Ultimate Freedom

I read a verse in the Bible this week that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since. (I love it when that happens!) It’s an obscure little verse tucked away in the epic 119th Psalm and despite having read that Psalm dozens of times I’d never paid much attention to this verse before. But this time it grabbed hold of me! Here’s the verse:

“Redeem me from man’s oppression,

that I may keep your precepts.”

– PSALM 119:134 –

So why has it resonated with me?

Because I believe that this tiny little verse contains the answer to a question that Red Community has to be able to answer: what should a Christian response to modern slavery and exploitation look like? Or put more simply – why does Red Community exist?

The answer, I believe, is that we exist to prayerfully pursue ultimate freedom. Let me explain what I mean by that…

This verse alludes to freedom in 2 ways – what we are freed FROM and what we are freed TO.

1. What we are freed from

   “Redeem me from man’s oppression” cries the Psalmist. We don’t know what kind of oppression was being faced by the author of these words, we just know that, like countless millions around the world right now, they were experiencing oppression at the hands of wicked people. As I read this line I imagine a woman tricked and trafficked into a life of cruel sexual exploitation from which there seems no escape. I can almost see the face of a child breaking his back in one of India’s brick mills having never known what freedom feels like. I consider the man forced to work for hours on end on remote farmland, receiving no pay and with nothing but scraps to eat and. a rickety shed to sleep in. In each case I can imagine desperate prayers rising from fearful hearts in stolen moments.

   And while slavery and exploitation like this exist there should be people who are willing to put their hands up and be an answer to those prayers. Christians should be at the front of the queue to go. Red Community exists because slavery shouldn't! Red Community exists because the Bible is crystal clear that God’s people should be radically and passionately engaged in the fight for freedom on behalf of the trafficked, exploited and enslaved wherever they are and whatever the cost.

   Similarly, we should also champion and celebrate anyone and everyone who fights for freedom at this level, regardless of their faith (or lack of faith) or their background and beliefs. As Christians we believe that all people are image-bearers of God and should live in freedom. And we also believe that all people who pursue justice and freedom for others are, in some way, being true to the image of the God who made them.

   So Red Community are playing a part, but certainly not the only part, in pursuing freedom for the oppressed in our little corner of the world. However, while we rightly celebrate freedom from man’s oppression, I want to suggest that this is not ultimate freedom.
   

2. What we are freed to

   The Psalmist’s cry for redemption went further than merely craving freedom on a physical level. It had a spiritual dynamic to it “Redeem me from man’s oppression that I may keep your precepts.” Did you see that? The full prayer was for freedom from a life marred by man’s oppression to a life marked by obedience to God.

   Freedom is about escaping oppression. Ultimate freedom is about finding a better master to serve, and this is why Red Community ultimately exists. Yes, we exist to set the captives free from any and every kind of oppression they might face here on earth, though there are many others who also do that (many of them do it better than us and we sincerely thank God for them!) But only Christians have the good news of the gospel. Christ alone can set us free from sin’s tyranny and He is the only means by which we can discover the good, kind and gracious master that our hearts truly need. And it’s only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can live a life of obedience to God’s Word.

   Now let me be clear here – seeking justice for the oppressed only on the condition that those we are serving accept the gospel is not what I’m advocating here. We pursue freedom because it’s the right thing to do. Full stop. Jesus healed 10 lepers knowing that 9 would take the grace He offered without ever coming back to thank or follow Him. We need to operate with the same kind of unconditional love. But our deepest prayer and our highest hopes must ultimately be that those we are fighting for would find their ultimate freedom in Christ.

   This is why Red Community exists!