Become a Slave to Gain Your Freedom

Slavery is a word that stirs deep passions in people. When we think of slavery in the United States we think of the injustice our ancestors did, both black and white, during the younger years of our nation. We think of the civil war that brought about the freedom of the slaves in our country. We think of the long struggle of blacks to earn the right to vote.

A side note here is these events where brought about by the efforts of Christian men and women. A good movie to watch on this subject is Amazing Grace the story about William Wilberforce.

Let's look at the definition of Slave from Dictionary.com
1. a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another; a bond servant.
2. a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person.

Back to the title of this post. Are you willing to become a slave to gain your freedom?

Before we tackle that question let's look at the history of slavery.

From Wikipedia

Slavery is not a new to the world it has been around since the dawn of time. Slavery traces back to the earliest records, such as the Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1760 BCE), which refers to it as an established institution.^[1] Slavery in ancient cultures was known to occur in civilizations as old as Sumer, and it was found in every civilization, including Ancient Egypt, the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, Ancient Greece, Ancient Persia,^[28] Rome and parts of its empire, and the Islamic Caliphate. Such institutions were a mixture of debt-slavery, punishment for crime, the enslavement of prisoners of war, child abandonment, and the birth of slave children to slaves.^[29] Records of slavery in Ancient Greece go as far back as Mycenaean Greece. It is often said that the Greeks as well as philosophers such as Aristotle accepted the theory of natural slavery i.e. that some men are slaves by nature.

According to Wikipedia
Some argue that the Bible condones slavery in Ancient Israelite society by failing to condemn the widespread existing practice present in other cultures.^[73] It also explicitly states that under certain circumstances, slavery is morally acceptable.^{[74][75][unreliable source?]} The Bible emphasises often however, that slaves are to be treated fairly by their masters.[NKJV Bible, Ephesians 6:5-9, Colossians 3:22-4:1] There are also scholars who argue that Islam condones slavery,^{[76][unreliable source?]} although the institution of slavery has largely been outlawed in the Muslim world.

The Bible mentions several reasons people find themselves in slavery. When nations were conquered by another nation they usually either killed all of the males and made the women their slaves or they killed the warriors and made the rest of the people slaves. They formed a Suzerian-Vassal Treaty which is not a treaty between equals, but between a lord and a servant. It required complete loyalty and obedience from the servant who benefited from the provisions and protection of the lord.

According to Wikipedia
Suzerainty (pronounced /ˈsjuːzərənti/RP or /ˈsjuːzəreɪnti/RP) (/ˈsuːzərənti/ GA) is a situation in which a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which allows the tributary some limited domestic autonomy to control its foreign affairs. The more powerful entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the head of state of that more powerful entity, is called a suzerain. The term suzerainty was originally used to describe the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and its surrounding regions. It differs from sovereignty in that the tributary has some (limited) self-rule. A suzerain can also mean a feudal lord, to whom vassals must pay tribute.

Slaves in the Middle East were often consider to be part of the family and were well cared for. Many slaves became slaves because they could not afford to pay off their debts and became enslaved to the one they owed to pay off the debt.

The Africans who became slaves in Europe and America were sold to the white men by other Africans who had either defeated them in battle or raided their village and hauled off the young men.

Today in America we still have slaves and here is a short list of those caught up in slavery:
Drug addicts
Alcoholics
Porn Addicts
Greed
Welfare - For info on this read Star Parker's article Moving back to Uncle Sam's plantation
Pride
Power
Sex Addicts
Workaholics

These people are in bondage to their addiction and cannot break away without the help of a friend and the power of the Holy Spirit. You might be surprised by the real solution to their becoming free from being enslaved to whatever they are in bondage to.

In order for them to truly be free of their addiction they will have to surrender everything to the Creator God and become a slave to Him and others. It is much like the Suzerian-Vassal Treaty of the old ages. If we will submit to our conquering King and Lord then He will provide all that we need.

