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.

Salvation sets me free — from what?

 

Some define salvation as a ticket to heaven, nothing more. However, Jesus said the truth will set us free — free from what? Romans 8:1 says from condemnation, but the rest of Scripture is clear; salvation is freedom from the power of sin. Instead of sin, which is basically doing life my own way and ignoring God’s way, salvation frees me from it so that I can do life God’s way. This is freedom — being free to live as God created me to live, under the power of the Holy Spirit instead of under the power of sin.

Some will claim that salvation can be earned by doing good works. That is, doing life my way by selecting good things to do, and thinking God will accept me and give me a home in heaven. The problem with that teaching is an inaccurate understanding of sin. Sin is ‘my way’ no matter if that means selfish living, a life of crime and rebellion, or doing good things. The Scriptures say we are saved by faith, not by works.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

The confusion comes with the Scriptures also saying, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” (James 2:14) and “a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24).

That seems to conflict with Paul’s teaching on salvation by grace through faith. Does that mean we have faith in God to save us if we add good works too? Even though some ‘Christian’ denominations teach that, it is just another false teaching. It makes salvation depend on good works, on what I choose to do. I’m not set free by the tyranny of sin (doing my own thing, running my own life) but still in bondage to it if I add works or virtuous deeds as a means of salvation.

Reading ALL of Scripture is important. James says I am “justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24) and Paul describes salvation as a new life, as a huge transformation of in who I am. He says: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Another passage says that Jesus “saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5) making us new people who do not run our own lives but are spiritually reborn and living according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. This is a gift from God, a freedom of His grace . . .

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. (Titus 2:11–12)

This is why Jesus could say: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32) The freedom He promises is freedom to do good motivated by God’s Spirit rather than motivated by a human desire to earn God’s favor.

The faith described in the NT is not the same as mere assent to something. It is a faith that changes lives. Think of it: “Even the demons believe” that Jesus exists and died for sin, but they are not transformed. Saving faith is a life-changing gift, a gift that sets Christians free to choose obedience rather than yield to selfish, sinful thoughts and actions.

PRAY: Thinking each day of what the Gospel means and what it does describes true freedom. Sometimes I revert to my old way of thinking (“I can do this myself”) but it produces nothing and the outcome is not freedom but slavery. God, You continually forgive my foolishness, but You also direct me in the way of freedom. I do not have to sin. I can serve You and be a loving blessing to others. The gift of eternal life is a wonder, yet it is for this life also. The goals and desires of my heart are not the same as they once were, and I don’t think, talk or act as I once did. Your salvation has set me free! I’m no longer a slave to sin because You made me Your child!

PONDER: John 8:31–32 describes true faith. How does the Word of God affect those who genuinely believe what it says? How does that freedom affect my daily life?

 

 

A load transformed by the yoke that carries it

 

A YOKE joins two draft animals at the neck so they can work together as a team. It looks heavy and uncomfortable. Many OT uses depict it as a literal yoke that binds two oxen or to figuratively describe a heavy duty or partnership, or forced labor.

The first mention of a yoke is in a reminder from God: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.”

God never intended that anyone be yoked in slavery to anything, yet this was not always lived out in the lives of His people. For instance, one OT king was advised to serve the people kindly, but he said, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”

The Lord used this term to speak of bondage under pagan kings and to idolatry. In Jeremiah 28:14, He says: “I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.”

In his Lamentations, Jeremiah said, “My transgressions were bound into a yoke; by his hand they were fastened together; they were set upon my neck; he caused my strength to fail; the Lord gave me into the hands of those whom I cannot withstand” revealing the suffering of being disciplined for sin. However, he and other prophets also wrote promises from God using the symbol of a yoke:

Jeremiah 30:8. “And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him.”

Ezekiel 34:27. “And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them.”

Hosea 11:4. “I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.”

Nahum 1:13. “And now I will break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds apart.”

In the NT, Jesus also used the image of a yoke to show the severity of spiritual bondage. That is, the bondage of a life yoked to sin is doubled by the heavy labor of trying to plow through it in our own strength, not realizing that this ‘teamwork’ with my own self is the cause of my struggle. He said,

Matthew 11:28–30. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I imagine being yoked like an animal with an apparatus fitted to join me with a partner. We are attached with neck pieces attached to a heavy top bar that is attached to a load pulled by two rather than one, but both are me! The yoke itself is heavy so I am bearing the weight of it as well as pulling the load. Jesus invites those who are yoked in that way to take on the ‘way’ of life that He offers. In other words, He wants to set me free from the weight of trying to cope using a ‘partner’ that is part of the problem not the solution.

Sin is defined as doing things my way without God. The human answer tends to either deny sin exists or tries harder to be good enough. Both make the burden even heavier because both are the burden! Trying to fix life apart from the enabling power of God is simply impossible. Jesus says His way gives rest because His yoke is nothing like mine and His burdens are also nothing like mine.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. An NT verse illustrates the simplicity of Christ’s burdens: “Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled.”

In life, all who work for overbearing taskmasters with a motivation for personal gain carry a heavy load of resentment and frustration. Jesus’ way is to honor that taskmaster and be motivated by doing their work “as unto the Lord” — a change of intention changes the weight of our task. Doing the tough stuff for Jesus makes it a light load compared to doing the tough stuff for some sort of personal gain or to please a tyrant. This yoke business is more than being set free from burdens; it is being set free from the tyranny of self. Galatians 5:1 sums up what I need to remember and do: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”