05-25-14 Freedom Pt. 4

We are involved in a study

of the freedom God offers

to every human being through Christ.

Those of us who live in the 21^st century

pride ourselves on being a part

of the most technologically advanced culture that has ever existed.

Collectively we know more things

about more things

than ever before in human history.

We have accumulated

a tremendous wealth of knowledge

that has enabled us to produce more

and accomplish more than ever before.

The world in which we live

has obviously changed dramatically

in the past 2000 years.

And yet, with all of our technological advancement,

the fundamental issues that drive our lives

have not changed since the Garden of Eden.

Nearly every one of you sitting here this morning

have a cell phone in your pocket,

or your purse,

or sitting in the car in the parking lot.

You can push a few buttons

and communicate instantly

with nearly anyone in the world.

We log onto the internet

and have access to what is literally

a world-wide web of information.

And yet, with all of this knowledge,

we still continue to wrestle with the same basic questions

that every human being who has come before us has wrestled with.

Does my life really have meaning?

Do my actions and choices matter?

What can I do with the evil that exists within me?

How can I find freedom

from the forces that dominate my life?

As we move back into our study on freedom this morning

I want us to start by joining with a group of people

crowded into a hot, dusty synagogue

in the little town of Nazareth

nearly 2000 years ago.

I want us to picture ourselves

as a part of that rural 1^st century Jewish community.

There have been some remarkable rumors flying around town recently

about Joseph and Mary’s oldest boy, Jesus.

Until a few months ago

He had been working with His brothers

in the carpenter’s shop

started by their father, Joseph,

more than 20 years ago.

After Joseph’s death

the boys continued on with the trade

they had learned from their father.

But then one day Jesus laid down his tools,

walked out of that shop,

and traveled a number of miles east,

beyond the Jordan River,

until He found His cousin, John,

who was causing no small commotion in the area as an itinerant preacher.

Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River,

after which He disappeared into the wilderness for more than a month.

When He returned

He established a home base

in Capernaum, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee,

and began a public teaching work

that soon drew people by the thousands.

Those of us back in Nazareth

hear all sorts of rumors about Him.

We hear that

when our former carpenter visited Jerusalem during the Passover

He single-handedly drove the corrupt money-changers from the Temple grounds.

We hear rumors that He can actually heal the crippled,

and the blind,

and the deaf,

and the lepers

with just a touch of His hand.

We hear that He teaches about God

and life

and relationships as no man had ever taught before.

And now, today, this Jesus is back in his home town.

The synagogue is packed,

with those who couldn’t get inside

standing at the open windows,

and crowded around the door.

It’s hot outside,

and far worse within.

The place smells of sweat.

Mothers rock their babies to keep them quiet

and tell their children to hush.

Then Jesus stands and walks to the front.

The place goes instantly silent.

He asks for the sacred scroll of Isaiah,

and when it is handed to Him

He keeps turning the scroll

until He comes to what we now know as the 1^st verse

of the 61^st chapter of Isaiah.

And then He reads:

Luke 4:18 " The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. "

Then Jesus stops reading,

closes the scroll,

and hands it back to the attendant.

He sits down,

but no one moves,

and no one speaks.

Every eye in the room

remains fixed on Jesus.

Then, once again He speaks:

(Luke 4:21) ... "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

And now, here we are, 2000 years later,

sitting in our comfortable building,

with our cell phones and internet giving us the world at our fingertips.

We drive our cars,

and fly our airplanes,

and live at a level of comfort

other generations could not even have imagined.

And yet...

the words Jesus read that day

in that synagogue in Nazareth

burn into us

and create longings within us

every bit as much as they did in the first century.

Because, with all of our learning,

and all of our technology,

and all of our knowledge,

nothing has really changed.

We are still so poor in spirit,

sometimes barely able to make it through another day.

And we are still held captive

in the grips of forces within us

we despise

but find ourselves powerless to break.

And when we are most honest with ourselves

we know we are still so blind

in so many areas of our lives,

and we know what it is to be oppressed,

to carry around with us

the crushing weight of our own failures,

and fears,

and sufferings.

And we too long to hear

that there is Someone

sent to us by God Himself

who can offer us the good news we long for,

Someone who has the authority

to proclaim our release from captivity,

Someone who can open our eyes

and set us free from our oppression.

The things that don’t really matter

have changed a great deal in the past 2000 years.

The things that matter a great deal

have not changed at all.

And the good news is

that the words Christ spoke in Nazareth 2000 years ago

He also speaks to us.

He can and He will set His people free.

I have taken so much of our time this morning

to remind us of these words of Christ

because as we move through this study on freedom

I never want us to loose sight

of where our freedom comes from.

It comes from the Person of Jesus Christ.

And it begins with our submission

to His Lordship

and His leadership in our lives.

Let me state it as simply

and clearly as I know how.

If you find within your spirit

a hunger for a freedom

you know you do not yet possess,

the first step in finding that freedom

is saying to Jesus Christ,

“My Lord,

what I need most of all is You.

I need You

to break the power of this sin in my life.

I need You

to free me from these fears.

I need You

to accomplish in me

what I know I am powerless

to accomplish on my own.”

Christ did not come

to offer the world a better system.

He came to offer the world Himself.

It is certainly true

that His words to us

are a crucial ingredient

in the freeing process.

We were looking at that last week.

If you were here,

you will remember the way in which

Christ linked our entrance into the freedom He offers

with our ABIDING in His words.

