Continuing from Jerry Sittser, the Will of God as a Way of Life” / Two Kinds of Freedom:
(Previously) The will of God has to do with what we already know, not what we must figure out. It is contained in Jesus’ command that we seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness. The will of God, then, consists of one clear mandate—that we make God the absolute center of our lives. Ironically, it is exactly in making this choice that we find true freedom. It is the freedom of obedience. That is the will of God for all of us. ~Jerry Sittser, ‘The will of God as a Way of Life’ (Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530, 2004) 57-59, now continuing
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament teach this truth—that freedom comes with obedience. The children of Israel were slaves in Egypt for four hundred years. Then God sent Moses to set them free. He confronted pharaoh, who refused to release the Hebrew slaves. But ten plagues forced him to yield to God and to grant them their freedom. Thus, the Hebrews departed from Egypt and traveled into the desert. There, in the desert, they found negative freedom—freedom from oppression. They were free to live on their own. But they had not yet discovered positive freedom—the freedom of living for God.
This positive kind of freedom they learned at Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. These commandments were not intended to oppress the people of Israel again, as if they had been delivered from a human despot only to be subjugated to a divine despot. The Ten Commandments promised them true freedom, the freedom that comes from functioning according from God’s design and fulfilling a divine purpose in their lives.
What instructions are to a new computer, the Ten Commandments are to people. They show us how to run properly. They are divine instructions to the human machine, helping us to live well, productively, and happily. Sadly, the people of Israel spurned these commandments time and again. They preferred to live in anarchy, and they paid dearly for their foolishness.5
The apostle Paul was dogged in his ministry by the same problem Moses dealt with. He had supporters who embraced his theology of grace because they felt it gave them license to do as they pleased. They took advantage of grace, using it as justification for willful disobedience. They even boasted about their sin because it demonstrated just how free they really were. They accepted no restraints, no demands, no limitations, like orphans left to shift for themselves. ~Jerry Sittser, ‘The will of God as a Way of Life’ (Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530, 2004) 59-60. (Link to continue on this theme. . . . * To Jesus Christ Alone)
