The United States of America Turns 250

Proverbs 14:34. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, July 5, 2026.

Two Hundred Fifty years ago yesterday, the Continental Congress debated and adopted the formal declaration of Independence that was worked out by the Committee of Five: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.

It was actually on July 2^nd of that year that the same congress adopted a resolution absolving themselves from any allegiance and political tie to Great Britain.

Later after a decade of struggling to work together as a Republic, the Constitution was hammered out and ratified with this preamble:

"We The People of the United States of America in order to

• form a more perfect Union,
• establish Justice,
• insure domestic Tranquility,
• provide for the common defence,
• promote the general Welfare, and
• secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,

do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Many things can be said about this statement.  First, it purposefully lists “We the People” in large letters as the agent creating the document.  No government was giving the people anything.  It was the people who were creating and empowering the federal government.

I want to focus on the last purpose listed for the creation of this constitution, “and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”  The importance of Liberty, Freedom, was a common theme among the leaders of those days. 

Many sermons and speeches referenced Proverbs 14:34 in those days.  “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”

The question now hangs over our Republic as it did all those years ago, will we prosper as a people into the future, and what exactly is meant by prosperity?

When Patrick Henry passed away in 1799, there was an original copy of the 1765 Stamp Act among his personal effects.  This Act had been passed by the Virginia legislature, of which Henry was a member at the time.  A handwritten message was placed on the back of that document by Patrick, knowing others would go through his stuff at his death.  Here is the message.

“Whether this [the American Revolution] will prove a blessing or a curse will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us.  If they are wise, they will be great and happy.  If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable.  Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation [Proverbs 14:34].  Reader!—whoever thou art, remember this!—and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself and encourage it in others. P. Henry.”

The scope of this proverb is national, but Patrick brings it down to the personal level.  If it is true that righteousness exalts a nation, then I must do my part within my sphere of influence.  I must “practice virtue” myself.  Of course, much righteousness is not done because we are too busy pointing out the unrighteousness of others.  May God help us to grasp this once again across this Republic!

Let’s go deeper into this proverb.

Righteousness exalts a nation

Though this is a simple statement, it begs many questions regarding what is meant by the person making it. 

Just what is righteousness?  This is one of the prime questions of our day.  How we define righteousness, right and wrong, is up for grabs today.  Many refuse to accept that there can be an absolute right or wrong.  They are all about a subjective approach to this definition.

However, this creates a problem.  Everyone will complain if you punch them in the face and take their stuff.  Will it be any easier for them to accept it if I say, that it is “right” for me?  Of course not.  This is not a view you can actually live by, at least not for long.  It works fine, until it doesn’t.  Such people will have no problem pretending that you have absolutely wronged them!  Clearly, they won’t use that terminology!

This reminds me of the book of Judges in the Bible, each one doing what is right in their own eyes.  They too started out as a people with “No king, but King Yahweh!”  Yet, they couldn’t survive everyone being their own king.  God had to save them over and over again.

America started out with the mantra, “No king, but King Jesus!”  We too are finding it hard to stick to that path.  We would rather follow our own definition of righteousness.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 14:12 that, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”  You could replace “seems” with “feels” and have the same sense.  This was illustrated by Adam and Eve in the Garden.  The serpent tempted them to define right and wrong for themselves.  Come on!  Don’t you want to be like God?  Thus, humanity embarked on a road of death almost from its beginning.

If you are using your “feelings” to determine what is right, you will quickly find out that no one else cares.  Why should my life be determined by your feelings?  If there is no absolute right and wrong, then we can’t even begin to have a discussion.  There is no foundation to start on but everyone’s feelings.

Those who are intellectually honest will see quickly that this is a weak position.  Thus, people will quickly retreat to a more sophisticated position.  The definition of righteousness becomes whatever the majority of people within a society agree upon for the time being.  Of course, there rarely is a vote on the subject.  And then in cases where a vote happens, it is rarely a true majority.  There are those who are for a position and those who are against.  Yet, there are many in the middle who become the target of the “highest bidder,” seeking to get their vote.  Of course, some of them do not vote.

In the end such a definition of righteousness creates a social quagmire, quicksand, upon which we can never depend upon what will be right tomorrow.  Everyone will be constantly “evolving” on the issues in order to look like they are with the times.  In the end, we are led to become a prostitute-people selling ourselves for the next beautiful trinket, selling ourselves for “bread and circus.”

In truth, this position is about what the majority can be manipulated to go along with.  Yet, God’s Word shows us a better way.  Psalm 145:17 says, “The LORD is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds.”  The best definition of what is righteous is that which conforms to the character of God.

This is often described as “the way of the LORD,” as opposed to “the way that seems right to a man.”  The Old Testament revealed the character and actions of God.  However, because men often manipulate words to their own ends, Jesus came as the exact representation of God the Father’s righteousness and nature.  He was the perfect image.  What did we find by the way Jesus lived and died?  God is far more loving than some want to pretend, and sin is far worse than we ever imagined.

The twisted nature of sin hijacks you from truth (if you were ever interested in it in the first place).  In the name of God, we will put God to death.  In the name of truth, we will put truth to death.  Without the righteousness of God, you will always end up in destruction because you are rejecting the Creator of all things and His wisdom, instruction, on how it was made to work.

So, what is the righteousness of a nation, or the lack thereof?  It is found in the public policies and their level of conformity to God’s revealed will.  It is essentially all the things we as a people are living by.

What is meant in this proverb by being exalted?  It is a general statement, so it is not so much about being the top nation in the world.  It simply means to rise, to rise up out of degradation, poverty, and slavery (first spiritually and then naturally).  No other nation has to be pulled down in order for a nation to rise.  A man rising up and being industrious all day does nothing to diminish the people around him.  They too could do the same thing.

We are a people halting at the intersection of the future.  I do not believe a majority of the people agree with the ungodly things that are being pushed in our land.  However, some think it is somehow godly not to promote the principles of Christ in our land.  Too often the standing down of people who claim to follow the righteousness of Christ contributes to the lack of righteousness in this Republic.  How long can a man do this and remain righteous?  This is a tension that we need to seek the Holy Spirit concerning.

The problem in our society is not the kid who is confused about their gender.  The problem is a collusion of so-called experts to tell them that their solution is surgery.  Again, I doubt a majority of Americans think that this is good and the best option.  So why does the majority stand down and let it happen?

Sin is a disgrace to any people

The second half of Proverbs 14:34 describes the reverse of the first half.  No people are so great as to make themselves immune to this truth.  Let me be direct.  The United States of America is not immune to this verse.  Before we get into that, let’s talk about what we mean by sin.

