Who do you belong to? What were you set free from?

 

READ: Hebrews 2:10-13

 

Hebrews 2:11

Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. (NIV)

 

 

• Jesus makes us holy
• We are of the same family as Jesus
• Jesus calls us His brothers
• One day we (the church) will be His bride (Rev. 21)

APPLICATION:

• We are His brothers and sisters
• Therefore we are no longer slaves
• We are adopted into His family
• We can choose to be bond servants but we are not slaves
• We were once slaves to sin and death, but we have been set free.

 

Back in the 1800s, a young Englishman traveled to California in search of gold. After several months of prospecting, he struck it rich. On his way home, he stopped in New Orleans. He came upon a crowd of people all looking in the same direction. Approaching the crowd, he recognized that they had gathered for a slave auction. He heard “Sold!” just as he joined the crowd. A middle-aged black man was taken away. Next a beautiful young black girl was pushed up onto the platform and made to walk around so everyone could see her. The bidding began. The miner stood silent as anger welled up inside of him. Finally, one man bid a price that was beyond the reach of the other. The auctioneer called out, “Going once! Going twice!” Just before the final call, the miner yelled out a price that was exactly twice the previous bid. The crowd laughed, thinking that the miner was only joking. The auctioneer motioned to the miner to come and show his money. The miner opened up the bag of gold he had brought for the trip. The auctioneer shook his head in disbelief as he waved the girl over to him. The girl walked down the steps of the platform until she was eye-to-eye with the miner. She spat straight in his face and said through clenched teeth, “I hate you!” The miner, without a word, wiped his face, paid the auctioneer, took the girl by the hand, and walked away from the still-laughing crowd.

He seemed to be looking for something until he finally stopped in front of some sort of store. She waited outside as the dirty-faced miner went inside and started talking to an elderly man. Peering in, she saw the miner pull out his bag of gold and pour what was left of it on the table. The clerk with a look of disgust picked up the gold and went in a back room. He came out with a piece of paper, and both he and the miner signed it. The young girl looked away as the miner came out the door. Stretching out his hand, he said to the girl, “Here are your manumission papers. You are free.” The girl did not look up. He tried again. “Here. These are papers that say you are free. Take them.” “I hate you!” the girl said, refusing to look up. “Why do you make fun of me!” “No, listen,” he pleaded. “These are your freedom papers. You are a free person.” The girl looked at the papers, and then looked at him. “You just bought me…and now, you’re setting me free?” “That’s why I bought you. I bought you to set you free.” The beautiful young girl fell to her knees in front of the miner, tears streaming down her face. “You bought me to set me free! You bought me to set me free!”. The miner said nothing. Clutching his muddy boots, the girl looked up at the miner and said, “All I want to do is to serve you—because you bought me to set me free!”[i]

 

At one time we were all slaves to sin and death. But Christ came to redeem us—to pay for our freedom. He bought us with his own blood, that we might be free. Galatians 4:4-5 says, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Jesus not only set us free from the penalty of sin, but He made it possible for us to become the children of God!

 

We were once slaves to the devil himself (V. 14). But we have been given freedom. We were once enslaved to a life of sin, but now we have been given the freedom not to sin. But here is the kicker! God didn’t stop there. He took the next step and adopted us. We are His heirs in Christ Jesus. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17a).

 

The question for today is whom do you belong to? Another way of saying this might be, “Who is your daddy?” We are “of the same family”. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, and God almighty is our Daddy. I don’t know about you, but I want my Daddy to be proud of me. How about you?

 

Pray that you would fully understand your adoption in Christ. Pray that you would be able to live a life worthy of that adoption starting this week.

 

Each week’s Monday Motivation is taken from the reading schedule found in the Life Journal. If you are ready for the next step in your discipleship, then order yours today or see me for a copy.

www.lifejournal.cc

 

If you would like help in growing in your faith, or if you would like to know how to have faith in Him, then please contact us at (928)636-2949 or email me at pastorguy@cvgrace.com

 

 

[i] Youth Specialties Hot Illustrations; Bought to be Freed