Liberty or Death

Acts 15:33 ESV

And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.

Freedom. It is a word that the American people have come to love and cherish. Sown deep into the fiber of our being, and yet it is one whose substance many have lost out of hand, as a child thoughtlessly grabs for the new shiny toy, letting go of the old to grab the new. Not knowing or bothering to think of what has been lost entranced by that which is now in his hand, maybe to never think of the old again. No longer able to go as the Lord would please, but confined to that which will pay the bills, that I might one day retire and be free to die or do as I please, whichever comes first.

It had been ten months, and the job was done. Having pressed and worried myself into hives, it was determined I was not learning fast enough and so what to do now? One saint at church was excited for the opportunity that was before us, that we could go anywhere God called us, but we couldn’t. A little thing like student loans restricted our liberty. Liberty is the word that we have lost sight of, “Give me LIBERTY or give me death” was the battle cry of our forefathers. Yet, the church has lost sight of the necessity of liberty to a healthy church, local and foreign.

In this passage we read of the closing moments of the Jerusalem Council. The council had made an official declaration of the view of the apostles and how it understood the gospel not to require works of the Law for the salvation of the Gentiles. It had to be communicated to those who had asked for it, and two men were chosen to go to Antioch to convey the message. They were simply men who were at Liberty to Go. That Liberty allowed Silas to later accompany Paul in the next phase of his missionary journey. As we read the text of the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles, we are constantly confronted with men and women able to drop everything and be of use to Christ and his bride. Not only the preachers but simple men like Silas and Judas that God would use and whose ministry would grow simply because they were at Liberty to fully serve their LORD. Silas and Judas are at liberty to stay in Antioch longer and teach and pray for “sometime” we are told.

Leviticus 19:13 ESV tells us that “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.” It is an oppression of one’s neighbor to not pay them at the end of the work day, but so as to make accounting easier and guarantee workers come back tomorrow the practice of paying a week after the work was done has become prevalent in our country. Nothing has changed in the two to three thousand years since this Law was handed down. It has always been a better policy for employers to wait and pay tomorrow so they could keep help, but that doesn’t mean it is loving said neighbor to take his liberty from him. When you are fired from a job you get your pay the day of, why? Because they don’t need you to come back tomorrow. It is a casual action by employers and it is casually allowed by employees without understanding what has been lost, the daily Liberty to decide what to do.

Some would argue that it is necessary for an economy to function, imagine a place where a business could only trust in the benevolence of its workers to come back the next day! It is true business practice would have to change, and some managers and owners could not retain people, and some homes would find that they don’t need to work today, because they have enough. Would not that be a better society than one that pays people not to work? What matters most is where you put your trust, isn’t it? Are savvy business practices with the best accounting what will make you wealthy and prosperous or God?

Deuteronomy 8:18 ESV

You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO