Slavery or freedom?

The people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them. 
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves. (Exodus 1:7–14)

The OT story of slavery in Egypt is a real-life metaphor for being in bondage to sin. This image is not sufficient in that the people of Israel choose to trust their own ways rather than trusting God, but it does point to the losses and damage that sin does. One commentator points out that there is “no such exhausting toil as that of working under the hot Egyptian sun, with the feet in water, in an open cutting, where there can be no shade, and scarcely a breath of air, from sunrise to sunset, as forced laborers are generally required to do.” 

He adds that a recent governor of Egypt, Mehemet Ali lost 20,000 laborers out of 150,000 in the construction of the Alexandrian Canal towards the middle of the present century. Other sources estimate that there are 50 million people in this world living in some sort of slavery. If that number included slavery to sin, it would be much larger.

The beginning of Exodus spells out the consequence of fear in this new king who had no understanding of the history of Israel living in his country. He only knew that his position of power was threatened. In his mind, the only solution was to overpower the threat. It is my observation that those insecure leaders of today are much like this one — when in fear, find a bigger stick.

In the NT, the multiplication of Christians became a threat in the Roman world. Many were persecuted, ran out of their homes, even burned at the stake. The sinful desire to maintain power and control overrides trusting God who is far superior to any threat. This is true even of those who know God. The Exodus story shows how much trouble His people had with trusting Him.

Yet is slavery to sin worth it? Is the ability to run my own life preferable to trusting God with it? Jesus died so that I could be set free from a power greater than my ability to say NO. Choosing slavery is foolish. Every time I fall into that trap, the more lovely God's grace appears. 

Jesus, thanks for saving me from a lifetime in Egypt and for setting my course to Your promised land.

UPDATE: This nasty virus invaded January 5 and is still trying to defeat me. Mostly I eat a bit, nap, and have no energy, but did a bit of sewing today so that is hopeful. Hubby is not 100% but far better than I am. Since I’ve not had flu since 1996, feeling sorry for myself is another challenge. God bless those who have brought food and are praying.

God’s ways. . . .

This past few days have me thinking about many things. One of them is the faith of two refugee families. They love the Lord and are so joyful to be in this country with the freedom to worship Jesus Christ. We are delighted to be their friends.
 
I’m also thinking of Charlie Kirk. The news media makes this a political issue but those who know Jesus and know what the Bible says, are saying that what killed him was not his political views but his biblical views. His widow stated that “the spiritual warfare is palpable” and Kirk had often used similar language as he called the 2024 election a spiritual battle.

Then there is the man who spoke to a small gathering at our church. He had been with a Bible translation organization for sixty years, spending much of that time in a South American country, in the jungle, with a tribe that initially did not have a written language. He described years of learning how to speak it, write it, then teach the people how to read. It was put it into story books and other material and eventually Scripture. After more than two decades, this tribe of people knew and loved Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. 

This man glorified God. He told us that he never finished high school, had been kicked out of Bible school, and suspended from working with the translation organization for two years. His three daughters entered South America with serious problems. A doctor said one of them would be in a wheel chair all her life, but at sixteen she won a 100-dash at a sports event. God took this man and his family through incredible trials. He has written nine books mostly about the wonder and power of God to do what He did to change their lives and the lives of that tribe in the jungle.

These, and the things that are happening in my own life, are evidence of this truth:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8–9)

The refugee families have a faith that belies how many Christians “trust” God in North America. We tend to praise Him for the good stuff, even to the point of idolatry, while they love Him for all things, even the persecution that drove them from their homes to come here. Now they are free to share their faith.

Oddly enough, Kirk is made out to be the bad guy for sharing what God says about the sin in this world. Yet the media portrays the reason for his death is his political affiliations. They are not going to call this hatred persecution. Is it because that would make them the bad guys?

At the same time, when I listen to most politicians, I think that they are doing the best they can with the knowledge they have. Most of them are not in a personal relationship with God, nor do they have the Holy Spirit living in them. While He can give them direction, they may not recognize it as wise because God’s ways are not our ways and most of His ways seem unreal, unpleasant, and certainly unwanted.

Then I think of the missionary who determined to obey God no matter what. He admitted to not being the smartest, best behaved person, nor did he have the qualifications most people would admire. Yet despite all that, dozens and perhaps hundreds of people have assurance of eternal life because God used him to tell them about Jesus. From various sources, I hear that Kirk did the same thing. Many who heard him, even watched him die, have put their faith in the Savior who also died for him, not just because the ‘religious’ leaders hated Jesus, but because God the Father so loved us that He sent His Son to take our penalty for our sin.

PRAY: Yes, Lord, Your ways are not like ours. It is easy to make my own safety and comfort a priority rather than boldly tell others of your righteousness and power. I know the pull of sin and the deep desire to ‘do my own thing’ rather than rely on You for everything. At the same time, those like the refugees, and Kirk, and our linguistic friend are a great encouragement to faith, to pray for all believers, especially those who are being persecuted for their faith, and for all who do not yet know You, including politicians, media people, anyone in leadership, and our families, friends, and neighbors. May Your will be done. Amen.

