107 Sermon Illustrations on Freedom

Prior to the collapse of Communism, Eastern Europe was held under the iron grip of secrecy, paranoia, and control. The primary agent of this iron grip was the Secret Police. In East Germany, formerly the GDR, the Secret Police were called the Stasi.(1) The Stasi, East Germany’s Ministry for State Security, featured what was undoubtedly the most comprehensive internal security operation of the Cold War. The Stasi exercised control through a widespread network of informants -- researchers estimate that out of a population of 16 million, 400,000 people actively cooperated by informing on one another. The Stasi kept files on up to 6 million East German citizens -- one-third of the entire population.

With broad power and remarkable attention to detail, the Stasi monitored all phone calls from the West, and all mail. Similar surveillance infiltrated factories, social clubs, and youth associations; many East Germans were coerced or blackmailed into informing on their own families. The Stasi kept close tabs on all potential subversives, even collecting scent samples from people by wiping bits of cloth on objects they had touched. These samples were stored in airtight glass containers and special dogs were trained to track down the person’s scent. The agency was authorized to conduct secret smear campaigns against anyone it judged to be a threat; and torture was an accepted method of getting information.

There was nothing resembling freedom while the Stasi held power in East Germany. Even those members of society who thought they were flying “under the radar” turned out to have their entire lives on file as was discovered after the fall of the Berlin wall. The freedom to have privacy, movement across borders, even differing opinions was annihilated by Stasi agents and informants. Freedom was but a memory and a disintegrated hope.

In the West, by contrast, both then and now, freedom rules the day. In general, we are free to do and to be whatever we want. We move unhindered towards the achievement of our own personal freedoms and objectives, without worrying about impediment or coercive control from outside forces. In fact, we rarely worry about the consequences to others in the exercise of our freedom. Certainly, we enjoy the privilege of the freedom to move about our country across state borders effortlessly. We have the freedom to worship, unhindered by government intervention or surveillance. Many of us who have financial abundance are able to access freedoms that only money can buy. We are free to think as we want, speak what we want, and do what we want. In comparison with people in other countries, we have the freedom to.... We can fill in the blank with endless possibilities.

But often, as we expose the horrific constriction of communism, our ideas of freedom to do, to be, to say whatever we want -- even for Christians -- lose their mooring from the Scriptural anchor. We isolate freedom to the realm of personal rights, and forget that the biblical ideal, which emerges from the biblical writers, is freedom for the service of others.

For example, regarding conflicts involving personal freedom, the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that “all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his or her own good, but that of his or her neighbor....whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:23,24,31). And to the Galatians, who were tempted to trade freedom for the grip of the law, Paul still reminds them that “you were called to freedom; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:13-14).

Paul’s definition of freedom for love and service seems to fly in the face of our culture’s understanding of freedom as doing whatever one wants to do. And while we rightly deplore the restriction or oppression of human freedom as evidenced in organizations and systems like the Stasi, we should likewise deplore the unchecked, unthinking, and often self-centered understandings of freedom that occupy our Western societies and systems. We are called to freedom, Paul reminds us, not so we can waste it on our own self-interested pursuits, but that through love we can embrace freedom for the sake of one another.

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1. The preceding was excerpted from the following CNN site. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/experience/spies/spy.files/intelligence/stasi.html

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Copyright © 2008 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was added to HolwickID #11095]

Dr. James Dobson reports the findings of an interesting study done on school children recently in his film series "Focus on the Family." A group of educators decided to remove the chain-like fences from around the school playgrounds. They believed the fences promoted feelings of confinement and restraint. The curious thing they noticed, however, that as soon as the fences were removed, the children huddled in the center of the playground to play. Conclusion: Children need boundaries.

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Another version from Roddy Chestnut:

God's commandments don't restrict us as much as they free us. A number of years ago a psychologist in California passed a school playground on a busy highway on his way to work each day. Kids played, but were bunched in middle of playground. One day he went by and a fence had been put up. Kids were scattered all over the place within the fence. They had a safe, clearly defined place to play.

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Another version from Boarding School Nannies Consulting Group:

Setting boundaries for children is consistently the main topic that is discussed when a child is participating in unacceptable behavior. The truth is, the earlier that a parent sets firm boundaries for their child with a logical age appropriate consequence that is immediately implemented, the better the child will respond to being redirected.

