Although the last couple of articles looked at this same passage, if you’ve been following along, I hope that you will indulge me in one more observation about the same one from 1 Kings 21. Here, I think that the comment here (see also 1 Kings 21:20) that Ahab “sold himself” [NIV] or “gave himself over” [NASB] to do evil is important.
(There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel.)
1 Kings 21:25-26 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/1ki.21.25-26.NIV
God redeemed His people, and they belonged to Him. He had chosen them, but He also delivered them from slavery. At the time when they were slaves in Egypt, they were oppressed and couldn’t do whatever they wanted, but God liberated them and gave them a land to live in. He made a covenant with them, and when they fulfilled their part of that covenant, He took care of them. They owed every good thing in their lives to God.
As a result, when Ahab and Israel chose to worship other gods, they were actually selling out. They were giving what belonged to the true God – worship, loyalty, faithfulness, an exclusive commitment, a covenant – to idols.
And, what did Ahab (with others in Israel) sell out to? Powerless, false gods that couldn’t save him. His worthless idols couldn’t bring good crops, protect him from invasion, bring down fire upon request, or save his life.
Today, let’s make sure that we understand our relationship with God: He owns us. Obviously, He created us in the first place, so we owe our very existence to Him. More than that, though, since He saw that we would sin, He also bought us back with the blood of Jesus Christ, redeeming, rescuing, and ransoming us from the eternal destiny that we deserved. Then, when we accepted that redemption, He adopted us into His family.
We have the blessing of being children of God, but the reality is that this loving, close relationship is a gift of God’s amazing grace. Like the Hebrew people were slaves to the Egyptians, we were slaves to sin. We were unable to free ourselves and oppressed by a master that was working to destroy us. God paid the price to free us, but not to let us go back to our old master. We were purchased for God, and – although His commands are given in His great love – we are expected to serve Him as our master. That’s part of what it means when we say that Jesus is the Lord or that Jesus is our Lord (see Romans 10:6-13 and Philippians 2:9-11, for instance).
Now, I understand that slavery in Europe and America in recent centuries was ugly and nasty and we are glad to be rid of it (even as we still work for fair treatment of everyone). As a result, terminology relating to “slavery” (even different forms of it from different eras) can collide with more recent experiences. If that’s your situation, maybe this way of putting it makes more sense: God bought us back from a terrible slave master (i.e., sin), and so He now has the right to tell us what to do. He is the very opposite of an evil slave master from 19-century America in that God loves us and wants the best for us (rather than treating us as less than human), but let’s never forget that we belong to Him (in a good way). That might be tough for some Christians to accept (especially if they haven’t yet learned how loving God is, and how much they can trust Him); however, the alternatives are to serve sin or to serve ourselves, and those are wasted, failed propositions.
So, are you serving Someone who loves you and who cares for you – who bought you back from an eternal density away from all that is good? Or, are you serving something else (or just being self-serving)? In the words of Bob Dylan, “you gotta serve somebody”, and who you choose to serve will make all the difference.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for May 25, 2025
References:
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – 1 & 2 Kings, by Jesse C. Long, Jr. © 2002 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 