Liberated?

Jun 8 2022 - Eric Buresh

In our country, a cry for liberation runs deep. From the beginning, we fought the King of England for our liberation. We fought for the liberation of our enslaved brothers and sisters who had their freedom stolen simply because they were born with dark skin. We fought for the liberation of our Jewish friends and the populace of Europe when the darkness and hatred of Nazism descended. We’ve fought against tyrants and dictators in countless venues. It’s in our blood and many have given their blood for liberation.

I was recently reading about a former high-profile church leader who had “deconstructed his faith” (he assumes we accept he had faith in the first instance). He said that “religion placed so many constraints on me. I feel so much more liberated now. I’m free to do what makes me happy.” Seriously??? Oh, the lies we tell ourselves! I lived a significant portion of my life in the flesh, and I really lived it. One word I would never use to describe those years is liberated. Every path I walked down to satisfy myself was pathetic and ultimately self-destructive. We all know this to be true to one degree or another. If a little sin satisfies or excites you on day one of your “liberation,” a lot more is required for satisfaction on day 100 or 1000. Light drinking becomes heavy and debilitating. Painkillers become hard drugs. A pop-up video becomes an addiction to hard core pornography. Flirting becomes adultery and then divorce. The list goes on. We become slaves to sin. Sin is far from liberating.

God built our hearts with a strong need to seek satisfaction and joy. That’s a straight-up fact, and we shouldn’t shy away from it. The need inside of us for our own satisfaction is as powerful as the need for air. We are slaves to oxygen, and we are just as much slaves to our satisfaction, pleasure, and joy. Everyone is bound by those chains. Everyone is a slave to something that meets their inner needs. It is just a question of which chains you choose as the ultimate source of your satisfaction – God or sin. This is literally a life-or-death choice. Let’s hear Paul explain.

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? (Romans 6:16) First, Paul articulates in words guided by the Spirit that we are slaves to whomever we obey, whether it is sin, or the path of obedience to God. We are slaves either way, but one set of chains leads to death and the other to righteousness.

For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. (Romans 6:19) Here, Paul states what we already intuitively know from experience – when we satisfy ourselves in lawlessness or sin, the lawlessness increases. We must become more and more extreme to get our fix. That’s what it means to be a slave to sin. We end up doing sin’s bidding against our own wishes. But when we satisfy ourselves in God by submitting to His bidding, it produces holiness.

What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. (Romans 6:21-22) We also know intuitively and from experience that continuing as a slave to sin ultimately leads to something far removed from pleasure or excitement – it leads to shame, depression, addiction, unhappiness, sometimes physical death and always spiritual death. In contrast, submitting ourselves to God’s way produces fullness of joy and life everlasting. There is infinite joy and pleasures forevermore in His presence. There is satisfaction and fullness at the fountain of living water. We must pursue one set of chains or the other. Isn’t the chains that bind us to life and fullness of joy the better choice?    

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) While God does not stop us from enslaving ourselves to weak substitutes for the joy, satisfaction, and pleasure He offers, He insures there is a price to pay for rejecting Him, and the ultimate price is death. Thankfully, God gave us the gift of Christ Jesus our Lord, whose sacrifice provides us an alternate path to satisfy our inner needs for all of eternity. Being a slave to God, i.e., depending on Him for our life, satisfaction, and joy is the path God intends for us and delights to give us for His glory. Rejecting Him does not lead to liberation, it chains you to destruction, futility, and death.