The last few days I have been reading Philemon over and over again. It is truly an abolitionist text. Onesimus is a slave and Paul is sending an appeal to the Church. Paul never comes out and condemns slavery. I believe the Holy Spirit communicates a new value system to these people through the Apostles words. This person can no longer be property once this value system is adopted. No person can be. Nor can we oppress people if these concepts sink in. I love this book more and more as I read it.
It is a short book (letter). I included it below and plan to reread it a few more times over the next few days. These are concept we must understand today.
"You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men." - 1 Corinthians 7:23 ESV
We were purchased by Christ's blood so He could set us free. That is God's method of adoption. He isn't a 'white Savior'. He is the Messiah.
As free people we can live lives that promote freedom. What a priveledge.
-o-
"Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you--I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus-- I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother--especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it--to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." - Philemon 1:1-25 ESV
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Showing posts with label Slavery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Slavery. Show all posts
Friday, July 10, 2020
Friday, October 12, 2018
Purchased For Freedom
One little phrase that occurs twice in the new testament in the same book. It reveals a reality that protects us from letting our own desires consume us and from other people claiming ownership over our bodies.
"Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." - 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 ESV
"Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men." - 1 Corinthians 7:20-23 ESV
'You were bought with a price.'
Jesus paid for you and me and each individual with His own precious blood. Our lives were very expensive.
If you were a slave to addictions before now you are a 'freedman' of the Lord. We can speak to the thing or person or desire and say, 'You don't own me. I belong to someone else.'
Maybe you don't desire that kind of coverage but it is the truest of coverings.
When peer pressure comes in we can say, 'I need to ask God first. He owns me.'
When the car salesman of lust lays on the pressure and says, 'You deserve to treat yourself. You have been under a lot of pressure lately.' and the offer looks tempting we can say, 'Sorry, I need to sleep on that and get back to you. There is someone at home I need to discuss this with first.'
'...if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity...'
It is a paradox, isn't it? What other owner says this? God is the only one who owns people to set them free.
--
"Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." - 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 ESV
"Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men." - 1 Corinthians 7:20-23 ESV
'You were bought with a price.'
Jesus paid for you and me and each individual with His own precious blood. Our lives were very expensive.
If you were a slave to addictions before now you are a 'freedman' of the Lord. We can speak to the thing or person or desire and say, 'You don't own me. I belong to someone else.'
Maybe you don't desire that kind of coverage but it is the truest of coverings.
When peer pressure comes in we can say, 'I need to ask God first. He owns me.'
When the car salesman of lust lays on the pressure and says, 'You deserve to treat yourself. You have been under a lot of pressure lately.' and the offer looks tempting we can say, 'Sorry, I need to sleep on that and get back to you. There is someone at home I need to discuss this with first.'
'...if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity...'
It is a paradox, isn't it? What other owner says this? God is the only one who owns people to set them free.
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Monday, October 1, 2018
A Time Of Fellowship With Someone In Revival
I spoke to a very amazing woman yesterday who is having a 'prayer revival' right now and it was a real blessing. God gave me a word for her about angels being worshipers and how we become worshipers when we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and I just felt humbled that God would use me that way. She is a spiritual giant in my eyes and I kind of marvel at what is happening in her life. It challenges me. She has great hardships, great difficulties and great faith.
"Rejoice always,
-
Pray without ceasing,
-
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
-
Do not quench the Spirit.
-
Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.
-
Abstain from every form of evil." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 ESV
This isn't something that can be manufactured. This isn't 'being good.' This is God manifesting Himself through us.
The Bible provides an entrance into this life but there is a person who greats us at the door and ushers us into His home.
When I was fellowshipping with this woman I felt like it was Christmas night and I was out in the dark cold following her into a warm bright home. The light was shining on her as God opened the door for her to enter and I got to walk in behind her. I was still somewhat in the dark and she was shining with light from the doorway. The smells of dinner and Christmas cookies were in the air. The lights were twinkling inside. The festive music was playing and there was a warm spot on the couch waiting just for me. The host was greeting me warmly. I am special to Him but He opened the door for her. She was in front of me. He heard her knock.
God is listening for our knock on His door. Yes, He comes to find us like a shepherd finds a lost sheep. There is this dual dynamic happening. God seeks us first and then we seek Him and others get ushered into His warm festive home as family members.
--
P.S. Here is a piece of what God gave me to give to her as she was ministering to me...
{I've been reading and thinking about the 'spirituals' that slaves in United States used to sing and the encoded messages in them used to help guide runaway slaves. If the group sang 'Wade in the Water' it was sending the message that the people chasing the runaway had dogs and to get in the river or stream to mask the scent and throw off the dogs. They would sing a series of songs and if one song was sung twice it meant the coast was clear but if they sang a new song it meant there was danger.
