This year, God wants to re-ignite our passion for Him and for the life that He has given us.
So far, we learned of six thieves of our ability to enjoy life. The first two were worry and anxiety invoked by the two little words, “What if?” These two cause us concern over the future.
The second two were discontentment and ungratefulness invoked by those two little words “If only…” These two cause us to be unhappy in the present.
The third two were resentment and regret which pose these same two questions, “What if?” and “If only.” causing us to fix our focus on the past.
This week, we’re learning of another thief of our life’s joy; slavery. Now this is a sensitive subject and this word invokes a whole lot of different thoughts and emotions. To get us on the same page, let’s define the context of what we’re referring to here.
Slavery is being forced or coercively influenced into doing something that we do not want to do and/or will not benefit from.
This includes the picture that comes to mind from our nation’s dark past where people were bought and sold and used like a piece of equipment; often abused and forced to work under the threat of violence.
The reality of slavery goes beyond just this narrow context, however. The Bible teaches us that we are slaves to whatever we choose to obey.
Romans 6:16
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?
What is it that we can’t just say “No!” to?
Crushing candy? Work? Food? Shopping? That person?
What is it that we can’t just say “No!” to?
In other words, “What have we become slaves to?”
Even God gives us the freedom to say, “No.” to Him.
If we cannot say, “No.” to something or someone, we are enslaved by them and it’s not good for us!
I really struggled to use this word this morning to name this thief of our life’s joy, however, I really felt like it was the name that God wanted me to attribute to it; slavery.
We cannot enjoy life while being forced to do something that we don’t want to do or won’t benefit from doing.
Now I need to offer up a disclaimer here. God blesses our obedience. When we choose to live as God calls us to live, even when we don’t want to do it, we are still blessed for it. We always benefit from living our lives God’s way.
However, both God and ourselves are even more blessed when we desire obedience and want to live life His way! When we want what God wants for our lives, then we live by the strength of His joy. It’s not a chore and work to obey, it is a joy to obey!
There are also things that are good for us that we need to do, but don’t necessarily want to. Just because we discipline ourselves to exercise, eat healthy food, or practice good personal hygiene doesn’t mean that we are slaves to them. They don’t force us to do them, we have to discipline and force ourselves to do these things and we do benefit for doing so.
Let’s be honest, most days I wish that I would be forced to exercise, eat well, and obey God. I wish that my free will would be removed and I would just be forced to live life rightly. I wish I didn’t have a choice between Little Debbie and a leafy spring mix, between my phone and my treadmill, between sin and righteousness. God just doesn’t operate that way, though…
Without a choice, there can be no reward and blessing for choosing rightly!
There is a significant difference between forced obedience and willing obedience, but it can be difficult to see from outward appearances. Are we doing good things from a source of love for God and people or are we doing things from a source of religious duty and obligation?
Obedience sourced from religious duty makes us miserable in life.
Obedience sourced from love makes us enjoy life fully.
God’s heart and His desire is not that we would follow Him and obey Him as slaves forced into submission. God will never take away our free will, so we should never feel that He has done so. God’s heart and His desire is that our hearts and minds would be transformed so that we follow and obey Him willingly and joyfully. He wants to give us a full and abundant and joy-filled life!
There is a small, but significant difference between surrender and submission. One is willing and one is forced. One is freedom and the other is slavery.
Again, they look the same from outward appearances, but the source motive behind what we do is radically different!
We generally fall into one of three categories.
- Unsaved – We live by our flesh and are slaves to sin.
- Religious – We try hard on our own to learn and live out Biblical commands and principles, but we still really don’t want to do it. We fear people and what they think about us.
- Transformed – God’s desires become our desires and we want to live Biblically as the Spirit leads us. We fear God and what he thinks about us.
We generally fall into one of these three categories on a macro level with our whole lives and on a micro level with each area of our lives.
Discipleship and sanctification are churchy words that we use that describe the process that we go through as we proceed from being slaves to our sinful flesh to following the lead of the Holy Spirit into freedom. Discipleship is where more mature believers walk with us through the process and sanctification is where the Holy Spirit within leads and transforms us through it.
