My last blog made me despair. It was my first blog to deviate slightly from my usual blogging content (the interesting, meaningful stuff) to include a few details of my (boring) love-life and WHAM! my poor blog got more hits than a naughty school kid (back in the good ole days). So to all of you who gleefully read my last blog for its Heat Magazine-style heading and refuse to read this one because the meaning of “freedom” is too laborious, I want to reprimand you in the severest terms. In the words of an esteemed church leader, “You’re pathetic, HOW DARE YOU!” :-)
So [cough cough] back to the topic at hand. It seems to me that in our modern society we like to talk a lot about freedom, but do we really know what freedom is? It is a vague term which has so many applications. If I had to take a poll to determine the top 5 People Who Have the Most Freedom in the World, I wonder who would make that list? Here are some potentially strong contenders:
1. Obama - “leader of the Free World”.
2. Mandela - after such a long walk surely he is free?
3. William Wallace - “they can take our land, they may take our lives but they can never take our freeedooom!”
4. Richard Branson - the multi-billionaire who has his own airline company!
5. Astronauts docking at the space station - Free from gravity and most other earth-bound responsibilities.
6. Head of the Mafia - He can kill all his enemies and live by his own law.
I am sure you could think of many other people, but what makes a person “free” anyway? Is it power? Money? Living above the law? From what I can make out, by “freedom” we mean – the freedom to choose. If I can choose what I want and what I do then I am free. Because of this unfortunate definition we surmise that: Subservience = oppression and slavery.
When Jesus spoke about freedom, people got confused. When he said, “If you follow me you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The people replied, “Huh? [paraphrase] We have never been enslaved to anyone!” They thought (as we do) that they were already free because they were not subservient to anyone. He went on to say, “Whoever wants to be great must be a servant, and whoever wants to be first must be a slave to all.” Essentially what Jesus is saying is, “If you want to be free, make God your master and serve everyone.” What a paradox! This is Jesus’ equation: Subservience to God = serve everyone = freedom
Where we get it wrong, I believe, is right at the start. We think we can choose from three masters:
a.) God b.) Satan c.) Myself (independent)
But Jesus says: “You are not able to serve God and wealth. No one is able to serve two lords; you will always hate the one and love the other.” He only mentions two lords. He mentions option (a) God, and he mentions serving “wealth”, which falls into category (c) Myself. In fact anything which a person does purely to further their own self interest falls into category (c). Jesus does not mention another option, why is that?
The scripture speaks about option (b) elsewhere. It says that deceivers who work for Satan “by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, entice people. They promise freedom while they themselves are slaves to depravity.” It turns out that “a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.” By opting for option (c) that person has inadvertently chosen option (b). There have actually only ever been two masters we can serve – God or Satan.
We learn from Jesus that freedom is not about power, wealth or lawlessness. Freedom is about serving the right master. Nobody is their own master, we are all serving something. Some will say to me “We are not just servants anymore Luke, we are sons of God now.” That is true, but what kind of sons are we? Are we the kind, like the prodigal, that take our father’s property and waste it on ourselves? Or are we the kind which serve faithfully in our father’s household and “share in the master’s happiness”? Jesus uses the word “servant” and “son” interchangeably because the kind of family which Jesus is a part of is the kind where serving is loving, and by loving others we are loving God.
It comes down to the salary at the end of the day though, doesn’t it? God gives a gift we could never earn – true freedom and a life that lasts forever. Satan pays a monthly salary of death and destruction. Uh... tough choice!
References:
- John 8:31
- Mar 10:42
- Mat 6:24
- 2 Peter 2:18
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