05-04-14 Freedom In Christ

Just before Easter we completed our study

of the New Testament book of Philippians,

and for the next few weeks,

I want to teach a short series

on a topic that pops up frequently in our studies,

but one that I want us

to take the time to organize

into a unified study.

I want us to take a few weeks

to talk about our freedom in Christ.

I want to do this for several reasons.

First of all,

the things we will be looking at

will be of tremendous value

in defeating so many of the lies

pumped into our society

about the true nature of life with Christ.

Our culture has been racing through a massive transition during my life time.

They are changes that began with a fierce intensity about 50 years ago,

but changes that have become mainstream

during the past 3 decades.

Having begun our national history two hundred years ago

with strong Christian beliefs,

we are now a truly pagan nation,

a nation in which most people have no personal knowledge of

or allegiance to the world view and thought framework given to us by our God,

a nation in which, it fact, the truth He has given us

is viewed from the outside with suspicion, distrust, and almost total ignorance.

If you would allow me to oversimplify just a bit,

I could describe the change that’s taken place in two statements.

First, most people in our nation today have no clear first-hand knowledge

of what the Bible says.

And second, they really don’t care what it says

because they are convinced it is fundamentally irrelevant to their lives personally

and utterly inconsistent with the way life really works.

It isn’t just that they don’t know what it says,

but that they don’t care what it says

and they simply couldn’t imagine that it could ever have any relevance to their life.

That’s what a pagan culture is,

and that is our nation today.

If you want the basic operating principles of our culture today

all you have to do is to watch any prime-time TV show

and you will see who we are and how we think.

In the rare instances where a Christian even appears in the story line

by the time the show is over

that individual will either be presented as a dogmatic, judgmental bigot

who is completely out of touch with the highest values of our society,

or they will be shown to be using their religious facade

as a covering for a life of crime or sexual perversion.

I mention this today

because our cultural pagan beliefs

mean that we as a society

haven’t got a clue as to the nature

of what true freedom in Christ really is.

In fact, the words “freedom” and “Christ”

are almost never found together.

They are viewed as opposites.

Christianity is believed to bring a restrictive bondage to a person’s life

causing a person to sacrifice freedom for some sense of religious security.

Those of you who are Christians,

I want you to think back

to the attitudes you held about Christianity prior to your submission to Christ.

Or, if it’s easier,

simply look at the dominant attitudes

in the society around us

about God in general

and Christianity specifically.

What you’ll remember

or what you’ll see is the certainty

that the involvement of God in a person’s life

or the consequences of holding strong Christian beliefs

brings about a restrictive,

confining,

narrow approach to life.

Basically Christianity is perceived as being

the acceptance of

and strict adherence to a list of confining,

restrictive rules.

Certainly in our pagan society today most non-Christians

find it easiest to define

what they believe to be Christianity

on the basis of the things Christians don’t do,

and on the basis of the things Christians are against.

And even when we come to Christ

and discover the incredible freedom of spirit poured out within us through Christ,

it still often takes us years

to intellectually free ourselves

from the twisted lies about the true nature of life in Christ

that we bring with us

into our walk with the King.

This whole problem is intensified

by the degree to which

true Christianity is identified

with the religious legalists in our society

who perpetuate their religious attitudes

in the name of Christianity.

And one of the reasons I want to spend a few weeks on this study

is simply because it’s good and healthy for us to continually remind ourselves of the truth -

that Christ, and Christ alone has the ability

to bring true freedom

into a person’s life.

Those of you who have been around here for a while

know already the two great forces

Satan uses to keep the human spirit under bondage.

One of them is immorality

and the hideous addictions and shattered relationships that comes with it,

and the other is religion

and the tremendous bondage it brings to the human spirit.

So, I want us to talk about our freedom in Christ in part

because it just helps to hear the truth again.

But there is a second reason, as well.

On one hand

I want us to talk about Christian freedom

to defeat the lies we face about the true nature of life with Christ,

but I also want us to talk about true Christian freedom

in order to help defeat the lies our society is currently promoting as freedom.

And the concept I want to share with you right now

is crucial to everything else we’re going to do

throughout the rest of this study.

You see,

the concept of freedom being promoted

within the society in which we live

and the concept of freedom

presented to us by our Creator

could not be farther apart.

And I think maybe the easiest way

for me to explain what I want us to see here

is to take us back to a passage

that we have dabbled in repeatedly

in our history together.

It’s found in the Gospel of John chapter 8

beginning with verse 31.

This passage contains one of the best known verses in all of Scripture,

a verse that is frequently quoted

completely out of context

by people looking for ammunition

with which to support some favorite idea they have.