Discipleship and sanctification is the process of surrender that leads to transformation and freedom. It is not a process of submission to fear of what people think of us and cleaning up our lives from outward appearances. It is a willing cooperation with God allowing Him to change us from the inside out.
We’re crossing over from death to life; from our old selves to becoming the new creation that God has proclaimed us to be. We’re choosing to let go of our old worldly way of living and embracing the new Kingdom way of living.
1 Corinthians 6:9-12
9 …do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say – but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” – but I will not be mastered by anything.
We’re no longer slaves to sin and we refuse to go back to that lifestyle! Sure, we have the freedom and the right to do anything that we want, but we do not benefit from everything that we could do. Now, we have a choice and we choose God’s ways that lead to blessing and to an abundant life! We won’t allow the thief of sin’s slavery to be our master any longer.
God also has given us five different offices of ministry with distinct Spirit-given giftings to help us through this process from slaves of sin to free children of God.
Ephesians 4:11-15
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
This process sets us free from the slavery of being forced or coerced into doing things that we don’t want to do and from not benefiting from the work that we do. Instead, we desire to do good things and are richly blessed for doing them! I love the way that The Passion Translation describes this reality in Paul’s letter here:
Romans 8:14-18 (TPT)
14 The mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit. 15 And you did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough.
If living life as a Christian is one that makes you or those around you feel shame and condemnation like you’re never good enough for God, then you’re living it wrong! A Christian should have no shame or condemnation and confidence that they can boldly approach God, their Father with anything.
It’s not because we’re good enough, it’s because Jesus has made us good enough. He has made us holy and righteous and took our condemnation on Himself. He paid too high of a price for us to continue carrying the weight of all of that on ourselves. We’re free and spoiled children of God!
But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within us, our spirits join him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!” 16 For the Holy Spirit makes God’s fatherhood real to us as he whispers into our innermost being, “You are God’s beloved child!”
17 And since we are his true children, we qualify to share all his treasures, for indeed, we are heirs of God himself. And since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that he is and all that he has. We will experience being co-glorified with him provided that we accept his sufferings as our own.
18 I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us.
God doesn’t want our words or our outward appearances, He wants our hearts; the core of who we are! This is not full submission, it is full surrender! Not forced obedience, but full transformation! Not abandonment, but full adoption! Not slavery, but full freedom!
Stop allowing the thief of slavery brought on by religious duty or self-righteousness to steal from your life! Kick it out and embrace the freedom that the Holy Spirit releases into our lives! If you have placed your faith in Jesus for your salvation, then there is no condemnation for you! You have been set free and adopted into the family of God! You are good enough because Jesus has made you good enough to enjoy His Presence and to freely take from His rich treasury, your inheritance!
Does God only want our words; lip service?
Jesus asked:
Matthew 21:28-32
28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29 “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
It’s not about what we say, it’s about what we do! AND, it’s not about what we do, it’s about who we are!
Repent and believe Jesus!
Accept His adoption and become a spoiled child of God!
Allow the Holy Spirit within to transform you and not just boss you around!
You’re not a slave to fear, you’re a child of God!
Romans 8:15
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.
We need a mindset shift away from religious duty and toward our identity as a child of God. We don’t have to work to earn salvation or to earn grace or to earn mercy or to earn love or to earn wisdom. God freely gives these and so much more to anyone who asks for them!
We need to allow God to transform our hearts allowing Him to be the potter as we become the clay. Willing surrender and joy-filled obedience then result FROM our identity, not TO EARN our identity!
Isaiah 29:13-16
13 The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
14 Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
15 Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”
16 You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,
“You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
“You know nothing”?
This morning, rid your life of the slavery of religious duty and surrender your heart as clay in the Potter’s hands. Realize that you are a child of God because of the work that Jesus accomplished on the cross, not by your own righteousness. You are good enough to receive good and perfect gifts from God’s Kingdom treasures! Allow Jesus to continue the good work that He started to transform your life through the Holy Spirit!
A full and abundant and free and enjoyable life springs forth from our willing surrender!