The Freedom of Slavery

There is an old hymn called "Come Thou Fount" that has always been one of my favorites. In it, there is a line in which the worshiper cries out, "Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee." It wasn't until Bible College that I found out what a "fetter" is. For those of you too lazy to search wikipedia for a complete definition and history of the word, I'll just tell you what it is. Fetters are restraining devices, kind of like handcuffs, but they go on one's ankles. They can be used to chain both of the prisoner's legs together, but are just as commonly used to link one man to another to discourage attempts at escaping. They are used to prevent a prisoner from running away or kicking his captors or fellow prisoners. Fetters, as you can imagine, do their job quite well. If someone is in handcuffs, he can still, quite easily run away. With fetters, he ain't goin' nowhere. At least not very far before someone catches up with him.

The aforementioned song compares God's goodness to a fetter which connects the Christian to His Lord. This is a simile worth looking at. But what I have been thinking about is the fetter that once bound us to another master: sin, and thus also, death. A few nights ago, I read the book of Romans (yes, the whole thing), and there were several images that came to my mind as I took in the words of the Apostle Paul. Romans 6:16-18 tells us,
"Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness."
Here, Paul is reminding the Roman Christians of the transition they went through when they were baptized into Christ (Rom. 6:3). In essence, he is saying, in verses 16 and 17, "You were trapped in a cycle of sin and death because you were a slave to sin." As I read this I had this image of myself in fetters, chained to sin, leading me to my death. But in verses 18, Paul announces that since Jesus died that death to which I was being led, He conquered death. (He made death subject to Himself, and in so doing, He broke the shackles and chains irreparably. Now, I have the freedom to submit to Him as my new Master, King, Lord. And when we do this, we are now "slaves to righteousness." What liberating slavery!

This is, of course one of the most important and joyous tenets of the Gospel, that we are now under the reign of the Gentle Master, the Merciful King, the Loving Lord: Jesus Christ. But keep this in mind: Paul was writing this letter not as an evangelistic tool to a group of pagans. He was writing this to Christians! Did they really have to be reminded of what they already believed in?

Well, don't you?

Keeping in step with this "fetter" metaphor, we know that the shackles and chains which locked us hopelessly to sin and death have been broken. But how often do we live as though we still belong to the former master? This ridiculous image comes to mind of a man (usually myself) wrapping himself up in broken chains, attached to a dead master, attempting to close broken cuffs around his own naked ankles. He has forgotten the cruelty of the former master, Sin, and the misery and despair he once endured in his servanthood. Or maybe he hasn't, but he had grown so used to suffering under the yoke of death that the freedom of the new Master scared him. Freedom can be a very scary thing. Remember that first time you ventured off in a store, down another aisle, away from your mommy? Maybe you weren't paying attention, or maybe, if you were like me, you just felt the pull of independence beckoning you to explore your own route. There came that moment, when you finished looking at what you wanted to see, when you looked up, and your guardian, your caretaker, your parent was gone. Indeed you were free, but how did you feel? Can you imagine what the Israelites felt as they looked back and forth from the once parted Red Sea and the big, empty desert ahead of them? Why do you think that it was such a temptation for Israel to "return to Egypt?" Because freedom, true freedom, means you rely soley on God for your wellfare, and no one but God has authority over you.

The experience of freedom is a wonderful and terrifying thing. But it is worth the risk. It is always worth the fear and uncertainty to live in the freedom/slavery of the servanthood of Christ. The Master does place expectations on your life. He is utterly powerful, and He does not tolerate insubordination. But unlike the former (vanquished) master, Jesus Christ is a gentle, patient, merciful Lord. He only wants what is best for us. His discipline is just, AND it is for our ultimate good. And here is the good news: This Jesus, King over all, and Lord of our lives, is leading us into eternal life instead of eternal death. You are loved, my friend.
Stop wrapping yourself in broken chains, O Christians. You look silly. Cast them off, and take your place on the holy chain-gang of Christ. For this is where you belong. Now go, walk in the freedom of slavery to the Good Shepherd, the Gentle Master, Jesus Christ.

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.