|
 Introduction: Happy Fourth of July weekend. Is anyone going to the fireworks? Are you going to take an umbrella? Tomorrow is the day we celebrate our independence as a nation. Years ago I was on a ministry trip to England . I was staying in a pastor's home in Luton and woke up early to find only his small son awake. I sat and watched cartoons with him and we watched Dennis the Menace. Denis was reenacting Paul Revere's ride – “The British are coming! The British are coming!” It was weird. I wondered what they taught him about that in school. I do know they referred to the war as the Rebellion of the Colonies
Tomorrow is more than a day to celebrate independence. In fact, most people don't think about England at all on July fourth. In a more general sense Independence Day is a day to celebrate freedom as a principal.
 What is freedom? Some say it is the ability to live without restraint, or the absence of any restrictions – the right “to do whatever I want”. For some philosophers and religious mystics freedom refers to an inner condition – free from emotions and desire. To others freedom is a word solely with political connotations. To be free is to be able to vote, to live free of state interference, and to make choices without fear of legal consequence.
I appreciate so much the freedom we enjoy as Americans. I have been to a communist country many times. I know people who would die for the things we take for granted. But the Biblical words for freedom seldom match any of our contemporary definitions.
In the Old Testament the word freedom refers primarily to release from restrictions imposed by an oppressive force – usually a foreign government. To become free is to escape the bondage of slavery.
This use approximates what we celebrate tomorrow.
But in the New Testament the use of the word freedom is an entirely different matter. In the time in which the New Testament was written the word stood against a backdrop of popular use much like ours today. Culturally freedom meant political independence, personally the ability to do whatever one wanted (without consequence), or spiritually it referred to a state of transcendence, aspired to by philosophers and stoics.
 In the New Testament the word is never used in one of these ways. In the New Testament the word freedom is spiritual and relational. It comes from a root conviction that all people are locked in a state of bondage from which no one can escape. All people are bound, internally (through personal choices) and externally (by Satan), and are unable to experience life as it was meant to be lived. Men yearn for freedom, yet do not know what it is they yearn for, so they make up counterfeits, like “to do what I want”.
Freedom is a big deal in the New Testament. But it isn't about politics. It is about release from spiritual bondage and experiencing life in a way that no political system, or even prison, can deny.
Jesus announced His ministry saying…
LK 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Paul wrote that Jesus' intent for His life and ministry was to set us free…
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. – Gal. 5:1
Paul also wrote that a major focus of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to bring freedom…
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. – 2 Cor. 3:17
So what does all of this have to do with fireworks and picnics? Not much. While we appreciate and enjoy the freedoms that our country affords, escaping Britain 's grasp 200 hundreds ago, defeating Hitler in the 40s, and squashing terrorism in our day do not insure the kind of freedom that the Bible promises to us as followers of Christ. 
First let me share with you what freedom is not…
Freedom is not the right to do whatever you want. (I put this picture in because it looks just like me when I was a kid)
The authors of the New Testament saw that one coming. In fact it was already going on while they were writing the book! In Galatians Paul wrote…
GAL 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
Freedom is spiritual and relational. Freedom means being set free from spiritual bondage. It means that we don't have to be mastered by our past, or by any plans the devil may have for us.
That freedom comes through relationship with Jesus Christ. And that freedom affects the way we relate to others. Freedom doesn't mean there is no consequence for our actions. It doesn't mean we can sin without concern that anything bad will happen. And it doesn't mean that how we treat others poorly.
Jude prophesied that “godless men” would slip into the Church and…
“…change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” – Jude 1:4
Christian freedom is not the right to do whatever we want, but the ability to no longer have to live the way we used to. We were all slaves of sin. Jesus set us free from the penalty of sin. He also set us free from the bondage of sin. Freedom isn't a license to sin without consequence, but rather the hope of a life that is no longer ruled by sin.