In the early 1950s a study was conducted regarding children and boundaries. A school was chosen and a fence was constructed around the playground. It was observed that the children’s play not only had them engaging in play all over the playground, but directly next to the fence and as children are likely to do, they played on the fence.

The second-half of the study required that the playground fence be removed and then the children allowed out to play. It was observed that the children clustered their play in the center of the playground only venturing out to where the fence use to be when a toy or ball rolled in that direction.

The study validated that children want and need boundaries in order to feel safe and encourage exploration and trust in the childs care providers and environment.

A small rock band commemorated the anniversary of September 11th with a controversial concert they called “Hit Another Tower.” One band member justified their work saying, “We believe there is nothing so serious that you can't laugh about it.” [1]

Other artistic controversy emerged recently when a sculpture depicting a woman with flailing arms and legs was placed on exhibit. The artist said his work was meant to honor those who jumped from the World Trade Center. Onlookers were so disturbed, it was quickly removed.

I cannot think of a place where the lines of moral law are more vague and our inner need for these lines more heightened than in the realms of personal expression. Achievement in culture and civilization is defined by man's unique capacity to create and discern beauty, to express and utilize wisdom, virtue, and power. But we fail to remember that wrong use of these capacities is the defining trademark of evil throughout history.

Reinhold Niebuhr once stated, “The destructiveness in human life is primarily the consequence of exceeding, not the bounds of nature, but much more the ultimate limits… There are such limits, because man is a creature as well as creator.” [2] Fifty years have past since Niebuhr penned these words and yet they couldn't be more appropriate for today. We flaunt the freedom to create, all the while choosing to forget our Creator. But unbound by moral law, even our own heart's expression can lead to destruction.

In his novel Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky masterfully captures a heart wrestling with the lines of beauty. He writes, “Is there beauty in Sodom? Believe me, that for the immense mass of mankind beauty is found in Sodom... The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man.” [3]

Only through a moral framework are we reminded of the sanctity of beauty, the sanctity of time, the sanctity of the word, the sanctity of life. When you desacralize these things, destruction entails. What contradiction is to reason, evil is to life.

But in God there is no contradiction, and emerging from Him is that indestructible law. To all perfections there is a limit, says the Psalmist, but the law of God is boundless. (Psalm 119:96) You see, God has made us to create, giving us all the freedoms for the design with which He fashioned us; but creatures, that we might find our reason for being in that moral framework with which He framed us.

Dear friends, may you know beauty and truth not in abstract expressions but personally — in the splendor of Jesus Christ.

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1. Wall Street Opinion Journal, “Rock group issues call to Hit Another Tower.” September 13, 2002. www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/13/1031608303822.html

2. Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952.

3. Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov.

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Copyright © 2002 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #12464

Needy miners and settlers in British Columbia, engaged in stripping abandoned Fort Alcan of lumber, electrical appliances, and plumbing, made an amazing discovery. While dismantling the jail they found that the mighty locks were attached to the heavy doors, and two-inch steel bars covered the windows, but the walls of the prison were only patented wallboard of clay and paper, painted to resemble iron. A good old heave against the walls by a man not as strong as a football tackle would have burst the wall out. Nobody ever tried it because nobody thought it possible.

Many Christians are prisoners of fears that are nothing when pushed against. Satan cannot do anything against a child of God, but he loves to put barriers of paper-mache in the path of a believer to make him think that there is no progress in the direction of the will of the Lord. When by faith we push against it we will be free.

-- Eternity magazine

I have on my table a violin string . . . it is free. I twist one

end of it and it responds. It is free. But it is not free to do what

a violin string is supposed to do - to produce music. So I take it,

fix it in my violin and tighten it until it is taut. Only then is it

free to be a violin string.

By the same token we are free when our lives are uncommitted, but

not to be what we were intended to be. Real freedom is not freedom

\bold{from}, but freedom \bold{for}. - Robert W. Youngs, { In

Touch}

{Pulpit Helps, }March 1996, p. 7

“HE HAS TAKEN OUR HEADS OUT!”

