“AHHHH FREEDOM”! Or, is it “OUCH FREEDOM”? I mean, we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave and we are free to do life pretty much anyway we want to live. We are free to “party on dude” and soak in chemicals (alcohol and other drugs). We are free to sleep around with anyone we want. Hollywierd and our culture in general promotes free living, because remember, you have freedom and the right to live in a way that makes you happy. Some think they are happier in the here and now by not having any biblical restraints to live by because they want a guilt-free, wheels-off lifestyle. They claim freedom but in reality they are nothing more than slaves to the flesh. By the way, when we do life our way we are also free from salvation and free from the great inheritance our heavenly Father wants to share with us in glory.
There’s a better kind of freedom that Jesus offers BUT you will have to become a slave to get your hands on it. It’s a biblical paradox. Jesus says, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:31-36).
That’s the better way to live free – freedom in Christ. We are set free from the “flesh control”, die to the old way of life, are born again and raised up to newness of life with Jesus as Lord. We are then free to serve Him as free-will slaves. We can walk away anytime we want (although we would be fools to do so). It is an absolutely liberating way to live AND a much better way to die. We love being free from the guilt and condemnation of sin. We love being free from the devil controlling us. (Oh, he may win a few skirmishes along the way but with the help of the Holy Spirit we are winning the war “in Christ”.)
Hopefully you have been set free to be a slave of Jesus – AHHHHH FREEDOM. Read Romans 6:1-23 and listen to I Am Free by Newsboys.
Romans 6
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.