The English word “sin” refers to missing a target.  However, we should be clear on what the target should be.  A better definition would be any thought, speech, or action that goes against the revealed character of God.  This involves both internal and external things.

Of course, external sins cause more damage to a society, but then, all sins begin internally.  It is only a matter of time before it shows its ugly head in one form or another.  Thus, a person should never settle for simply nipping sin when it buds, i.e., breaks forth into our external life.  We must commit ourselves to rooting it out of our hearts and mind through a diligent relationship with Christ.  Such a relationship will involve the Written Word of God, prayer, listening for the leading of the Holy Spirit, and living out the righteousness of Christ.

Our society is in the midst of exalting and enshrining in its public policies full-throated rejections of God’s revealed will.  Things like no-fault divorce, no penalty for adultery, the attack of Christian families, the abortion issue, and many others, are encouraging the average persons in sin.  I don’t say that pointing the finger.  Yes, we all fall short of the glory of God and have plenty of fingers pointing at us.  However, I am talking about the public policies, what we are holding up as acceptable or good.  Many of these things are rejections of the revealed will of God.

All people need compassion and grace, but it is not an act of compassion to help people cast off the righteousness of God.  It is not an act of compassion to remove as many consequences as possible of a person’s sin.  Our society seems to have a sick form of sin where we try to make ourselves feel better by redefining sin.  In truth, this is a national suicide according to Proverbs 14:34.

The word “disgrace” here could be translated “shame.”  It is functioning as a contrast to the earlier exaltation caused by righteousness.

Shame can refer to feelings that we have regarding the bad things that we have done.  A person may or may not feel ashamed of the sin they are doing.

Shame can also refer to your position before society for what you have done.  It is the overt standing of society towards our sinful actions.  A person may or may not care about what society thinks.  In fact, society and people can be wrong.

Finally, shame can also be the consequences or damage done to us and others when we sin.  All sin causes injury to self and others to some degree.  Thus, the disgrace is a sinking down into the consequences of our sin.  It is the resultant bondage in which we find ourselves stuck.

How long can a people, a Republic, cause injury to themselves morally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically without falling?  What would that fall look like?  It would look like a dissolving of the things that once held us up.  It would look like righteousness becoming rarer and rarer while sin becomes more and more common. 

I said this earlier and I want to say it again.  No people are immune to the destructive effects of sin.  We must be a light to our people.  We must speak the truth in love.  We need to stand with Jesus in this hour for our people.

If you find yourself or others having an attitude that says, “Nothing can be done,” then hear the word of the Lord.  Our work is not based on the likelihood of success.  It is based upon the sacrifice and command of Christ.  It is based upon the leading of the Holy Spirit.  In our flesh, we may not care about politics and our Republic.  But, as a believer in Jesus, we must be concerned and involved in the public policies of our society, however that may be.

May God strengthen us in this day as we cross 250 years as a Republic!

America 250 audio

The First Letter of Peter- 17

Subtitle: Our Witness before the World- Part 9

1 Peter 4:1-6.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, March 15, 2026.

Having looked at what Jesus accomplished through the things he suffered, Peter now calls us to have the same mind that Christ had when he did these things.  We can rejoice in having Jesus at the right hand of the Father interceding for us.  We can rejoice in salvation and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  However, it happened because Jesus was willing to suffer.  He embraced suffering for what it would accomplish.

Let’s look at our passage.

Arm yourself with the same mind Jesus had (v. 1-4)

The word translated as “arm yourselves” was typically used to prepare for battle.  It has the sense of equipping or providing yourself with what you need for a task.

So, who or what are we battling?  We can think about those who persecute and cause suffering in our lives just for doing the right thing.  I can imagine early Christians being challenged to recant their belief that Jesus was Lord, and instead, declare that Caesar is lord.  This may be true to some degree, but to a greater degree, we are arming ourselves with a mentality.  This mentality is something that is going on inside of us.  It is a mental and spiritual battle with our own flesh that can only be won when we think like Jesus did.

Our flesh is looking for any excuse to avoid suffering and obtain pleasure.  If we do not have the mentality of Jesus, then we will be overcome by the desires of our flesh.  The devil knows this and uses it for his purposes.  We can be intimidated away from the work that God has for us.  We can be shamed by social pressure to shrink away from the call of Jesus.  If you are going to follow Jesus, you will need to approach suffering the same way he did.

Now let’s be clear.  Jesus didn’t relish suffering and rush towards it with glee.  He wasn’t bored in heaven and decided to come to earth for some extreme experiences.   He wasn’t on a field trip.  On the other hand, Jesus is not trying to get everyone to like him.  He is not obsessed with getting the Pharisees and Sadducees to like him.  He is thinking about doing the will of the Father.  This is why Jesus prayed and sought God for that purpose he should pursue in the things that he faced.

Jesus did not let the threat of suffering cause him to shrink back from the good and right thing that God wanted him to do.  Yet he also knew that God had a timing to those right things he needed to do.  This timing will also affect our level of suffering.  Jesus could have been stoned to death earlier in his ministry, but it wasn’t God’s timing and way.

Here in America, our suffering is at a low level.  We are not being physically persecuted for our faith, though that does seem to be changing.  Yet there is a mental and spiritual suffering that we carry in our relationships.  Parents who are raising their children for Jesus will find that it is not easy.  Their flesh wants to quit.  It may not want to quit being a parent but at least being a parent for Jesus.  We can shrink away from the right thing that we know we should do. This is our flesh.

Peter then states that those who suffer in the flesh have been made to cease from sin.  The verb “to cease” is actually passive.  We have been made to cease from sin.  This doesn’t mean that we are perfect and never sin. Rather, sin has ceased to be the willing choice to obtain what our flesh desires.  It is no longer our target or focus.  Instead, we are focused on something else.  We have stopped going after sin through the lusts of our flesh and we have been going after something else.  Something has changed within us.  We think and act differently in life because our purpose in life is now led by Jesus.

Peter fleshes out the idea of ceasing from sin in verse two.  Peter refers to the “rest of his time” here.  Each of us have a period of our life that is before becoming a follower of Jesus and another that is after we have followed him.  This is what he is referencing.  How much time do I have left?  Whatever it is, I should use it for the will of God.

The rest of our time is, of course, hard to know for sure.  Psalm 90:12 reads, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  Wisdom recognizes that I am not guaranteed tomorrow.  How will I spend the rest of my time?  We can have a good desire to follow Jesus but be derailed by the threat of suffering.  Suffering can dissuade us from following Jesus.