Did anyone catch Saving Private Ryan on TV last night? Near the end of that movie Tom Hanks' character (Capt. Miller) says to Private Ryan “earn this”. Several men had sacrificed a lot to save Private Ryan. The Captain wanted to make sure that the young man understood that his freedom came with some level of expectation. His being “saved” wasn't so that he could go and do whatever he wanted. It was so that he could go and do something great.
Another thing that freedom is not is the guarantee that we will not suffer for our faith.
One alarming tendency I see in the church of America is an assumption that because we are free as Americans our government will guarantee us that our rights will never be infringed upon. We live an air conditioned upholstered faith. It is a nice thought, but the Bible promises otherwise.
Paul wrote to Timothy, “… everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…” (2 Timothy 3:12). Thank God that we do not live in a culture where people are dying every day for their faith. But many Christians do. There are more people being martyred for their faith today that in any other period of church history. But CNN won't tell you about it, nor will FOX even spend much time on it.
And shedding of blood is not the only form of persecution. Being ridiculed by friends, disowned by family members, passed over at work…these are all things that people in this congregation have experienced – because of their faith.
We cannot expect that because we are Americans we will never be persecuted for our faith. In fact, as we have seen, the Scripture guarantees us otherwise. But God promises great blessing to those who do not let hardship rob them of their faith.
I remember watching my wife persecuted by a superior at work simply because the woman knew Jackie was a Christian. She criticized Jackie openly. She accused her of doing things she had not done. She treated her harshly. She tried to make Jackie miserable, for no other reason but that Jackie was a Christian.
When Jackie considered “standing up for her rights” the Lord told her to love her boss. He reminded her to “bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:28 ). It was difficult. But ultimately she won her bosses' heart. God gave them a relationship. God gave Jackie the right to speak into her bosses' life, not because she stood up for her rights, but because she understood that persecution sometimes comes with the territory, and that God could bring good out of it.
So what is freedom for us as Christians?
Freedom is the ability to live life the way God intended it to be lived.
Ever since the creation of mankind there has been a battle to strip man of the glory that God gave him. Satan does not want people to experience life the way God intended. So he lies. He tells people that God is the one who restricts freedom. He told Eve that God didn't want them to be like Him, so He made up a bunch or rules – while God had already made them like Him, and given them the whole world as their naked playground.
I'm not advocating nudity. I am just saying that Satan is the one who hates freedom, not God. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)
The great lie of our age…of any age…is that God wants to destroy our freedom, and that freedom is living as if there is no God. There are no consequence for our choices, and that the only true great command is, “Thou shalt not interfere with my freedom.” This kind of Freedom leads to greater bondage.
In the New Testament freedom is unattainable by any human effort. And false attempts and faulty definitions of freedom ironically lead only to other forms of bondage (addictions, debt, disease, etc.). Freely indulging ourselves doesn't feel much like freedom when we start paying the price for our indulgence.
Peter wrote that false teachers promote a freedom based in lust and indulgence, but the end is becoming a slave to depravity. He writes, “A man is a slave of whatever has mastered him” (2 Peter 2:19 ).
Peter also wrote that the life of a Christian should be characterized by faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love – in increasing measure (2 Peter 1:5-9) . The absence of such qualities doesn't necessarily mean a person is not saved, but it certainly means they are not experiencing all of the life that God intended for them. They have “forgotten who they are”.
In the movie Hook Robin Williams plays an aged Peter Pan, who left the life of Neverland (not Michael Jackson's place – the other Neverland) and became a businessman. He made lots of money and enjoyed success, but was tightly wound, and anything but free. When he returns to Neverland to free his children held hostage by Captain Hook he doesn't even remember who he is, and has certainly lost his ability to fly, have fun, and fight pirates. He had forgotten who he was, and lost his freedom in the process.
Do you know who you are? Do you know the freedom Christ has called you to? Has your faith become duty, going to church, paying your tithe, maybe volunteering a little here and there? The Pharisees did all of that, but Jesus told them they were in bondage, because freedom comes in sonship, not slavery to rules and practices.
God has called you to live a life of great freedom. You might not get to “do everything you want”. But you can do everything you were made for.
God wants to set people free today, really free.
|
