“Pierce My Ear”
On the last two Sunday mornings I’ve been talking to you about our freedom in Christ.
This week, on our television screens, most of us would have witnessed a striking picture of what freedom looks like. I’m talking about the liberation of Kabul in Afghanistan. For the past five years that city has been under the control of the ruling Taliban. Five years of the most oppressive sanctions imaginable: women forced to wear those suffocating veils, they were not allowed to be educated or to hold any professional positions. The men were forced to grow beards – they could be beaten if they shaved. No music was allowed in the city; no person was permitted to own a photograph of any living creature; children could not even fly kites; and on and on went the list of regulations.
The Taliban would claim that this was all very much accepted – even desired – by the Afghan people. That they were free and this was what they wanted. And it’s true that the people were never heard to voice of objections. Nobody dared!
But the true feelings of the people where finally released on Tuesday when the Taliban fled Kabul, and Northern Alliance armies secured the city. Within hours people danced in the streets to music blaring out from loudspeakers and radios. Men queued up to have their face shaven. A little boy ran in front of the TV cameras with a kite fluttering behind him – a grin from ear to ear. And we hope that those women will now quickly be given back their dignity, and their liberty.
Freedom is not any kind of freedom at all if there is no real choice. The people of Kabul were not free … until Tuesday.
The freedom we’ve been looking at in my last two messages – the freedom that God offers – is not some “bogus” kind of freedom. God doesn’t enslave people and then “call” them “free”. God’s freedom is real. Shockingly real! So real that His freedom can be rejected and it can be abused.
Why would God risk it? Have you ever thought about that? Why would He allow such freedom of choices – even ultimate choices – that human beings can (and frequently do) choose what grieves Him and destroys the perfection He has made. Why would He risk it?
This is a very important question why. Because it goes to the very heart of the eternal purposes of God. Magnificent God! The God Whose glory is too great that it should only be proclaimed by a captive audience. The devil would settle for forced praise – any note of worship he can get. But not God.
God is looking for a people who serve Him freely; who worship Him voluntarily; who love Him as a reflex of the heart. NOT because they cannot choose anything else, but because they decide FOR Him. No other voice can truly tell how great and worthy God is but a free voice.
Jesus said in John 4:23, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit AND TRUTH; for the Father is (actively) seeking such to worship Him.” Jesus says … here is the Divine quest of the ages. People who worship in TRUTH. Not by compulsion. From the heart – A FREE HEART.
This quest of God is as old as the Garden of Eden. He made a man and a woman for Himself and placed them in that garden, and entered into relationship with them. But as perfect as they were, their devotion could never be called “free” until a tree was placed in the garden - a tree that gave them the power of choice. God wasn’t trying to tempt them out of devotion (God never tempts anybody – the Bible says so.) He wanted to CONFIRM their devotion – to PROVE it. Here was a perfect opportunity for Adam and Eve to demonstrate that their worship was true, because their freedom was real.
God is seeking – always has been seeking – worshippers in spirit and TRUTH.
When Adam and Eve sinned, humankind LOST all choice. We became enslaved to sin. Eve thought that she was “picking” freedom – but she picked captivity. The will of man became bound to sin, and remained that way down through the generations … UNTIL … JESUS!
He set us free again. Free from the penalty of sin once and for all. And free from the ongoing power of sin over our lives – so we can choose to please and honour God.
“He whom the Son sets free is FREE INDEED!”
So, we’re free! Truly, wonderfully free. WHAT NOW?
Imagine a man who’s been locked up serving a life sentence for 25 years. He has dreamed of freedom and waited for it. Finally he is paroled. Imagine the morning he is released, and he stands just outside the gates of the prison for the first time in a quarter of a century – half his life. Bag in hand, wearing an old suit 25 years out of date. The guards leave his side and return within the prison doors. Here he stands – a free man.
What does he do now? How does he begin to live the first day of the rest of his life?
What are WE to do with this, our freedom? Provided at so great a cost.