Peter speaks of not living for the “lusts of men.”  It means the lusts that are common to men.  Of course, the strong desires of our flesh can be different from one person to another.  I need to particularly avoid and reject the lusts of my own flesh so that I can live for the will of God.

The will of God may lead us down a path that has suffering on it.  We can complain about it, but we lose sight of the fact that God has something good in it for you.  First, He intends to accomplish some things through the work that you do.  Second, He intends also to accomplish some things through the things you suffer.  We can forget that God is working to draw people to Christ through the things we suffer.  When wicked people persecute us for doing what is good, there is always something in the back of their head that they have to avoid or silence in order to keep going.  This is the mercy of God working to bring them back from the edge of a moral cliff.

We may want to avoid suffering.  We may even pray for God to take us to heaven.  However, who is going to influence your children, grandchildren, etc.?  Maybe you don’t have such relationships.  Regardless, our only ability to affect this world is while we are in these bodies.  Jesus is asking us to use our mortal life in order to help people come back to what we were made to do.  We were made to image God in relationship with Him.  Jesus has made that possible for those who will turn away from sin and follow him.

Listen, Jesus isn’t in heaven having a party while we suffer down here.  He is pouring out the Spirit into our lives as we seek him.  The Spirit of God is helping us to go to war against what the devil has done in people’s lives.  He is telling us today, “Pick up your cross.  If you do that, then I will fill you with the Holy Spirit, and He will help you do some powerful things.  It will have some suffering in it, but O the glory!”

Even if you don’t get to see the fruit of your suffering, that isn’t the point.  The point is that you laid down your life like a seed into their life.  I may not see it in this life, but God will keep using it in their heart and mind through the rest of their life.

Adding to this argument, Peter tells us that we have spent enough of our past life pursuing the “will of the Gentiles.”  There were Gentiles who knew God, but this is being used of the Gentiles as a whole.  They were separated and foreigners to God.  They only knew the false religions of Satan and his angels. 

What is the will of the Gentiles?  Peter gives us a partial list of such things.  Sensuality or lewdness has the sense of a person with no restraint.  That can be in speech, dress, or activity.  Lust is basically strong desires of our flesh.  Drunkenness is literally excess wine.  When we imbibe too much alcohol, it leads to sin.  The next two words go together, carousing (revelry) and drinking parties.  If you can imagine people eating and drinking to the point that everyone is drunk and then going out into the streets to do whatever comes to your pickled mind, this is what these things describe.  Finally, Peter lists abominable idolatries.  Abominable means hated which is true of idolatry.  God hates it.  However, he literally writes “lawless idolatries.”

This list is not 100% of the things we need to avoid.  In fact, many of these are easy to quit doing.  Many people can “clean up their life” and make the outside look good, but these things beg the question of why we choose them.  What is going on inside of my heart that I keep choosing to go after these things?  Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount does this with murder.  It should be easy to cut off contemplating murder.  But it is much harder to cut off the anger that leads to murder.  The harder things to cut off in our lives are things like anger, jealousy, selfish ambition and slander.  This is what James is talking about in chapter four of his letter.  Jesus is leading us away from these things and towards the will of God.

The world around you thinks you are strange for not joining them in this pursuit of pleasure.  The excess of dissipation is an overflowing of unsaved living, unhealthy, unspiritual living.  Like a flood of water surging down the course of a canyon, they can’t imagine doing anything else.  The Christian is the fish who is swimming up stream while the world around them plunges along with the water downstream.

And thus, we end up back at suffering.  Because you are strange to them, then you are viewed as a threat or a source of guilt.  You are viewed as someone who can’t be manipulated and therefore can’t be trusted.  This leads to those who will malign you for following Jesus instead of the world.  Some “Christians” may even malign you for following Jesus instead of their traditions about Jesus.  Regardless, the word for “malign” is literally to blaspheme.  We are used to that being used about God, but we can blaspheme one another when we say things that are not true about one another.  It may stop there, but maligning people opens the door to abusing them further.  People are first called evil and then it is okay to persecute, even to kill, them.  The malign statements, the blasphemies against Christians, then become justification for more sinful actions that cause suffering for God’s people.

Let us remember that Jesus faced such men, and he put his trust in the Father’s will in the moment and in His purpose through it, even though it led to his death.

God will judge those who malign you (v. 5-6)

Verse five reminds us that those who persecute us will not get away with it.  They will be judged.  All people will be brought before Christ and give an account for their life.  I do not suspect there will be much speaking on their behalf.  The emphasis is more on being held accountable for one’s life.  Those who have rejected his salvation and persecuted his followers will be found guilty on that day.  It may not look like this is the case, but this is God’s promise, warning, to humanity.

When a person is going through suffering, this may not seem very comforting.  We want God to stop it now or even before it happens.  Regardless, we are called to have faith in God.  The example of Jesus and God’s answer of resurrection makes this a well-founded hope.

By the way, Peter doesn’t explicitly say that Jesus is this one who will judge, but this is the clear teaching of the apostles and Jesus.  See John 5:22-23, Acts 17:31, Romans 2:16, among many others.

Christ is “ready” to judge the living and the dead.  This may sound like it is about to happen in a matter of days.  But the meaning is more that Christ has been given the place and authority of judging those who are alive and those who are dead.  He is ready to judge whenever the Father chooses.  Jesus was ready to sacrifice his life on day one of his ministry.  However, it was the Father’s will that this did not happen until three and a half years of ministry had occurred.  Similarly, Jesus is ready to judge now, but will not do so until the Father says it is time.

Let us remember that this is true for us as a world and for us as individuals.  When we lay down our mortal bodies in death, our judgment before Christ will be evident.

Why does the Father delay?  Particularly, why does He delay while I am suffering?  This ties into God’s purpose to send the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  This is a period of time in which the nations are given grace through Jesus.  The way that we suffer (like Jesus did) is one of the goads that God uses to prick the conscience of lost people.  If they repent, then they become a brother or sister in the Lord.  We should forgive them and love them.  If they do not repent, then they will be held accountable by Jesus. 

If you had been ripped off by a big corporation and sued them, how would you feel if you went into court and found out that the judge owned a similar big corporation?  The opposite is true with Jesus.  The One who will judge humanity on that day is One who was unjustly and wickedly treated by people.  He is not on the side of the elite.  However, he will not pervert justice for the poor.  Jesus will judge in absolute truth.  This is a sobering thought.

This brings us to one of the most disputed verses in this letter.  Peter turns from the readiness of Christ to judge the living and the dead and states that this is why the Gospel “has been preached” to the dead.  Most translations have interpretations affecting their end result.  It literally says, “For this purpose even the dead were evangelized (given the Gospel).”  It begs the question of when the evangelizing occurred.  Was it while they are alive, being dead now or was it while they were in the grave?

We will come back to this question.  Let’s continue the flow of Peter’s argument.  The coming judgment of Christ is the purpose, or reason, for this evangelizing.  Yet, Peter states that this evangelizing was done so that something else might happen.  This is what the second half of verse 6 reveals.  Let’s look at the statement first and then come back to how this all fits together with evangelizing even the dead.

The second half of verse 6 has a clear symmetry that contrasts the first clause with the second one.  It uses the phrase “on one hand” there is this bad thing, “but on the other hand,” there is this good thing.  These clauses are in the subjunctive mood which emphasizes that this is God’s desire or purpose, whether men cooperate with it or not.  Let me lay out verse 6 in a clumsy literal interpretation.

“For this reason, even the dead were evangelized in order that, on one hand, they may have been judged according to men in flesh, but on the other hand, they may be living according to God in spirit.”

God’s purpose in this evangelization is to overcome the judgments of men in this world that have sent many to the realm of the dead.  They may have been put to death in their flesh according to the judgments of men, but God intends to make them alive in spirit.  This is some of the same verbiage that was used of Jesus in 1 Peter 3:18. Jesus was put to death in his flesh but made alive in spirit.  God does not always stop persecution.  However, He always overturns it.

We can understand that God’s purpose is to change a person’s destiny any time the Gospel is preached to them.  Instead of removing death from our experience, He makes possible a greater life following that death for those who trust in Jesus the Christ.

So what is this evangelizing even the dead?  There are really two good ways to interpret this, though I know there are endless variations in them.

The first is to see this as people who are now dead, but the evangelization happened while they were alive.  God’s purpose in the Gospel is not to make us invincible to the wicked in this life, but that when we die (whether naturally or at the hands of persecutors) this will not be the last word.  They live in spirit.  Unlike Jesus, believers do not immediately receive a spiritual body.  Their spirits are with Christ at the right hand of the Father awaiting the day of resurrection when they will obtain glorified, spiritual bodies like Jesus.  Even before the cross, righteous believers like Noah, Abraham, David, and all the rest, went into the good side of the Grave (Sheol/Hades) awaiting the day when Messiah would make it possible for them to be released into the presence of the Father.

One of the fears of early believers is mentioned by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4.  They worried that somehow believers who had died were going to miss out on the good things that were expected at the Second Coming of Jesus.  Paul explains that those who are dead will not miss out on God’s plan.

In this situation, it is speculated that Peter is encouraging them that, even though we may be put to death in flesh, we are alive in spirit.  God’s judgment makes the judgments of men irrelevant.  In fact, this being alive in spirit occurs while we are still in this mortal flesh.  This is generally what is meant by eternal life.  It is the life-giving-principle of Jesus Himself working within us, no matter what state we are in (mortal flesh, body dead but spirit with Jesus, and finally a glorified spiritual body).

This is a good, scriptural understanding.  However, Peter may have been saying something more than this.  The second interpretation actually sees this as an evangelization by Jesus after his death to those who are in the grave.  Some oppose this because it sounds like they are getting a second chance at salvation.  However, this is not necessarily the case.

Scripture does appear to be clear that we are given this mortal life to make and to demonstrate our choice regarding Jesus.  Once we die, we are held accountable to that choice.  Hebrews 9:27 states, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment…”  2 Corinthians 6:2 states, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”  Clearly, we are called to accept God while He has opened a door for salvation.  If we wait, the time may close and be missed.  Death is equated with facing our judgment, not an extension of a season of salvation.

That said, there is a plausible way to see this in the second sense (Jesus evangelizing the dead after his death) without teaching that people get a second chance in the Grave.

In 1 Peter 3:18, we saw that Jesus went into the Grave and then to Tartarus (a prison for rebellious angels/spirits).  There he proclaimed his victory to them and the finality of their defeat.  There is no sense in that passage that he “evangelized” them.  That word is not used.  Also, it is not hard to see that while he was in the Grave where the departed human spirits are held in two compartments, one good and one bad, Jesus may do some more declarations.  Thus, we can see Jesus proclaiming his victory to those “in torments in Hades,” which would accentuate that they had chosen the wrong side.  We could also see him sharing the good news (the real meaning of the word evangelize) of his victory and what it means for those human spirits in Abraham’s Bosom, or Paradise, which is the good side of the Grave.  He is not so much giving them an offer of salvation but explaining what has happened and how they have been saved.  This makes sense because though they had a sense of the good thing God was doing, they were just as much in the dark as the disciples were to how God was going to do this.

The foundations of the Gospel were laid down in Genesis three as God pronounces judgments on the serpent, Eve and Adam.  Notice that He promises that a Seed of the Woman would come forth to crush the Serpent’s head.  He would no longer have dominion over humanity.  This is a kind of proto-Gospel.  Through the Old Testament more and more definition is given to what and how God would save humanity.  We can imagine David coming into Abraham’s Bosom and sharing with those who were there all that God had revealed in his day.  Isaiah would enter one day and share what God had showed him.  Yet Jesus coming into Abraham’s Bosom would not just lead the spirits into heaven without some kind of explanation of what had happened.

The New Testament even speaks of Abraham and Israel having the Gospel preached to them in the sense of a proto-Gospel.  Galatians 3:8 says this about Abraham, and Hebrews 4:2 expresses this sense about Israel in the wilderness.

This second view sees that sharing good news with even the dead is not the only thing in view.  The whole dynamic of Jesus going into the grave in order to bring the righteous spirits held in the grave (awaiting the price to be paid for their sins and justification) and lead them into the presence of the Father is part of the purpose of God.

This faithfulness that has happened already is part of the confidence we can have in the midst of suffering.  God will not and has not left us at the mercy of wicked men, treated as lambs for the slaughter.  Instead, God wants to use our suffering and especially how we do it in order to make peace possible with his enemies, our enemies.

The spiritual life we have in Christ while we are in the flesh will not cease when our bodies die.  Our spirits will then live before the Father in heaven until the time of resurrection comes.  Then, we will have glorified, spiritual bodies in which we will be “like the angels.”  This is the sure, proven hope that believers have when facing suffering in this life.  May God strengthen us as we live for him in this lost world.

Our Witness 9 audio

The Letter to the Colossian Church- 10

Subtitle: Living out Your New Identity- 1

Colossians 3:1-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, September 28, 2025.

In the first two chapters, we have looked at the details of who Jesus is.  He is the Messiah, but he is more than that.  He is also the Creator who even hold all things together.  It is a mistake to think of Jesus as merely a human who has been elevated to a high position.  He is the first light that came forth from the Father to do His will in creation, and he is now doing the Father’s will in the New Creation.

The identity of Jesus is also connected to what he has done, particularly in the salvation that he has done for all who believe upon him.  In Jesus, believers don’t just have all that they will need.  We really do have all things, period, in Christ.  There is absolutely nothing that others can come along and offer us that we don’t already have in Christ.  This is where the Colossians have been susceptible to the deceivers and charlatans in their midst.  These charlatans are not adding anything to Christ.  Instead, they are separating you from trusting Christ completely.

In chapter 3, Paul now turns to an exhortation on what it means to live for Christ in the light of these great doctrinal truths laid out in chapters one and two.

Let’s look at our passage.

Those who have been raised with Christ… (v. 1-4)

Paul begins with the words, “Therefore, if…”  He is giving some conclusion type statements that flow out of what has been said so far.  The teaching of who Christ is and what he has done is intended to make an impact upon the life of those who embrace it.

The conditional, “if,” is not so much questioning whether this has happened, but rather, lays out a logical progression from that reality.  Thus, it can some times have the sense of “since this is true, then….”  Of course, Paul is addressing a group.  It is possible that he means it both ways.  Some of them may need to examine themselves, whether they are truly in the faith.  However, the main concern is for the Colossian Christians to see how the truths about Jesus should connect to their daily walk.

Also, though he is speaking to them as a group, and he will list some imperatives that are also in the plural, each one of them (us) will need to make an individual decision to heed the instruction of the Holy Spirit through Paul.

This brings us to the second part of the conditional statement.  Paul basically says the same thing two different ways.  First, they are to keep seeking, and second, they are to set their minds on the things above.  The first has to do with seeking something, which can be seen as an external things.  Yet, the second helps us to see that Paul is not just concerned about external action.  The focus of our minds and the activity of our life need to be the things that are above where Christ is.  Essentially, Paul is calling us to be concerned with heavenly matters, the purposes and desires of God.

We see this in the Lord’s prayer.  We are praying that the Lord’s Kingdom would come and that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Paul is not just talking about contemplating mysteries in the heaven.  He is talking about the reality that it is the desire of God that we live out His purposes on this earth.  However, this takes a person who is looking for that, seeking it, focused on it.  What is God’s will for me down here?

Let’s take Jesus for example.  He could have lived his life in a mortal body any number of ways, but God the Father had a particular purpose for his mortal body.  Jesus sought to live out the purposes of heaven, of his heavenly Father, rather than purposes that his fleshly body would like.  Yet, the Father wanted him to sacrifice that mortal life in order to redeem those who would believe on Jesus.  God’s concerns are very different from ours.  He really wants to save anyone who wants His help.

This helps us to see why the kings of the earth and all those who have power cannot save humanity, even if they really wanted to do so.  Unless they die to themselves and seek the purposes of God, they are doomed to seek the purposes of their flesh.  Humanity has a spiritual problem that cannot be solved through fleshly means.

What Paul is saying here is the same thing that Jesus was saying in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:31-34.  He was challenging his followers to quit seeking the things of their flesh and focusing their minds on how they can get the things of this world for their flesh.  Rather, we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and God will make sure our bodies and lives are provisioned.  Notice, that seeking the Kingdom of God is seeking His purpose and will.  Yet, the rule of God has very real focus on what happens on this earth.  If you live for your flesh, you will live at a level that only brings death.  However, if you live for the will of God, then you will live at a level that brings life into this world.

You see when we pray, “Your Kingdom Come; Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” we are not asking God to fix everyone else around us so that our experience and circumstances are good.  Rather, we are praying for God to show us what that would look like in us, in our life.  God, let your Kingdom come…through me!  This is what Jesus did.

God is greatly concerned about the earth, about our jobs, our marriages, our families, the politics of our land, etc.  But, He is calling us to seek Him and live lives focused on what He would have us do.  His heart will direct our earthly enterprise, and we will become something greater than we could ever be as His purpose flows through us into the world around us.  It starts in me, and then moves to my family, then to my neighbors, and beyond.  This is to be our focus.

In verse one, Paul emphasized that Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father.  On one hand, he could know this because Jesus ascended into heaven before his disciples.  Also, the Deacon Stephen described Christ standing at the right hand of the Father during his stoning.  Yet, this is also a direct allusion to Psalm 110.  David’s lord is seated at the Father’s right hand, and he rules over those who volunteer to serve him.  This will go on until the time the Father is ready to put Messiah’s enemies under his feet.  This is also connected to the Son of Man in Daniel 7, although we are not told there that the Son of Man sits at the Father’s right hand.  To be seated at the right hand of the throne is to be able to exercise the power of the throne.  Jesus has authority over all powers and authorities in the heavens and on the earth (Colossians 2:10).

Why does the Messiah sit at the Father’s hands for a season?  The Father is allowing people on earth to make a decision.  Will they be on the side of His Messiah, or will they follow the path of the flesh?  Yet, his sitting at the right hand of the Father also has a sense to it where the Christ and his glory is “hidden” (verse 3).  Jesus did not show himself to the whole world following his resurrection.  Rather, he showed himself to a select group who would be his witnesses to the world.  More than this, he confirmed that this was more than a trick through signs and wonders, which involved amazing healings, casting out demons, and many other amazing miracles.

Of course, we are not in heaven.  We are here on the earth.  This is why Paul reminds us that our life is hidden in Christ and will be revealed in glory at the glorious Second Coming of Jesus.  This isn’t obvious to the world, and you too may have trouble believing it at times.

At the Second Coming, Christ in all his glory will be revealed to the world (Revelation 19).  Yet, at this time, we also will be revealed in glory.  This is what Romans 8:19 is referencing.  The whole creation groans, eagerly awaiting the revelation of the sons of God (that’s you and me!).  It will be quite obvious who you are on that day.  We are to live today in the light of the glory that we are destined to receive.

Put to death the connection of your body to sin (v. 5-7)

Since you are a child of God who is going to come with Christ in glorified form, then you should be focused on something in particular today.  Verse 5 literally calls us to put to death “those members that are connected to the earth.”  What does that mean?