Matthew 20: 25-28 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

2 Corinthians 3: 5-6 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

1 Timothy 4: 6 in pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have bee following.

My question is: "Are you willing to become Christ's slave in order for you to truly be free of the bondage you are under?" If so your King and Lord will fight along side of you and take back the ground that has been taken by the evil forces of this world. You can choose to have your King fight for you and deliver you from bondage or you can choose to fight by yourself and win a battle now and then as you continue to loose the war.

I want to encourage you to become a slave of Jesus Christ which will require complete surrender and you will, through the Spirit of the Lord, gain your freedom.

What difference a weekend can make

In the spring of 2002 I went to a weekend conference for men. The conference began Friday evening and would conclude Saturday afternoon. I expected this to be no different than any other men's conference I had attended. I was wrong.

Have you ever been to a men's conference? I am not sure about you but my experience has been that most men who attend them talk a lot but never take action. Oh, I forgot I am one of those men.

This weekend turned out to be different. Our speaker spoke about dreams that first night and challenged us to really consider what it was God wanted us to accomplish. He asked us to think about what our life experiences were and what gifts had the Holy Spirit given us. After his talk he had us break into small groups to share what had been stirred in us by his talk.

Have you ever been in a men's small group? My experience was, not much was said and even less took place. I never experienced going deeper than "hi how are you?"

This evening turned out to be different. As we sat there looking at each other one guy in the group, Tom, asked who thinks he knows what God wants him to do? One by one we went around the group sharing what we thought God was calling us to do. When it came to me I muttered something but nothing of substance. Then Tom prayed over me. He prayed about how he knew God was calling me to work with men and to begin a small group. He prayed everything I had told God I would not do.

That night I did not sleep well and at about 3am I was awaken by someone saying, YES You Will!!. I looked around the bunk room and no one was awake. I layed back down only to hear the voice again. I knew someone was playing a trick on me so I sat up and looked around. Again no one was awake or even in the hall. This happened again and then again. Finally I said, Okay Lord if you want me to start a men's small group I will!" With those words I feel asleep.

I woke the next morning refreshed and hungry. After breakfast we headed to the conference room and heard another talk about what we were being called to do. Then he added what is the one thing that is keeping you from answering the call. He added to that this one thing was not a lack of money or talent or resources. He wanted us to break into our same small group and share what was the one sin that kept us from pursuing and achieving our calling.

A lot of men swallowed hard at that. Me I wanted to find a hole and hide. I found myself sitting with the same men from the night before and all of us just looking at each other waiting for someone to say something.

We sat there for about 5 minutes when suddenly my hand went up. I was stunned because I had no intention of sharing anything. Tom turned and asked, "What is it Larry?" I then shared how the one thing that was keeping me from pursuing and achieving the calling God had for me was I was hung up on pornography. I watched as four men's jaws dropped open. Tom smiled and asked if he could pray for me.

The other men did not share anything deep like me and I honestly thought about not showing up at church again because of the shame I felt. Tom praying for me helped change those feelings from shame to guilt. That is the day I discovered that shame is from Satan and makes you want to hide and guilt is from God which moves you to repent.

That weekend I began the process of finding healing and moving beyond addiction. I did not have the program such as Dr. Doug Weiss' Heart to Heart Counseling or the small groups now available at the Vineyard Church I attend so I struggled by myself until I found a man willing to be my accountability partner. I owe a lot to my friend, Gregg, and later to my friend, Doug.

What is God calling you to do? What is that one thing that is keeping you from pursuing achieivng your calling?

Don't let shame keep you from moving forward but let guilt move you to repentance. There are resources that will help no matter what you are dealing with. If you want help this is the first place to start. Leave a comment confessing your sin, email me and I will get you the resources to help move forward and find a trusted friend you can share and be held accountable to. We can with the help of the Holy Spirit and a friend overcome any sin!