The apostle Paul urges Christians to take this freedom God has secured for us – this very real freedom – and exercise it for the glory of God. Paul wrote in Romans 12:1, “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to OFFER your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”
Paul himself had done this. He was a free man – free at last from all the blind religion that had once bound him. Free from powerlessness to keep God’s law. Free from the guilt that had plagued him every day. And Paul had taken that freedom and laid it down on the altar of sacrifice; to serve God with it. He wrote to the Christians in Rome and the Christians in Philippi describing himself as “Paul, a doulos”. A bond slave. Still very much a free man – but a voluntary slave of love. A servant of God.
This is what we are to do with our freedom. We should become the prize of God’s quest! God has purchased freedom for every person, in the hope of finding a people who will CHOOSE to serve Him with that freedom.
There’s a wonderful picture of this tucked away in the Old Testament. I’d like you to turn with me to …
READ: Exodus 21:1-6
This little passage is in the middle of several chapters of regulations that God gave the people of Israel along with the 10 commandments. He gave Moses these regulations to govern the people so that they would be blessed in the land He promised to bring them into. Laws for a great society. Laws to keep them safe and prosperous.
And this particular little passage related to Hebrew slaves.
Now, as you start to read this, you might be tempted to think “SLAVERY! That’s wrong! Why didn’t God just make a law forbidding slavery completely? Why would He endorse such a thing?”
The reason why we’re shocked is that when we think of slavery, we tend to think of the cruel slave trade that stole people from Africa and took them into forced labour in the deep Southern States of America. OR we think of the Israelites in Egypt, being forced to make bricks and build Pharaoh’s pyramids. Those kinds of slavery are completely abhorrent.
But the slavery allowed under Jewish law was very different. In fact, it was actually a provision to save people. Let’s say my business failed – maybe I’m a farmer who lost all his crops. And I couldn’t pay my debts. I could be ruined for life! Worst still, since there was no social security, my family might starve because I couldn’t afford to feed them. But the provision of the law made it possible for me to sell myself into slavery in order to pay off my debts and have a new start. And the law guaranteed me that new start, because the terms of slavery were limited. I could serve for 6 years, but in the 7th year I had to be released.
That’s what this passage that we’ve just read is all about. It’s the regulations about the setting free of slaves in their 7th year of service.
Now here’s where that beautiful little picture comes in.
What if my six years of serving as a slave were up, so I was given my freedom, but I didn’t want to leave? What if life was good in my master’s house? He treated me well, he’d done a lot for me, he even allowed me to marry one of his maidservants.
The law allowed me to CHOOSE to remain a slave of my good master. I’m legally free – free to go. But I could CHOOSE to stay in the house.
If I made that choice, there was a little ceremony they would perform to make it official. My master would bring me before the judges of the people and together we would tell them of my decision. And my master would stand me up against the door-post of his house, and he would take an “awl” (somewhat like a nail), and he would drive it through the lobe of my ear and into the doorpost. That ceremony of piercing my ear would seal it. I would be a free man – but a committed slave of love for the rest of my life. What a beautiful picture.
Every time it was ever done in Israel – every time a slave made that choice in the 7th year – as he walked back into the house arm in arm with his master, I can just imagine God looking down from Heaven and saying, “THAT is my quest. Right there. That’s what I’m after. A people who will take the freedom I offer, but then use it to walk with Me, and serve Me.”
This Bible picture reminds me of an often-told story about President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, of course, was instrumental in the first steps toward abolishing slavery. And the story goes that one day he went down to a slave block to buy a slave girl. As she looked at the well-dressed white man bidding on her, she figured that he was just another one that was going to buy her and then abuse her. Well, Lincoln won the bid, but as he was walking away with his legal property, he said, “Young lady, you’re free.” She was silent for a moment, and then she asked, “What does that mean?”
“It means you are free.”
“Does that mean I can say what I want to say?”
“Yes.”
“Does it mean I can say what do want to do?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Does it mean I can go where I want to go?”
“Yes, you can go wherever you want to go.”
Then with tears streaming down her face she said, “Then I will go with you.”
What a picture. Pierce her ear to the door! She’s a slave captivated by love alone.
