Set free to serve!

Just read something very interesting in “An Introduction to the Old Testament” by John Goldingay. On the Exodus he points out that “The aim of God’s action is not so much to liberate the Israelites from oppression so that they are free to live their own lives as to remove them from the service of Egypt to the service of Yahweh” (Section 2-19 in his book). In verses like Exodus 3:12; 4:23 and 7:16 many translations (eg NIV, NLT, Message (though this isn’t actually a translation of course!)) talk about the people worshipping God, but it is better translated as serving God (as in KJV, ESV, NASB).

This highlights a vital point in understanding our salvation, and in highlighting the error in the thinking of many people. We were set free from slavery to sin so that we could serve the Lord. That is why you and I were saved, so that we could serve the Lord. Our culture wants everything to be about “me”, and tries to get us to see everything in terms of “me”. We see this in things like liberation theology, or feminist theology, or currently in LGBT “theology”, everything is seen in terms of fulfilling “me”. The oppression may have been very real, but they are totally wrong in what we are saved to.

But we need to understand this most of all in terms of our own personal lives, our own personal salvation. There will be constant pressure from society, from within yourself, and sometimes from within the church (eg prosperity teaching) to see things in terms of “me”, to understand what is going on in our lives in terms of “me”. When we do that we will never find God, we will never find the fullness of life that Jesus came to give us. It is only when we lose our lives for His sake that we find our life (Matt 16:15).

We were set free to serve the Lord. Therein lies true freedom