You Are Not Your Own

SYNOPSIS: You are not your own. Like the Israelites who were bought with the Passover blood out of their Egyptian slavery, you have been bought out of slavery to sin with an inconceivably and incomparably high price—the precious blood of Jesus: “You were bought at a price.” (1 Cor 7:23) You were bought; someone died for your freedom from sin. God caused his Son’s execution to secure your redemption. How do you think that makes God feel when you cheapen the price of your redemption by becoming enslaved sin again? Hard to hear? I know! A bit harsh? Of course! Yet how great the jealous love of God for you that he would execute the penalty of death for your spiritual infidelity—upon his Son!

The Journey // Focus: Deuteronomy 13:4-5

You must never worship any God but Jehovah; obey only his commands and cling to him. The prophet who tries to lead you astray must be executed, for he has attempted to foment rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. By executing him you will clear out the evil from among you.

If you have been reading through the first five books of the Bible, what is known as the Pentateuch, or the Books of Moses, by now you are accustomed to how severely God deals with spiritual rebellion. You may not like it, you may not understand it, you may have difficulty squaring this “mean” side of God with your twentieth century concept of a loving, merciful deity. You may prefer the New Testament “Father” to the Old Testament “Judge.”

So what do you do with a chapter like this in which God demands death to those who lead his people into spiritual apostasy? And not just any old death, the one who is guilty is to be summarily executed. They are to be stoned—one of the most brutal forms of death imaginable: “Stone him to death because he has tried to draw you away from the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 13:10) Furthermore, the one who is responsible to report the breach of religious fidelity—and make no mistake, this chapter makes it clear that no one can turn a blind eye to this kind of rebellion—is to literally throw the first rock: “Do not spare that person from the penalty; don’t conceal his horrible suggestion. Execute him! Your own hand shall be the first upon him to put him to death, then the hands of all the people.” (Deuteronomy 13:8-9)

Sidebar: Interestingly, in the New Testament, Jesus had something to say about casting the first stone, didn’t he! Only those who were without sin were qualified to take such action—which obviously meant that no one would ever qualifiy to throw out the first pitch. So was Jesus correcting his Father’s overreaction to spiritual infidelity? Not at all. Rebellion against a holy and just God demanded his full wrath—death: “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) The problem was, every human being was guilty and therefore deserving of execution: “For all have sinned and fallen short of God’s righteous standards.” (Romans 3:23) If God executed justice as he should, no one would live. That is the whole point of the gospel: Jesus paid the death penalty for us by dying on the cross in our place: “For he himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’” (1 Peter 2:24) Truly, this is the Good News: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23)

Thank God for the grace—God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense—that delivers me from the wages I deserve to get. But that still leaves us with this chapter and what seems like an inflexible, draconian, brutal side of God. For sure, God’s ruling is a drastic response to sin. But think about what this means: God redeemed the Israelites out of slavery and made them his very own people: “the Lord your God…brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 13:10) God redeemed them, that is, he bought them at a high price, which, among other things, meant thousands of Egyptian firstborn sons died in place of the Israelites. (Read Exodus 11-13) God purchased them with blood, so the Israelites were not their own—they belonged to God. He had every right to jealously guard their fidelity to him. Setting aside our inability to comprehend the inconceivably high demand of spiritual infidelity, what we can comprehend is that God is fiercely protective of the loyalty of our hearts toward him.

Here’s the deal: Not only the Israelites, but neither are you your own. You, too, have been bought out of slavery with an inconceivably and incomparably high price—the precious blood of Jesus Christ: “You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies…. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings.” (1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23) You were bought; someone died for your freedom from sin. God caused his Son’s execution for your freedom. How do you think that makes him feel when you cheapen the price of your redemption by flirting with sin?

Dramatic, yes. Hard to hear, I know. Inflexible, of course. Yet how great the jealous love of God for you that he would still execute the penalty of death for your spiritual infidelity…upon his Son!

You are not your own—and that is scary good!!