Tag: slaves

Categories
Colossians

Living as Christ’s representatives: What does it mean?

Representative of Christ

I love the way the NLT translates verse 17.

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. (Colossians 3:17)

Whenever we do something in the “name of someone,” we do act as their representative, but I had never seen that verse in that light before. And it seems to flow over into the following verses.

Wives, as representatives of Christ to your husband, respect your husband and submit to his leadership in your home. (3:18)

Husbands, as representatives of Christ, love your wife, and don’t be harsh with them. (3:19)

Children, as representatives of Christ, obey your parents. (3:20)

Fathers, as representatives of Christ, don’t embitter your children, lest they become discouraged. (3:21)

Slaves, as representatives of Christ, obey your masters in everything and not just when they’re looking, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord. (3:22-25)

(We, of course, don’t have slaves nowadays, but we could equally say these things of any working person.)

Masters, as representatives of Christ, treat your slaves (or in our day, employees) fairly because you know you have a Master in heaven. (4:1)

In other words, in all our relationships, remember who you’re representing. You’re representing Jesus Christ. To your husband, to your wife, to your parents, to your children, to your boss, and to your employees.

When you disrespect your husband as head of the family, what kind of representative are you being?

When you treat your wife harshly, what kind of representative are you being?

When you disobey your parents, what kind of representative are you being?

When you embitter your children, what kind of representative are you being?

When you work half-heartedly, what kind of representative are you being?

When you treat your employees unfairly, what kind of representative are you being?

In all your relationships, with friends, neighbors, coworkers, brothers and sisters in Christ, what kind of representative of Jesus Christ are you being?

Can others see him in you? Or do they only see you?

What kind of representative of Christ are you?

Categories
Galatians

Children of promise

Galatians

In this passage, Paul makes a very interesting allegory to drive home a simple point: We are children of God based on His promise, not children of God based on our keeping his law.

He talks about the story of Hagar and Sarah found in Genesis 16-21.

God had promised to give Abraham a son, but after years of waiting, Abraham and Sarah had started to lose hope that God would keep his promise.

So Sarah suggested that Abraham have a child through her slave Hagar (something atrocious to us, but perfectly normal back in those days).

Through Hagar, Abraham got his first son, Ishmael. But this was a son that came not based on the promise of God and his provision. Rather, it was based solely on human efforts.

Later though, Sarah did give birth to a son named Isaac. His birth was a total miracle, a total act of God, as Sarah was 90 years old when she gave birth.

And it was through Isaac, God told Abraham, that He would keep his promise to make Abraham into a great nation.

Paul then says those who try to be justified by the law are symbolized by Hagar and her son Ishmael. They are not trying to receive the blessing of God based on God’s promise and God’s work. Rather, they are trying to achieve it through their own human effort.

But there’s a problem with this. Children born of a slave are slaves themselves. So people who try to be “children of Hagar,” justified by their own human efforts, will in reality only find themselves enslaved by the law of sin and death.

In other words, the law can’t save them at all. All it does is point out their sin and condemn them to death. (Galatians 4:24-25)

On the other hand those who are trying to be justified before God by his grace are like Isaac, children and heirs of God based on God’s promise and God’s work.

Because of that, we are no longer enslaved by the law of sin and death. We have been set free and are now true children of the most high God. (Galatians 4:26-28)

But just as Ishmael, the child born of human efforts, persecuted Isaac, the child born of God’s promise, so the Judaizers persecuted the Christians.

In particular, the Judaizers tried to shut out the Galatian Christians until they agreed to put themselves under slavery to the law like the Judaizers were. (Galatians 4:29)

So Paul speaks very strongly here:

What does the Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” (Galatians 4:30)

In short, “Get rid of these false teachers. They are children of the slave. And they will never share in your inheritance. They have no part with you. They are trying to exclude you when the reality is that it is they who are excluded.”

And then he reemphasizes,

“Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.” (Galatians 4:31)

He then charges them,

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again under a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

Let us never forget that. Christ set us free from the law, not so that we would go under it all over again, but that we would truly be free from it forever.

He set us free so that we could live as children of God, knowing that we are already accepted by Him, and not worrying about whether we are good enough.

How about you? Are you living with the peace and joy of a child of God? Or are you still living like a slave burdened by all the rules of religion?

Categories
Galatians

The wonder of adoption

God's family

It’s really amazing to me that God would actually adopt us into his family.

He could have accepted us as “pets.”

He could have recognized our status as people, and yet kept us at a distance as acquaintances.

He could have brought us into his household as mere servants or slaves.

He could have even accepted us as friends.

But he did more. He adopted us into his family and now recognizes us as his children.

Paul tells us,

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Galatians 3:26-27)

He says here that we are all sons of God through faith in Christ.

What he is saying here must have stunned some of his original listeners. Because back in those days, only literal sons had the right of inheritance.

