Slaves to: Sin or Righteous?

Slave. That word by itself carries with it such a negative connotation doesn’t it? The World English Dictionary defines a slave as:

“a person legally owned by another and having no freedom of action or right to property; a person who is forced to work for another against his will; a person under the domination of another person or some habit or influence.”

In my basic definition I will say that slavery is, “anything that controls you.” If you grew up in America you are aware of the slavery our country practiced and the evil of it. You, my friend, are a slave and likely in much worse slavery than blacks were to whites! You are most likely a slave of the worst sorts. If you cannot control your desires, thoughts, emotions, actions, etc., then you are a slave to sin, and sin will destroy you in every way!

Beginning pretty early on in Scripture we see a shocking thing happen with the nation of Israel. For 400 years they were slaves to the nation of Egypt. They were forced into hard, fruitless labor, had little food, and probably were not very well taken care of. God chooses this nation however and rescues them from Pharaoh and Egypt. The Israelites were taken into the desert, shown unbelievable miracles in the parting and shutting of the Red Sea, they were given water when they were thirsty (miraculously), and even heard Moses sing a pretty sweet song!

However, the Israelites were now hungry and their food was running dry. Even though they just saw God do some of the greatest miracles ever, they began to bicker and complain. Exodus 16:3 says something you would probably choke yourself to death upon hearing. They said, “would that we have died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full…” They go on to say other absurd stuff, but you get the point. THEY WANT TO GO BACK TO SLAVERY… WHAT?!?

Now, I highly doubt they had meat to the abundant and bread to the full, because they were, “crying out to God” because of their slavery. This is what led God to move them to the Exodus in the first place (Ex. 2:23). I highly doubt life was good, but now, so shortly after seeing God move, they want to go back.

Another example of the Israelites crying out against God happens in Numbers 11:2-6. God is angry at the people, so He pours out His righteous holy wrath on them, and fire begins to consume people (whoa!). After seeing their friends get burned the people freak out, repent in verse 2, and the fire stops. Then (I am not kidding!) in verse 4 they begin to complain against the Lord!!!! You moron! They, “remember the fish [they] ate in Egypt that costs nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks…” I mean, fire did just consume your buddies! And you are saying the food in Egypt was free, right? No, it was the opposite! The food in Egypt cost a hefty price: freedom!  

You get the point, and I am sure you see the analogy and foreshadowing Scripture does a beautiful job at painting. Egypt is sin (which we are slaves to) and we are the dumb dumb Israelites! Jesus sees our slavery and comes and offers us freedom. However, we seem to love slavery and continue to try to bind ourselves to this disastrous situation.

So, let me say this again, and let it hit home for you personally. Slavery is anything that controls you. Anything that you want to run back to like the Israelites did, anything that tricks you into thinking it is better, anything that you cannot control is your slave-master, and it owns you. So, what is it? I know it hits each of us differently. Sexual sin (lust, masturbation, pornography, sex in the wrong context), alcohol, money, laziness, fear, anger, human praise, the list could go on, but which ones are you literally enslaved to.

You may be prone to think, “No, I am really not a slave.” I would say you are probably a fool, and you are fooling yourself. How many times have you tried to set a “goal” for yourself to not fall into a certain sin? “I won’t get drunk this week,” “I am going to stop thinking about these girls perversely,” “I am going to stop gossiping,” “I’m gonna stat working harder and not sleep until 11 everyday,” or whatever it is, only to fall again, usually even harder? Anything that you cannot control controls you. Sin is controlling, it is like Egypt, and most of us fall victim to it.

Depressing so far, but truthful. Here is the encouraging part: Jesus came to pay for that!!! Jesus came to set you free from slavery and bondage. Take a few seconds to look at some of these verses: John 8:32-36, Acts 13:38-39, Galatians 5:1, Romans 6:18. I love that last one especially because it says that we can be slaves to righteousness. We can literally be controlled by and compelled by righteousness and love! How awesome is that?

Why would you want to be controlled by things that kill you? That doesn’t make any sense! The Christian and the non-Christian fall into this over and over again. Christians, you have the power to be free from you sin according to Galatians 5:1. Non-Christians, you actually do not have the power because you need a Savior just like Israel did. You are in “forced labor” and you sin will control you all the way to the grave. You can try to break it, but I guarantee you won’t. And even if you do “break” the one sin you only fall victim to another one. You “defeat” lust only to fall into slavery to pride because now you think you are better then everyone. You “defeat” pride only to fall into depression because you beat yourself up everyday, the cycle will continue until death. But, the same good news is here for you too, you can turn to Jesus and let him lead and control you. You do not have to be a slave to your addiction that kills you and steals your joy. You can be free to do what gives you most pleasure, which is to pursue life and joy and freedom in Christ. 

Once freed by Christ you begin to literally become a slave to freedom and righteousness. You are controlled by love and forgiveness, not fear and failure. And the trick is (for both parties) to simply believe in the gospel! Run to Jesus and let Him give you Life. Run to him and experience freedom and the true bread from heaven, which is Him. Run to him and escape slavery, and become bond-servants of Him. So, what are you enslaved to? Surrender to the truth of the gospel and live in freedom, because it is for freedom you have been set free. Live as freemen (1 Pet. 2:16)!