In this Bible and Business episode, Bill English continues his series on Becoming Free From the Bondage of Sin. This series coveres Chapter 2 in Bill’s book “A Christian Theology of Business Ownership”. Many Christian business owners and leaders struggle with persistent, private sin. This series will give those living in bondage to sin a Biblical, practical way out of their sin. You can download the slides for this series from the download section at www.bibleandbusiness.com. This episode focuses on how a reverence and awe of God – often translated as “Fear of the Lord” or “Fear of God” – helps us live holy lives and thus break away from our bondage to sin.
[00:00:06.540] – Bill English
And welcome back. I’m Bill English, the publisher here at Bible and Business. We are in an eight part series on becoming free from the bondage of sin. This is really chapter two in my book, a Christian Theology of Business Ownership. An introduction for what Christian entrepreneurs on what the Bible has to say about owning a business.
[00:00:29.210] – Bill English
Today we’re in the fourth part of this eight part series, understanding the Fear of the Lord. But before we get into the fear of the Lord, what I’d like to do is just make sure that you know that you can go over to Bible and Business.com. You can download the slides for this video series in a PDF format, read some articles, take some surveys, listen to some podcasts, and hopefully be encouraged in your role as a Christian business owner. My side is really for business owners who are serious about integrating their faith with their role as an owner. By the way, you might want to stop and register for one of my online CEO groups.
[00:01:10.710] – Bill English
I run them live every six weeks on a Saturday morning, 09:00, a.m. Central standard Time. But you do need to register in order to attend. So let’s go ahead and get started. The Bible often talks about the fear of the Lord.
[00:01:25.960] – Bill English
What we will learn today in this episode is that there is a real connection between a fear of the Lord and overcoming the bondage of sin. Let’s read Jeremiah, chapter 32, verses 37 through 41. Jeremiah writes this I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wet wrath. I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people and I will be their God.
[00:01:58.060] – Bill English
I will give them singleness of heart and action so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children. After them, I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I will never stop doing good to them and I will inspire them to fear me so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul. You know, as part of the new covenant, not only will God write his law into our hearts and minds, but he will also place a healthy reverence and a fear and in awe of Him in our hearts, knowing God’s character.
[00:02:45.190] – Bill English
This is what it is to have a healthy fear of Him. And it is good for us to have this fear. Now, the Hebrew word here means to fear, to have reverence, perhaps also a state of great anxiety or alarm or perhaps an act or speech showing profound reverence toward a superior. This is the same word used in Genesis 310 when Adam said, I heard the sound of you walking in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and hidden myself. Same word is also used in Exodus 1511, who is like you, majestic and holiness, awesome and glorious deeds, doing wonders.
[00:03:27.670] – Bill English
Now, obviously the idea of awesomeness and reverence is different than the idea of fear. And this is where we have to understand that it’s not really the same word. It’s really a homonym, right? We have these in the English language, words that are spelled the same, but they’re really different words and they have different meanings, like the word for horn, H-O-R-N. You can have a horn or you can have a horn on the ram, something like that.
[00:04:00.640] – Bill English
The same word spelled the same way, but has very different meanings. Those are called hominins. This is one of those here. Okay? So who is like you, majestic and holiness, awesome and glorious deeds, doing wonders.
[00:04:14.580] – Bill English
On that day, the Lord exhausted Joshua in the sight of Israel. This is in Joshua 414, and they stood in awe of Him, just as they stood in awe of Moses. Okay? So there’s the word, and that’s how it’s used in the Old Testament. So how does a healthy fear or healthy reverence for God help us become free from the bondage of sin?
[00:04:40.410] – Bill English
In other words, to start really living holy lives? Well, let’s take a look at that. There are really reasons that God sets us free from the bondage of sin, and these next slides are going to talk about that. First of all, he sets us free to praise Him. Isaiah 43, verses 20 and 21.
