BP 226
We all know that in this world we will serve somebody or something, right? 2 Peter 2: 19 says, “They [false teachers] promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption [ruin]. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”
We are enslaved to whatever overcomes us. We are slaves to ruin. Meditate on that phrase for a while: slaves to ruin. John 3, using the word condemn, says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” This ruin impacts us through slavery to sin and addictions and guilt and to blaming and shaming others–to all that is not from the good God. Truly, we are not free when we come into this world.
Romans 6:19ff says, “For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”
Slaves to sin or slaves to God. . . there are only two paths in this world.
In John 8:34-36 we read, “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Only the Son of God sets us free from the inborn practice to sin . . .
Satan is active in slavery. Indeed, the dark prince of this world who seeks to destroy you–assisted by sin–captures slaves. 2 Timothy 2:26ff says, “22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”
So, the devious objective of Satan is always to capture and enslave. What is the only other option? Escape from the snare of Satan and deliverance to become slaves of God. Under another name, becoming God’s slave is to be freed from spiritual and psychological slavery.
2 Peter 1:3ff captures the two slavery options well: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature [the freedom offered us by God option], having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire [the inborn option].”
“Escape” sounds like a critical word for a slave. As you may remember, 2 Timothy mentions “escape from the snare of the devil” and 2 Peter 1 says, “having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
We need a prison break to save us from the spiritual, psychological, and relational ruin of sin—an escape led by the One who says, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” ~ Revelation 1:17-18
According to these scriptures we have seen so far, it is clear that we are born into this world enslaved to sin. We have been captured. We are enslaved to impurity, lawlessness, and corruption. We walk in and are living in evil desire as we remain in our old self (Colossians 3:7). But . . .
But God sent His Son to set us free from slavery to sin by transferring us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His Son (Colossians 1:13-14). Bottom line: we will live in one kingdom or the other. Jesus said that we are for Him, or we are against Him. There is no middle ground here.
I love how Peter says it: “You have become partakers of the divine nature [God’s new kingdom], having escaped from the corruption [ruin] that is in the world because of sinful desire [the old kingdom of darkness].”
So, be like Peter, James, and John. They followed Jesus and were rewarded with slavery to God and freedom from sin. When they escaped the ruin of sinful desire by becoming slaves of God, they lived the rest of their lives pursuing Jesus, not fleshly passions.
Instead of suppressing the truth about God due to their ungodliness and unrighteousness (Romans 1:18-19), these three slaves of God said, “we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.” 2 Peter 1:16-18
“We were with Him.” What beautiful words! Slavery to God means that we are with Him instead of hungering for sinful desires and being enslaved to earthly passions that is synonymous with choosing ruin—spiritually psychologically, relationally.
As we have seen, we will desire God or we will desire the very things that daily pull us further from our loving God and His joyful will for our lives.
In blog 219, we considered how humans are people of passion. You and I come into this world hungry and thirsty. We are born hungry for something that will fill us and make us feel like we have purpose beyond sheer fleeting pleasure. We are born thirsty for something (Someone) who will satisfy our deepest longings to feel chosen, seen, loved.
There are at least three ways men and woman respond to desire. We can choose to desire the True Object of our hunger and thirst; we can remain ensnared by the devil in sin and subsequent ruin, desiring the counterfeit of what is good; or we can become jaded and exhausted from pursuing the counterfeit that never satisfies even after we consume more and more of it just to get even a little buzz. Then we give up on the pursuit of what will fill us. Then we die.
What are some counterfeits that can dominate your life and reveal that you are not seeking the filling of your appetite in loving relationships that begin with the Creator of all things? (Some of these “fakes” are not inherently bad, but if they are pursued as your greatest pleasure, they become empty, enslaving idols.) There’s too many to list here, but let’s look at a few.
Food can make the physical body feel full. Sex through using another body (no love is involved) or through the isolated, lonely world of pornography can deliver a brief moment of biological pleasure.
Being excessively distracted by the world’s knowledge (conspiracy theories, mind-numbing podcasts, engorging oneself with sports statistics, googling everything) can deliver earthly satisfaction. Seeking one’s identity apart from God may deliver a temporary laser focus on an issue that seems ultimately exciting and fulfilling but is actually slavery to another master and defiance to God.
Ruin. All is ruin apart from the One who keeps your heart beating.
What are some signs that you are settling for the counterfeits in this world and not being filled with the True desire that is a person, that is driven by love and not lust? Boredom may be an indicator of seeking love in all the wrong places as you remain enslaved to (or at least flirting with) darkness. Restlessness. Addictions. Crossing God’s loving boundaries and pursuing sin. Feeling far from God. Sensing a deep emptiness in you that nothing in this world satisfies.
Some believers are stuck with the spiritual counterfeit of experiencing God as an abstract concept or, if they do see Him as a personal Being, they sense that He is far away and not that interested or relevant to their lives. Maybe they see Jesus as a good thing but not the best thing or as someone they must force themselves to think about—and think about because they should, not because they want to keep their eyes on the source of joy and peace.
They might experience God as someone they weakly enjoy but not the One they pant after like the Psalmist mentions.
“As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival” ~ Psalm 42:1f
So, if you are reading this post as someone who does not believe in Jesus, I invite you to surrender to Him because He is a compassionate Master who said He came to set you free from slavery to sin, guilt, death, and separation from His loving presence. The alternative is a slavery that will slowly disillusion you and eventually kill you.
As the musician Bob Dylan, sang, “It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”
You were born in slavery to serve the devil and sin, but Jesus died to provide a way to escape from that snare. He is The Way.
If you are a believer in Jesus, never forget that you have become “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” So, pursue Him. Practice His presence. Hunger for His word. Thirst for His love.
The choice lies before you—every day and every moment, actually. You can serve sinful desire as its slave, or you can serve Him who gave His life to break you out of the spiritual and psychological prison where you were born.
Choose life. You will have eternity to be slave to the Master who sets you free and fills you with joy.
“Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption [ruin].
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” ~ Psalm 16:10-11