The Slavery That Freedom Requires

On December 14, 2012 Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, did an interview with Os Guinness. This interview was transcribed and posted on Al Mohler’s blog on March 18, 2013. It was a very interesting discussion about one of Guinness’s books titled A Free People’s Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future. One particular quote from the interview will give you an idea of the book’s thesis:

“Finally, freedom always faces a fundamental moral challenge. Freedom requires order and, therefore, restraint; yet the only restraint that does not contradict freedom is self-restraint, which is the very thing that freedom undermines when it flourishes.”

This is incredibly insightful. Read it again so you don’t miss what is said. “Raw” freedom is always suicidal. There has to be something else that accompanies freedom so that freedom isn’t always freely putting a gun in its mouth. What is that “something else?” In the quote, Guinness says it is “self-restraint.” That is certainly going to be part of it. I haven’t read his book so I don’t know how much weight he puts on self-restraint. I would say that you have to go beyond self-restraint. First of all, self-restraint has to have an objective standard because self-restraint for a terrorist is going to look very different than self-restraint for a grief-counselor. Secondly, self-restraint has to come from somewhere. There has to be something that drives it, produces it, and strengthens it.

So what is that one thing that must accompany freedom? I say that one thing is slavery. And it must be a particular kind of slavery; slavery to Christ. The scripture is clear, everyone is a slave. Paul said in Rom. 6:16, “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey…” Everyone obeys something. Whatever it is you obey; you are a slave to that. If you say you don’t obey anyone, then you are a slave to your own desires. Since all of us are born in sin and are corrupt in the innermost parts to some degree, Romans 6:16 makes the leap right to our sin and says that we are slaves of sin; “you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness.” This is the suicidal element in freedom. Sinners are always going to use their freedom to sin. As slaves of sin, they don’t have any other choice. The only self-restraint they will have is the restraint to not do one sin so that they can do a different sin. However, no matter what sin it is, eventually it will mature into a fearful and deadly monster.

There is only one hope; slavery to a different master. Jesus came to bring freedom. But this was not “raw” freedom. This was not a freedom from all constraints. The person who jumps out of an airplane while rejecting the constraints of a parachute is not really free. The freedom we need is the freedom that flows out of slavery to Christ. Here is why. When a person is born again, they are given a heart to willingly and joyfully submit themselves to the Lord who purchased for them forgiveness and adoption and all good things. In that moment, Romans 6:18 says you have “been freed from sin…” That person can actually say no to sin. This is the only self-restraint that matters. It is a self-restraint that has an objective standard. That standard is God’s word that informs us about what we should keep ourselves from. It is also a self-restraint that has a power source. That source of power is the indwelling Spirit of God who gives moment by moment strength to obey Christ. A Christian will be free from sin and able to restrain himself from the suicidal and deceptive pleasures of sin. This is true freedom. It is a freedom that comes from being a slave of Christ. Slavery to Christ is the only true way of keeping freedom from committing suicide.