[00:05:00.040] – Bill English
For I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I form for Myself, that they might declare My praise. There we see that God sets us free from the bondage of sin in order to praise Him, but he also sets us free to be holy. Let’s look at Deuteronomy, chapter 28, verses nine and ten. The Lord will establish you as a people wholly to Himself as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord.
[00:05:40.950] – Bill English
Let’s look at Leviticus, chapter eleven, verse 45. For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land, up to Egypt to be your God, you shall be holy therefore, for I am holy. But not only does he set us free to praise Him, not only does he set us free to be holy, he also sets us free to receive his blessings. Let’s look at Exodus, chapter three, verse eight. I have come down, God speaking here, I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land.
[00:06:19.080] – Bill English
So out of Egypt into canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amortites, the parasites and the hiveites and the Jebusites. Again, he sets us free from the bondage of sin so that we can receive his blessing. And in our next episode, what we’re going to see is that when we sin and we live with persistent sin in our lives, then we bring curses on ourselves. And then in the episode after that, we’re going to see that when we live righteous lives, we incur, or we bring upon ourselves God’s blessings on us. So freedom from the bondage of sin means that we are free to be faithful to Him within our covenantal relationship.
[00:07:05.060] – Bill English
We’re free to draw close to God and to learn about his heart. We’re free to love God because our affections are no longer divided between God and the pleasures of this world.
[00:07:19.390] – Bill English
And you know what? Anyone can be set free. Anyone. Let’s look at Luke chapter four, verses 18 and 19. Christ is talking here.
[00:07:27.790] – Bill English
The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has set me free. Or he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the printer prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. John, chapter eight, verses 31 through 36. To the Jews who have believed Him, Jesus said, if you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
[00:08:03.540] – Bill English
And they answered him, We’re Abraham’s descendants, and I’ve never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we’ll be set free? And Jesus replied, very truly, I say to you everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now, a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a song belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
[00:08:30.570] – Bill English
Again, Christ saying, if we sin, we’re slave to sin, but we can live righteously before God. That’s why he sets us free to live righteously before Him. And then Galatians five one, just one sentence it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Kind of redundant, maybe a little bit of circular reasoning there. But it’s also true.
[00:08:53.440] – Bill English
Christ has set us free so that we can be free. And free from what? Free from the bondage of sin.
[00:09:03.640] – Bill English
Colossians one, verses 21 through 22. Let’s look at this. Once you were alienated from God and renews in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight without blemish and free from accusation. So when God sets us free from the bondage of sin, he also sets us free from the accusatory lies of the enemy, and he sets us free from being accused of any sin.
[00:09:35.800] – Bill English
Why? Because Christ becomes sin for us. Christ takes on the penalty and the consequences for us. And so when Christ declares us righteous because we have accepted Christ as our Savior, then you know what? We’re without blemish and we’re free from accusation.
[00:09:52.840] – Bill English
And I just want to say this. There was no qualifiers in any of those verses, right? It wasn’t like only certain people can be set free. No, any person, any Christian can find real freedom from the bondage of sin through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Now, don’t misinterpret this, please.
[00:10:14.500] – Bill English
Any person who becomes a Christian confined real freedom from the bondage of sin through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s go over this biblical illustration of becoming free. I’m going to camp for a little bit here in Ephesians 428. Ephesians 428 says this anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with their own hands so that they may have something to share with those in need. There, what we see is an entire process from going from bondage to freedom.
[00:10:52.010] – Bill English
So it starts out, anyone who has been stealing, our friend is in bondage. The stealing has started at some point in the past, it’s continuing into the present. He is stealing repeatedly. He can’t stop. Maybe he doesn’t want to.
[00:11:06.250] – Bill English
He might enjoy the thrill, the hunt, the kill. He might enjoy the danger of being caught. But he is in bondage and he’s at negative 50. But the verse goes on, anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer. So now our friend stopped stealing, right?
[00:11:24.400] – Bill English
But he’s still not free. Not stealing is also not freedom. Just because you’re not doing something doesn’t mean you’re free from it. So he’s probably tormented with urges to steal. He has not yet been transformed from the inside out.