Now this passage begins

with Jesus talking to a group of His followers.

And it is important to note

that what Jesus said here

was directed To those who were showing some positive interest in Him.

They were not hostile to Him,

they were not seeking to destroy Him as some were.

These were those

who were already drawn to the possibility of His involvement in their lives,

those who were even open to the possibility

of submission to His lordship in their lives.

The passage begins,

John 8:31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. "

Now before we move on to their response to this statement

let me just emphasis the obvious.

Jesus is telling His followers

that one of the many fringe benefits

of His involvement in their lives

is that His truth,

His words

will be used by God in their lives

to lead them into freedom unlike anything they had ever known before.

And that 32^nd verse, of course,

is the statement I mentioned

that is frequently ripped out of context

and used as ammunition

by all sorts of people

to defend some pet idea.

... you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free...

In context, however,

the truth Jesus is talking about

that has the power to make us free

is the truth that flows directly from Him.

In other words,

the passage does not allow us

to define “truth” any way we see fit.

It correctly defines truth

as being that content which flows to us

from God Himself.

Now that statement puzzled Jesus’ followers

in the same way that many people

in our society today would be puzzled

if we were to say to them,

“Jesus Christ can make you free.”

Jesus’ listeners in the first century

expressed their confusion in the next verse by saying:

John 8:33 ... "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?"

You see,

they were defining freedom

the same way we define freedom in our society today.

They looked at the restrictions imposed on them

by the culture or the society around them

and they said, ‟I AM free already!

I am an Israelite! No one has enslaved the Nation if Israel.

I can do what I want,

and go where I want,

and no man can stop me!”

And in our society today

we define freedom in very much the same way.

In fact, we consider ourselves

to be the most FREE society that has ever existed.

Not only do we allow personal freedom in our society,

but we have elevated the defense of that freedom to the level of being

our concept of ultimate good.

And just so you don’t miss what I’m saying,

let me repeat it -

in our society today

we believe that the ultimate good,

the bottom line in what we are all about as a culture

is defending the right of every individual

to choose any lifestyle they want.

We may not agree with the lifestyle they’ve chosen,

but as a society we will defend to the death

their right to choose if for themselves.

For our society this is ultimate FREEDOM.

I saw a clip on the Anchorage TV news some time ago

about a neighborhood dispute

in which one neighbor

was complaining about

the heaps and piles of junk

in the yard of his neighbor across the street.

And when the junky neighbor

was interviewed by the reporter

guess what he said?

‟I have a right to collect junk if I want. I have a right to do whatever I want on my land with my land.”

End of discussion.

A number of years ago

we had an incident in our own little community

in which a high school senior

took his clothes off

and ran naked down the field

at the homecoming football game.

One of the frequent arguments offered in defense of the young man

was that in our society he has every right

to express himself in this way

if he so chooses.

OK, now, the first century Jews talking with Jesus

and those of us in this society today

were playing exactly the same mental game

with the definition of freedom.

Rather than looking at what’s going on inside us

we look at what’s going on around us.

And if the society around us

is not putting limitations on our behavior,

or our mobility,

or the use of our time or money

then we declare ourselves to be free.

Now I want us to listen to the Lord’s response to that definition of freedom.

John 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin...”

And in that single, remarkable statement

He suddenly rips back the curtain

on the lie that has given birth

to our concept of freedom.

Jesus is telling us that true freedom

has nothing to do with the restraints

or the limitations imposed upon us from the outside.

True freedom has everything to do

with the inescapable addictive patterns

created within us by our own sin.

Now I want us to look carefully

at what’s really going on here.

We come into this world separated from our Creator,

frantically trying to figure out who we are,

and why or if we have value,

clinging desperately to the words and the affirmations of those around us.

At the same time

our stubborn refusal to submit to our Creator

causes us to fight against Him

just to prove we’re in charge,

to prove to ourselves

that we don’t need Him in our lives.

The problem is

that all of these forces

rob us of our ability to make the choices in life

that really bring us freedom.

We have fears,

and insecurities,

and emotional and psychological and physical addictions,

and loneliness,

and unmet needs,

and hatreds within us

that become the driving forces of our lives.

And we become their slaves.

We have to prove ourselves to this person

or that person.

We have to win the acceptance or approval of this person or that person.

We find raging forces within

we know we are powerless to change

or control.

But we dare not call it slavery.

And so what do we do?

We redefine freedom so that

rather than freedom being the ability

to choose to do what we know is right,

we pretend that freedom is the right to do

what we know we cannot stop.