When a Hebrew slave was set free in his 7th year, but he decided to have his ear pierced to the master’s house and remain with his master, he was saying a number of things. Here is what he was saying …
1. I Have Made My Choice
This was HIS decision. It couldn’t be made FOR him. He could not be forced or cajoled into it. The master could bring him to the judges, but it had to be the servant’s own choice.
Verse 5 – “If the servant plainly says…”
This is the very essence of God’s quest. That YOU will choose for Him.
Your parents cannot choose for you. Your wife can’t choose for you. Your husband can’t do it. Nobody can. Nobody but you.
Oh, I could sometimes wish that my Dad could’ve made every decision for me. He’s a godly man. He’d have made good choices for me. I’d have avoided a lot of dumb mistakes – especially in those headstrong teenage years. If he was making all my choices, it would have saved me a lot of heartache. I know it.
But then, when I think about it, NO! I have to hold this freedom to choose for myself. No-one else should ever be allowed to take it from me – not parents, not my partner, no priest or leader. For this is the one thing given me by God that I can yield to Him and delight His heart. And fulfill the destiny for which He created me.
This is what I will do with the freedom He has entrusted to me. I have made MY choice for HIM!
The 2nd thing the freed Hebrew slave was saying as they pierced his ear to the door was …
2. I Have Declared My Love
Verse 5 – “If the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master’…”
Here is the motivation that God is looking for in His people choosing Him. Hearts that love Him.
Not “fire-insurance” Christianity – you know what I mean? “Well, I don’t want to go to hell, so I guess I’ll tow the line. I choose God.”
God has provided for our relationship with Him to be based on so much more than that. It’s like the difference between a passionate courtship, with 2 hearts just becoming entwined so that ALL the bride wants is to spend the rest of her life with her new husband … over against a shotgun wedding. She’s at the altar taking vows – but it’s just a marriage of convenience.
Remember God’s quest! He wants it just flowing up out of your heart: “I love my Master. Pierce my ear – I love Him. I don’t ever want to be apart from him. If this is slavery, then let me be chained to Him forever.”
This is the devotion God wants from us, and so He has done EVERYTHING to win it from us. He has poured out His love in a million ways. He has moved heaven and earth to demonstrate His love for us. He has loved us when noone else COULD love us.
1 John 4:19 says, “We love Him because He first loved us.” Loving Him is just the natural reflex of the heart that has been so loved. So well loved. We love Him BACK.
I have declared my love. “I love My Master.”
The 3rd thing that the Hebrew slave was saying was …
3. I Have Acknowledged My Debt
Because look at his words … Verse 5 – “I love my master, my wife and my children.”
The slave recognized that all the blessings he was enjoying had come from his master’s hand. They were the blessings of the household.
This verse mentions just two of the most outstanding blessings a slave might receive from his master during his years of service. Not to mention clothes, and food, and trust, and dignity. All from the master’s hand.
What has God done for you? Count your blessings. What has He given you? “Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.” What’s He done for you?
* Forgiven you * Saved you * Provided for you
* Blessed you with family, health, safety, joy.
What do you have today?
God says to YOU today, whoever you are, “I have provided for your freedom, and I have blessed you.” You may never have acknowledged God before today – but I want to tell you that He has paid for YOUR freedom too. You can choose life today because Jesus bought you that choice when He died on the Cross in your place. And He has blessed you – the Bible says that He causes His rain to fall and His sun to shine for ALL, even those who don’t acknowledge Him.
What will you do in response to the blessing of God in your life?
This servant was saying, “I have acknowledged my debt. I love my wife, my children, all the blessings of my master’s house. Pierce my ear to the door.”
Then, the 4th thing that Hebrew slave was saying was …
4. I Have Announced My Commitment
He made a very public declaration of his intention to be a voluntary slave for life.
Verse 6 – “then his master shall bring him to the judges…”
This was no private affair. They involved legal witnesses in a public ceremony announcing the decision in the wider community.
What very easily comes to mind here in OUR lives is the rite of water baptism. Our public announcement that we have decided to follow Jesus … no turning back.
I love very public baptisms. I love it when a new Christian comes to be baptized, and they invite their parents, and brothers and sisters, and friends. It’s powerful, isn’t it?! That’s the primary function of baptism – it is to ANNOUNCE something. My commitment to live for Jesus Christ.