But our ability to do that

is inseparably linked to Christ Himself.

We choose to trust what He says

because we have come to trust Him.

Without that foundation of trust in Him

developing an abiding trust in what He says is an impossibility.

When my daughter was about five years old

our family was visiting some extended family members who owned a 3 wheeler,

and I got the bright idea

of taking Joni for a ride.

She was too small

for me to feel safe with her riding behind me,

so I scooted to the back of the seat,

placed her in front of me,

and then reached around her to the controls.

When I did that, however,

it put most of my weight

behind the back axil.

We took off for our ride,

but when we came to the first steep hill,

when I gave it gas,

with so much weight so far back on the thing,

the whole machine flipped up

and came crashing upside down on top of us.

There we were,

gas dripping out of the tank on top of us,

with me on my back,

holding up the weight of the 3 wheeler with my arms

so that it didn’t crush my daughter,

with her curled up in this little pocket

between my chest and the seat above us.

For obvious reasons,

she was scared to death.

I remember laying there,

straining to hold that thing up,

forcing myself to talk quietly and calmly to her as I said,

‟OK, Sweetie, here’s what I want you to do.

I want you to turn carefully.

Now, do you see that little space underneath my arm?

I want you to crawl out through that little space.”

And she did just what I said.

Once she was out of the way

I was able to push the machine off myself

without worrying about it crushing her.

When that thing went over on top of us

she knew we were in a mess.

She had no idea how to go about fixing the mess we were in.

But she had absolute confidence

in the sound of my voice.

Daddy may have gotten us into this mess,

but Daddy also knew how to get us out.

There are times when freedom for the Christian

requires that same type of trust

between us and our Lord.

Our ability to abide in any aspect of God’s Word

begins with our trust in the Person of Jesus Christ.

He is absolutely committed

to leading His people into freedom.

He understands where our areas of bondage are,

and He knows how to break the power

of that bondage in our lives.

But I guarantee there will be crucial points in that freeing process

where we will hear Him saying something to us

and everything within us -

everything we have learned in the past,

everything our culture tells us is true,

everything we are feeling in our emotions,

will tell us that what our Lord is saying

simply cannot be right.

Inside we will be screaming,

“If I do what He’s saying,

if I go the direction He’s pointing,

there is no way on this earth my needs can ever be met.”

At such times

the only thing that has the ability

to keep us moving in the direction

that will ultimately bring us into freedom

is our trust in the Person of Christ Himself.

It is at those times

that we will find ourselves saying,

“Lord, what You say here

makes no sense to me whatsoever.

In fact, the truth is

it looks all wrong to me.

But because I trust You

I will trust what You say.”

In fact, it’s interesting that

when Christ returned

to this concept of “Abiding”

in John chapter 15,

rather than returning to the concept

of our abiding in His Word,

He made it far more personal, saying,

John 15:4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Here He is not simply talking about

our abiding in some sort of fixed doctrinal belief system,

He is talking about our abiding in a living relationship with Him,

and His abiding in us.

Clearly, this can never be accomplished

through our pledging faithful allegiance

to any religious system.

It begins and ends with the Person of Jesus Christ.

Systems and groups may be,

and often times are valuable tools

in helping us to understand

who Christ is

and what He’s saying to us.

But only our trust in the Person of Christ Himself

has the power to make us free.

Now, having said that,

I want to conclude this morning

by mentioning what I believe to be

the three most powerful issues

that war against our ability to abide in Christ

in a way that will bring us into freedom.

#1. The first is the whole issue of our personal submission to Him.

And the best way I can help

those of you who may be struggling with this

is simply to tell you the way it is.

Jesus Christ has both the ability

and the longing to lead us into freedom.

But there is only one way for us to enter into that healing process,

and that is through our personal submission to His Lordship in our lives.

And I think you know by now

that I am not talking about our joining some group,

or attending church more regularly,

or lining ourselves up behind some charismatic religious leader.

I’m talking about our choosing

to place our lives

into the hands of our Creator,

relinquishing our foolish little efforts

to run our own lives,

and giving Him the right

to be our God.

God works carefully in the lives of every one of us

to bring us to the point where we realize

the need for that choice.

And I know from experience

that the human spirit will frantically seek out a thousand different hiding places from our God.

“I’ll go to church more.”

“I’ll promise to be a better person.”

“I choose to believe there is no God.”

“I’m a better person than most.”

“The church is full of hypocrites.”

“Look at all the evil that has been done in the name of Christianity.”

And on and on.

For most of us

there is no easy way

to bow before our Lord.

But until we do

He cannot begin His healing process in our lives.

#2. The second issue I want to mention

that has the power to war against

our ability to abide in Christ

is our believing that abiding in Christ is synonymous with

and dependent upon

our keeping the moral law of God,

or some other expanded list of

religious duties and obligations.

Next week we’ll spend our time looking

at both why and how

Christ actually frees us from the Law,

and why that freedom is essential

before any lasting changes can take place within us.

#3. And then, the final issue I want us to look at,

that has the power to stifle our ability to abide in Christ

is being deceived into believing

that submission to Christ

will wall us off from some of the things we believe we must have

in order for our needs to truly be met.

Freeing us from the tremendous power of that lie

is a major ingredient

in the healing process He seeks to bring about in our lives.

We’ll probably get into that two weeks from today,

depending on how far we get next week.