One hundred and fourteen years ago this month, the Los Angeles Sunday Times published the story of a former slave named Lucy Chiviss.
Lucy had just celebrated her one hundredth birthday when the article was written in 1908. She spent close to sixty years of her life as a slave before she was freed at the end of the Civil War. As she celebrated becoming a centenarian, her mind was clear and sharp and her memories were vivid. In the article she recounts events serving several of her masters, some memories sweet and others incredibly painful. The article begins by describing her as being “among the few old slaves still living.” How I wish that were true; but it isn’t.
Even today, more people are trapped in slavery than at any time in history.
And that brings us to today’s verse:
HE IS SO RICH IN KINDNESS AND GRACE THAT HE PURCHASED OUR FREEDOM WITH THE BLOOD OF HIS SON AND FORGAVE OUR SINS
If I were to speak of modern slavery in terms of forced labor or sexual human trafficking, most people would find those numbers to be staggering. The Global Slavery Index calculates that over forty million individuals are trapped in modern slavery. Seven in ten of those are women. One in four are children.
If only that were the scope of the problem. Forty million, as bad as that number is, doesn’t even begin to measure the truth.
When you’re on a US naval vessel and there’s an important announcement that needs to be made, the Captain makes use of a loudspeaker system. It carries his voice to all rooms and quarters and every deck on the ship. To make certain he has your attention, he begins these announcements by saying, “NOW HEAR THIS !!” Then his message would follow those three words.
When Jesus was about to say something of importance, something He wanted to make certain His hearers focused upon and didn’t miss, He used a phrase designed to arrest their attention, too. He didn’t say, “now hear this;” He would say, “Truly, truly.” That introduction was holy shorthand, if you will for, “HEY !! Listen carefully. I’m about to say something mind-shattering. It is so unbelievable that I’m assuring you in advance that it is the absolute truth.” Then His message would follow those two words.
I may be missing something, but I can only find one incident in the scriptures where Jesus taught on the nature of slavery. He was sitting in the temple courts, and was about to say something to the Jews who had put their faith in Him. It was so important that Jesus began the teaching with His version of, “NOW HEAR THIS.”
He said, “TRULY, TRULY, I tell you – Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
Everyone! That’s a pretty broad stroke, right?
Some of you reading this are probably upset that I just lumped you in with a group of slaves. If so, you’re not alone. The people Jesus was speaking to in the temple were indignant, they actually got into a pretty heated argument with Him. They said, “We are Abraham’s descendants. We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?”
They were convinced their lineage was the key to their freedom. Maybe they thought that Jesus had forgotten He was speaking to Jews! He hadn’t forgotten. But He also knew that your father’s faith isn’t going to get you into heaven. Being Abraham’s descendant had nothing to do with the argument. Lineage is not the key to freedom. It’s like arguing with the police officer who pulls you over for speeding, telling him that he can’t write you a ticket because you’re wearing gray socks. However factual it may be, it doesn’t even enter into the consideration.
Sin puts you in slavery. It does so whether you’re descended from Abraham, King George or Genghis Khan. Jesus said everyone who sins is a slave to sin. He began by saying “truly, truly” so you wouldn’t miss the importance of it. It is ABSOLUTELY true. You can add your voice to the protest and claim, “I’ve never been a slave to anyone!!” But it changes nothing. If you sin, you’re a slave. Case closed.
HE IS SO RICH IN KINDNESS AND GRACE THAT HE PURCHASED OUR FREEDOM WITH THE BLOOD OF HIS SON AND FORGAVE OUR SINS
Jesus doesn’t leave us enslaved. He immediately opens the way for our freedom and says, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
When we come to faith in Christ, we get to embrace the FACT of the covenant He makes with us, and the SYMBOL of the covenant. Everywhere you look in scritpure you see that covenants are always marked with symbols. They assert the truth of and one’s participation in a covenant that has been established and entered into. It doesn’t establish the covenant in and of itself, but it is a symbol that the covenant exists.
Anyone who confesses with their lips that Jesus is their Lord and believes in their heart that God has raised Him from the grave has entered into the covenant of freedom from sin. That is the FACT of the new covenant. Our old self was crucified with Him so the body of sin would be brought to nothing; so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. When we have died to sin, we are released from its claim of ownership over us. We were slaves to sin, but entering into the covenant of faith and freedom changes all that; just as surely as a one owner of a former slave named Lucy Chiviss could sell her to a new master. Once the new master paid the purchase price, the old master lost every legal claim he ever had on her.
The SYMBOL of the new covenant we have with Christ is baptism. All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too would be able to walk with Him in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like His. Free indeed!!!
Free to serve a new owner. Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. He calls us to live as people who are free, not using our freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. He wants us to be free to live without the chains of sin, free to employ the gifts and talents He gives us to advance His Kingdom.
So let’s stand firm, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. No sneaking back in the dead of night to serve masters that no longer own us or control us. No one can serve two masters.
The title of today’s devotional said a former slave would speak, and so I have. I am a man who was enslaved. Praise God – I have been set free. Slavery is hard. Sin is a cruel taskmaster, crushing and destroying even the will to live.
Freedom is better.
“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
HE IS SO RICH IN KINDNESS AND GRACE THAT HE PURCHASED OUR FREEDOM WITH THE BLOOD OF HIS SON AND FORGAVE OUR SINS
