Slaves to Christ

I’ve never been in chains. I’ve never been a slave. I’ve never been behind bars. I’ve never been forced to work against my will (I’m not counting those times at home growing up because that is different). I’ve never been treated as a piece of property and not a person. I don’t even remember a time being locked in a room I can’t get out of. I’ve been locked out of things, but have no experience with anything to do with slavery.

I’ve always been ‘free’ to do generally what I want.

The Bible uses the imagery of slavery. And during Bible times, slavery was common practice. Sadly, it still exists today, but it is definitely outside of our frame of reference here in Charlevoix.

We are called to be slaves to Christ. . . because . . . He sets us free from our slavery to sin. We have been set free from sin. It no longer controls us. It no longer can impart its will through our flesh, our self, through the law, and even through death. We are free.

Yet, what I’ve just said is what most of us know; it is what we’re taught in church and reflects accurately what the Bible says, yet often our experience is different. We still feel like our flesh and self are in control. We feel helpless to keep from pursuing what our ‘self’ tells us we want.

We hear 2 Corinthians 5:17 and just don’t feel like it’s true,

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.

“The old has gone” is hard to see and even harder to experience. We still feel the power of the old self. We still see the attraction to our flesh. The influence still remains. How are we made new? Is the old self really gone? Am I really free from the bondage to sin? Are you?

I think of Paul and his wrestlings in Romans 7. I’m paraphrasing, when he in essence says, ‘why can’t I stop doing what I know I should stop and why can’t I do what I know I need to do?’ Been there before? I sure have.

Today, the focus of the message is Acts 16 where Paul and Silas are put in jail because they cast a demon out of a fortune-telling girl. While in prison, an earthquake happens and all the doors are cast open and all the chains are broken. They are free to go. But they stay. Because they stay, they are able to share the message of salvation through Jesus with the jailer and his family.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how the doors of my prison have swung open and the chains around my wrists have broken off. What does that mean? How does that look in my life? How does that affect everything else about my life? I am free from sin and its consequences, yet I’m not out of prison. The doors are open, the chains are off, but I still live in a world where slavery to sin is rampant.

Hopefully, I haven’t totally lost you by this point. There is a point. I just wanted to share with you how I struggle understanding what I know to be true within the experience of my life. So here’s my best shot at explaining how I make sense of all of this.

I was once a slave to my self. I lived for me. I lived in the flesh – driven by me and what was best for me. I could not please God. I deserved the consequences of this selfish life, which is death – separation from God – ongoing slavery to sin. At times this life seemed so attractive, yet also empty. It felt good but then bad. Happiness was short-lived and often followed by guilt.

I realized/realize the impossibility of me doing anything about this life and its consequences. I realized/realize the havoc this life wreaks upon everyone around me. I look in the mirror and cannot stand what I see without looking through a distorted lens. That lens sure is hard to get off, but I saw enough glimpses of the truth to feel the shame. I could not escape from this truth . . . on my own. All of this did not happen in a moment. Over time, through life experiences, through my own identity crises, and through my constant strivings to meet my needs, I came to these conclusions. I am a broken man. I have chains on my wrists and live in a place I cannot escape from. “Wretched man that I am; who can rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24)

In the midst of the glimpses of shame, I experienced glimpses of joy. I felt love. I saw hope. I was turned outside of my self and onto others. They had what I wanted. And it wasn’t money or stuff; it was peace. It was joy. It was a love of people. I was one of those people they loved. These people, broken themselves, all had one thing in common: Jesus. It wasn’t a head knowledge or the ability to spout Bible trivia or talk “church.” They loved Jesus. I knew that by how they lived much more so than what they said. And they showed me that I needed Him too. So I took the step of faith and gave myself to Him because keeping myself for me wasn’t working at all. I believed. I confessed. I promised to try (with His help) to follow.

Choosing Him meant choosing to be His. The Bible says slave, servant, and even friend to describe this relationship, but the bottom line is I don’t exist for me but for Him. I am now His slave. He is my master. I couldn’t be His unless I was set free from sin. Sin cannot be my master if I am to be His. Jesus set me free from sin. It cost Him His life.

I live in a world filled with sin. I live in a prison, yet I am free. What’s hard is living in this prison that still is seeking to put me back in chains. I am free, but I can still give in to the voice of my ‘self’ and allow my new life to look like my old life. I can be free from sin and act like I’m still it’s slave. It’s my choice. Sin no longer controls me unless I choose it. I now, by the power of Jesus and the freedom I have through Him, can walk away. I can overcome temptation. I can live for Jesus. I can be His. And in doing so, I can look like Him, act like Him, and talk like Him, because I am His.

Plus, He wants me to stay in that prison so I can show others that freedom is available. It’s not easy staying in the place where sin still dwells, but that is our lot until Christ returns. I definitely struggle when I go it alone against sin.

Look at your wrists. No chains. Look at the door of your cell. Wide open. All of this through Christ alone. We live here to help set the ‘other’ prisoners free by showing them the only way to freedom: Jesus Christ. We are free to be His. Choose to be His. You are not a slave to sin.