Remaining liberated

“You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men”—so read the Bible text from 1 Corinthians 7: 23 which formed the basis of a divine service by Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider on 21 February 2016 in Luanda, Angola. Nearly 13,800 attendees saw and heard the divine service.

The Redeemer is at work

“God is at work in order to help you,” said the Chief Apostle. “This work began when the Son of God gave His life for us.” In addition, He has sent the Holy Spirit, has commissioned the Apostles, and—over the centuries—has assured the spread of the gospel. “We have been dearly bought.”

Now the call to action: “See to it that you do not become slaves of men.” In other words, let us not become slaves to this world. “A slave is not free. He is bound. He no longer has a will of his own. He must work very, very hard, and yet is never paid. He does all his work for free.”

Liberated and bound again

“In the history of the Bible there are many examples of people who had been chosen or redeemed, and then fell backward because they made the wrong decision,” explained Chief Apostle Schneider:

• “Esau sold his blessing for a pottage of lentils. As a result he, by definition, became the servant of his brother. — This is the great danger for us, namely that we might become bound in our earthly needs and that our earthly wellbeing might become more important to us than the salvation of our souls.”
• “Samson became very weak and thus a slave to the Philistines. It was more important for him to please his wife than to please God. — We too make an effort to fulfil our place in society. But our relationship with people must never become more important to us than our relationship with God.”
• It was out of pure fear of Goliath’s strength that the people of Israel nearly fell into servitude to the Philistines. Only David was sure of himself: “with God I will be able to conquer Goliath.” — “At times we think we are so weak, and that the spirit from below is so strong. Even if our enemy seems so big and powerful, let us be like David and be aware: with Christ we can gain the victory!”

Completely filled with the Holy Spirit

“One last example, and this one was given by the Lord Jesus Himself,” said the Church leader in reference to Matthew 12: 43-45: there it speaks of an unclean spirit that had left a man. And because the place the spirit had left was empty, the spirit came back with seven other spirits, all more wicked than himself.

“Through our baptism and our Holy Sealing, we have been made clean. The evil one has thus been driven out, and has no more claim upon us. We now belong to Jesus Christ.” But if our hearts are not completely filled with the Holy Spirit, “then these evil spirits will come back,” said the Chief Apostle, before going on to list two examples:

• The spirit that misleads us to only make use of our faith to improve our conditions of life: “Dear God, please make it so that things go well for me in life. Dear God, I am your child, after all! Please make it so that I can become rich. — Everything only revolves around the earthly.”
• The spirit that prompts us to push our way into the foreground: “Then you only sing along in the choir in order to stand in the spotlight. And perhaps there is a brother who does everything in order to get into a higher ministry.”

“One wants to become rich, and the other wants to be important in the Church. These people will never receive what they are after. At some point along the line, they will be disappointed.”

“Let us be servants and handmaids of Christ,” said the Chief Apostle. He went on to summarize: “Let us not pursue our own way. Let us follow Jesus Christ. Since we have been so dearly bought, let us be true disciples and servants of Jesus Christ. The reward will be indescribably great.”