I cannot change myself,

I cannot conquer these forces within me,

I know I have no true inner freedom.

So what do I do?

I redefine freedom

so that freedom now means that I have the right to live out the inner slavery

that’s driving my life.

I’ve been told that

when that high school student was asked

why he did his little public display

he said he did it because he didn’t want to disappoint the other students who were wanting him to do it.

Now listen to that.

What he was really saying was that

his own need for acceptance

and affirmation from his fellow students was so intense

that he was willing to risk anything for the sake of gaining their approval.

That isn’t freedom, folks, it’s slavery of the worst kind.

It is delegating to casual acquaintances

the absolute right to dictate major choices

that could have a profound affect on your life

just so that you can hopefully gain some measure of acceptance from them.

But we dare not admit that to ourselves.

We dare not admit to ourselves

or to anyone else the depth of our fears

or our insecurities,

or our desperate need for recognition,

or approval,

or affirmation,

so we wrap ourselves up

in a great big banner

that we call “FREEDOM”.

But when our Lord talks to us about freedom

He doesn’t play those games with us.

The freedom He offers us

is not the freedom to live out our bondage,

it is the freedom to break free from it.

To that high school student

who finds himself so desperate

for some tiny bit of affirmation from his fellow students

our Lord says,

“My child,

I don’t offer you the “freedom”

to sacrifice your own self-respect

for a few days of fame.

I offer you the ability to discover through Me

the eternal value, and significance, and importance you have as My creation,

a value that is not dependent upon

what anyone else thinks about you,

or says about you,

or wants you to do.”

John 8:36 "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed...”

We are going to spend a few weeks

talking about our freedom in Christ.

But right from the beginning of this study

it is essential for us to keep a clear distinction

between what our society is peddling as “freedom”,

which is nothing more

than the social right to live out our inner slavery,

and what God is offering as freedom,

which is the wisdom

and the inner strength

to make those choices in life

that will bring us the kind and quality of life we truly long for.

And just so you have a little idea

where we’ll be heading,

our study will take us into the two major areas of freedom

offered to us through Christ.

#1. Our freedom from the Law.

#2. Our freedom from sin.

Those are the two forces

that have the ability to bring us under bondage,

and in Christ we find true freedom from both.

And having said all of that as introduction for where we’re headed,

before I close I want to add one additional thought

about Jesus’ comment in John 8:32, “...and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

I was in a conversation this past week

in which the person I was talking with

made reference to this statement of Christ

and offered an insight and a perspective I’d never seen before.

When he said it

it reminded me once again

that the truth our Lord gives us is so often

so multidimensional,

like a diamond with that reflects the light through so many different facets.

Much of what we will do in this study throughout the next few weeks

is to look closely at the way in which the truth our Lord gives us

actually has the ability to break the power of the destructive life patterns within us.

It equips us to make choices for righteousness...and freedom

that we were powerless to make in the past.

But there is another facet to this freedom given through the truth as well.

If you are a Christian,

with your spirit joined to the Spirit of God,

you have within you a hunger and a thirst for righteousness...for godliness.

At the spirit level you long for a life that honors Him.

But every day you live

that spirit must then go to war with a physical body

that resists the leadership of that spirit

and fights against the life of Christ in all sorts of ways.

And then, added to this,

we must live out this warfare

in a culture and a world society

that totally denies the truth about our God.

And as we stay engaged in that warfare

we truly do, over time, see our Lord bring us into a quality of life

that we could never have known or even pursued without the life of our King within us.

We really do become better people than we once were

before He entered our lives.

But the deepest truth our God wants us to understand

is that greatest freedom He offers us,

the freedom that truly allows our spirits to soar,

is not and never will be dependant upon how successful we are

on any given day

in winning those battles we’ve faced

or subduing the forces that fight against us.

The greatest freedom our King offers us

is a freedom He has already given us,

absolutely and totally and eternally through Christ.

It is the freedom that comes from knowing the truth

that, no matter how the battles is going,

we are now and forever His righteous ones,

holy and pure and cherished by our Father,

pure and perfect in spirit and in His sight,

forever freed from condemnation because the debt is already paid if full forever.

If we ever begin to believe

that our freedom in Christ

depends upon how many battles we’ve won

or how far we’ve progressed on the battle field

we will forever live in self-condemnation and judgement.

Paul said it best.

Rom 5:1-2 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand...

Only when we know the truth about our absolute and irrevocable peace with God

and about this grace in which we stand

will we find our spirits bathed

in the freedom to live each day, with joy, and confidence, and boldness

in the presence of our King.