Here is this Hebrew slave saying: “Listen up everybody. Here is my commitment. I have freedom today – I have the power of choice. And I choose this house. I choose this man whom I love. Let the judges be witness. Pierce my ear to the door.”
What do you think that would do for the Master? What would it do for their relationship? Well then, think of the heart of God when one of us announces our commitment.
You may have already been baptized – that only ever needs to happen once. But every day you are presented with new opportunities to announce your commitment to serve the Lord Jesus - in your workplace, in your home, among your friends. Jesus said, “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father Who is in Heaven.” (Matthew 10:32)
The 5th thing that Hebrew slave was saying was …
5. I Have Yielded My Obedience
What was that thing they would do to seal the deal?
Verse 6 – “He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl.”
The ear is the symbol of obedience, because it is “the listening part” – the part that receives instruction.
This symbolism was the yielding of obedience. It wasn’t a commitment just up until the servant tired of the arrangement, or until he found the master to be in a bad mood one day -–and then he’d say, “I’m jack of this. I’m off.”
No. This ceremony was a very strong commitment. It was a yielding of full obedience. “I am your servant – speak the word and I will obey.” Whatever might come along, he was committed to obedience.
As God’s servants, we don’t commit to be obedient up until the point that God requires something we think is a little too hard or a little unreasonable. We yield unconditional obedience.
Abraham yielded to God to serve Him, and God tested that obedience. He called him to take his son Isaac up a mountain and sacrifice him. Plunge a knife into his own child in devotion to God – you talk about unreasonable! But Abraham had not made any half-commitment. So he obeyed right to the point of raising the knife – before God stopped him. He’d passed the test.
Now God’s not going to ask you to kill one of your children. But I’ve had a number of obedience tests with God. And He hasn’t always stayed the knife. He’s asked me to lay things down for Him and let them go. To end the thing and walk away.
This Hebrew servant was saying, “I have yielded my obedience. Truly and fully.” Should we who are love servants of God offer anything less?
The 6th, and final, thing this Hebrew slave was saying was …
6. I Have Attached My Future
Look at those last words of verse 6 – “…and he shall serve him forever.”
When his master drove that awl through his ear it went into the doorpost. For a moment he was pinned (literally) to the master’s house. He was attached to it. Signalling the permanent bond between this freeman and the household.
His destiny was now tied up with his master’s destiny. The good of the house was the servant’s #1 concern. His life was invested there.
Now, he obviously didn’t stay there pinned to the doorpost. This was a symbolic ceremony. The master would remove the awl, and then maybe he would place a ring in his servant’s ear – a permanent reminder of the commitment he had just made. For better or worse his future was inextricably woven with the future of his master and his master’s house.
That’s what he was saying, “I have attached my future.”
There’s only one pursuit that is worthy of the Christian. Jesus said: “Seek first the Kingdom of God” (He could have said “the household of the Master”) “…and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)
CONCLUSION:
Folks, God has embarked on a great quest. It began before He laid the foundations of the world. He has secured freedom, which He freely gives, in the hope of finding a people who will CHOOSE to serve Him with that freedom.
What about YOU this morning? Have you …
Made your choice for Him.
Declared your love for the Master (He loved you first!)
Acknowledged your debt to Him for all His blessings.
Announced your commitment (publicly, unashamedly – recently)
Yielded your obedience (come what may.)
Attached your future. (Is your life centred in the Master’s house?)
Bob Dylan wrote a song, and the words simply said:
“You’re gonna have to serve somebody.
It may be the devil,
Or it may be the Lord,
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”
The devil seeks to chain you in slavery – slavery to sin, to addiction.
The Lord offers you freedom. Freedom to CHOOSE to walk with Him and serve Him.
The decision’s a “no-brainer” isn’t it? One day Jesus was watching a whole lot of people walk away and choose not to follow Him any longer. They exercised their God-given freedom and rejected Him. Jesus turned to His 12 closest companions and said, “What about you? Do you also want to go away?” But Peter answered for the group. He said: “Lord, to WHOM shall we go? (Only) YOU have the words of eternal life.”
Amen!
