Slavery and Freedom
So, I get that Christian blogging against 50 Shades of Grey this weekend can be seen in two lights: saving our culture from corruption, or on the flipside, getting entangled in a peripheral issue that distracts from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
No one is going to be saved or damned by merely watching a BDSM porn movie. I get that. And that's not what Christians are trying to say anyway. But what I think many people forget is that we are all slaves.
Sin is not a popular word and I think it's definition has slipped through the cracks. Sin is anything a person thinks, says, or does that breaks the God's law. "Thou shalt not commit adultery" - looks at a person to think about sex - bam, law broken. "Thou shalt not kill" - gets super angry at someone and hates them - bam, law broken. We all break God's law; if not in our actions, at least in our thoughts. It is a sickness that lives in all of our hearts, despite our efforts to eradicate it.
Sin has a lot to do with slavery. The metaphor of slavery for God's people didn't start as a metaphor. They were actually slaves in Egypt, and God actually set them free by working awesome supernatural miracles, miracles that actually did happen. They were freed from slavery so that they could serve God and worship him. He did that so he could live in their midst, literally in the middle of their campground. He wanted to be with them and commune with them.
Jesus told their descendants thousands of years later that anyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin. One sin, and you're a slave. Wow. Then he gave himself to pay the debt for us so that we could be set free from our slavery to sin. The Apostle Paul tells the Roman church that Jesus set them free from slavery to sin so that they too can be free to worship him. He warns the churches in Galatia to not return to slavery to sin again by thinking that they don't need Jesus to set them free. And the Apostle Peter warns Christians to not fall prey to false teachers who will entice them back into slavery to corrupt, sinful desires.
Jesus died and rose from the dead so that where he is, his people will be also.
People think they are free if they can do whatever they want. But that is actually slavery. Because without his help we will do whatever we want, and that can destroy us. It will certainly sever a relationship to God.
True freedom is being set free from ourselves, from our stubborn hearts, so that we can be best friends with God. So that we can know him in his awesomeness and beauty. So that we can love him, adore him, worship him, rest in him, come alive in him, and be only his. True freedom is unhindered fellowship with God, not the ability to do whatever our sinful nature desires.
Let's not forget this or fall prey to our culture's lies concerning freedom and slavery.
That's why I blog against things like 50 Shades, and that's why I will keep blogging about Jesus and the Bible. Because God is amazing and I want to share about him to anyone who would like to read this. So thanks for reading! :)
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Scriptures: Exodus 7-14, Psalm 107, John 8:32-36, Romans 6, Galatians 4-5:2
No one is going to be saved or damned by merely watching a BDSM porn movie. I get that. And that's not what Christians are trying to say anyway. But what I think many people forget is that we are all slaves.
Sin is not a popular word and I think it's definition has slipped through the cracks. Sin is anything a person thinks, says, or does that breaks the God's law. "Thou shalt not commit adultery" - looks at a person to think about sex - bam, law broken. "Thou shalt not kill" - gets super angry at someone and hates them - bam, law broken. We all break God's law; if not in our actions, at least in our thoughts. It is a sickness that lives in all of our hearts, despite our efforts to eradicate it.
Sin has a lot to do with slavery. The metaphor of slavery for God's people didn't start as a metaphor. They were actually slaves in Egypt, and God actually set them free by working awesome supernatural miracles, miracles that actually did happen. They were freed from slavery so that they could serve God and worship him. He did that so he could live in their midst, literally in the middle of their campground. He wanted to be with them and commune with them.
Jesus told their descendants thousands of years later that anyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin. One sin, and you're a slave. Wow. Then he gave himself to pay the debt for us so that we could be set free from our slavery to sin. The Apostle Paul tells the Roman church that Jesus set them free from slavery to sin so that they too can be free to worship him. He warns the churches in Galatia to not return to slavery to sin again by thinking that they don't need Jesus to set them free. And the Apostle Peter warns Christians to not fall prey to false teachers who will entice them back into slavery to corrupt, sinful desires.
Jesus died and rose from the dead so that where he is, his people will be also.
People think they are free if they can do whatever they want. But that is actually slavery. Because without his help we will do whatever we want, and that can destroy us. It will certainly sever a relationship to God.
True freedom is being set free from ourselves, from our stubborn hearts, so that we can be best friends with God. So that we can know him in his awesomeness and beauty. So that we can love him, adore him, worship him, rest in him, come alive in him, and be only his. True freedom is unhindered fellowship with God, not the ability to do whatever our sinful nature desires.
Let's not forget this or fall prey to our culture's lies concerning freedom and slavery.
That's why I blog against things like 50 Shades, and that's why I will keep blogging about Jesus and the Bible. Because God is amazing and I want to share about him to anyone who would like to read this. So thanks for reading! :)
---
Scriptures: Exodus 7-14, Psalm 107, John 8:32-36, Romans 6, Galatians 4-5:2
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