FREEDOM AND ITS DEMANDS

#138                                                          FREEDOM AND ITS DEMANDS

Scripture  John 8:31-36                                                                                                                  Orig. 7/4/1965; 7/1975

                                                                                                                                                                             Rewr. 6/30/1985

Passage: ³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³ They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” ³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.           

Purpose: To speak to my people on the eve of Independence Day on the true nature of freedom.

Keywords:           Freedom             Liberty                  Rights                   

Timeline/Series:               Special Day

Introduction

                The sight of a July Fourth parade will do it every time.  I don’t have to be there in person.  I can see it on television, or just hear the strains of music.  To know that it is July Fourth and that a parade is underway somewhere always brings back some recollections of childhood.  I remember standing on a street in my hometown watching the festivities among the people of my youth.  I remember the bands and the marching people, and the soldiers, and the Colors.   I remember seeing people weeping unashamedly, old men standing at attention with their hats in their hands, some in arthritic salute.

                There would be a community gathering.  Speeches would be made.  Patriotic speeches!  Speeches by people who loved their country and who had proved it in devoted service.

                I remember as a young soldier, standing in uniform and looking up to see the American flag flying atop the United States Capitol.  I remember going as a part of the official detachment to inter the body of a friend.  My high school classmate had gone into the Navy, and had been killed in an accident aboard his ship.  I remember firing the military salute, . . . folding the flag that draped his casket, and presenting it to my friend’s mother.

                What are the values of freedom?  Are they yet the same?  Do we feel the same glow that we felt then?  Is there a price to freedom that many seem reluctant to pay?  What . . . are the demands of freedom?

I.             There is no Liberty Without Limits.  Two strong attitudes are described here.  V33 “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone.”  V34 “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” 

                Living in a free society does not of itself guarantee liberty.  Too many people are the sum of their circumstance.  Surrounded by cynics one will become  cynical. One may become religiously oriented the same way.  True liberty guides a person beyond his circumstance to truth.

                The Pharisees looked upon themselves as special.  “We are Abraham’s children.”  We have our own set of labels.  A lot of pride in Dallas. 45,000 “We’re Baptists.” Two letters in Shreveport Times: “Why cover the [Southern] Baptist Convention?”

                God is not moved by our labels, but by our liability.  Labels—“Dallas Cowboys”—sports are proliferating.  New York Metropolitan Opera had a huge deficit.  We are not drawn to art forms glorifying God, but to sports glorifying man.

                Liberty is the benevolent gift of God to all such who would see all men free.  It started with Jesus who would have all people free.  It was passed on to His disciples who grasped its meaning only at Calvary.  It reaches our hearts with the discovery that there are limits to liberty, and the limits are in Christ.

                [Poet] James Oppenheim – “They set the slave free, striking off his chains/Then he was as much a slave as ever/He was still chained to servility/He was still manacled to indolence and sloth/He was still bound  up in fear and superstition, by ignorance, suspicion and savagery/His slavery was not in is chain, but in himself/They can only set free men free, and there is no need of that/Free men set themselves free.”

II.            There are no Rights Without Restraints.  V31 “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.”        There is  no uncertainty about the intent of Jesus’ teaching.  Singlemindedness:  Elijah—How  long halt ye between two opinions?” Jesus—“If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”  Dedication:  Revelation 2:10 (Smyrna) “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.”    Certification of discipleship:  It asks a question, “Are you My disciples?”  It gives the only possible answer. It responds, “Then you will remain entrenched within My Word.”  A verb form demanding continuity.

                Freedom is a gift from God.  It is the opposite of lust for power and greed.  Perhaps it is God’s way to compensate for man’s Adamic passion.

                Freedom is His gift and man’s goal.  The Constitutional Convention began deliberations on May 25, 1787.  June 8 found the weather warm and tempers flaring in the State House in Philadelphia.

                There was total deadlock.  Compromise and success seemed impossible.  Benjamin Franklin called them to prayer.  “And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, it is probable that an empire cannot arise without His aid.”

III.           There is no Freedom Without Focus.  V36 “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

                We are never really free until life begins to focus on what is beyond us. 

“Within my earthly temple there’s a crowd;

There’s one of us that’s humble, one that’s proud.

There’s one that’s brokenhearted for his sin,

There’s one who, unrepentant, sits and grins.

There’s one who loves his neighbor as himself,

And one who cares for nought but fame and self.

From such corroding care I would be free,

If only I could determine which is me.” (London Newspaper, 1945)

                Listen as Paul declares this to the Corinthians (I Corinthians 7:22), “He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s free man: Likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.”  And to the Galatians (5:1), “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” And Peter in his epistle (I Peter 2:16), “As free, and not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.”

                Newsweek commissioned an issue on 100 heroes.  Only three mention religion: a Franciscan priest, a lapsed Mennonite, and _____________.  Captioned, “I Love to Tell the Story.”

                The demands of freedom are: There is no liberty without limits; there are no rights without restraints; there is no freedom without focus.  The limits, the restraints, the focus are clearly Christ.

Conclusion

                Boy behind Wilhites.  Whoop. Running to house with fish on line.  Emerges sans fish.  Shortly, a second boy emerges with fishing pole to try his luck.

                When the world is able to grasp our freedom in Christ, they will beat a path to our doors.