[00:11:42.610] – Bill English
So I’m going to put him in negative 20. He’s making progress, but he’s still not free. But now the verse goes on and says, but he must work. So starting to earn a wage through honest work a little bit different than earning a wage through dishonest work, is it not? He’s not fully free yet, but maybe his urges to steal our lessening and he may even be taking some pride in his work, we don’t know.
[00:12:08.290] – Bill English
But I’m going to put our friend at zero because he’s starting to work in place of stealing. The verse goes on to say, doing something useful with his own hands, the same hands that once stole from others are now contributing to others through honest work. But he’s now fully free. Not quite yet. We’re getting closer.
[00:12:29.890] – Bill English
I’m going to put him in a positive 20 because he has replaced sinful behavior with righteous behavior. But now, finally, the verse ends that they may have something to share with those in need. Our friend has finally found full freedom because he’s now generous instead of selfish. He is giving instead of stealing. He is doing the opposite of what he was doing before.
[00:12:55.110] – Bill English
He is now free. He has been transformed from the inside out. We will know that we have found freedom when our urges to do the opposite righteous act are so much stronger than any urge to sin that we routinely engage in the righteous act. So for example, if you’re in bondage to alcohol, you will know you have found freedom when you can be around alcohol and you’re not really tempted to drink any of it. If you’re in bondage to lust.
[00:13:27.640] – Bill English
If you’re a man and you’re in bondage to lust in pornography, you’ll know that you have found freedom when you can be in the presence of a genuinely beautiful woman and you don’t feel anything, you don’t have any urge, sexually or otherwise to do anything with her because you have found freedom. We’ll know that we have found freedom when our urges to do the opposite righteous act are so much stronger than the urge to sin that we routinely engage in the righteous act. Now, here are some examples. I’m just going to run through these very quickly. I give you these examples and others in my book.
[00:14:06.210] – Bill English
In chapter two, a Christian Theology of Business Ownership. But instead of having anger and murder and wrath or physical and verbal sexual abuse were merciful or peacemakers, instead of making an idol to worship, we celebrate the presence of God. Instead of distorting justice for vulnerable people, we maintain justice for vulnerable people. If we tend to mislead vulnerable people, then we’ll have regard for the weak. This is especially true if you’re a business owner and you’re kind of manipulative in your marketing and you’re not really telling the customer everything that they need to know in order to make an informed decision about whether to buy your product or service, then you’re really misleading a vulnerable person.
[00:14:53.260] – Bill English
A Godly righteous Christian business owner will have regard for that person and will fully inform them before they make a purchasing decision. Trusting in yourself is the sinful behavior. Trusting in God is the righteous behavior. Not giving God the full tithe is the sinful behavior. But being generous with your wealth and bringing the entire tithe into the house of God, that is the righteous behavior.
[00:15:21.790] – Bill English
So look under the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. We can live radically different lives because we are supernaturally transformed into radically different people. And as we are transformed, we increasingly become salt and light in this lost and broken world. So what are the lessons that we have learned so far in this series that our personal dysfunction will become imprinted onto our business. But we’ll tend to see this as a business problem to solve rather than a personal problem that we need to address in our hearts.
[00:15:57.490] – Bill English
We’re also in bondage to sin when sin owns you. Yet God can give us freedom from the bondage of sin if we allow him to transform us. Now, next week, we’re going to look at curses and ownership in the Bible. This will be part five of this eight part series, and I hope you’ll join me for that. The week after that, we’re going to look at blessings and ownership in the Bible.
[00:16:25.020] – Bill English
That’ll be part six. So part of becoming free from the bondage of sin is more than just having a healthy fear of the Lord. It is also understanding how curses and blessings impact us as we live our daily lives and try to grow in our sanctification and our holiness. Look, I want to thank you for joining me here today again. I’m Bill English, publisher of Bible in business.
[00:16:47.800] – Bill English
I hope you go out and make it a great day. Take care.