Imagine singing to God... singing with all your heart in worship but also singing knowing the message you were sending in the song might mean life or death for someone who just wanted to be free.
The angels are worshippers. I wonder if they get cues about moving or holding back based on our worship. God desires that people would worship Him in spirit and in truth. That kind of worship is Spirit (capital S) led worship. The Trinity is present in the worship of a person who worships God because the glory of God has been revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
Maybe... just maybe... when our worry turns to worship it signals the next phase of God's plan to bring us or someone else from bondage in to freedom.}
--
"Rejoice always,
-
Pray without ceasing,
-
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
-
Do not quench the Spirit.
-
Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.
-
Abstain from every form of evil." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 ESV
This isn't something that can be manufactured. This isn't 'being good.' This is God manifesting Himself through us.
The Bible provides an entrance into this life but there is a person who greats us at the door and ushers us into His home.
When I was fellowshipping with this woman I felt like it was Christmas night and I was out in the dark cold following her into a warm bright home. The light was shining on her as God opened the door for her to enter and I got to walk in behind her. I was still somewhat in the dark and she was shining with light from the doorway. The smells of dinner and Christmas cookies were in the air. The lights were twinkling inside. The festive music was playing and there was a warm spot on the couch waiting just for me. The host was greeting me warmly. I am special to Him but He opened the door for her. She was in front of me. He heard her knock.
God is listening for our knock on His door. Yes, He comes to find us like a shepherd finds a lost sheep. There is this dual dynamic happening. God seeks us first and then we seek Him and others get ushered into His warm festive home as family members.
--
P.S. Here is a piece of what God gave me to give to her as she was ministering to me...
{I've been reading and thinking about the 'spirituals' that slaves in United States used to sing and the encoded messages in them used to help guide runaway slaves. If the group sang 'Wade in the Water' it was sending the message that the people chasing the runaway had dogs and to get in the river or stream to mask the scent and throw off the dogs. They would sing a series of songs and if one song was sung twice it meant the coast was clear but if they sang a new song it meant there was danger.
Imagine singing to God... singing with all your heart in worship but also singing knowing the message you were sending in the song might mean life or death for someone who just wanted to be free.
The angels are worshippers. I wonder if they get cues about moving or holding back based on our worship. God desires that people would worship Him in spirit and in truth. That kind of worship is Spirit (capital S) led worship. The Trinity is present in the worship of a person who worships God because the glory of God has been revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
Maybe... just maybe... when our worry turns to worship it signals the next phase of God's plan to bring us or someone else from bondage in to freedom.}
--
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Egypt's Help Is Worthless
" 'Ah, stubborn children,' declares the LORD, 'who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation... Egypt's help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her 'Rahab who sits still.' " - Isaiah 30:1-3, 7 ESV
Grace is an alliance with God's Spirit. To live in grace is to live in God's reality.
But people just return to Egypt and forget that it was a place of pain and contradiction. People are laughing and eating well in Egypt. They had things there that we don't have here. Maybe that is a better way? Maybe it isn't so bad there? It might be different this time then it was before.
For some it isn't that kind of identification. The wounds they received in Egypt ache and plague their thinking. Their identity becomes an identity based on what happened in past bondage.
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." - Psalm 1:1-3 ESV
The word for law here is Torah (Strong's H8451) which references God's written instruction.
"Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God." - 1 Peter 1:18-23 NASB
Yes. Instead of going back we can move forward. The Torah came as a flesh and blood man and came as the living word. The Torah is testifying of Him.
Let's acknowledge the slavery of the past but go forward to freedom. There is no quickening in Egypt. Quickening comes far away from the neon lights. Quickening comes when the historical resurrection becomes a present day reality to us and we live in a agreement with the Holy Spirit about the nature and character of the living word and what He has already accomplished on our behalf.
Grace is an alliance with God's Spirit. To live in grace is to live in God's reality.
But people just return to Egypt and forget that it was a place of pain and contradiction. People are laughing and eating well in Egypt. They had things there that we don't have here. Maybe that is a better way? Maybe it isn't so bad there? It might be different this time then it was before.
For some it isn't that kind of identification. The wounds they received in Egypt ache and plague their thinking. Their identity becomes an identity based on what happened in past bondage.
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." - Psalm 1:1-3 ESV
The word for law here is Torah (Strong's H8451) which references God's written instruction.
"Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God." - 1 Peter 1:18-23 NASB
Yes. Instead of going back we can move forward. The Torah came as a flesh and blood man and came as the living word. The Torah is testifying of Him.
Let's acknowledge the slavery of the past but go forward to freedom. There is no quickening in Egypt. Quickening comes far away from the neon lights. Quickening comes when the historical resurrection becomes a present day reality to us and we live in a agreement with the Holy Spirit about the nature and character of the living word and what He has already accomplished on our behalf.
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