A man returning from a visit to a mission field in Africa tells an interesting story about the circumstances behind the translation of Colossians 1:13 into the dialect of the people. He says that the words “has delivered us,” referring to the liberating power of Christ in salvation, are rendered, “has taken our heads out!”

When the man first heard that strange expression, he inquired how it could possibly convey the meaning of the verse. The missionary told him years ago the tribes people had lived in terrible slavery.

Huge iron collars attached to heavy chains had been placed around their necks. They dared not strain to get away because these cruel collars would bruise their throats and choke them. When they were finally set free from their oppressors, the best part was being released once and for all from those confining iron bands.

Therefore, when they wanted to describe the wonderful spiritual deliverance they had experienced from the awful power of Satan, they could find no better way to express what Jesus had done for them than to say, “He has taken our heads out!”

What word picture would you and I use to describe the spiritual deliverance we have experienced.

Often we use the Biblical terms of redemption and delivered casually and almost given them 'theological status' not realising that the power of these words is connected to the reality of our being captives or slaves. Typically Western Societies do not see themselves as captives, but as conquerors.

What is interesting to note is that the terms redemption and delivered are typically in our society used in connection with the buying, selling, and delivery of goods.

One person owing another person no longer occurs in Western Culture, but slavery still occurs. People become slaves to material items, to the consumer culture, people become enslaved to the very things they buy.

If you have any doubts about the reality or power of the slavery of materialism consider the fact that people in our culture own more things than people in any other culture at any other time, yet there is a profound emptiness in people lives. Everybody knows that things do not bring joy, but then why do we pursue things as if they were the only source of joy.

Back to the word picture of being delivered. Because of Jesus we have set free from sin and the madness of our consumer culture. We have been delivered from the temptations of the advertising culture. That is a great blessing far too many Christians have neglected, including myself.

EBENSBURG, Pa., June 4 - It was a picturesque scene as 22-year-old Jonas Swartzentruber, a typically shy member of an ultra-plain sect of the Old Order Amish, guided his horse and buggy along Lemon Drop Road while S.U.V.'s and other engines of modernity passed him by.

Then a state police officer stopped the youthful farmer and wrote a ticket for not having an orange and red reflector triangle on the buggy's rear as night fell here in the rolling Allegheny hills.

Mr. Swartzentruber, arguing instead for a red lantern and plain gray strips of light-reflecting tape, quietly set a new course across the land, one that landed him in jail for three days. It has sparked a constitutional fight playing out appropriately enough in the name of William Penn, the Quaker patriarch who went to prison six times in the process of founding this state as a "holy experiment" in religious tolerance.

Mr. Swartzentruber refused to pay a $93 fine for lacking the reflector triangle state law requires for slow vehicles. He considers the gaudiness of the colors and the symbolism of the triangle a grave violation of the ordnung, the unwritten rules governing his sect, which is one of the most stringent among the many Amish groups fiercely devoted to different interpretations of the biblical call in Romans 12:2 to live symbol-free and plain and not "conformed to this world."

Leaders of the local 80-member community, known as the Andy Weaver group of the Swartzentruber Amish, are pleading to use the gray tape that a half-dozen other states with growing Amish communities have accepted. Otherwise, the group said, it will be compelled to move on, as Amish have done for three centuries, to a more tolerant place.

The authorities have defended the triangle as a necessary safety measure accepted by many other horse-and-buggy Amish sects, including scores in Pennsylvania Dutch country. The police have written two dozen reflector citations as the Swartzentruber Amish hold out in solidarity.

"Why does the State of Pennsylvania require this?" asked Heath Long, assistant district attorney, as the cases were heard two weeks ago in Cambria County Court. "Because it works - it saves lives."

In behalf of the Amish, pro bono lawyers from Reed Smith L.L.P. in Pittsburgh and the American Civil Liberties Union pressed a challenge rooted in Penn's historic invitation to conscientious diversity.

They noted how Penn's ideal has played out in court precedents that allow Amish groups to differ not just from "the English people," as they call the majority, but also among their own separate congregations.

"Our country has sped up around these people, literally and figuratively," said Donna M. Doblick, in defending the Amish with John A. Camp, her law firm colleague.

"No one should have to choose between worshiping God in the way they see fit and living in Pennsylvania," Ms. Doblick said, noting that there have been no buggy collisions on local roads and that the tape may be safer than the triangle.

