This Journey Called Freedom

It’s interesting to me that the American system of democracy, is referred to as “an Experiment”….which means that this Experiment is a journey called Freedom….The big difference in the American experiment and God’s program of redemption, is that God didn’t have to experiment because He already knew what the outcome would be for all who received His redemption program….. Our founding fathers set things up so that the experiment would be in the hands of the people. Those voting in each election become responsible to maintain the balance between a Republic and a Democracy. In a Republic, the rights of the individual are all important…. In a Democracy, the majority decides what rights we have or don’t have, and these choices are made by representatives who may or may not have our best interest in mind. Democrats are traditionally for more and bigger government, and Republicans are traditionally for less government intrusion into the private lives, property, and the businesses of the people. Originally, our constitution lays out our system of government as a Republic, which is described as of the people, by the people, and for the people….However, our civil laws are operated under a Democratic system which is decided by the majority of those delegates we have placed in Congress, who can easily become out of touch with the very ones they are supposed to represent…. That right to choose, and be part of the American experiment has been made possible through the lives of countless patriot heroes, who paid the ultimate price, the price of freedom. I want to thank all who have served as we celebrate our independence this week. They believed in the right of every person to find their own journey into freedom….and heaven paid the ultimate price, as God emptied Himself and became a man, so we could be with Him forever! Just as the voters each election, determine how this American system will balance out, we too are on a journey into freedom as those who call themselves “Christians”…. We are choosing how much or how little God has to say about our private and public lives….We are deciding whither God will have a majority vote, or if God needs to just leave us alone until we need Him and call on Him…. Speaking of the power of our choices…..A man and a women were married for several years. The woman believed in freedom of speech, and spoke her mind. The man was not as outspoken, and thought she was dominating the house and wanted that to change, so one day he says, "I just want you to know that I have some new rules for this house. I will go and hang out with my friends whenever I want, I will go on trips whenever I want, I will go golfing whenever I want, and guess who's going to take my shoes off and wash my feet when I get home?" The woman, straightened her shoulders, and says, "I believe that would be the funeral director." The journey of Freedom has two dimensions…. Freedom from and freedom to…. Freedom from the grip of the past and freedom to seize the opportunities of the future…. Freedom from, is about grace, and freedom to, is about favor….. Grace gives us the power to say no to what’s behind and favor gives us the permission to say yes to the opportunities that are ahead… Refuse to allow what you did, what you didn’t do, or what you should have done, to effect what you’re about to do!!! A Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic Priest met each year at the annual 4th of July celebration. Being Old friends, they began their usual taunting of one another. The priest teased the rabbi, saying, This baked ham is really delicious, you really ought to try it. I know it's against your religion, but I can't understand why such a wonderful food should be forbidden. You just don't know what you're missing. You just haven't lived until you've tried Mrs. Warren's prized Virginia Baked Ham. Tell me, Rabbi Cohen, when are you going to finally break down and try it?' The rabbi looked at the priest with a big grin, and said, “Father McClendon, I believe I just might have some at your wedding.” (some things just aren’t going to happen, no matter how much freedom is we talk about) True freedom must be the freedom to say yes or no…. God will not obligate anyone to love Him or serve Him, because true love cannot be an obligation, or it isn’t real love at all. There’s a test called the Myers Briggs test. It is a personality assessment test that uses a series of statements to try and figure you out. You’re supposed to check ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to statements like: “You are almost never late for your appointments,” “You are more interested in a general idea than you are in all the details” and, “You get very involved when watching soaps on TV.” But one of the more disarming statements in the *….Myers Briggs test says, “You believe that some of your sins are simply unforgiveable.” Yes or no.

