4-28-2014

Good Morning All,

         Deuteronomy 5:15a; “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”

      “We are slaves to no one!”  That was a comment made by the Jewish leaders to Jesus when he called them slaves.  The fact that their country was occupied by the Roman Empire at the time was just a matter of perspective I guess.  As we read that section of Scriptures, we often chuckle at this; how can they possibly say they aren’t slaves?  Now maybe technically they weren’t but they paid onerous taxes to an occupying force and were required to ask for permission of this occupying government to do just about anything.  That sounds like slavery, a time when you do not get to make your own choices.  It is either slavery or prison; take your pick.

     That is the good thing about living in the good ole’ US of A.  We are free; we are slaves to no one; almost.  Unfortunately, we are among the poorest slaves because we are not only slaves but we willingly became one.  We have abandoned God in favor of what we call being tolerant of others.  Now on the surface this sounds good; except it has become the code word for “don’t speak the truth.”  We are slaves to consumerism and think that we have to buy more and more.  It always amazes me how everyone has a smartphone, even kids, why?  Usually the answer is “because everyone else does.”

    We are truly slaves.  We are slaves to sin, to greed, to a pluralistic consumerism that demands that we “buy” into anything.  We believe that our personal wants should supersede the needs of others.  “I want, I want” is enough of a mantra for us to turn our backs on the needs of our fellow man because we are slaves to our own selfish foolishness.  But we don’t need to be that way.

    Just as God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, so God has freed us from slavery to sin and our own selfish foolishness.  We are free but just like the Israelites often times wanted to go back to Egypt and live in slavery; we too want to go back to slavery to sin.  We want to go back because our sinful nature wants us to believe that this is the best life we can have.  Yet God calls us to a better life.  He calls us to a life of freedom from this want.  We do not have to be slaves to this want; we are free from being slaves to this want.

   God, by his grace, will give us peace and contentment if we trust in him.  He gives us so much to enjoy, the time with family and friends, the beauty of nature and the freshness of his Word.  Jesus stretched out his arms to free you from slavery; don’t go running back.

Gracious Father, in your great love and mercy you have freed me from the slavery to sin.  Give me the wisdom to maintain that freedom.  Help to overcome the slavery to wants that only hurt us and separate us from your love.  Grant us the wisdom to seek your peace and your peace alone.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret