Some more serious lessons from the institution of Slavery: Labor Day exercises

The golden lariat, the exercise of true authority: Humane bands and cords of love!

“Who, being in reality God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, but emptied himself, becoming in reality a slave”. Philippians 2: 6-7. “For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” Matthew 8:8-10 Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over me if it were not given to you from above” John 19: 11

The topic of slavery elicits a visceral revulsion in many of us. Others merely decry it intellectually as a contradiction of modern thought about human rights etc. The Old Testament acknowledges its existence, even regulating it and making allowances for the freeing of slaves. Like every other human institution, the history of slavery has proven that we human beings have not been our brother’s keeper, even when we owned him. Instead we have exploited, humiliated and brutalized our brother and his blood calls out to God from the ground where it has often been spilt callously. God has noted it all, every single incident, even when it seemed that he was nowhere to be found.

Slavery, even in the modern Christian era, was full of abuse and oppression on one hand, and eye-service and perfidy on the other. The two fed off each other, master and slave locked in a dance of death, both sinking lower and lower in depravity, either as victim or oppressor. So, the apostle Paul instructs the believers “do not become slaves of men” 1 Corinthians 7:23, and if you are a slave “Do not let that trouble you. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity” 7:21

Theoretically it was better to be a slave among your own people. It was better to be like the proverbial Hebrew slave, treated kindly by his master, about to be freed in the year of jubilee, but loving his master his wife and his kids, he would not go free. Evidently such masters did not split up families or take sexual liberties with the wife or children of his slaves. Better to be even like Eliezer of Damascus, slave of a righteous man like Abraham; he would have inherited all if Abraham never had a son! Better to be a Hebrew slave indeed! But even the foreign slaves in ancient Israel were treated better (by law and custom) e.g. “And Sheshan had no sons, but daughters; and Sheshan had an Egyptian slave, whose name was Jarha; and Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his slave as wife, and she bore him Attai.” 1 Chronicles 2:33-35

But Aliens, Lord, Aliens…do not let me fall into the hands of, or be sold to, the aliens! They will tell you that the reason you are being enslaved is because you are sub-human (but this sub-humanity did not prevent the sexual exploitation of slave girls and women), suppressing your history and even distorting and twisting the word of God to support their diabolical lies. They invent new branches of “science” such as evolution and eugenics, which permeate the western culture and into the rest of the world, corrupting just about everyone on both sides of the divide for centuries up till today! They will make you think that your color, ethnicity, continent of origin or lack of mental aptitude (which they suppress by denying you education), makes you fit only for servitude. They get into your head and you internalize the sense of inferiority and you find yourself loving and imitating their “superiority”, loving them more than your own! They are surprised and hurt if you don’t love them more than your own! They enslaved minds as well as bodies...mental slavery! The scripture declares in Ephesians 5:29 “For no one has ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it”. But the mental enslavement of black people included teaching them to hate their own bodies; our complexion, our hair texture, our features. The conditioning was cruelly effective…the effect persists today!

Undoubtedly there might have been nobility on the part of some slaves and some owners but by and large the system was corrupt and corrupting. It bred depravity, callousness as well as immorality, evidenced by the ever-increasing number of light skinned blacks. There were many rebellions and attempted rebellions all over the western world leading to the slaves being treated more harshly through fear. There were defections from the plantations into the forest, the Maroons in Jamaica, the Djuka in Surinam and smaller groups in central and South America. However, defections and rebellions could not bring down the system. World economics finally changed, and slavery was not necessary in order to make money. In this new climate, the abolitionists, both Christian and secular, became effective in bringing slavery down in the western world, but it persisted much longer in Africa and the Islamic world in general.

And yet there is something far worse, much deadlier than slavery to men. It is spiritual vagrancy; living “free” like the hobo in the song “king of the road” but morally and spiritually merely a bum and a derelict, a stray and a waif, without God and without hope in this world! Most human beings, whether slaves to men or not, are like Cain, away from the presence of the Lord, living in the land of Nod (vagrancy) east of Eden! Even the patriarch Jacob was, apart from God, a wandering Syrian ready to perish! Even more serious is that those who believe that they are subject to neither man or God only feel that way because their actual master has abandoned them. They are no longer useful to him, so he abandoned them, like the young Egyptian in 2 Samuel 30:10: “They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David… David asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?” He said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago."

All the “kings of the road” are nothing but slaves abandoned by their master Satan, the God of this world. He enslaves men by their desires, be it for wealth, power, sensual pleasure or the euphoria from substance abuse…give a little of what they want… nourish their appetite…create dependence and soon he has them! And he keeps them enslaved by fear of death (even those who boast that they don’t fear it, are very afraid of it). The devil holds the power of death—and he keeps mankind in slavery throughout their lifetime, by their fear of death, Hebrews 2:14.

“I drew them with bands of a man, with cords of love; and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I gently caused them to eat” Hosea 3:4

Then comes the golden lariat, the gracious bonds of love! The apostle Paul describes it this way: “Christ Jesus apprehended me”…laid hold of me (Phil 3: 11)! Charging furiously on his mad career down the Damascus turnpike, Paul was stopped in his tracks, arrested by Christ and drawn with cords of love into the blessed custody of the master. Like Paul, countless other spiritual vagrants from all walks of life, throughout history, have been laid hold of. We experience it subjectively as the exercise of faith in his name and work but objectively it is he that is laying hold of us, rescuing us from the cruel taskmaster and from spiritual destitution.

When someone becomes a slave of Jesus Christ in fact and in practice, that person is able to exercise true moral and spiritual authority. He can exercise the authority delegated to him as being Christ’s slave. In this world he may be free or in bondage, black, white or other, rich or poor, living under any system of government, but if he is under authority to Christ, he is able to exercise the authority of Christ. The centurion in Matthew 8 understood that Caesar’s authority devolved to the one under Caesar’s authority, just as God's authority devolved to the Lord Jesus as a man serving God on earth, “For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it... just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Christ’s authority devolves to the Christian who is subject to Christ! This is the secret of the exercise of true authority from God. Often this exercise of delegated authority is not accompanied by wealth, education or other natural advantage. It is never accompanied by the desire for personal aggrandizement. Often the one exercising this authority meets with the same response as the master did when he was here, i.e. contradiction and opposition. Such individuals, under subjection to the Lord Jesus, will teach as ones who have authority, and not as mere seminarians, Matthew 7:29. Just as the Lord was, his delegates will be often challenged “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” Matthew 21:22

Like Samuel of old, God will be with these individuals who submit to the authority and will let none of their words fall to the ground: “And all Israel, from Dan even to Beer-Sheba, knew that Samuel was established a prophet of the Lord”, 1 Samuel 3:19! Like Joshua, such a man or woman might have the experience of saying something and God makes it happen! Joshua 10:14. The person, subject to the Lord, will like Jacob the elderly foreign shepherd, be able to stand before Pharaoh the ruler of Egypt, the superpower of his day, and bless him... “without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater” Hebrews 7:7 (anybody can cuss Obama or Bush or Putin and so demonstrate their own moral inferiority, those who are greater will bless, not curse). Just as Joseph exercised the authority delegated to him by pharaoh; just like the Lord Jesus could say all authority in heaven and earth had been given to him by the father, the person subject to Christ will exercise true moral and spiritual authority!

“For the word of God is living and operative, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” Hebrews 4:12

Makiliwe Colin Younge

September 2, 2013 at 3:07am