Slave

05.25.14

Romans 6.15-18 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (NIV)

Slave is a powerful word but it completely encapsulates the thought Paul brought us in Romans 6 (yes, I know, in the original writing there wasn’t a Romans 6; somebody did all that later to help dullards like us to figure out where we were and what we needed to know…).

A slave is someone who is owned by someone else to do that someone else’s bidding. A slave has very few rights and is in the complete control of someone else. We could use the word, servant, but servant connotes a wee bit higher status than slave. Not much, but enough to let the slave-argument off the hook. Paul said we are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness; there is no middle ground of servant.

I think the argument here is one that is more of a filter or gauge of what is really going on in our lives: to whom or to what we are slaves, really speaks volumes about who we really are and what our relationship with the Father is really all about. Where we need to be careful is when we overanalyze our lives by our actions. That’s why slave is so important. A slave simply says yes when asked to do something by his owner. Paul, however, cautions us here about ownership: whose are we?

Most of us look for a divine hall-pass in our Christian lives. We have pet sins but we excuse them by declaring ourselves “hip” and in touch with the culture around us; we’re not about to let our beliefs be a turn-off to those around us: see, we can be normal too! But it isn’t about hip or cool or normal, it’s about ownership. It’s not even about relevance because our culture wouldn’t know divine relevance if it hit them on the head. It’s about ownership. Slaves are owned. And the Bible sees us as owned: either by God, or by something (or something) else. And the worst day in the Kingdom is light-years better than the best day on earth owned by someone or something other than God.

Paul makes us think. He uses terms that help us to really understand that with God it’s all in…or not. As a slave of righteousness, I must be all in. Any time I am halfhearted I am of no use to my Master or His Kingdom. The demand of Scripture is slave: harsh word, harsh term; but it is the best way to explain what the expectation is upon my life by my Owner.

Father, I am not called to be hip or cool; I’m called to serve You, As. A. Slave. It’s not a miserable calling because Jesus tells me His burden is easy and His yoke is light. So, I recommit today that I am all in with this slavery thing. I pray that Your divine light and nature shine through me because I am Your slave and You treat Your slaves well. Thank You. Amen.