So Jesus said to the
Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my
disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They
answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to
anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The
slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the
Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of
Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you” (John 8:31-37).
The
most dangerous kind of slavery is also the most subtle. It can creep up on us.
It may capture and enslave us before we are even aware of its presence. Jesus
recognized that among the crowd that followed Him, “the Jews who had
believed him”. As we noted before, Jesus often addressed the elders,
chief priests, and Pharisees as “the Jews”. They had believed in
Jesus enough to join the crowd and follow Him around Galilee, but they believed
in Him only enough to seek to kill Him. Although they heard every word spoken
by the Living Word, none of the truth of His words found a home in their
hardened hearts. Yet, Jesus still loved them enough to confront them with truth
that could release them from slavery to sin and free them to step out of the
crowd and closer to Him. In His confrontation with “the Jews”
Jesus compelled these followers to experience the true freedom of
discipleship.
I
understand and relate to the temptation to respond to the word of God today
just like “the Jews” did. We are believers. We know Jesus as our
Savior and we are following Him by reading His word together today. Yet the
Teacher uses Jesus’ confrontation with “the Jews” to confront our
hearts too. He wants us to enjoy the complete freedom that is not available to
followers but is only known by true disciples. He challenges us to examine our
hearts today and every day that we read His word to make sure we are really
abiding in His truth… “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples”.
There may be areas of our heart that cannot receive and be immersed in His
truth because we are unknowingly enslaved by sin there… “For the fool
speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to
utter error concerning the LORD” (Isaiah 32:6).
The Jews
trusted in their ancestry from Abraham. This was a natural, not a spiritual
thing. They judged the spiritual by the natural and they could not see or
receive the spiritual truth Jesus was offering them… “For the mind that
is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law;
indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8).
If we are to Christ’s disciples, we must never judge spiritual truth by natural
standards… “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them
because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Although
they were Christ followers, the Jews were unknowingly enslaved by sin. As
Christ’s disciples, we must not give sin any room in our hearts… “Keep
your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs
4:23). The heart is the home of the desires and passions of our lives. If
we entertain sin in our heart, we create room for hidden strongholds to grow up
into sin that enslaves us and steals away the life Christ wants us to enjoy in
Him… “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own
desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it
is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:14-15). Some Christ
followers sought to kill Him because they were so enslaved by sin, His word
could find “no place” in them. In contrast, real disciples give
no ground to sin in their lives so they can plant and enjoy a rich harvest of
the freeing truth of Christ’s word in their hearts… “Therefore put away
all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted
word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).
As we grow
up into Christ and enjoy increasing victory over sin we experience…
The True Freedom of Discipleship.
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