The Yoke's on Us

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. -- Galatians 5:1

I have known a lot of wicked people in my life.  I still see one in the mirror on a regular basis.  I’m not sure how I would rank them, but my hierarchy may differ from others.  I would look, if I could, not just at the destruction done in the physical realm but in the spiritual as well.  One man in particular would be a contender for the most evil person I ever had to deal with personally.  He was a preacher – a gifted, intelligent teacher and motivator, a tall, distinguished-looking man.  Women might have called him handsome; many were certainly smitten by him. 

We’ll call him JM.  He appeared be a Jesus Man.  JM knew how to draw crowds.  He knew how to build up churches, numerically and in terms of new physical structures.  When he came to town, a building program was a given.  When I first met him, I thought he was also one to build people up spiritually.  I would say that I learned quite a bit from him in the year or so I attended his church.  We did not come from another congregation in town as most of the “new” adherents did.  My wife had been Catholic, but she had recently started seeking God more or less on her own.  She picked the church.  I followed along. 

JM was the preacher that first morning.  He had just arrived in town from his most recent encouraged resignation.  He did a good job.  His preaching was dynamic and well-structured, moving from point to point, building soundly upon the rational while appealing to the emotions.  He talked a lot about the Spirit and about the Anointing, which, of course, he had.  He also had a nice personable touch with everybody, but he was always seeking out the leaders in a community.  He had once been a police officer, and he was soon a reserve deputy for our county sheriff, one of the few people who could legally carry a concealed firearm in those days.  And JM was always armed.  He drew in politicians, cops, and veterans almost as well as he drew in silly women.  I liked the son-of-a ... uh, the "sleekit cooser", though in the end, I had to be restrained by a good friend from going after him with a loaded shotgun.  I would have blown his head off with the same sincere regret I would have had over putting down a good dog that had developed an incurable taste for chicken-killing.  I’m still not sure my friend did the right thing in stopping me.

Of course, he committed adultery with both single and married women in the congregation.  He beat his wife, who really was a decent person.  He sought to destroy those who opposed him in anyway.  Sometimes the attempts were subtle, sometimes not.  The associate pastor he brought in knew less about the Bible than most Primary Class kids, but he, too, was a former police officer.  He was an enforcer.  It was not uncommon to see his car parked in the neighborhood of someone who had offended JM.  I saw him drive by my house several times, and we lived in very different parts of town.   

In addition to the usual sins of apostate preachers, he committed at least one rape.  It is quite likely that he molested younger girls, possibly including his own teenage daughter.  He may have had a part in the death of one of his other children.  His connections protected him.  You almost have to admire the guy.  He was smart, and he knew how to set himself up.  He may still be living – he’s only a few years older than I am.  Personally, though, and I know it’s wrong, I have trouble not hoping he is rotting in hell. 

None of this has anything to do with what was on my mind this morning.  Rather, it is a phrase of which JM was very fond and which I associate with him.  Any time anything was going wrong or there was trouble of any kind, JM would remind his listeners that “God is in control.”  I can almost hear him now, “I believe that all things work together for good, that God is omnipotent and sovereign, that nothing comes to us outside His will, that He rules this world and all that is in it.  Rest assured, my friends, that no temptation has taken you, no trial comes upon you that does not include God’s way of escape.  He will see you through and not test you beyond what you are able to bear.”

JM knew a lot about escapes. 

I think he only wrecked one more church after he got away from me and my 12-gauge.  His poor wife had finally had enough.  The surviving kids were old enough that she felt safe in divorcing him.  He ended up – last I heard, married to some “Christian” counselor and, no doubt, offering help and hope to desperate people – especially the female kind.  

And God is in control.  We see that from Job.  The devil, even apart from the Cross, has always been restrained.  His power lies solely in temptation, in enticing our own desires, “[t]hen desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:13-15).  Creation is free, almost by definition.  Life and freedom are nearly synonymous.  We can see it in the passage from James as we can throughout the Bible. 

No one compels us to sin, to lust, to envy, to hate, to gossip, to destroy, to seek revenge, to blow some thoroughly deserving scallywag into the next world.  No one but us.  God is not the author of evil.  He is, however, the author of liberty, and, as we see in the current political realm, liberty makes a lot of people uncomfortable.  Most folks seem to prefer a comforting kind of slavery to the responsibility of freedom.  There is something appealing to many of us in blaming the boss, the spouse, the government, the devil, even God, for the mess in our lives. 

Freedom is more important than comfort.  Do not allow yourself to be enslaved no matter how comfortable the chains may be.  Choosing to stand with Christ is standing for liberty.  In the previous post I talked about recognizing God’s authority rather than worshiping the idol of power.  Living in freedom is a closely related concept.  By recognizing and accepting the authority of God, by living under Him as our King, we enter into freedom. 

Christ allowed those who rejected God’s authority to render Him powerless, to take away His freedom that He might liberate all who were in bondage to their own sin-born offspring.  Those today who reject the authority of God and refuse to acknowledge Him as King, by default, still crucify Him.   Whether or not God has power in our lives is up to us.  That is FREEDOM!