Life Marks: True Freedom
Most of you reading this blog live in the United States of America, a country in which its citizens enjoy freedoms far beyond most other countries in the world. Our founding fathers recognized that there are certain “inalienable” rights that all human beings possess, namely, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” After the War of Independence was won, the framers of the Constitution realized that the government needed to insure personal freedoms and rights to individuals, and to provide clear limitations on the power of the government. As a result, a document was created to identify the freedoms that Americans have, and so they added Amendments to the Constitution called the Bill of Rights. We most often focus on a few like “freedom of speech,” “freedom of assembly,” “freedom of the press,” and of course, “freedom of religion.” Mind you, it was never freedom “from” religion, as some misinformed folks are inclined to think, but freedom “of” religion.
But even with these “freedoms,” are the citizens of the most “freedom-blessed” nation on earth really free? Surely, in a “political” and “cultural” sense this is true, but not in a “spiritual” sense. Spiritual freedom does not come from government or even religion, but from a Person, and His name is Jesus. The first-century religious leaders were totally deceived on this issue, because they claimed that they had never been “enslaved to anyone,” when in fact, they had clearly been enslaved by the Egyptians for over 400 years. That was part of their history. Apparently they rationalized their enslavement by thinking that because they were children of Abraham, they had only been enslaved physically, but never “in spirit.” And, even during Jesus’ day, in the midst of the Roman occupation, they were totally deceived into thinking that they were actually free, when in fact, they were slaves. But if not to the Romans, to whom or to what they enslaved?
In this particular dialogue (John 8:31-36), Jesus informed them that if they were His followers they would know the truth which He came to reveal, and then He said that knowing the truth would “make them free.” To clarify what He meant, Jesus said that “…everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” The Greek verb for “commits” is in the present tense, which always suggests “continuous action.” And so, Jesus is speaking of those whose lives are characterized by sin, not by righteousness. So what’s the solution? Jesus then said plainly, “If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed” (Jn. 8:36). But with that statement, we rightly ask, “Free from what?”
True freedom comes from being set free from three primary problems that confront all of us. First, there is the GUILT that accompanies our sin. We just can’t seem get away from a “guilty” conscience. Some may try to bury it, but it seems to keep bubbling to the surface. I suspect that we can all think of a time (or two, or three, or…..) when we have been overwhelmed with guilt. After his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, David tried to cover up his sin. Here are David’s own words:
When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. But then I acknowledged my sin to Thee, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; and He forgave the guilt of my sin (Ps. 32:3-5).
And then there is the PENALTY of sin. We know it as separation from God, both now and for eternity. If the sin problem isn’t taken care of, then we live lives separated from the One who wants to have a relationship with us, and that separation extends into eternity. Speaking of “spiritual death,” The Apostle Paul tell us that the price that we pay for our sin is death, but then reminds us about the free gift that is available to each of us in Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:23). In other words, we can continue living a life separated from God, never experiencing any of the blessings that He has to offer us, or we can receive the free gift of “life” that comes from God through Jesus Christ. As I’ve mentioned many times, you cannot earn “life,” you must “receive” it. You don’t “earn” a gift, you “accept” and then “receive” it. The gift you are asked to receive is Jesus, and the forgiveness of sins that He has made available to us.
And finally, He came to set us free from the POWER of sin. The Christian life is so much more than waiting for heaven. The Christian faith is also a “here and now” faith. After making it clear that salvation is a free gift of God’s grace received by faith and not as a result of good works or religious merit, Paul goes on to say that God has “re-created” us in Christ for the purpose of doing good works, which has always been part of His plan (Eph. 2:8-10). And if that was always part of His plan, He also needed to make His power available to us so that we can “overcome” each day the power of sin and live for Christ. In fact, Paul says that those who are “in Christ” are “set free” from the power of sin and now have the power to live righteously so that God will be honored each day through our lives (see Rom. 6:17-20).
So, that’s it. True spiritual freedom comes from being set free from the GUILT, PENALTY, and POWER of sin. And this freedom comes through the forgiveness of sins offered through Jesus Christ as a result of His death on the cross. And so, this weekend as you celebrate the freedoms that we enjoy as Americans, don’t be like the first century religious leaders who rationalized their “freedom” when, in fact, they were really “slaves,” slaves to sin. Jesus came to give us true spiritual freedom. If you need this kind of freedom, just ask Him to forgive your sin and grant you the freedom that only He can provide. After all, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!” (Jn. 8:36).
