Category Archives: Freedom

“You’re Gonna Have to Serve Somebody”–Bob Dylan

Posted by Dan C. on

imageI confess that I have been a Bob Dylan fan throughout his career. He was considered by some to be a prophet of his times, considered by many to be the most acclaimed and influential songwriter of the past half century, receiving a Pulitzer Prize in Literature in 2016, having been cited for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power”, as early as 2008 by Variety Magazine. The album “Slow Train Coming” produced in 1979, was the first of a trilogy of gospel albums Dylan wrote and performed after his conversion to Christianity, which is quite a story in itself. The opening track on that album was Gotta Serve Somebody and actually won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male in 1980.

Gotta Serve Somebody, for this old timer, is still Dylan’s most memorable song. I first heard it during a period of my life when this prodigal son had returned to his Christian roots. The song contains multiple verses written in the second person describing in an almost light hearted manner the sort of person you might be, with each verse followed by a hard-hitting haunting chorus. Here is the first verse and the chorus:

Verse 1

“You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble; you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You might be a socialite with a long string of pearls

Chorus

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

As Dylan’s first release during his “gospel” period, “Gotta Serve Somebody” was met with divisive reviews; John Lennon famously criticized the song and wrote a parody titled “Serve Yourself” in response. The popular magazine, Record World said that “Dylan’s fervent vocals, laced with a gospel female chorus, and subdued keyboard/guitar lines make this an important statement.” The song has been covered by over 50 additional artists.

What I found most intriguing about “Gotta Serve Somebody” is the fact that Bob Dylan was might have been absolutely correct in declaring that everyone serves either “the Devil or the Lord”, at least according the Apostle Paul. Please hear me out, especially if you are having problems with Dylan’s declaration. It can be a tough pill to swallow, even for professing Christians.

In his letter to Christians in Rome, as recorded in Romans, chapter 6, Paul spoke of believers being dead to sin and alive to God (vv. 1-14), and then gave thanks to God that those who had once been slaves to sin under the law were now slaves to righteousness and heartfelt obedience leading to sanctification because of God’s grace, having been saved by faith in Christ. (vv. 15-19).

“15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”

The Bible Knowledge Commentary has this to say about verses 17 & 18:

“This discussion reminded the Apostle Paul of what the grace of God had already accomplished in his readers’ lives and he burst forth in praise. Before they responded to the gospel they had been slaves to sin, but they wholeheartedly (lit., “out from hearts,” thus inwardly and genuinely, not merely externally) obeyed (cf. “obedience” in 1Pet 1:2) the form of teaching to which they were entrusted. Hearing the teaching of God’s Word, they committed themselves to those truths. That commitment was evidenced by their response to the gospel and their being baptized. The result was that they have been set free from sin and have become slaves (past tense in Gr.) to righteousness (cf. Rom 6:22).”

So What?

Assume for a moment that Dylan was right in declaring that we all serve somebody, either the Devil or the Lord?:

What are we, as Christians with the mission of sharing the gospel with a lost world, to do with the knowledge that those who are living apart from saving grace through Christ? We can apply that truth in at least two ways.

First, we should gaze inwardly and remember that every one of us who has embraced the Savior of the world once served sin and the Devil. Call it ‘remembering our natural roots’. In doing so, we won’t lose sight of the enormity of Christs sacrifice on our behalf. It had nothing to do with ‘our best lives now’! Sadly, you won’t hear a sermon about our true condition apart from Christ from many of today’s pulpits or entertainment venues masquerading as churches.

Secondly, the true condition of the lost that are all around us as servants of sin needs to inform our efforts at personal evangelism. While we should see our unsaved loved ones, friends, co-workers and neighbors in the same way Jesus saw the crowds that surrounded Him, both Jews and gentiles compassionately and as “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt 9:36/Mark 6:34). Just as Jesus taught the crowds that surrounded him and followed him, we need to lovingly and truthfully share with others the problem of sin and the solution to its ‘slavery’ through repentance and belief in the message of the gospel.

His Word in Pictures: Romans 6:18

Jesus came to earth so we could have a relationship with him?

Posted by Dan C. on

That was the reason given in a book that was really popular (and still might be) when it was published a couple of years ago. I came across it because a small group of folks where I work who have a mid-week Bible study over lunch decided to read it and talk about it.

This post is not a critique of the book so it will go unnamed. This post is about the primary reason given for Christ’s coming – ‘so we could have a relationship with him’. It’s a wildly popular notion and if you presented it to the vast majority of today’s evangelical Christians you would get a hearty “Amen!’

But IS it the reason Christ came to earth? What does the Bible have to say about it?

First of all we can ask Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father. When he was probably undergoing some angst over marrying a woman already pregnant with a child not his, an angel appeared to him and told him that Mary’s pregnancy was a ‘God thing’ and that the child was to be named ‘Jesus’ because “he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21). No ‘relationship’ talk there.

Then we have the account of the first sermon preached when the church was birthed at Pentecost and an emboldened Peter preaching to a large crowd of Jews gathered in Jerusalem, telling them that the very Jesus they (the Jews) delivered up to be crucified was their long awaited Messiah, their savior! In face, we are told that although they had him crucified, it was God’s preordained plan that it would happen. (See Acts 2) No ‘relationship’ talk there either.

In fact, after more than a few readings through the Bible, I have yet to find any specific ‘relationship’ text given as a reason for Jesus’ coming to earth in the first place. While you can certainly assert that our relationship with God, and His Son, was a matter at stake in Christ’s coming (we are adopted into God’s family), the Bible tells us that everyone ever born has an ongoing relationship with Jesus from the moment of birth!

From the lips of Jesus:

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:18, emphasis mine)

Tough words. ‘All those who are in a state of unbelief in Jesus would have to include everyone who has not yet come to a point of belief. They are condemned already.’

From the lips of the Apostle Paul to believers in Ephesus:

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience–among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Eph 2:1-3 emphasis mine)

More tough words!

Dear friends, we all have a relationship with Jesus. He is either our savior or our judge, right here, right now! If Jesus’ coming was about relationships, it was to change ours from condemnation to eternal life, from bound by the chains of sin to freedom in Christ!

What a tremendous thought for the 4th of July!

The author of the book would have been closer to the reason for Christ’s coming if he had stated it was about condemnation v. eternal life, or bondage v. freedom, but in my opinion he would have still missed the mark a bit.

Jesus came to pay the ‘death penalty’ required by a just God, His own Father, for our sin – for our freedom. Jesus drank the cup of His own Father’s holy wrath against our sin (Luke 22:42).

So yes, Jesus’ coming had a lot to do with our relationship with Him, but it wasn’t the primary reason he came to us. He came to bear the penalty for our sin, the guiltless One on behalf of the guilty, by the express predetermined will of His own Father!

And because Christ paid our penalty, if we believe in the name of the Son (John 3:18) we now have eternal life instead of condemnation, and instead of slavery and bondage to sin, freedom from its penalty and power while we yet life and one day from it’s very presence!

What a reason for celebration!

_________________

Food for thought on this 4th of July.