Getting Real with God

Read John 8:21-47

"Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" John 8:34-36

There’s an irony to freedom. The more freedom we have the more enslaved we can become. Our culture’s quest is for absolute freedom of expression. And yet absolute freedom for one individual can sometimes enslave others, eg, censorship freedom on the internet brings slavery to pornography for many. In Australia we are working through where hate speech fits into a free society and fear.

We always assume we are more free than we are.

Jesus accused the Jews of being slaves…and they were insulted. They snorted,
“We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone”. The ‘freedom irony’ for them was that they’d been slaves to the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Babylonians and now to Rome! They assumed they were more free than they really were. But their slavery ran deeper than politics. Even though they were Abraham’s descendants they still had a sin problem. Religious people are often the last to see they need saving.

There are 2 essential steps to becoming a follower of Jesus:

1) Believing that he is God, sent by the Father (v25)

2) Believing we slaves to sin and need Jesus to set us free (v23).

The test of whether we really belong to Jesus is not whether we say we believe in God… or live in a Christian country…or affiliate with a denomination… or even go to church regularly (although meeting with the family of believers IS vital for thriving as a Christian). The true test is holding to Jesus’ teachings, not merely as a moral code but in relationship with him.

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Even for believers it is easy to allow sin to creep back into our lives and enslave us. The writer of Hebrews calls it getting entangled, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1

As the year gets underway, what areas of your life are still entangled with sin and need to come under the Lordship of Jesus?

RevGeoff