Liberty Freedom Independence

July 2, 1995

Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

As a schoolboy I lived for the sound of the afternoon bell when I would be free. My child's understanding of freedom was some period of time when no one was telling me what to do. I just took it for granted that all "grown-ups" were absolutely free. They didn't have to go to school (and hear Miss Stroud pronounce spelling words.) They had car keys. They could stay up as late as they wanted.

Of course I didn't know one thing about mortgage payments or utility bills or jobs where the boss might be just as stupid as Miss Stroud.

And as free as I might feel at 3 p.m., you can count on it— by 5:30 I was by the radio in our living room listening to Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy and waiting for my mother to call us to supper at 6. My freedom did not pretend to be independence. I had never thought much about it, but freedom and independence were two completely different things, and as a matter of fact, so they are.

On this weekend good Americans think about words like independence, and liberty, and freedom. For next Tuesday is the Glorious Fourth of July.

Of course, if you happen to be among the 95% of the world that is made up of people other than Americans these concepts are dear to you as well, even if your red letter days are different from ours. [George Lyons tells about enrolling his children in school in Australia on the 4th of July. The headmaster said, "Isn't this Thanksgiving or something in your country?" ... But you DO have a 4th of July in your country, too! Otherwise you wouldn't have anything between the 3rd and the 5th!]

Independence. Liberty. Freedom. Words that people have used to start revolutions. Words that have been counted worth dying for. "Give me liberty, or give me death!" "Live free or die!" But also words that need to be taken seriously and understood. Perhaps no words are more misunderstood than independence, liberty, and freedom.

In the physical reality of our day-to-day world in which we live there is no such thing as independence, and no such things as absolute liberty, or freedom.

We depend on others to harvest food and bring it to the marketplace. We have all had mothers or mother-figures to change our diapers for us. We cannot live in this world apart from everyone and everything else. We are inter-dependant. Every one of us is circumscribed by limits of time, and of space, and of physical energy and endurance. We soon learn to live within the bounds of our physical reality.

We cannot be in two places at once. We cannot go backward in time. We cannot undo what we have done. We cannot jump over a house or run 50 miles an hour. We may not have any human laws prohibiting these things— simply the reality of physical and natural laws limit our freedom.

Probably no one here has any great problem with the fact that in everyday, practical living, freedom and liberty flow out of inter-dependence and trust, and that we need laws and we need each other.

But somehow, when we think of independence, liberty and freedom in the things of ultimate reality, what I would call the world of the spirit, the issues are much more difficult for us to perceive and understand.

We are like that schoolboy, waiting for the bell to ring, and thinking that all there is to life is getting out of as much responsibility as possible.

Sometimes we think we have the ultimate answers of life when we really haven't heard all the questions yet. We think we will be free if we can only declare our independence from the restrictions of God and religion, or we pick and choose between the many interpretations within the bounds of nominal Christianity. And believe me, you can pick and choose until you find people teaching what you want to hear.

But when we bump up against the realities of life and death— when the crunch times come as they will and as they do, we need to hear the voice of love saying, "It's supper time! Come to the table!"

In looking for liberty, real freedom, we can pick and choose what WE think is right, OR, we can trust a Person we have come to know. I am speaking, of course, of Jesus Christ!

This Person lived 2,000 years ago and taught many wise sayings. but so did Confucius and Buddha. This Person died for what He believed was the will of Father God. So have thousands of others. But this Person we are challenged to trust with defining liberty and freedom in the realm of the spirit is different from every other Person who ever lived.

This Person not only spoke truth, He said that He IS Truth. By a miracle of grace God gave us His word through prophets, and by sweet singers and Psalmists, and that Word told of One who would come and fulfill all truth. Jesus came, and lived and died, and sent His Spirit to breathe life into a Church. The Spirit inspired the evangelists and apostles to write, and through that New Testament as well as the Old the Spirit of God has introduced you and me to a living Person.

We have sat in Bible School and sung "Into my heart, into my heart, Come into my heart, Lord Jesus!" And you know what? The Lord Jesus Christ has humbled himself again and come into your heart and mine. We have come to a public altar at an invitation, and we have heard someone say to us: "Listen to this scripture, Revelation 3:20:'Behold I stand at the door and knock! If any man/woman/boy/girl will hear my voice, and will open the door I will come in.' Do you believe this? Will you ask Jesus in?" And we have said, "Dear Jesus, please come in!"

And the Lord Jesus Christ, king of the Universe, has humbled Himself and has come into your life and mine to live in us by His Spirit.

Frankly, this world is moving so very fast that none of us can keep up with the explosion of information and keep his/her balance. Our freedom is limited by boundaries we do not begin to understand. But we can trust a Person we have come to know in a personal and intimate and very real way.

But if we follow Jesus we must be prepared to obey Him. If we choose to follow Jesus we are free but we will not be independent. Following Jesus brings with it a freedom, but within a love that sets lesser loves aside. To follow Jesus is to find liberty to do the right, freedom to follow the best. But that is a far cry from doing as we please!

A correspondent of mine, a Methodist minister, Rev. David Miller, recently wrote:

Every time we had Bible study, Ray and I disagreed with each other. Almost every passage at which we looked would launch him into an explanation of why infant baptism was anti-biblical or some other criticism of official United Methodist theology or practice.

My sermons never seemed to click with him, either. I tend to use a lot of references from popular culture, and he didn't even own a TV. "Fanatic!" I thought to myself (and said to colleagues and friends.)

After being his pastor for a few months, I learned something about him that amazed me. When he became a Christian, he gave up his tobacco base. He didn't just quit growing tobacco; he didn't lease or sell his base. He gave it up completely. When he gained a new life, he gave up his livelihood.

In many important ways Ray was a follower of the way.

We might want to wriggle a bit on this challenge that Jesus confronts us with— "Will you come all the way with Me, will you be willing to go where I go, do what I ask of you, no matter what?"

We would like a more moderate sort of faith- a faith in good citizenship or strong family values (and they are worthy!). But Jesus calls us to the freedom that only comes from abandonment to the total will of God. That is something to think about over this Glorious Fourth of July Weekend.

Prayer

Chorus:

Sacrament of Communion