Jesus, the Christ, said, “Therefore, whom the Son sets free shall be free indeed.
After years of being involved in recovery ministry programs, seeing so many, as I have myself, struggle with sin over and over without real freedom from the sinful actions that control our lives, I believe God has shown me a better way.
Many years ago I was involved in a program in Lagrange County that was called, “The Most Excellent Way. Borrowing from Scripture in 1st Corinthians 12:31 that says, “And yet I show you a more excellent way,” I have seen the influence of an industrial approach that appears to leave men and women in the perpetual struggle with being a “recovering addict,” and still dealing with the sin that so easily entangles in an identity that doesn’t allow for the fact that one is a new creation in Christ and all is new and the old is passing away. It is a trap, I believe, of the enemy, that many fall into, well intentioned, but I believe errantly in a place of unbelief.
I was a minister of a Celebrate Recovery weekly meeting and had many things that troubled my spirit about the program. It too seen as if it left men and women in a constant recovering lifestyle rather than a victorious lifestyle, walking in the freedom purchased in Christ blood for us.
The more I look at it the more I see that what is described biblically is not just another program. Programs are a place that divides us along lines of those in substance abuse, those who have served time in prison, those who have been homeless or dealt with what is considered a higher level of sin versus those who have what is considered not so big transgressions, such as hate, arrogance, greed, lust, and the list goes on.
The reality is that the body of Christ, His church that He is building is supposed to be His ambassadors – His vessel in whom the Spirit who is God dwells. We are to be about being the family of God, using gifts given by God to build us up in the Spirit, and bringing others into the royal family that walks in the same inheritance as Jesus Christ. We are to be disciples of Christ, who make other disciples of Christ, who make other disciples of Christ. And there is no hierarchy of sins, but the reality that we are all born dead in sin and need a new heart and the work of our heavenly Father, the Spirit, to bear the fruit of Love in us and through us.
Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
2nd Corinthians 5:20 – “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”
Ephesians 4:11-12 – “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
Heb 12:1 – Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 – looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The answer is Love. God is Love. Jesus is God. Looking unto Jesus, who paid our debt of death and gave us a new life as a new creation, where the old us has passed away and all has become new is the answer. Love is the more excellent Way. He is the “Most Excellent Way.” Our heavenly Father, in His great love for us, sent Love in the flesh to redeem us from the sin we inherited from our fore-parent in the flesh, Adam. John writes, in 1st John 4:8, “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
The Bible has a lot to say about Love and how the Love of God changes lives, fully and completely in victorious freedom by faith that leads us to grace. Free Indeed! is an outreach of First Love with the very same message, that we cannot do this on our own. No amount of programs or Bible Verse memorization, or religious study or works of any kind will bring freedom. We have no power over sin at our core, in our flesh. But in the Spirit who indwells the believer, we have authority over our flesh and its lusts, as we humble ourselves in submission to the Sovereign Spirit who is God. Only in Christ, who is Love can you and I be Free Indeed!
We are praying as to what Free Indeed! based on Jesus’ emphatic statement looks like in and through us, in an evening each week dedicated to the purposes of unity in Him where we each, brothers and sisters – members of Christ from many fellowships come together in Love and allow Love to reign.
God loves all of His creation and He has made the Way for us in Jesus, who said that He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. The same Spirit lives in us and we have a spiritural relationship with Him, if we are born again by His Spirit. Pray with First Love Outreach as we look to God to show us when, where and how to be His chosen vessels to do exactly what His body is to do for His Spirit to bring true victory and freedom, though much mercy and grace showing the work of reconciliation and restoration to and for a lost and dying world.
For a more complete, Scriptural understanding, please visit this page to read more.