This is limb terminology, the members refer to the parts of the body, particularly the limbs.  Of course, Paul is not suggesting that we lop off hands and start gouging out eyes, literally.  The “limbs” or “members” that we are to remove are listed in verse five.  But, before we get into the list, we should recognize that we do not do these things in order to be saved.  Paul is pointing to the glorious future we have with Christ as the reason to remove these things.  Simply put, we do not do these things in order to be saved, but because He has saved us.  We don’t do them to have a future, but because God has promised us a glorious future.

It might be easier to think of this in pruning terms.  Jesus in John 15:2 says that every branch in him that bears fruit will still be pruned in order to be more fruitful.  Paul is picturing bad things that need to be cut off.  However, pruning may also cut off perfectly good things.  They are removed in order to make room for carbon dioxide and sunlight.  This increases fruitfulness.

Though pruning may be easier for us to understand, putting things to death and hacking off limbs refers to war.  And, if you have ever tried to fight against sin, you know that it is a difficult battle in which you will need to kill the lusts of the flesh within  yourself over and over again.

Christ is coming (verse 4), and the wrath of God will come upon those who continue in disobedience to the Father and His Messiah (verse 6).  They continue to reject Jesus and the new life that he offers.

So, we need to be cutthroat about sexual immorality in our life, that is any sexual activity that is outside of a marriage commitment between one man and one woman.  We need to remove that from our life.  We also need to cut off impure things, passion (driven by the flesh), evil desires, and greed, which is called idolatry.

Idolatry is the worship of something that is not God in His place.  It is to surrender to something that is created the type of devotion and influence on your life that only God should be given.  A greedy person can never have enough.  They are never satisfied because the thing they greedily desire has become something more than it should be in their life.  We see this in the lives of people who are greedy for money, or can never get enough alcohol or drugs.  These things take over their lives and become the sole purpose that directs their lives to the detriment of all other people, even themselves.

In verse 7, he highlights that this is how they used to live (before Christ).  You used to be this way, but you can also be pulled back into those things.  A believer lives a life of focus on the purposes of heaven and not the purposes of their own flesh.  Believers are putting off these things of the flesh. 

This is what verse eight emphasizes.  Paul uses the language of taking off and putting on clothing.  We are to put off the “clothing” of the prior life, lived in the darkness of ignorance.  We can take off the sinful desires and actions of our heart, and we can then put on the righteousness of Christ.

This leads to another list.

Another list (v. 8-9)

The things of our past, flesh-focused life involve anger and wrath.  The word malice ahs the idea of having an over all demeanor of being bad to others.  We are to take off (or put off) slander.  The word is literally blasphemy, but was used of both God and other humans.  At its core, blasphemy is saying something that is not true about others.  It is a form of lying.  It can be done knowingly, on purpose, but it can also be done out of a lack of concern about the truth.  I can slander people who I don’t like because I feel like they are bad, but have never taken the time to find out the truth.  These things are wrong and called blasphemy.  He also tells them to put off abusive (or filthy) speech.  He ends the list with lying to one another.  Verse 9 refers to this activity as the “old self,” or “old man.”  These are the kinds of things that your old self used to do.  Cut them out of your life.  Take off those clothes and burn them in the fireplace!

Of course, we will have failures, but over time, if we keep focused, God will give us victory and we will become more and more fruitful for the Kingdom of God.  You can’t do this alone, or by your own strength.  The good news is that it is God who is working with you and in you to make this possible.

Put on the new self (new man) (v. 10-11)

In verse 9 and 10,  Paul pictures this taking off and putting on as something that happened in the past.  “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self…”  This is something that we have to embrace.  There is a point in our life where we hear the Spirit calling us to die to the old life and come alive to the new.  The positive response of our heart to the Spirit happened at a point of time, and it had a real transformative effect within us.

Yet, this putting to death of the flesh is not done in one day.  It will not be done by one decision or action.  I see this first part as a sort of burning the ships behind you.  Another image is that of “crossing the Rubicon.”  You reach a place where you are committed to putting these things to death.  This is what Paul is referencing here, your decision to follow Jesus, and not yourself or the world.

Yet, verse 10 tells us that the new self “is being renewed (renovated) to a true knowledge…”  This renewal is not in the past tense.  Rather, it is a present process that is happening in the life of the person who has chosen to follow Jesus.  The Holy Spirit daily works in our life to help us prune, put to death, those things that are of the old man.  He also works in our life to help us put on, cause to grow, the new self that looks like Jesus (the image of Christ).  Next week, we will look at a list of good things that Paul gives, but verse 10 gives us the principle that governs the list.  We are not only being renewed into the image of Jesus as he is right now in the heavens.  We are first being renewed into the image of Jesus as he lived out the purposes of God the Father on this earth.  We are learning to follow him in his humility, suffering, and commitment to pleasing the Father.  He is our pattern, our template, the image that we seek to live out in this life.

There is a cooperation between the Holy Spirit and us in this renovation.  The power is His, but we must take the steps of faith to see it flow through our lives.  This renovation is finally completed by the power of Christ at our resurrection.

Verse 11 ends with the point that this renewal is such that the distinctions of this world become irrelevant.  The distinctions that he lists could be expanded into others.  In Christ, believers are not focused on distinctions that have been important in the past: Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian or Scythian, slave or free, etc.  The purpose of God is to save all people no matter how far from him they have been, and no matter what class of people they are a part.

Why is this so?  It is so because Christ is everything and is in everything.  That last part is not meant in a New Age sort of way.  Paul is telling them that Christ is everything you need, regardless of how many poor categories you may find yourself.  He is your everything, and he will be in all the things that you face in  your life.  He is with the martyr at the end of his life.  He is with the evangelist when someone ridicules and spits in his face.  Christ is with you in all these battles that you fight against your old man.  When you feel like God has forsaken you, trust His word that says He hasn’t!  Know that even in this thing you are facing, the Lord Jesus is working out the purpose and will of God the Father.  You are a part of His Kingdom coming into this world!

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A Tribute to the God Who Set Us Free

Exodus 1-14.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, July 6, 2025.

The title that I have chosen is a bit vague. 

As Americans, this is the Fourth of July weekend in which we celebrate our freedom from Great Britain, which God gave to us.  At the foundation of this freedom, we must always recognize the grace and help of God in this.

As Christians, we rejoice that Jesus has set us free from sin.

It is easy to say that we “want to be free!”  However, freedom always brings with it responsibility and duty.  We see this in the story of the Exodus.  The people of Israel had been pressed into slavery in Egypt, and yet one day, God showed up and set them free, leading them out of Egypt.  He did this through great acts of power.