But he makes it clear that all Christians, whether male or female, now have that right that once only belonged exclusively to the sons. Not only that, Paul said,

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

Previously, the Jews considered all non-Jews outsiders. More, they looked down on women. And of course, being a slave was never considered a good thing.

But Paul says that in God’s eyes, all who belong to Christ now belong to him and he recognizes us all as his children. All of us have been clothed with Christ’s royal robes of righteousness and are now identified with him.

In case we didn’t quite get his point, he then draws an analogy between us and children in those days.

In those days, a child was no different from a slave practically. That is to say, he had no true access to his inheritance even though he was an heir to it.

Rather, he was put under guardians or trustees and he remained under their authority until the day his father formally recognized him as his son and heir. (Galatians 4:1-2)

In the same way, before we were adopted as God’s children, we were like slaves. We were put under the guardianship of the law and had no right to any heavenly inheritance.

We were told, “Do this, and do that,” by the law, but while it generally guided us in the right direction, we could never keep it fully and as a result, had no rights as God’s heirs. (Galatians 4:3)

But that all changed the day God formally adopted us as his children and made us his heirs.

The process started when he sent his Son to purchase (or redeem) us as his own through Christ’s death on the cross. And now when we put our faith in him, he formally adopts us as his children. (Galatians 4:4-5)

Not only that, he gives us his Spirit of his Son who cries out from within our hearts, “Abba, Father.”

In other words, God in Trinity cries out this new relationship we have with him. A relationship not of a beloved pet, or an acquaintance, or a slave or a servant, or even a friend, but as a son and daughter of the King.

So Paul concludes,

So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians 4:7)

How do you see yourself? How do you see God? Do you see him as your Father and yourself as his beloved child and heir?

He sees us in that way. It’s time that we see things the same way He does.

So don’t ever put yourself down as worthless or unworthy. You are a child of the King. Let’s start living that way.

Categories
Romans

Led into a whole new relationship

I think that as Paul wrote this, he probably looked back at his words on Romans 6 and felt he needed to make some clarification.

In Romans 6, he talked about how we used to be slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to God.

It seems a strange concept to be a slave to God. While on one hand, it does carry the idea that we serve God and are wholly his, which I think was Paul’s point, it nevertheless also carries the idea of no freedom and fear of punishment.

And so I think Paul seeks to clear up those possible misconceptions in these verses. He says,

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “‘Abba,’ Father.”

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:15-17)

In other words, as the Spirit leads you, he’s not a cruel taskmaster that brutalizes you for your failures and mistakes.

He’s not someone that insists that we are no good, and totally unacceptable to God.

Instead, when we are discouraged because of our failures, and feel, like the prodigal son did, that there’s no way we can still call God “Father,” the Spirit whispers to us.

“Hey! Listen to me! You are still God’s child and he still loves you. It’s okay for you to call him, ‘Father.’ It warms his heart to hear you call him that.”

And as we go through suffering, the Spirit reminds us that there is hope for the future. That we are God’s heirs, and that our suffering will not last forever.

In short, we are much more than mere slaves of God. We are his beloved children. May we never forget that.

Categories
John John 8

The truth that sets free

John

Many times, people look at the “rules of Christianity,” and feel that they are so binding.  That they couldn’t enjoy life if they followed them.

But when Jesus tells us how we should live, he doesn’t do so to bind us up.  He does it so that we may be set free.  He told the Jews here,

If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.  (John 8:31-32)

The Jews reaction is very typical of people today.  They replied,

We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.  How can you say that we shall be set free?

Taken in today’s context, many people say, “I’m American,” or “I’m Japanese,” (or whatever nationality they might be).

“I’m no slave.   I’m free to do whatever I like.  What do you mean, I’ll be set free if I follow Jesus’ teaching?”

But Jesus tells us,

I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  

Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  (John 8:35-36)

Many people think that if they can sin without being captive to their conscience, that is true freedom.

But the truth is, while they may choose to sin in the beginning, eventually they become its slave and cannot stop even if they try.  Addiction to porn, gambling, drugs, and alcohol are all obvious examples of this.

But we also see people enslaved to their bitterness, or enslaved to their destructive habits that destroy their relationships, their marriages or their friendships.

But when we follow Jesus, he sets us free.  We are no longer slaves to these things.  Instead, he breaks the chains that bind us to the things that are destroying us, and he shows us a better way.

Not only that, he gives us the power to live in this new way.  He doesn’t just say, “Do it.”  He says, “Take my hand.  Let’s take it a step at a time.”

And little by little, change comes, and before you know it, you’re completely set free.

How about you?  Have you given up and said, “It’s hopeless.  I can’t stop these behaviors that are destroying me?  That are destroying my relationships?”

Jesus can set you free.  It starts with one word.  “Yes.”

“Yes, Jesus.  I believe that you love me and that your way is best.  So Lord, I want to do things your way.  Help me.”

As you say yes to him, you will find healing in your life and your relationships.  And then you will know what true freedom really is.