Sin-Slavery-Obedience

~~~ Romans 6:12-18 ~~~ Psalm 124 ~~~ Luke 12:39-48 ~~~

Sin...Slave...Obedience...Grace

But thanks be to God that, 
although you were once slaves of sin,
you have become obedient from the heart...

Is it not the attitude of the heart
where you discover if you are a slave or obedient?
Sin makes you a slave to things your heart does not want to do.
Slaves have no control over their physical surroundings.
Slaves cannot voice their opinion.

A slave cannot dwell on things of the heart for too long;
for it is very painful for them.

Sin makes you a slave, caged by your own
 weakness and desires.

God, in his infinite wisdom saw how slavery to sin
would keep his chosen people from ever
reuniting with him in heaven.

God sent Jesus to free you from the chains of sin.
God did not want us to remain slaves.
God wants you to come to him in love and obedience.
God wants you to freely chose to come to him.

It is the out pouring of his grace into your heart;
this is why you can become obedient from the heart.

Slavery cannot control your heart unless
you give up and allow it.

If you are to be a slave then there is only one master
to whom you should answer...Jesus.
If you are to be obedient it is from the heart
 that you must take action.

If you become a slave to the Lord;
you must also be humble and docile.

If you chose obedience from the heart
then being a slave of God's is the visible sign.

Our help is in the name of the Lord.

Jesus came to serve and not to be served;
yet we desire to be obedient to his commands.

Without love and grace
radiating from the heart your
commitment to the Lord is nothing
 more than glorified slavery.

The bonds of sin have been broken
 so that you can chose humble obedience to the Lord.

The Lord our God protects and cares for you
not as a slave but as his beloved daughter and son.

Blessed to humbly
chose obedience to the word of God.

~~~Peace~~~

The Greatest Proof

~~~ Galatians  4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1 ~~~ Psalm 113 ~~~ Luke 11:29-32 ~~~

How could anyone who was born free chose to become a slave?
Paul is asking the people why they would want
 to return to the slavery of the law.
Paul is pleading with his followers, the Galatians...
I have become as you followers of Christ.
Paul is urging the people to look forward,
not to regress to what was of old.

The promise of God was passed down through Abraham
by his child Isaac, born of Sarah a free woman.

Therefore, brothers and sisters,

we are children not of the slave woman

but of the freeborn woman.

As human beings we are constantly looking for proof.
We want proof that what we are told and/or
what we believe is real and true.

Sometimes we must allow our faith to supersede proof.

We are not always going to get a sign of validation.

The Jews had Jesus, the Messiah...the greatest proof
standing right before their eyes and they still demanded more proof.

They were used to having God himself give the stamp of approval...
Abraham...Solomon...Jonah.
They could not recognize proof in the person of Jesus himself.
Jesus must have been frustrated and disappointed by their ignorance.
They were rigid and narrow minded in their beliefs.

The proof that Jesus was representing was greater
than their heads could comprehend.
There in lies the problem, they were caught up in their heads.
They wanted to have a reason for everything.
They wanted to find their proof in the laws that they
themselves had created in the past.

Jesus was the living sign of the Redemption for all people.
Jesus stood before the people as a message for them to repent.
Just as Jonah had proclaimed to the people of Nineveh. 

Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

Jesus is saying....I am the sign.
Jesus is the sign for us today as well,
one major difference...
we have the crucifix...
we have the proof of his body hanging from the cross.

Sadly there are still many who do not accept
 this image of reality as enough proof.

I pray that we see clearly the immense proof of our salvation
 by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We are Blessed beyond any means of proof.
Any proof of our salvation that we could seek
would be inadequate compared to the reality of the love it is.

Remember...
God so loved the world.
God so loved you.
~~~Peace~~~

Out of This World

 

~~~ Acts of the Apostles 16:1-10 ~~~ Psalm 100 ~~~ John 15:18-21 ~~~

 

'...because you do not belong to the world,
and I have chosen you out of the world,
the world hates you.'

 

‘No slave is greater than his master.’
If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

It was common for people during the time of Jesus to keep slaves.

A slave would never consider him or herself greater than their master.

The master was the ruler the owner. The master had the final say in all matters.

The slave only performed those tasks dictated by the master.

 

Jesus came to do the will of the Father.

He surrendered himself just as a slave surrenders to their master.

A good, benevolent master took good care of his slaves.

The slaves were valuable.

They performed specific functions to make things run smoothly.

A master could not do everything that needed to get done without his slaves.

 

 

A devoted slave might have the occasion to admire the master.

A sharp slave might even have desired to be like the master...

to have his personality traits.

 

Jesus is telling his disciples that none of them will ever be greater

than he is because it simply cannot happen.

In fact the opposite is what they should expect.

If Jesus is persecuted then they too should expect to be persecuted.

If Jesus is misunderstood then they too will be misunderstood too.

 

We are not of this world we belong with God in heaven.

We believe that there is something more than the life we have here on Earth.

We believe there is something more beyond this physical life.

Seamless Service

~~~ Titus 2:1-8, 11-14 ~~~ Psalm 37 ~~~ Luke 17:7-10 ~~~

 

At first reading the gospel account from Luke seems harsh and selfish.

The slave in Biblical times literally had no rights.

 He was the property of his owner and would have

been given few priviledges.

Certainly the servant would not have expected or been

entitled to special allowances.

 

 

Jesus is using this slave as an example of our relationship with God.

What could God possibly owe to us?

On the other hand we owe everything to God.

He has given us all that we are and all that we have.

 

We are not is a position to bargain with God.

We are not is a position to expect special priviledges.

But at the same time we are not slaves to God.

 

When we obey God we are not doing so in hopes of sitting

with him as his honored guest.

We obey out of a desire to give something back to him.

The only thing we can give to God is ourselves.

Giving ourselves back to God is really all that we can give to him.

 

 "'...We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.’”

 

We might like to think that we are worthy of something from God

in return for our prayers and good deeds, but it is not true.

It is out of the goodness of God that our prayers are even answered.

No matter what we do for God he does not profit from our efforts.

 

Just as the slave returns from the field with more work waiting to be done,

we too can never become complacent. We must never think that we have done enough...that we have served the Lord long enough or enough times.

There will always be more work to be done in the vineyard.

Our whole life needs to be one of serving...bringing forth the word of the Lord.

 

No matter what we are doing with our life;

the underlying mission should be about pleasing God.

 

 

I guess the question remains...

when have we ever given enough back to God?

Does your love for God compel you to give him your best?

Does your love for God help you to give yourself back to him?

 

We know that even the apostles were confused by the message of the kingdom.

They even thought that they were going to be entitled

to some special merits for being among his closest followers.

In this example Jesus may be trying to tell them to be patient;

things were not exactly as they might have thought.

 

Often our perception of things turns out not to be the reality.

Serving in the 'field' or serving at the 'table'

our work in the eyes of God is never completed.

It is by the grace of God that we continue to freely serve him.

In the end it was Jesus, himself, who assumed the servant's position

and washed the disciples feet.