This article is part 1 of the “How to Walk in Freedom” series. The full series can be found here.
If you would rather watch a video of this article being read on YouTube, click here.
THERE MUST BE A MASTER
This is the first article in a new series from Matt’s Notes called How to Walk in Freedom. In this series, we will be discussing how to walk in freedom from sin and condemnation.
Before we get into the how of walking in freedom, first we need to talk about what we even mean when we use the word freedom in a biblical context. In the next few articles, we will dive into God’s Word and see what it says about freedom in Christ.
Many people seem to be under the misconception that being free in Christ means complete autonomy — having no master at all. In other words, because I’m free, I can do whatever I want. While that is often what we mean when we use the word freedom in modern speech, that is not what the Bible means when it speaks of freedom.
In the Bible, there is no such thing as having no master. Instead, the Bible presents only two options. We are either servants of sin or servants of righteousness:
“Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.” Romans 6:16–18
The freedom that we have in Christ — which is the kind freedom this series will discuss — is not the absence of a master. Instead, it is freedom from sin, which is freedom to serve Jesus Christ.
In Romans 8:2, the apostle Paul made the following declaration of freedom regarding himself:
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2
The same apostle Paul who declared himself to be free in the passage above also declared himself to be a servant of Jesus Christ.
“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ . . .” Romans 1:1a
So, in defining freedom in Christ, principle #1 is that the freedom we are seeking is not freedom to serve sin, or freedom from any master whatsoever, but freedom to serve Jesus Christ, with Him alone as our Master.
Insofar as we are not serving Christ, we are walking in bondage.
SERVING SIN = SERVING SELF
We will discuss this more later in the series, but every person who is still alive in the flesh has a law of sin in their fleshly members that produces in them a desire to think, act, and speak contrary to the Law of God (see Romans 7).
When we encounter the Law of God and learn that it says, “thou shalt not covet,” the indwelling law of sin produces in us all manner of covetousness (Romans 7:7–8).
When indwelling sin produces these ungodly lusts in our flesh, and we fulfill them, we are serving indwelling sin. We are making sin our master.
What is the nature and essence of serving sin, though?
We’ve already discussed that serving sin is acting contrary to God’s Law, but let’s go deeper. The Bible repeatedly tells us that love for our neighbor is the fulfillment of God’s Law:
“Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loves another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:8–10
“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Galatians 5:14
“If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, you do well:” James 2:8
If love for our neighbor is the essence and fulfillment of God’s Law, then the essence of serving sin must be failing to love our neighbor as ourselves.
To put in another way, the essence of serving sin is serving self.
When self is our master, we are serving sin. This is why freedom isn’t about being free from all masters. Someone will always be the master. Either self will be the master, or someone else will be the master. To be free from all other masters is to be our own master — which is to be a servant of sin.
Even though he was free from all men, t
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.