The Readings
teach us that all of Jesus Earthly ministry involved freeing people from
bondage. His purpose or mission was to give up His own sinless life as a
perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of all people – and potentially break
to power evil and of sin-guilt so believers could have eternal spiritual life. Jesus
ministry freed people from the bondage of false religious teaching and the
bondages of physical illness and spiritual oppression. His goal was to free us
from our foolishness, our fear and the deceptions and control of Satan. Gods’
children were to have a new spiritual life of love, joy and peace.
1.
Jeremiah was freed from his bondage to fear
He was born into a hierarchal
religious culture which did not value the religious thoughts of young uneducated
men. Religious teachers had to go through a long process of academic learning and
discipleship before they were given authority to teach in public.
- Jeremiah
was surprised by God – young, no apparent
qualifications
- Afraid of
consequences – ridicule, opposition, exclusion
- God
reminded him of who is really in charge
- God
promised protection in exchange for faithfulness and obedience
2.
Paul was freed from bondage to the Hebrew Law
Had jumped through all the hoops,
studied under some famous teachers and devoted his life to learning – bondage
to knowledge.
- Pharisee
like the one in the Gospel – missed the main thing
- Modern
liberals are the new Pharisees – miss the supernatural
- We are all
vulnerable to this kind of bondage to ideas
- Ignorance
& sloth are popular forms of bondage
3.
Woman was freed from spiritual bondage
This is form of healing ministry is what
many modern theological liberals dismiss as pre-scientific mythical
exaggeration.
- Exorcism is
a lost ministry in many churches
- Exorcism
before baptism was the norm in the ancient Church
- Good News
is some clergy still believe in and practice this ministry (very quietly)
- Spiritual
bondage is different from psychological bondage
- Psychological
bondage is based on fear and ignorance – don’t know what you don’t know
- Spiritual
bondage is based on a deliberate pattern of sin
- Temptation
leads to sin, guilt, separation from God
- Patterns of
sin lead to habits of rebellion
- Rebellion
opens doorways for demons and evil spirits
- Evil spirits
can tempt and deceive from inside our soul
- Pollutes
our soul and grows in power to tempt, deceive
- Polluted
souls give other spirits a right to live in us
- Power of
influence may begin to overcome our will
- Bondage is
when a person cannot help themselves escape from the pattern of sin
- Step below
‘possession’ where evil spirits effectively control physically as well as
mentally
- Bondage is where ‘spiritual
oppression’ begins to control part of a person’s life
- Power of
evil spirits to oppress and bind people can only be broken if they repent, confess and ask Jesus to forgive
them for each pattern of sin – takes away the garbage that spirits
feed on
GOOD
NEWS IS JESUS CAN FREE US FROM OUR BONDAGES
This was and is His Mission – and our
mission as followers of Jesus.
- All need to
overcome our fear - like Jeremiah
- All need to
overcome bondages to false teachings – like Paul
- All need to
examine our lives carefully and repent and confess any sinful habits that
could lead to bondages
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