I have to confess to you here that there was a time many years ago that I would have checked ‘yes.’ But if I were to take that test again today, I would not hesitate to wholeheartedly check ‘no.’ And I want to tell anyone here today, that if you have been checking ‘yes,’ it’s time to uncheck that little circle and accept your forgiveness. It’s time to accept the forgiveness of God that knows no limits and to embrace all the love that comes with it. It’s time to uncheck the ‘yes’ circle and be fully, deeply, truly reconciled to our heavenly father, just like the prodigal son who came to himself and returned to the arms of his father. There’s a prodigal in all of us coming into our next level of freedom…. The more I distance myself from God’s reconciliation, and the farther I run from the place where I would receive the things my soul desires—I get caught in the Jonah syndrome. I remove myself from His forgiveness and mercy, His acceptance and love, and I become more and more incapable of offering those very things to others and I end up substituting things, like self-gratification, money, position, popularity and you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours! A little girl about 5 years old was found wandering around, hopelessly lost. A police officer drove up and asked her if she was lost. When she tells him that she can’t find her way home, he tells her that, he could drive around the neighborhood, until she recognized her street. So, he drives and he drives and he drives. And the little girl doesn’t see anything familiar. The police officer drives past convenience stores and supermarkets, post offices and playgrounds, but still nothing looked familiar. The little girl tells the officer, “Sir, I have an idea, let’s drive to my church. I can always find my way home from there.” The Church is a good place to begin your journey home to the Father, and to freedom. My two sons are pastors and my daughter Karen is a real God chaser, my grandchildren, are serving God as well as my great grandkids, and it has everything to do with their growing up in church. It has everything to *…..do with the family of faith. God’s house has helped shape us and, consequently, it has helped shape our family in constructive ways that I’ll probably never be able to find enough words for. It has helped us to continue to find our path to freedom. Who could have known that my adopted mom, through the simple gesture of taking in an abandoned 3 year old boy and leading him to Christ, and bringing him up in God’s house, could affect 4 generations so far and counting! I’m talking about From Freedom To Freedom! Free in Christ to change the course of history for generations to come…… Jesus challenges our definition of Freedom…. You see as long as we are locked into only what we are free from….we cannot fully enter into what we are free to be, to have and to do. You see we are too occupied with finding a safe place so it never happens again, or being defensive so no one can find out our broken places, or how about pushing people away so no one ever gets close enough to do that to us again! We are not fully able to reach the prize which is ahead, until we stop dwelling on and being controlled by what was behind… You may plant good seed but if you keep digging it up to check on it, it will never grow…. If you want a cut to heal, you have to stop picking at the scab, or it will stay inflamed and infected! Philippians 3:13…”forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, v14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”.

Jesus said….“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free”, but if you stray from the truth which sets you free, or you deny it because you want to do what you want to do….you remain under the influence of that which wants to keep you in bondage, confine you and restrict the development that will open you up to new Spiritual dimensions….. I submit to you, that perhaps we should make a list (the cup of coffee is very important) a list, of the oh so subtle things which prevent us from enjoying the Freedom and full life that Christ has come to give to us, and which causes a trickle-down effect in our lives. Before you know it, we’re pulled into a vortex of unsettling and troubling circumstances and situations which catch us in its grip and pull us downward, sapping our strength, our creativity and our joy….. The writer of Hebrews describes it this way….Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, which so easily besets us, (causes us to miss the mark and come up lacking) and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, v2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith….” I have a few suggestions…that are a type of spiritual barameter.. You can know that you are moving away from your freedom in Christ…. When the glory of God is not honored and we’re too busy to find a quite place and just enjoy His presence…. When the holiness of God is not reverenced and we no longer feel the nudgings of the Spirit when something is offensive to Him…. when the greatness of God is not acknowledged and we begin to attribute things to coincidence or chance… when the power of God is not praised and we are not quick to acknowledge and admire Him and stand amazed before Him…. when the truth of God is not sought and we settle for half truth and compromise…. when the wisdom of God is not esteemed and man’s knowledge and what happens to be popular at the moment matters more…. when the beauty of God is not treasured, when the goodness of God is not reveled in, when the faithfulness of God is not trusted, when the promises of God are not believed, when the word of God is not obeyed, when the justice of God is not respected, when the wrath of God is not feared, when the grace of God is not cherished, when the fellowship of God is not prized and it is no longer our joy, our delight and the amazing treasure we live for! Ohhhhh….“If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

–We are free to vote, free to worship, free to travel, free to work, free to study, free to play, free to serve God according to the dictates of our heart and conscience. But when I say “From Freedom to freedom”…. I also mean, that it is the freedom to know the heart of God, because we are not just on His mind, we are on His heart.

