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Unleashed Slavery
Posted by Chris Johnson in Bible & Theology, Church & Missions
It is not a popular idea in our politically correct American society to speak about slavery. In fact, slavery is one of those terms that are typically met with puzzling looks and bewilderment. Why would anyone want to be a slave? …or even speak about it. So, whispers abound when this term crosses the lips…. as skin color inventories are quickly calculated throughout the room. Yet when slavery is rightly understood, it is not to be known as simply a metaphor in the mind of a Christ follower,….it really is a way of life. The term is not a device used to explain how a Christian might try to think about their plight as compared to historical traces of bondage. Rather, it is a definition of something made new and distinct, freedom defined, with a mission and a Lord that has ordered such to be.
James 1:23-27 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; (24) for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. (25) But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. (26) If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. (27) Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
A New Occupation: Simple Concepts
Being born again, being born from above, being given a renewed heart is the strength to become “effectual” (ergon). Before a new heart condition had been established by God, doing was ineffectual since Christ was not Lord. “But now”, a curious and wonderful statement generally made by the Apostle Paul, explains the change that God has given and that all Christ followers pursue; a change so obvious because it moves us to people, it is not a change that expects people to come to us. Slaves of Christ are effectual doers. Those who are stained by the world are not looking for people; they are looking for buildings and weekly events.
Some Churches are Backwards
If you exist in a church that expects people to walk through the door in order to hear your Pastor and experience the nice effects of a building, you have a backwards church. Such a church is anemic and that type of religion is defiled and impure. Then what does a group of Christ slaves look like?
Matthew 7:17-26 “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. (18) “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. (19) “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) “So then, you will know them by their fruits. (21) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. (22) “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ (23) “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ (24) “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. (25) “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. (26) “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
Act how?
James 4:5-17 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? (6) But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” (7) Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (8) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (9) Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. (10) Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. (11) Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. (12) There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? (13) Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” (14) Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. (15) Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” (16) But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. (17) Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Act now!
Do the work of an evangelist and speak the gospel today!
Blessings,
Chris
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Just curious, where did my comment go on E. L. Doctorow’s The March; where did it go.
Who took it down and why?
Thought I had some pretty good thoughts on slavery and freedom in Christ in Georgia and everywhere
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_March_(novel)
Brother Stephen,
I did not take it down. Not sure where it went….I saw it earlier and now I see this one. I’ll look into it.
For the record though, I appreciate the information although it did not necessarily address the post in the sense of what “slavery” in Christ means. In other words,…the comments concerning slavery tend to look at being set free from slavery, when actually we are call to it….since we are no longer slaves to sin.
Baptist’s these days have lost the sense of being a slave in the reality that the scriptures speak of…. so when the subject is written about,…it is typically from the “fear” angle, and not the “freedom” angle; by which the Apostle Paul addresses the church.
We as Christ followers would do well to understand our “unleashed slavery” in Christ. You see….that picture above depicts slaves, “those washing the childrens feet” as now free to do so. The image depicts the “man and woman living out freedom”,…not freeing the children who happen to be black skinned in this photo.
You see….the children in the photo above are not the slaves that the Apostle refers to as the church that follows Christ.
I think your posting was appropriate, because it illustrates the immediate response of believers these days….as your reaction verifies, we generally don’t approach slavery from a biblical perspective.
Blessings,
Chris