23 October 2013 - gotta serve somebody

23 October 2013 - gotta serve somebody

You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
He is coming to take the enemy by surprise.  He is coming to bind the strong man that he can plunder him of his possessions (cf. Mar. 3:27).  And what possessions are these?

They are us!  We are the captives he leads when he ascends on high (cf. Eph 4:8).  Until he comes we are slaves of sin.

although you were once slaves of sin,

...but because he binds the strong man and comes for us:

Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.
We serve someone, make no mistake.

you are slaves of the one you obey,
either of sin, which leads to death,
or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
On the one hand we serve something less than human.  We serve animal impulses and material desires which are disordered in this fallen world.  We know well that not every thing we feel can be the basis for our actions.  Yet we often chase after these anyway.  The devils takes great pleasure in demeaning us in this way. 

On the other we serve God.  Only this is in keeping with our dignity as rational creatures.  For serving him perfects our natural powers of rationality and virtue.  Under the power of his grace we can now actually live in righteousness. 

We have to serve someone.  And without the rescue mission Jesus mounts into the hostile territory of the fallen world we are doomed to serve sin.  This never provides the fulfillment it promises.  It ultimately leads to death.  The torrents sweep over our heads and there is no way to swim.  But he does come to rescue us.

We were rescued like a bird
from the fowlers’ snare;
Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.