Happy Independence Day!

“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.

…You, my brothers were called to be free.  But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature.”

Galatians 5:1 & 13a

Happy Independence Day to all my countrymen back in America!   The fourth of July was always a big deal in my family.  Dad would hang the American flag out front of the house.  We’d go to the parade.  Then normally we would have friends and family over for a picnic.  That night we would all head down to one of the town parks to watch the fireworks.  It was the same in most every town in America, as we celebrated the birth of our nation, and the freedoms that go with being America.

I was thinking about that this morning, about not being in the states for the 4^th of July, and began to contemplate this word “freedom.”  What does it mean?  What is it?  There are all sorts of different definitions.  As Americans it has a political meaning -  independence from foreign rule and the rights guaranteed by our constitution.  For a high school grad going off to college can mean freedom to set your own schedule, and your own rules, rather than living under mom and dad’s.    Getting out of jail would be a kind of freedom for a prisoner.  People talk about “financial freedom” which often means paying off all your debts.  Survivors of cancer talk about being “cancer free.”

On one level all of these examples are a kind of freedom.  On a biblical, faith level, they all fall short of true freedom.  In the Scriptures freedom is something much deeper.  Jesus makes clear in John 8 that “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.”   We are sinful from the moment of our conception,  and already at that moment, sentenced to death.  There is nothing we can do to free ourselves.  So God stepped in.   At the heart of our faith is the good news that “since the children share in flesh and blood, Jesus likewise partook of the same, so that by His death, He might destroy Him who holds the power of death and FREE those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

Spiritually we each have two independence days.  First, over two thousand years ago on a cross and then at an empty tomb, God set the whole world free through the death and resurrection of His Son.  Second, on the day of your baptism, He personally set you free when you were “buried with Christ by baptism into death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead” so you to might walk in newness of life.    For me that day was January 1, 1959.  Now you and I are free from sin, free from the sentence of death.  We are no longer slaves but sons of God and heirs of heaven!  We need no longer fear death, for now in Christ death has become the gateway to life everlasting.  We are free to walk with God, to believe and trust, to pray, to love our neighbors and more.  Jesus said it, “If the Son shall make you free, you are free indeed!”  Therefor Paul writes, “For freedom Christ has set us free…”

Please note though that Paul doesn’t stop there. He goes on.  “Stand firm, then, And do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery…You, my brothers were called to be free.  But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature.”  My friends, too often we Christian do exactly what Paul warns against.  We use our freedom as an excuse to sin, telling ourselves,” After all God will forgive me anyway.”  When we do that, we are like the student from one of my classes at the University, a student once told a story about how he would react when his mom told him not to do something.  He would go right out and do the opposite.  He wanted to show her that he was “free to do as he pleased.”  Folks, people may call that freedom but it’s not.  That’s the same old slavery to selfishness with which sin has always chained us.  To be free in Christ is not to be able to do as you please. True freedom is to be able to do as God pleases.  We weren’t created to be little “gods.”  We were created to live as God’s servants.  That’s where true happiness and freedom are found – in letting God be God and being content to love and serve Him and one another.  That’s the freedom that Christ purchased for us.  That’s freedom for which you have been set free. 

I don’t know when your baptismal anniversaries are.  But because of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, because of your adoption at baptism, every day of your life is a day for celebrating, renewing and living the freedom Christ won for you.  So let me say to you all – Happy Independence Day!