There is only one good slave-master. . . .

 

The religious people in Jesus’ day claimed they were not slaves to anyone. They were thinking of human physical bondage, but Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34)

His words fly in the face of those who say we have a free will. Without Jesus, our so-called freedom is doing whatever we want, running our own lives apart from God. The Bible calls that sin and sin is ordering our lives. This is why the Bible tells me:

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

I could make a list: eating after I’m full, watching TV when God is telling me to do something else, becoming angry about something and letting the sun go down on my anger, putting off praying for another person’s request, blah, blah. My friends say that too much focus on sin is not good, and they are right, but what is the alternative? To me, if I am not obedient, then I need to repent and do what the Lord says, focusing on His forgiveness and goodness.

This is simple, but as today’s reading says, legalism or living by rules is natural, a big part of that old nature. It causes me to seek assurance or recognition based on my own works instead of on Christ. It can also cause me to shirk what I should be doing because I feel inadequate and unworthy.

Legalism is motivated by pride, fear, unbelief and a sense of duty — all slave drivers. So is the way it can lead me to judge others by rules (theirs or mind) instead of loving them as brothers and sisters in God’s family.

This passage is long, but when slavery calls, I need to read and re-read it:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:6–23)

PRAY: Jesus, what arrogance to think that my choices for life are better than Yours. While You do use a rod and staff to direct me, it is far better than the whip I carry to motivate myself. Thank You Jesus for wanting and securing my freedom and for being my Shepherd.

What about God’s Laws?

 

For many years I’ve heard people say that being a Christian was not for them because there are too many rules and “I can’t keep them all so why bother?” Behind that is the idea that rule-keeping is necessary to earning salvation and entering heaven. Today’s focus is on the Mosaic COVENANT, but before my heart goes there, I want to clarify the reason God gave all those rules. It was NOT so His people could become His people; they already were. His Law was given to show them how to behave as His people.

Compare this to being in the army. No one goes through bootcamp to join up; that has already happened. Bootcamp is learning how to be a soldier, not to sign up. In the Mosaic covenant, God is instructing His people how to live. That said, God gave His ‘army’  613 commands (not just 10), 365 do not do this and 248 do this instead. They would be blessed for obedience and suffer for disobedience.

Included in this covenant were blood sacrifices to atone for sin. These provided forgiveness and restoration of fellowship, covering their sin but not removing it as the blood of Christ would later accomplish.

Also included were diet restrictions. One of them, the forbidding of pork, indicates God was protecting them. In those days, no one knew about trichinosis or how to avoid it in that meat. This may apply to other restrictions concerning harmful foods.

Also in these rules, the death penalty was expanded to other sins besides killing another person. This illustrates that certain sins were blatant behaviors that smeared the image of God. Death (separation from God in a spiritual sense) is serious and His people needed to live with the understanding that His grace is not to be abused. Even today, those sins dishonor God far more vividly than the many other things people do in disobedience.

The sign of circumcision remained, not just for Jews but for non-Jews who wanted to be part of Israel. In the NT, they were later warned that being circumcised obligated them to keep the entire Law of God since they had the idea that circumcision would also justify them before God. This is not the intention for this sign then or now.

Another sign or token was given: His people were required to keep the Sabbath or one day of rest out of seven. Oddly, every reason given for the observance of the Sabbath has relevance only to Israel, not to the Gentiles or the Church, nor was it connected to being like God and reflecting His rest after Creation. Not only that the Sabbath was a day of rest, not a day of corporate worship. His people were prohibited from working, traveling, and burden bearing. References to the Sabbath as a holy convocation point to priestly duties only. The term can refer to spiritual renewal, however the NT defines it as the rest that trusts Christ alone rather than ‘working’ for our salvation.

The Law of God was given to reveal God’s holy standards, give rules of conduct, provide occasions for worship, and keep God’s people distinct from all other people. Those rules revealed sin. Humans sinned before the Law but that was clarified when the Law was given. They also revealed that no one could keep it all, driving people to saving faith in Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

The Mosaic Covenant was the basis for the Dispensation of Law. It was conditional and came to an end with the death of the Messiah: “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4) because He is our righteousness! Those who think rule-keeping will do it have departed from grace as Paul said, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians 2:21)

Another important truth is that the Law of God is singular, not to be divided into moral, ritual, dietary etc. so that anyone can claim some parts are valid and other parts are not. The Bible is clear that if we break one commandment, we are guilty of all (James 2:10). Instead, “we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7:6)

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. There is much more that could be said about the Law and how it is not a rule of life for Christians. Instead, we live in freedom from all demands of that Law in the New Covenant. However, I am to not use that freedom as an opportunity to do whatever my sinful flesh wants. The whole law is fulfilled by loving God and “loving my neighbor as myself.” I’m to serve Him and others in love. The only way this is possible is by walking in the Spirit so I will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:13–16) The only way to walk in the Spirit is to keep short accounts through confessing sin, asking the Spirit to fill me, and keeping my eyes on Jesus. In Christ, the Law is fulfilled — in Christ there is no condemnation.