Where do you live?
I am back
into reading another book about Henry V111. This one by Tracey Borman, ‘Henrry
V111 And The Men Who Made Him.’
Although serfdom in England began to decline after the Peasants' Revolt in 1381
and largely died out by 1500. It wasn’t fully ended until Elizabeth I freed the
last remaining serfs in 1574.
In the
system of serfdom, serfs had limited rights and privileges within the feudal
system. They were not free to pursue other opportunities or move to other
lands. Moreover, they were subject to the whims of their lords, who had the
power to tax them, demand their labour, and even control their marriages.
In Romans chapter Paul explores what it means to be baptised and references the Exodus. The freedom from slavery, and the passing through the Red Sea and eventually on into the promised land.
(Another story for another time!)
What Paul is
seeking to emphasis is that we have exchanged landlords. We are no longer
slaves to sin. We are not serfs bound to
Satan and sin as our liege lord.
‘We were
therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as
Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may
live a new life.’ Romans 6.4
You may recall
an episode of ‘Only Fools and Horses’ where Rodney had married Casandra. He
came into the flat where he used to live with Del boy after work. He sat down
and made himself comfy, asking what was for supper. Del’s response was, ‘I
don’t know, you better ask your wife, you don’t live here anymore.’
We don’t
live in ‘Egypt’ anymore!
Surely this
is what we pray for and work towards. That being held captive to sin and as a
result finding themselves physically imprisoned, that prisoners can find freedom and change their landlord. I
have seen the results of this happening, and it is truly beautiful to see.
So, you have
moved in, got a new landlord, and a new life. But some cynics may say, they are
using the system to get an easier ride.
And Paul’s
answer, ‘Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of
wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought
from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of
righteousness’. Romans 6.13
When we
lived in Saltash, Cornwall I remember being invited over the border to preach
on a Sunday morning at HMS Raleigh Shore Training Facility. One of the Officers
told me that one of the first things they did with new recruits was to get them
out of the civvies and into uniform. This gave them an immediate sense of
belonging. They were now, quite literally, going to march to a different drum.
We don’t
have anything like a uniform that declares we have put ourselves under the
authority and the just and gentle rule of God.
However, our
behaviour is our distinctive clothing, our speech is our badge and our actions
our code of conduct.
That’s how
you can tell if a prisoner has truly exchanged landlords.
That’s how
people can tell if we have truly passed over through the baptism of death and
been raised to new life, as Jesus said,
“By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35
Of course we
will mess things up and get things wrong this side of glory, because we are
still living in the world as it is, not yet fully redeemed and restored and
conjoined with heaven.
This is the
now and not yet – the beginning of the end but not yet the end.
But let us
remember, always remember, and forever remember…
“…sin
shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under
grace.” Rom 6.14
Alan Redpath
in his book ‘The Making of a man of God’ wrote ‘The conversion of the soul is
the miracle of the moment; the manufacture of a saint is the task of a
lifetime.’
The Message
has a great way of putting this in Hebrews 10.24.
So let’s
do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s
keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word.
Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not
avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially
as we see the big Day approaching.
Let us
ensure that we have moved from Adam humanity to Messiah humanity, through the
waters of baptism, now accounted dead to sin but alive to Christ, and clothed
with the robes of righteousness freely provided by God so we can witness to the
best way, the only right way, of living and navigating our way through God’s
world on its journey to a full and final redemption.
And let us
be those who share this ‘Good News’ and help people move house!
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