How many know that to love and to be loved, is a responsibility! (and every parent says “AMEN”… And Freedom is as much a responsibility as it is a right we are given. It means that true freedom can only come where biblical values and principles are recognized and honored. It means that we cannot justify evil in the name of freedom. It means to beware of those who promise freedom but they themselves are untruthful, abusive, and deceptive. Politically correct has become a catch phrase for anything from abortion to refusing to call those who commit acts of terror, a terrorist. It means that freedom must come from within, and must flow from the character, hearts, minds, lives and families that have been set free by the Grace of God, and not something that can be legislated by the government or the church. (I don’t mean to sound like some revolutionary here, but) Romans 12:2"Do not be conformed any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will." Liberty is not the same as freedom… Imagine with me, a man who was born into slavery. He is raised as a slave, trained as a slave. All he knows is slavery. Now, imagine that one day this slave is sold at the slave auction. He is bought by a kind man who immediately hands to the slave papers that declare him to be a free man. Imagine that slave rejoicing in his freedom. He runs through the crowd waving those papers in the air and he shouts, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God I am free at last!" The man who brought him to the auction to sell him sees all this and starts to leave, and immediately the former slave runs to catch him and begins to follow him home. The former owner looks around and says, "Man, you're free! You don't have to work for me any longer!" The slave answers and says, "I know the paper says that I am free, but all I know is how to do is to be a slave”. You see, the slave was given Liberty, but he had to choose his freedom….. Liberty gives us the guidelines, which guarantee that we have the right to exercise freedom with responsibility….Liberty is the external safety net, freedom is our individual choice within that safety net…. You might say, “There is no way that a slave who was freed would go right back into slavery!" But it happens all the time! You see, the Lord Jesus promised liberty to all those who would follow Him. However, there are many who have received Jesus as their Savior, who still live much the same way they did before. If they didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t know the difference…. Like the slave in the story, they hold their emancipation papers in their hands, Their debt has been paid, Their spiritual Declaration of independence, has made it clear, but in their lives, they still haven’t exercised their freedom and live as slaves to the same stuff as before. Water baptism is a time when freedom demonstrates liberty…..Jesus instructed those who were given liberty from their past, to be baptized. It’s an important part of our journey to freedom…. It a physical, public, declaration, that now we have left the life we used to live behind and we are not the same people, we have a new Lord, a new name….”Christian”…. a new life, and a new guide book…We are applying the freedom that Liberty guarantees us! Our new life manual is the B. I. B. l. E. that stands for “Basic instruction for beginning life eternal”….. We have been given freedom to reach Our Potential… The three action words used here to describe this process are Reckoning, Relinquishing and Releasing…. The first action word is found in , Romans 6:11 “Likewise reckon (log-id'-zom-ahee) also yourselves to be alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” This word Reckon, in the Greek which is used here is (log-id'-zom-ahee…To consider it as already done….consider it to be mentally, emotionally and factually true….) We are made alive to His Word, His Work, His Worship, His Will, and His Ways. No longer is it just something I do, but it has become who I am!!!! (reckon yourselves to be) Your next freedom action word is Relinquishing…. Romans 6:13 ….”Yield or relinquish (Par-is'-tay-mee) yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your bodies as instruments of righteousness unto God”. Again as we look at the original Greek which is used here, the word is (Par-is'-tay-mee….to give up one thing that you might have another thing… to prove something that is already tested and true…..to put your full weight on what has been proven….to immerse yourself into something that has been tried and tested) He wants to show us that He can be trusted with our, bodies, our families, our money, our time, our lives! The third action freedom word is releasing… Romans 6:14 “For those things of the past life shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under their power, but you are under grace. v15 What then? shall we return to those things, because we are not under their power any longer, but under grace? God forbid”. The things of the past have no more control over the child of God. It’s time has expired, we have released them….we are not the same people we used to be, we are not in the place we used to be. The shelf life on past hurts, abuses, injustices, and victimization has expired. It’s time is up, it’s power has ended, it’s time is over!!!! In releasing it we step into a new day of redemption by grace. We are free from its judgment, its influence, it’s ramifications and its penalties! When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead John 11:44 says “he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was still bound with a napkin. Jesus said unto them, Release him, and let him go”. Lazarus had been given liberty, but now he needed freedom!!!! My mom used to tell me that once I have received God’s forgiveness, and those things that I used to do come knocking on my door, and want to hang out with me….send Jesus to open the door. Well, it worked then and it still works today! When John 8:36 tells us “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed”. It is spoken in two dimensions…. Because it is spoken in the present imperative…as something already done and accomplished…. and it is present progressive….as something that is ongoing or something in the process of being accomplished. Freedom is not only something emotional that we experience that causes us to laugh, to cry, to shout, to dance and to sing and rejoice….Even though that may happen as a result of our freedom, but when that has all subsided….our freedom is a new place, a new position, and a new opportunity. If you are in debt and your debt gets paid, you come into a new place and position of freedom …. If you are sick and you are healed, you come into a new place and position of freedom….. Speaking of a new place and position of freedom….I have a new name for Winnie. For the last 3 weeks she has been hooked up to a heart monitor, and last Wednesday, she got free of all the wires and contacts that were stuck to her body…..I now call her “Wi-fi” because she is wireless! All the information is being processed so they can determine the next steps to her ultimate freedom!! As we get ready to close, I want us to look at our spiritual Declaration of Independence, it’s found in Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ (I enter into the substitutionary death which was for my freedom) nevertheless I live (what was made available for my freedom, is now my experience) yet it is not I that lives, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh (I am moving into greater and greater measures of His freedom) I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me ( He’s the gift that keeps on giving). He whom the son sets free is free and is going from freedom to freedom! We celebrate Communion today, because through these emblems, we are declaring that the battle is already won, so we may position ourselves in the advantageous place which is over Satan and it allows us to enjoy….victories that have been won for us, and outcomes that have already been decided in our behalf, and the amazing opportunity to be enforcers of all that Christ has won. He refers to you and me as more than conquerors, through His body and His blood.

And the benefactors of seeing a win, before the battle is fought. Of enjoying a good praise session, while we see nothing except what faith beholds and knows the evidence of the invisible…..