Romans 6:15-19 “So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind?  16 Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do.  17 But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master,
18 one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!  19 I’m using this freedom language because it’s easy to picture. You can readily recall, can’t you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing — not caring about others, not caring about God — the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God’s freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness? (MSG)

“The Old Tyranny” Tyranny is defined as an oppressive government with harsh and unjust acts. Tyrannical rulers are defined as power hungry and intoxicated with selfish ambition for selfish gain. The attribute of pride disrupts and disconnects the individual from the purpose that he/she was meant to serve in every aspect of life. Additionally, the eclipsing element of pride then overshadows worship, which can be pride of nation, culture, and more specifically, racial superiority. Whenever God is replaced with another as supreme ruler, chaos is soon to erupt. As the Word of God clearly states, “wars erupt from within one’s members, and wars among nations have a similar origin.” If America is involved in a civil war between political factions, and divisions are generated along racial lines, no borders can contain the divide. It is not a matter of immigration alone that creates tension, but other underlying unaddressed factors cause the challenges of immigration to be magnified. America was established on the premise of freedom of worship, and that freedom to worship is built on truth. The Bible even requires that “They that worship Him (God) must worship in spirit and truth.”
Despite this, there are some efforts towards freedom that are also destructive. If the old master is still in charge, regardless of how eloquent the speech may be, all efforts on their part only lead to enslavement. The slave is a slave who knows that he is a slave, but the master of slaves is more of a slave than his servants. Yet his pride of life makes him feel superior to the precious souls under his subjection. As Opal Lee, the mother of the Juneteenth Movement stated, “None of us are free until all of us are free.”
The knowledge of true freedom must be reintroduced to many within Christendom. Malachi makes it clear that many have left their first love. It may require some to retrace their steps and do their first works again. When this is accomplished, there is room for God’s freedom to produce healing and expand His holiness throughout the world.