Love Serves & Sacrifices

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            There are many things that can enslave us.    The Apostle Paul said that some people were still enslaved to various lusts and pleasures.  He also stated that people are enslaved to those things which by nature are no gods (Gal. 4:8); people are enslaved to the rudimentary things of the world which are for children (Gal. 4:3,9); people can be slaves to their own appetites and desires (Rom. 16:18).  All these forms of slavery are true slavery and dominance by another.  These are true evil bonds.

             But, there are bonds that can set us free from real slavery.  The first day of Unleavened Bread pictures being freed from slavery.  We become freed from slaves to evil bonds into the adoption (in this life) to the status of sons (Gal. 4:4-8; Rom. 8:15,23).  Freed from sin we become the slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:16).  This is the bond that can set us free.   Paul makes the most poignant statement in I Cor. 9:19:  "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all that I might win the more."  To make yourself a slave to Christ for the benefit of other people is the bond that can set you FREE.  All other bonds are true slavery in an evil sense.

             Paul followed Jesus’ example on the night of His "last supper.”  Jesus, "Lord and Master" donned the garb of a slave and did the duties of a slave by washing the feet of the disciples.  He was following the principle He Himself put forth, "...but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant (diakonos = minister), and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave (doulos = slave)" (Matt. 26:26-27).  Thus Jesus could say, "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13:14 NASV). 

             Being free and no longer slaves of sin we become slaves of Christ and voluntarily make ourselves slaves (servants) to one another in this Christian life.  That is the lesson of the foot washing service.  It is a ritual to show ourselves slaves (servants) to one another.  It is the bond that can truly set us FREE.

                                                                by David L. Antion