Though this is real history, it is recorded in the Bible for a greater reason.  This story is key to understanding God’s purpose for humanity, and the redemption that we have in Jesus.  So, if you are asking yourself what God is doing today, you only need to look to this story to see that He is setting us free.

Leading up to and during the time of the War of Independence, Exodus 1-14 was quoted and preached quite often.  It is ironic that a people could draw such hope from this passage and, yet, balk at giving that same hope to others.  I’m talking about the slavery issue.

The newly formed States were divided over this issue of slavery.  The northern States were strongly opposed to it while the southern States were strongly in favor of it.  Of course, the States that were in the middle had some that were for and some against. 

After, the war, they were in a pinch.  From a moral standpoint, those strongly opposed to slavery felt they should refuse to allow the slave States into the union they were forming.  George Mason of Virginia said at this time, “As much as I value a union of all the States, I would not admit the southern States into the union unless they agreed to discontinuance of this disgraceful trade [i.e., slavery].”

He was an important voice and was respected by many.  Yet, pragmatism won the day.  Others believed that the British would eventually return, and if the States were not strongly allied, they might not be so lucky.

Of course, luck had nothing to do with it.  No, it was God who gave them (gave us) independence, freedom.

Many do not realize that the Article 1 Section 9 Clause 1 was a compromise between both opinions.  It essentially said that Congress could not pass a law regarding the slavery issue (and immigration of any sort) until 1808.  This essentially set a clock of twenty years.  In 1807, Congress passed a law that made trafficking of slaves into the union illegal as of January 1, 1808.  This wouldn’t stop the slavery that was already here, but it would squelch further importation of slaves.

Black communities celebrated this date for years.  The first black Anglican pastor in America, named Absolom Jones, preached from Exodus chapter three, calling his people to recognize that day as a day of thanksgiving for God’s grace.   In fact, verse 8 details how God tells Moses that He has “come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.”  Pastor Jones then went on to declare that God had come down into Congress in their day in order to give them grace.

After the War between the States, the 13^th Amendment would make all slavery illegal in America.  At that point, the stopping of the importing of slaves into America became yesterday’s news.  Now, something even greater had been given to the people of America, both blacks and whites.

This idea of God coming down and setting people free is baked into us as a people; it is part of our cultural DNA.  Freedom is a big deal.  However, when you have never been physically in bondage, it is hard to understand the true benefits of your freedom.  You take much for granted and neglect to see the many ways you are bowing to slavery of different kinds.

The colonists testified that they had been reduced to bondage by their own people, King George and the British Parliament.  They had been enslaved under a system that was making money for the crown and the great trading companies of the day.  Yet, that is a lesser bondage than that of those who were actual slaves.

Even though troops and battles were involved, the victory was given by God for His purpose of teaching us the truth about freedom.  The challenge is this.  It is easy to be for “my freedom” in a particular way, but lose sight (be blind to) the need for freedom that others have.

Whether we are wanting free from a corrupt political system, literal slavery, or an oppressive economic system, we must understand that, though God is also concerned about these things, He is concerned about so much more than we tend to see.  The slavery of sin in all of our hearts is at the root of all the others kinds of slavery.

Today, we give this tribute to the God who sets us free!  He is the One who is fighting for complete freedom, not just the myopic freedom upon which we tend to fixate.

Humanity was made to glorify God through a fruitfulness that images Him (Exodus 1:7)

The people of Israel are described in this verse as being fruitful, increasing greatly, multiplying, becoming exceedingly mighty, and filling the land.  This terminology is descriptive of their experience.  However, it is using words that come directly from Genesis 1:28.  God tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.  This can be seen as a command or mandate. Yet, at a deeper level, it represents God’s desire and purpose for humanity.  We were created to express the glory of God by a life of fruitfulness on the earth.

We see this same desire and purpose reiterated to Noah following the flood in Genesis 9:1.  Though He had poured out great judgment upon humanity, His desire and purpose were not changed.  In fact, the judgment can be seen as a way of protecting that purpose from the great evil and corruption that had spread throughout all people.

This same theme is spoken to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  They are the chosen line through whom God’s promises to help humanity would be fulfilled.  Israel’s fruitfulness is a sign that God is faithfully keeping His promise to them, and to humanity.

This is a strong theme of Genesis and the Bible as a whole. Of course, this is not meant to be only a material and natural fruitfulness, i.e., population growth, crops, wealth, etc.  This is a fruitfulness that is a product of a spiritual relationship with God.  We are first spiritually fruitful in our hearts, families and communities, and this spreads out into these material and natural things.  We are intended to be a source of life in all of its connotations.

Here is a question we can ask ourselves.  Am I like a weed or thorn bush to others, or am I like a fruitful tree?  Am I imaging the destroying influence of the devil, or am I imaging the life-giving activity of God?

From the very beginning, the devil has attempted to stamp our this purpose within humanity.  However, God continues to help us against him.  The source of his despising of humanity is not completely explained, but it is real nonetheless.

This story of Israel’s fruitfulness is then connected to a Pharaoh who, much like the devil, despises and fears this.

This is a threat to tyrants (Exodus 1:8-14)

Israel had been only a blessing to Egypt.  Yet, the fruitfulness and freedom of those who are called by God is generally taken as a threat by the devil and those who are cooperating with or trapped within his systems.  Thus, powerful people who have sold out to immorality have actually given their services to the devil, whether they know it or not. 

We see Pharaoh in these passages pressing the free Israelites into slavery.  In that bondage, he uses them like cattle to labor for his great glory, and the glory of Egypt.  This is a signature of tyrants.  They harness the labor of the people for their own glory, whether that is Egypt, Babylon, Rome, London, or Washington D.C.  There is a long history and a well crafted art of subjugating a free people.   Some ways involve brute force.  However, there are far more insidious ways that essentially seduce a people into shackling themselves.  Once they realize that they are in slavery, it will be too late to back out of the trap.

This is what the colonists of the 18^th century came to understand.  George III and the British Parliament took advantage of their great distance from their brothers in Britain and supplanted their English freedoms.  All of this was done for plunder and great gain for the crown and elite of Britain.  The colonists were not pressed into abject, literal slavery.  However, they were in slavery to a system that was using them for its own gain at the expense of their freedoms.

The Great Awakening of the American Colonies was a time of spiritual renewal in the 1730s to the 1740s.  This movement stirred up a recognition of God’s purpose in governments and how this was being abused.  The preaching that began in this period and continued up to the War of Independence was not about rebellion and war.  It was about the purpose of God for His people and for human governments.  It was a recognition that even kings are accountable to God and the people they are supposed to serve.

