The Freedom of Belonging to Christ

Here is a provocative thought: 1 Peter 2:9 says, ". . . you are . . . a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (English Standard Version).

This scripture really impressed me this morning--particularly the phrase "his own possession". The idea of being God's possession is tough to get my modern mind around. How does God "own" me? From the day we are born, American culture marinates us in the idea that we in fact belong to ourselves and no one else. You belong to yourself and so you have the right to make choices that benefit the self. The problem with this is that we don’t really know what’s best for us.

The Apostle Peter's words fly in the face of this modern definition of human personhood. In the Bible humans are not presented as pickers and choosers. We don't own ourselves. The Bible tells us that we are either slaves to the work of the devil or that we are slaves to Christ. Belonging to Christ is true freedom because it makes us dependent upon God who can do all things well. Belonging to Christ liberates us from the tyranny of our self-centered desires, which can be harmful to us and other people.

We should all realize that our choices are not ours alone. Our choices must glorify God who purchased us at the cross. We are his adopted children. Since we belong to him, our choices in life should honor him as well. He spent the blood of his precious Son on us. Know today that you were "ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ . . .” (ESV, 1 Peter 1:18-19).

Matt

Submission

The literal translation of the word “Islam” is “submission.” In fact, if one reads some liberal expressions of Islam, we see them dropping the word “Islam” all together and using the English word “submission” as a replacement name for Islam. One website says,

‘Submission’ is the religion whereby we recognize God's absolute authority, and reach an unshakable conviction that God ALONE possesses all power; no other entity possesses any power that is independent of Him.

I think that most of us would say that “freedom” is one of the things we hold dearest when we think about Christianity. We highlight this aspect of our faith for good reasons. Christ certainly came to free us. Paul and others made sure we did not miss this, and they remind us continually in the New Testament of the freedom we experience in Christ. The references are too numerous to cite here.

Yet all this talk of freedom begins to make us think that “freedom” is the opposite of “submission.” This is not true. Freedom is the opposite of slavery. Freedom is the opposite of bondage. Submission is the opposite of what? It’s hard for me to even come up with the right English word…but the best I can think of is “being in charge.”

My point is that it’s difficult for us as Americans to think about submitting without sacrificing precious freedom. One of the things we see in our monuments here in Washington is the recurring, pervasive theme of freedom. We fought for it! We build monuments to it...and what happens when you build monuments to something? It’s easy to worship it.

Perhaps if we understand the difficult and counter-intuitive notion that submission and true freedom go hand in hand, we will experience the sort of freedom that God desires. Today we will talk about submission and what role it plays in the with-God life.

Mark