage or slavery to the consequences.   And this bondage is not just confined to the perpetrators either.  This type of behavior places the innocent into the bondage of consequences as well.   As Christians, we MUST be conscious of the effect that our actions have on others. 

“Idolatry”  Takes all kinds of forms.  In the context of this study, the elevation any material thing above that which is right.  For example, forms of entertainment such as TV or sports taking precedence over family obligations.  Buying big boy toys and allowing one’s children to go unclothed or unfed.  The sin of Idolatry is not only offensive to God, it often leads to the neglect of oneself and others.  It is self destructive.  Idolatry is a sin which not only effects us, but effects others around us. 

“witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies“:  All of these are not only self destructive, they are harmful to others around us.  God doesn’t just look at one’s actions for how they pertain to themselves personally.  He looks at how our actions affect one another.  His law is for the well being of all.  His laws, when obeyed, keep us from suffering the bondage of our own consequences and to keep us from hurting the innocent.  Our sins have collateral effects on others.   

“Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like“:  More sins which not only effect us, but have devastating effects on others.  We need to understand and to see that God’s laws are for the benefit of all.  Our bondage to His law frees us and others around us from being slaves to the consequences of sin.

God gives us law because He loves us and wants us to live free from the consequences of sin.   

Take a moment and imagine if you will a world where everyone in it lived according to God’s law.  If every one alive lived in accordance with God’s law what kind of a world would we see?  No more wars.  No more broken homes through divorce.  No more children growing up with their parents living in separate homes.  No more thieves.  No murders.  No child abductions.  No kidnappings.  No rapes.  No more racial bigotry. The list goes on and on.  Our society is in a moral tailspin.  Humanity as a whole has made themselves slaves to the consequences of sin.  God’s laws do not enslave us.  They liberate us.  They liberate us from the consequences of our own sin.  They liberate us from the consequences of the bad decisions of others.   All of God’s laws are for the benefit of mankind. 

The bondage of sin has a devastating effect on humanity.   But the consequences for sin are further reaching than just our physical lives on earth.  Sin also condemns mankind to eternal damnation in Hell, (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9) “and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (NKJV). 

John 5:28-29, “the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation”

So we learn from these passages and many others that all who refuse to submit to God’s authority on earth not only live as slaves to the consequences on earth, they will be condemned to the bondage of eternal damnation.   The alternative to living in the bondage of the consequences for sin is to live in bondage to the law of God.  Paul commanded the Christians in Ephesus to live as bond-servants of Jesus Christ in Ephesians 6:5-7, “Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart” (NKJV).

The bondservant figure is here used to represent someone who’s debt has been paid by Jesus Christ. Christians do not belong to themselves. Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 that we were bought with a price and that we are not our own property anymore. We literally belong to Christ. He paid our sin debt thereby purchasing us from condemnation. We cannot repay that debt.

Christians are indentured servants of Christ.

Yes we are free in Christ, but not free to live as we see fit. And this is where a lot of folks get hung up. They refuse to wrap their minds around the fact that everything they have and everything they do already belongs to Christ. We have nothing to offer Jesus Christ which he does not already possess because he literally purchased our lives with His death.

Our acts of obedience and/or service already belong to Him. People today are all about what they want to do. They want their freedom in Christ to be freedom from Christ and that just isn’t possible.

What many fail to realize is that this indentured servant/bondservant relationship is the source of total freedom. People get so hung up on self, they miss the benefits of living as a bondservant of Christ. A Christian’s freedom is rooted in their service to Christ.

We need to get rid of self and come to the realization that our bondservice is our freedom.  Paul taught in Romans 12:1 that we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God.  God wants all mankind to live according to His righteousness.  God knows that sin destroys life and out of His love for mankind, He has given mankind His law which if obeyed by all, would result in a world very much different than what we are living in right now.  We should be able to look at the world around us and see for ourselves what the consequences for sin are.  We should be able to see for ourselves that the world is living in the grip of the consequences of sin.  The world is a slave to the very sin which is eating it up from within.    Those living outside the body of Christ refuse to see it. 

God has a remedy for war.  He has a remedy for burglary.  He has the solution for bigotry, hate, and for the death of innocent unborn children.  He has the cure for sexually transmitted diseases.  If every man and woman on this earth has one partner for life as God directed, STD’s would disappear from the face of the earth in a single generation.  God has the answer the world is looking for.  The world is looking for freedom in all the wrong places.  God knows where true freedom is really found.  True freedom is found only through bondage to His law.

If we want to be truly free, then we must be slaves to God’s righteousness.  Slavery to God’s righteousness means we must be diligent in it.   Someone who is a slave to God’s righteousness does not pick and choose through God’s law and obey what is convenient and easy to obey.  Slaves of righteousness obey all of God’s law, no matter how inconvenient it may be or how trivial it may seem.   Jesus taught in Matthew 5:19-20, “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.“

In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul wrote this: “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”  Paul used the word ‘Captivity’ for a reason.  We are to be captives of God’s righteousness.  We are to be in bondage to the law of God if we want to be free from the slavery of sin. 

Our slavery to Christ is where our freedom comes from.   Now what we need to finish this lesson off is some scripture which says all of this.  Does the Bible tell us anywhere that our freedom in Christ comes through bondage to Christ?  Turn with me to:

Romans 6:16-23

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I quoted from the NIV because it did a good job of bringing out the meaning of the original language in easy to understand terms.

Sin destroys life.  Sin places mankind in bondage.   1 Corinthians 7:22-23  “For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave.“

The only freedom that really matters comes from bondage to God.

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