Whenever a people are under bondage, it can feel hopeless and futile.  In fact, a subjugated people will often self-monitor themselves out of fear of being found out.  They can rat out their brother and collaborate with the tyranny in order to protect themselves.

Yet, there is one more aspect to this story that we need to remember.  Why was Israel in Egypt in the first place?  Why did they leave Canaan, the land promised to them?  We could say that it was all about a famine that required them to go to Egypt for food.  However, that famine was long gone.  If we go back further, we know that Egypt had food only because Joseph their brother was there and was used of God to save it.  Why was Joseph there?  At the root of this story, we find the sin of the patriarchs of Israel.

God is concerned about our slavery, but He is more concerned about our sins that keep pulling us into bondage.  God is in the business of helping us to face our sins, not because He delights in rubbing our noses into it, but because it is a place where our flesh is most able to hear His rebukes and turn to Him for help.

Let’s read further.

God hears the cry of those in bondage and responds (Exodus 2:23-25; 3:7-8; 3:19-20)

In chapter 2, we find that God is responding to the cries of Israel under their bondage.  We can feel forgotten during times of bondage.  However, God has not forgotten us.  Notice the verbs that God uses in that first passage: God heard, remembered, saw, took notice.  Throughout these passages, He also says, “I am aware…I have come down to deliver them…I will stretch out My Hand…with all my miracles.”  They may have felt forsaken, but God had not forsaken them.  He had a perfect time of deliverance planned all along.

We can say that God began to help them when Moses came out of the wilderness, but it is clear that God was already moving on Israel’s behalf at his birth.  We often think that God is not doing anything because we don’t see anything that looks like God in our life.  However, the things that God does are often unrecognized until after the fact, and that is if we trust Him enough to cooperate with His salvation.

What we have here is a template of God’s heart and plan for us, for humanity.  This world is full of slavery systems that have been harnessed by the devil to subjugate us.  However, in Christ, we have a calling that he cannot destroy, and we serve a God that he cannot resist.

God showed up and mightily saved Israel from Egypt, but the next forty years revealed that Egypt wasn’t their true problem.  They were having trouble trusting God, and it continued to lead them into discipline and even judgment.  Thus, the redemption from Egypt became a picture of what God would need to do for His people when Messiah came.  The prophetic books are full of allusions back to Exodus while pointing forward to the Messiah who was coming.  In the first century, Israel was not just in bondage to Rome.  They were also in bondage to their own religious leaders as a people and their own sins as individuals.  Jesus went to war against their greater enemy (sin within us) and called his followers to extend an offer of grace to the Romans, et. al.

The colonists of the 18^th century found themselves under a similar tyranny.  Yet, they weren’t as good at seeing the tyranny that they were doing.  Don’t get me wrong.  Many abolitionists spoke out against the evils of slavery during this period, but their voices were not the ones that won the day, expediency did.

I believe that the War between the States was God’s judgment against the North and the South for not giving to the African slaves what God desired for them.  God won’t force us to do His will, but He will hold us accountable to ignoring it and pushing it off to a later date.  Yet, He is also faithful to open up doors of repentance even in the midst of our bondage.  He may let us circle for forty years in the desert, but He will always bring us back around to the greatest act of faith, repenting of our willfulness and trusting Him.  It is these hard years of bondage that soften our hearts to hear the message of repentance.

I want to end by looking at two New Testament verses.

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”  Galatians 5:1 (NASB).   This first verse is particularly talking about the freedom Christians have in regard to the symbolic aspects of the Law.  It can be called a religious freedom, but it is deeper than that.  It really is a spiritual freedom given to us by God through Jesus.

“[T]he creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”  Romans 8:21 (NASB).This verse is talking about a freedom that is cosmic, universal.  It is not just spiritual, but a freedom for all of the creation that has come under the effects of the curse of Genesis 3.  Though God placed the creation under a curse, it was always His purpose to bring it to a day of removing the Curse.  All of human history between Genesis 3 and Revelation 19 has been us circling in the wilderness.  Yet, God was being faithful to teach us all along so that we can be ready, like Joshua and Caleb, to enter into the Promise that He has secured for us through Jesus the Messiah.

We must unravel the layers of bondage and face our own sin

We can imagine a spectrum that goes from spiritual bondage on the left to physical bondage on the right.  Our tendency is to point to the things on the right and complain that God is not doing anything about them.  However, it is the bondage on the left of this spectrum that God is most concerned about because it is at the heart of why we end up on the right side of the spectrum.  The moral, social, economic, political, and global problems of our world are not because of a particular system, nor is it because of a certain race of people.  It is always about the heart of people who are trapped by their sins and unwillingness to surrender to God.  Thus, we become tools of the true enemy (the devil and his cohorts) instead of becoming fruitful imagers of God.

God could destroy the Romans, (insert most feared nation here), but would it “fix” everything for Israel or for us?  Israel had the same problems as the Romans who had the same problems as the Americans and any other nation.  We need God’s help, and He has given it in Jesus.

Christians cannot be satisfied just to work for spiritual freedom in their life and the lives of others.  We must advocate against and proclaim the truth about the systems of bondage that we have created in our world.  However, we cannot fix systems while ignoring the greater problem beneath.  Thus, in the name of humanity, we will crush individuals.  Is this righteous?

This is a signature of those who hate freedom.  They use the guise of helping a particular group as a moral cloak while binding everyone (the group included) under a system that entraps them through their own sins.

Jesus has shown us the strategy.  First, become a person who is free from sin by dying to yourself and living for him.  Then, work to bring that freedom to others.  As we do that, God works and supplies help for us to demolish systems of bondage in our own heart, family, town, State, Republic, even world.  It is ours to trust Him and be faithful to the moments when He comes down to deliver.

Yes, in facing our own sin, we can feel discouraged because we will never be perfect enough.  However, God’s plan has taken this into account.  Through death and resurrection, God will perfect us into beings who are not sinful by nature.  Even now, we can live as spiritually fruitful trees in this world.  We can image the life-giving source of God Himself to our world.

So, what did fruitfulness and multiplying look like for Jesus?  “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it produces much grain.”  John 12:24.  Dying to what I can do in the flesh will help me to come alive to what the Spirit of God wants to do through me.  We serve a God who sets people free!  When we whine to God about fixing the government or the world, He responds by saying, “Let’s talk about you first.”  Don’t be threatened by this.  God loves you and wants to use you to help the world around you!

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