I still remember vividly and fondly the sermon preached at my Ordination Service in 1999.  We sat in Green Lake, WI and listened as Rev. Willie Jemison, one of the first black pastors in the Covenant, told us what it was like to be a slave.  Having someone who felt that experience as part of their heritage rather than just a historical fact made it more poignant for our class.  And his point was this: slaves have no rights, no choice, and no options.  They obey their master, whomever that master may be.  And every time I read the word “slave” in scripture, I think of this moment.

Today, Paul calls us “slaves to sin”.  We have no rights to tell sin we won’t obey.  As slaves to sin, we do what our master – sin- tells us to do.  “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do,” Paul says in description of a life lived as a slave to sin.  And if ever there were a description of the culture around us, this is it.  We are a culture of slaves to sin.  We cannot avoid sin even if we want to – this is called addiction.  And it’s gotten so bad, we do not even want to avoid most sins anymore.  We lie, we gossip, we exclude, we live for our own pleasure and comfort and safety, and we seldom stop to realize that our very lifestyle is proof that we are slaves to sin.

But God bought us back from our slave lord Sin.  God bought us with the blood of His son Jesus Christ.  That payment, the life of His son paid on a cross, was enough to buy us back.  But not to buy us into another level of sin, and not enough to buy us our freedom.  Instead, He bought us as His slaves, and so we have a new master, Jesus Christ.  And once again Willie’s message comes home – as slaves to Christ, we have no rights to say no when He requires things of us.  We have no choice but to obey His command.  This is the Christian life.  This is true life, and abundant life (Jn. 10:10)

A plague hits the world, spreading across the globe until every person on earth is infected.  The gestation period is 4 months, at which time victims die a painful, horrible death.  Fear grips the world and people begin to turn on one another.  Until a report comes that one person has a cure.

What is the rest of this story?  What does this person with the cure do?

Maybe he sells it to the highest bidders.  Charge a ridiculous price and make millions, billions.  People will pay anything, so he sells it and becomes the richest person in history.  But the poor die in their poverty.

Or maybe he uses it for power.  “Obey me and I’ll give you the cure.”  Enslaving the whole world, he becomes the King of Earth.  But the disobedient die in their rebellion.

Or maybe he uses this as an opportunity to make the world a better place.  He sets up a utopia, ruled by his idea of what’s best for humankind, and only those who will agree to his Utopian vision get the cure.  The rest die in their disagreement.

But what if he simply gave it away to everyone freely?  No strings, no rankings, no payment… it was yours if you’d just come and take it.  Those living in constant fear and anxiety about their lives and the final 4 months they had to live would suddenly find themselves free, at peace with the world, and filled with a hope they thought they’d lost.  All he asks is that they go and tell everyone they know about this cure and where to find it.

Sadly, some think this is too good to be true and never come for the cure.  They die in their disbelief, not because they are poor, or rebellious, or disagree with the cure-giver, but simply because they cannot believe that salvation could possibly be free.