Emancipation

My great-grandfather was legally issued a "Deed of Emancipation" from the Pulaski County Circuit Court. He had not been enslaved, but was under the watch-care of his parents. He had demonstrated that even though he was a minor he was mature beyond his years and could transact his business without the assistance and protection of his parents. He was emancipated by his father and did quite well in life. However, he was still under the watch of the legal system which granted the deed.

The Emancipation Proclamation is alleged to have freed the slaves. However, since it applied to only another independent nation and exempted slaves on U.S. Territory and under military watch, it actually didn't free one slave. It's intent was not to free anyone, but to influence England to remain neutral in the War and not to recognize the Confederacy because of the slavery issue. It didn't do what it said it did, but it had a great influence on the outcome of the war. No one was truly "freed".

The question here "In either case was anyone really emancipated?" Does a document freedom make?  Emancipation is not a a privilege to be documented, but a condition of the soul!

"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" (Martin King)

What freedom did King seek? Freedom from hate, to dream, brotherhood, end of oppression, that the glory of the Lord be revealed and that everyone shall have hope. That's a good dream, but the Civil Rights Act of 1964 didn't fulfill that dream! Those are good dreams, but King forgot one thing: Love can't be legislated. It's a condition of the heart. Government can never emancipate. Only God can!

1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Before salvation we're all slaves. We do not what we wish to do, but do what our corrupt bodies tell us to do. Our minds are deceived all the time and we listen to the deceiver because what he promises is pleasurable. What's your pleasure?

It goes more deeply than drugs although drugs are one of the foremost pleasures today. One I know at fifteen years of age lost his desire for everything, but marijuana. With his friend, Mary Jane, he didn't have a real need for a girlfriend. Most fifteen year-old boys are brain-dead with lust, but with marijuana, that emotion was stifled. He was a slave to marijuana.

For others the Master is other things. Possessions may be the master. "Getting ones way" masters people. Bad attitudes arise because some believe that "I deserve" (you fill in the blank). Some are slaves to self. They have the Self on a pedestal and bow before their God. What do you want me to do Master Self? Of course the Master says "satisfy me!" Those who worship Self teach their children the same and then wonder why their children are selfish! Parents are models for their children and with each generation the worship of the Self is propagated. That same marijuana user also worships the Self because they too are living for pleasure!

Others worship Self in a different manner. The nature of sin is two-fold. Pleasure is one, but reason is the other. However, there's a tight bond between pleasure and reason. One can't exist without the other! Satan uses reason so that the person can question why pleasure is forbidden. Sinners rationalize their sin by minimizing it. On the other hand those whose focus is on reason get pleasure in their false knowledge. You can tell who does by the flowery vocabulary and ability to deduce their own truths. Those who are wise in their own yes are the ultimate pleasure seekers and worshipers of Self.

No back to "we were bought with a price". What price was that?

Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Here's where you have to hide your eyes from the Slave Master for a minute or two. It's time to empathize and use your God-given sense of guilt! Jesus shed his blood that you might have eternal life. Your sins were paid for by the blood of God. His blood emancipated you from slavery! No longer are you slaves to pleasure and reason, but you're a "new person" and that person is free! "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, YOU are free at last!" That emancipation from your former Master means that you're to worship a new Master: "...therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (from 1 Cor 6:20). It's not a document, but a state of the heart!

"Wait a minute!" you say. "I thought I was free."  With salvation you are emancipated from sin, but yet still have the freedom to sin. God doesn't force anyone to obey. It's still a choice. That's true emancipation.God doesn't use the law against you. He uses it for you. The only commandment that a freed person has is to "love". (That's a righteous love and isn't meant to imply otherwise.) You become a servant again, but a willing servant if you're truly saved. God doesn't force you to love him, but that's his Spirit aiding you. Christians are no longer bound by the Law for just as they were slaves to sin, they were also servants to the Law. Rather than loving God for his grace they feared him because if they miscued even once they were in danger. Grace freed sinners from the bondage of the Law. Christians not only become emancipated from Satan, but emancipated from themselves. They no longer have to work hard to be righteous because the blood (grace) did it all!

Once emancipated there is freedom:

Galatians 5:1 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

Blood made us free. Salvation is a gift of God and is freedom bought. As free men we no longer have to sin. With our new nature we mature as Christians and what we did before becomes anathema. Pleasure we once lived for, we now disdain. Yes, we still have thorns in our side. Satan still deceives. However, with repentance, God's mercy is still there! We are at liberty to sin, but because we love God, our desire should be to please him. Freedom is achieved with one condition: We are to glorify God with our body. That means we're to walk with God in faith. Without faith there is no emancipation.

Contrast true emancipation bought with a price to the false emancipation of my antecedent, to the Emancipation Proclamation and to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. All three civil attempts at freedom were attempts to dictate love through laws. God emancipated us, not through the Law, but from the Law! That's why Martin King had only "A Dream". That dream can only come true when people turn their lives over to Jesus. They are to serve a new Master. "Oops!" you say, "I believe in God, but sin still has dominion over me."

Luke 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

Who do you love? Make sure its God you love. That requires introspection! Stop right now. Are you trying to serve both God and Mammon (man)? If so you haven't truly been emancipated. Your just like those "freed" under the Emancipation Proclamation. On paper you're free, but are you really?