Bob Dylan wrote a song in 1979 entitled, "You Gotta Serve Somebody." I don't know if Dylan was inspired by the words of Jesus or by our text, but his song certainly reflects the truth of our passage. Paul says that either you are a slave of sin or you are a slave of God (Rom. 6:22). Unbelievers tragically think that they are free when they cast off God and follow their own lusts, but they are "slaves of corruption" (2 Pet. 2:19). God has freed us from sin (Rom. 6:18), but not to live as we please. Rather, He frees us from sin to make us "slaves of righteousness." You gotta serve somebody! Spurgeon observed, "Free will I have often heard of, but I have never seen it. I have met with will, and plenty of it, but it has either been led captive by sin or held in blessed bonds of grace." So the only choice is, "Should I serve sin or should I serve God?" You gotta serve somebody! Paul is telling us: Either you are a slave of sin, resulting in death, or you are a slave of obedience, resulting in righteousness. There is no such thing as absolute freedom for anyone. No human is free to do everything he or she may want to do. There is one being in the universe who is totally free, and that is God. Humans are not autonomous. We must either be slaves to sin or slaves of Jesus Christ. But here is the wonderful thing: To be a slave of Jesus Christ is true freedom!
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David Bodanza is the pastor of Mission of Grace Church in Westborough, Massachusetts. He is also a practicing lawyer. He holds an M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a J.D. from New England School of Law. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, four...