A visitor can see why the Amish moved here to a pastoral valley beyond town five years ago after deciding that their Ohio base had become overrun with Amish-seeking tourists. The land is serene and this town seems more than tolerant as shoppers look for the Amish's produce at the Saturday farmer's market.

"But at night on the S-curve by Lemondrop Road you come upon them and - whoa - you're lucky to see the buggy in time," said Ken Caretti, a retired corrections guard who contends the triangle is more effective than the gray tape. "I couldn't care less about their religion," said Mr. Caretti, pausing on his grass mower by a pristine lawn Madonna.

But the Amish could not care more about their religion and its details, notes Donald B. Kraybill, a sociology and religion professor at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa. He is an expert on the Amish congregations, subgroups and breakaway sects that count 180,000 Americans as members.

Despite their loathing of symbols, the Amish buggy has become "an implicit religious symbol," signifying rejection of the automobile and other worldly trappings, said Professor Kraybill, who was a witness for the defense. "They have very serious objections to what looks to them like a symbol of the outside world being forced upon their sacred object."

The spirit of Solomon as much as William Penn may be required of Judge Timothy Creany, whose decision is expected any day.

Facing the Amish, who journeyed to his courtroom by horse and buggy, Judge Creany summarized the constitutional issue, "If we're trampling on your religious rights, we have to have a very compelling interest."

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

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Any day we wish; we can discipline ourselves to make important changes in our lives. Any day we wish; we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish; we can start a new activity. Any day we wish; we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.

We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform. And if the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause. As Shakespeare uniquely observed, "The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves." We created our circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today. Those who are in search of the good life do not need more answers or more time to think things over to reach better conclusions. They need the truth. They need the whole truth. And they need nothing but the truth.

We cannot allow our errors in judgment, repeated every day, to lead us down the wrong path. We must keep coming back to those basics that make the biggest difference in how our life works out. And then we must make the very choices that will bring life, happiness and joy into our daily lives.

And if I may be so bold to offer my last piece of advice for someone seeking and needing to make changes in their life - If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree. You have the ability to totally transform every area in your life - and it all begins with your very own power of choice.

To Your Success, Jim Rohn

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Dr. Gordon one Easter brought an old beat-up rusty birdcage and sat it next to the pulpit. As he gave his sermon that Easter morning he held up the cage and said, "You might be wondering why this is here. As a matter of fact, that's not the normal part of a service, having a bird cage here."

He said, "Let me tell you the story of it. Several days ago I was noticing a little boy in tattered and torn blue jeans and a dirty T-shirt, cap off to the side, whistling, walking down an alley, swinging this birdcage. Clinging to the bottom of the cage were little field sparrows he had caught. So I stopped him and asked, 'Say, sonny, what do you have there?' He said, 'Oh, I've got some birds.' 'What are you gonna do with 'em?' I asked. 'Oh, mess around with them, tease 'em, something like that.' 'Well,' I asked, 'when you get tired of 'em, what are you gonna do?' He thought a moment and said, 'Well, I got a couple of cats at home and they like birds. I think I'll just let them have at 'em.'"

Dr. Gordon said his heart went out to the little birds so he made the little lad an offer. "How much do you want for the birds?" Surprised, the boy, said, "mister, these birds ain't no good." "Well," Dr. Gordon said, "regardless, how much would you like for 'em?" The little fellow said, "How about two bucks?" He said, "Sold." So he reached in his pocket and peeled off two dollar bills. The little boy shoved the birdcage forward pleased with his stroke of good fortune.

When the boy left, the minister walked a good distance away, lifted open the little cage door and said, "Shoo, shoo." And he shoved them out of the door and they flew free.

The empty birdcage was a perfect illustration of how Satan had the human race trapped and frightened. Jesus Christ not only paid the price for our freedom; He has set us free.

The Tale Of The Tardy Oxcart

Charles R. Swindoll, Word, p. 171.

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Another version, from Rev. Shelton Cole:

A man was on the side of the road with a large birdcage. A boy noticed that the cage was full of birds of many kinds. "Where did you get those birds?" he asked.

"Oh, all over the place," the man replied. "I lure them with crumbs, pretend I'm their friend then when they are close, I net them and shove them into my cage."

"And what are you going to do with them now?" The man grinned, "I'm going to prod them with sticks, and get them really mad so they fight and kill each other. Those that survive, I will kill. None will escape."

The boy looked steadily at the man. What made him do such things? He looked into the cruel, hard eyes. Then he looked at the birds, defenseless, without hope. "Can I buy those birds?" the boy asked.

The man hid a smile, aware that he could be on to a good thing if he played his cards right. "Well," he said hesitantly, "the cage is pretty expensive, and I spent a lot of time collecting these birds, I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll let you have the lot, birds, cage and all for ten pounds and that jacket you're wearing."

The boy paused, ten pounds was all he had, and the jacket was new and very special, in fact it was his prized possession. Slowly, he took out the ten pounds and handed it over, then even more slowly he took off his jacket, gave it one last look then handed that over too. And then (well, you've guessed it) he opened the door and let the birds go free.

MORAL OF THE STORY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Enemy of the world, Satan, was on the side of life's road with a very large cage. The man coming towards him noticed that it was crammed full of people of every kind, young, old, from every race and nation."

Where did you get these people?" the man asked. "Oh, from all over the world," Satan replied. "I lure them with drinking, drugs, lust, lies, anger, hate, love of money, and all manner of things. I pretend I'm their friend, out to give them a good time, then when I've hooked them, into the cage they go."

"And what are you going to do with them now?" asked the man.

Satan grinned. "I'm going to prod them, provoke them, get them to hate and destroy each other; I'll stir up racial hatred, defiance of law and order; I'll make people bored, lonely, dissatisfied, confused and restless. It's easy. People will always listen to what I offer them and (what's better) blame God for the outcome!" "And then what?" the man asked." Those who do not destroy themselves, I will destroy. None will escape me."

The man stepped forward. "Can I buy these people from you?" he asked.

Satan snarled, "Yes, but it will cost you your life."

So Jesus Christ, the Son of God, paid for your release, your freedom from Satan's trap, with His own life, on the cross at Calvary. The door is open, and anyone, whom Satan has deceived and caged, can be set free.

Submitted by:

Pastor Thomas A. McCue

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Another version from Dynamic Preaching:

That prince of the pulpit Charles Hadley Spurgeon was walking the streets of London deep in thought when he saw a young street boy. The lad was carrying an old, bent bird cage. Inside was a tiny field sparrow. Spurgeon stopped the boy and asked him what he was going to do with the bird.

“Well...” the boy said. “I think I’ll play with it for a while, and then when I’m tired of playing with it -- I think I’ll kill it.” He made that last comment with a wicked grin.

Moved with compassion for the bird, Spurgeon asked, “How much would you sell me that bird for?”

“You don’t want this bird, mister,” the boy said with a chuckle. “It’s just a bleeding field sparrow.” But then he saw the old gentleman was serious.

“You can have this bird for -- two pounds,” he said slyly. Two pounds at that time would be worth more than a hundred dollars today -- an astronomical price for a bird worth only pennies. Spurgeon paid the price, and let the bird go.

The next morning, Easter Sunday morning, an empty bird cage sat on the pulpit of the great Metropolitan Tabernacle where Spurgeon preached.

“Let me tell you about this cage,” Spurgeon said as he began the sermon. Then he recounted the story about the little boy and how he had purchased the bird from him at a high cost.

“I tell you this story,” he said, “because that’s just what Jesus did for us. You see, an evil specter called Sin had us caged up and unable to escape. But then Jesus came up to Sin and said, ‘What are you going to do with those people in that cage?’

“‘These people?’ Sin answered with a laugh. ‘I’m going to teach them to hate each other. Then I’ll play with them until I’m tired of them -- and then I’ll kill them.’

“‘How much to buy them back?’ Jesus asked.

“With a sly grin, Sin said, ‘You don’t want these people, Jesus. They’ll only hate you and spit on you. They’ll even nail you to a cross. But if you do want to buy them, it’ll cost you all your tears and all your blood -- your very life!’”

Spurgeon concluded, “That, ladies and gentlemen, is just what Jesus did for us on the cross. He paid the ultimate, immeasurable price for all who would believe, that we might be free from the inescapable penalty of death.” (1)

That is the message of Easter. You and I can be free, free as that bird delivered from its cage. We can walk in dignity and joy, with purpose and power. Christ is stronger than sin and the grave.

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1. Gary Smalley and John Trent, THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE (Pomona, CA: Focus on the Family Publishing, 1988).

In the mid-1700s the American colonists grew increasingly frustrated at the level of intrusion in their lives on the part of the British government. They were taxed too much. They were subject to the government at its whim, whether that meant housing British troops in their homes or forfeiting their property for the benefit of the crown. They decided to do something about it. For more than a decade they actively resisted the rule of the British in a number of ways. Then, on July 4, 1776, they seceded from the British Empire and established themselves as a cooperating confederation of 13 independent states. They chose liberty. But it came with a high price tag.

Most of the leaders of the movement toward independence were men of wealth, privilege and position. But they valued liberty more. It is a good thing, too, because with few exceptions their fight for freedom, while winning them their precious liberty, cost them practically everything else. Perhaps it is for this reason they endeavored to insure liberty would remain a part of their legacy to future generations of Americans.

To secure this legacy, they prepared a document intended to be a guide for us. They left us the Constitution. They left it because, quite frankly, they didn't trust us to take good care of the liberty which had cost them so much. Not that this is an indictment on us in particular, they just didn't trust men, period.

"In questions of power, then, let no more be said of confidence in man," Thomas Jefferson said. "But bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution."

Subsequent Americans in positions of government were to be extremely limited in what they were allowed to do. This was the entire purpose of the Constitution.

"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated," Jefferson said.

I guess these men had an incredible ability to understand the hearts of men. They knew that men who obtain power will do just about anything to keep it. Jefferson even observed that it might be necessary, periodically, to revolt again and again in order to keep true liberty. Their concerns are vindicated by history. Today, our federal government has far exceeded the scope of authority established by the Constitution.

James Madison, the author of the Constitution, once said, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." Remember, according to Jefferson, Congress may only do those things specifically enumerated in the Constitution.

Yet our current federal government spends billions of our dollars on things like Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, Social Security and the like at a huge cost to the American taxpayer. The virtue of any of these programs is not at issue here. The only issue is that Congress, according to the Constitution, has no authority to do these things. The legacy of political liberty, as won by our founders, is all but gone. Fortunately for us, they left us another legacy.

The founders knew that the nature of true liberty was not something granted by man. It is granted by God. The language of the Declaration of Independence reflects this. Consider the phase, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights...." Of course the Christian nature of colonial culture demanded no explanation for the word "Creator." Toward the end of the document we find the additional phrase, "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence...." Again, the language was plain enough.

Even if you want to debate the language contained in the Declaration of Independence, it is hard to refute the words of the men themselves when they said things like ...

-- "God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed their only sure basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that those liberties are the gift of God?" -- Thomas Jefferson

-- "In addition to the distinguished character of a Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of a Christian." -- George Washington

-- "[The Revolutionary War] connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity." -- John Quincy Adams

-- "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom to worship here." -- Patrick Henry

-- "The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person a brother, or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free Constitutions of Government." -- Noah Webster

You see, they understood that civil governments are only necessary because men have to be restrained from encroaching on one another's liberty due to obedience to their sinful nature. But for the sinful heart of man there would be no need for police and courts. There would be no need for armies and navies. They understood it may be necessary for men to fight other men to protect their political and civil liberty because they understood the prophet Jeremiah when he said, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked...." As long as men are enslaved to their sin, they will violate the civil liberties of others.

And there is the key. True liberty can only come when we have been set free from sin. This is why the founders did not try to separate the principles of Christianity from civil government. They believed in liberty too much. This is why the Constitution prohibits Congress from exercising any authority over religion. The founders understood that the authority flows in the other direction.

During this time of the year we celebrate America's independence. We honor the men who paid the price for liberty. If we are patriots we should never neglect to do so. However, if we heed the words of George Washington, and "add the more distinguished character of a Christian," then we should also honor the legacy of true liberty. We should take the opportunity to share with people the nature of true liberty and the incredible cost Christ paid in order to purchase it.

And while we can watch the erosion of the civil liberties won during the American Revolution, we can take heart in the knowledge that true liberty is secure because we have not been charged with its protection. Christ, in answering a group of Jews concerning freedom, spoke of the security of true liberty. "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

This Independence Day, add to your distinguished character of a patriot the more distinguished character of a Christian and celebrate the true liberty we have in Christ Jesus.

__________________

Bayer is editor of the Indiana Baptist newsjournal.

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1. Break Thou the bread of life, Dear Lord, to me,

As Thou didst break the loaves Beside the sea:

Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord;

My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word.

2. Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord, To me— to me;

As Thou didst bless the bread By Galilee:

Then shall all bondage cease, All fetters fall,

And I shall find my peace, My All in All.

3. Thou art the bread of life, O Lord, to me;

Thy holy Word the truth, That saveth me:

Give me to eat and live With Thee above;

Teach me to love Thy truth, For Thou art love.

4. O send Thy Spirit, Lord, Now unto me,

That He may touch my eyes And make me see:

Show me the truth concealed Within Thy Word,

And in Thy book revealed I see Thee, Lord.

[Tune: Bread of Life]

*

By giving humans freedom of will, the Creator has chosen to limit His own power. He risked the daring experiment of giving us the freedom to make good or bad decisions, to live decent or evil lives, because God does not want the forced obedience of slaves. Instead, He covets the voluntary love and obedience of sons who love Him for Himself.

________

Catherine Marshall, Beyond Our Selves

Poem XIII of "A Shropshire Lad," by A. E. Housman (1859-1936)

When I was one-and-twenty

I heard a wise man say,

“Give crowns and pounds and guineas

But not your heart away;

Give pearls away and rubies,

But keep your fancy free.”

But I was one-and-twenty,

No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty

I heard him say again,

“The heart out of the bosom

Was never given in vain;

’Tis paid with sighs a-plenty

And sold for endless rue.”

And I am two-and-twenty,

And oh, ’tis true, ’tis true.

Sermon for Memorial Day. Series: What Is Ours in Christ

Luke 4:18-19

WHAT IS OURS IN CHRIST - FREEDOM

================================

I. Memorial Sunday.

A. Millions have died for their countries.

B. Franklin Roosevelt's famous "Four Freedoms."

C. Christians also hold freedom as an ultimate ideal.

II. Five freedoms of the Christian.

A. Freedom of Choice.

B. Freedom from Law.

C. Freedom from Sin.

D. Freedom to Love.

E. Freedom from Death.

III. We can find freedom in the midst of bondage.

A. Many who think they are free, aren't.

B. When Jesus sets you free, you are free indeed.

IV. God wants to free you.

A. Release from bondage.

B. Experiencing God's positive favor.

Anna Greenberg, former assistant professor of public policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, observed in a 1999 Chronicle of Higher Education essay:

“Polls show that Americans have the perplexing ability to hold ideologically contradictory views. As many scholars note, Americans are simultaneously attached to both limited and activist government policies; they are capable, for instance, of favoring both cutting the federal budget and increasing spending on education, health care, and other social programs. Americans are also quite willing to offer opinions to poll takers on subjects that they concede they know nothing about.[1]

As this observation humorously portrays, Americans are people with varying opinions, competing loyalties and often contradicting perspectives.

Despite our weaknesses and sometimes our silliness, we have much for which to be thankful. We enjoy freedoms that most people in the world do not have. While there is much with our government, judicial system, legislative process and executive branch to cause us concern, we must stop and thank God for the freedoms we do have. We must also remember our duties and responsibilities as Christian citizens.

The apostle Paul thought this was important. Both Romans 13:1–7 and 1 Timothy 2:1–4 are instructive about the Christian’s perspective on the role of government.

We are to acknowledge that government is ordained of God.

The Romans passage speaks of our subjection to government authorities. In verses 3–5, Paul went as far as to tell us that government is a minister of God. We know that God’s purpose through government is to aid the good and punish the evil. Governments are ordained of God to help citizens accomplish the greatest good for the greatest number and, hopefully, to prevent evil people from profiting at the expense of the overall community. Assuming that the government fulfills its purpose, one reason for obeying our laws would be the fear of punishment. However, for Christians there is a more worthy motive, namely to be good citizens as part of being a positive Christian witness in society.

We are to remember our duties.

The Romans text also instructs Christ-followers to obey the laws and honor those in authority (vv. 5–7). Yes, we have duties as good citizens! One of those duties in a free society is to encourage all persons to be involved in the political process.

I am well aware that we are in the midst of one of the most interesting election cycles in our history. There is deep division in our country as to what needs to happen in the days ahead. Colorful candidates are espousing views which reveal, in essence, two very different Americas. We desperately need to be involved in the process so that we will vote for a person who would honor the true needs of our citizens while also honoring the timeless judgments and precepts of our Lord. Christians must be involved in the political process. To relegate that responsibility to nonbelievers is irresponsible at best.

In the churches I have served over the years, we routinely held registration drives to encourage people to vote. It is unconscionable to me for a Christian not to exercise his or her right as a citizen in this country. I understand apathy. I understand fatigue. However, we must not grow weary in well-doing. We must vote our convictions!

I viewed it then, and view it now, as inappropriate for me to endorse specific candidates. But it would be irresponsible for me not to remind followers of Jesus Christ about an issue of extreme importance, namely Christian citizenship and the duty to show up at the polls and vote our convictions.

We are to prioritize focused prayer for our government and our leaders.

In 1 Timothy 2:1–4, we see the need to pray for our leaders: “First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone” (verse 1). When government espouses the values of religious liberty and respect for its citizens, hindrances to public witness and barriers to religious freedom begin to fall. Christ-followers are able to lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity (verse 2). Such an environment is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (verses 3–4).

Have you been praying for our leaders? Have you been praying for our president? Are you praying for this election process? Are you registered to vote? I hope so. Let us pray and let us vote to protect the liberties we have enjoyed in our lifetime and preserve them for our children and their children throughout the generations!

________

1. “Public Opinion Makes Better Sense without the Opinion Makers,” May 14, 1999, pp. B8-B9; cited in Leadership, Winter 2000, p. 69.

Several generations ago, during one of the most turbulent of the desert wars in the Middle East, a spy was captured and sentenced to death by a general of the Persian army. The general, a man of intelligence and compassion, had adopted a strange and unusual custom in such cases. He permitted the condemned person to make a choice. The prisoner could either face a firing squad or pass through the Black Door.

As the moment of the execution drew near, the general ordered the spy to be brought before him for a short, final interview, the primary purpose of which was to receive the answer of the doomed man to the query: "What shall it be-the firing squad or the Black Door?"

This was not an easy decision, and the prisoner hesitated, but soon made it known that he much preferred the firing squad to the unknown horrors that might await him behind the ominous and mysterious door.

Not long thereafter, a volley of shots in the courtyard announced that the grim sentence had been fulfilled.

The general, staring at his boots, turned to his aide and said, "You see how it is with men; they will always prefer the known to the unknown. It is characteristic of people to be afraid of the undefined.

Yet I gave him his choice."

"What lies beyond the Black Door?" asked the aide.

"Freedom," replied the general, "and I've known only a few brave enough to take it."

The story illustrates the situation many people face each day-a choice between the known and the unknown. Few have the courage to come alive, to stop being engulfed in a sea of mediocrity-humbled and dulled by failure to recognize their own potential. They lack the fortitude to stop living their lives in a mentally-chloroformed condition in that ignoble mass of humanity... the uncommitted. The choice is yours ( Phi_4:13 ). "By grace ye are saved through faith" (Ephesians 4:28). "We live by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).

I've had a lot of friends in law enforcement. And I've even had the opportunity to ride in the front seat with a police officer. But the experience I had recently had a totally different feel to it. I was speaking at a large youth festival, and I had to get across this festival's grounds quickly to my next speaking venue. Two police officers working security said, "Hey, hop in our squad car - we'll take you over there." Well, I jumped into the back seat of the police car and I quickly realized that I had never experienced a little of what it feels like to be on the custody end of things like that. There was this wall between me and the officers in the front seat. And when we arrived at our destination, I tried in vain to open my door. No way. My officer friend had a good laugh at this as he said, "Ron, there's no way you can get yourself out of there. You see, somebody has to let you out." I've decided I am not excited about being in the prisoner seat any more.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Unlocked From The Outside."

"There's no way you can get yourself out of there." That's a feeling many of us have experienced, without ever being physically locked up. It's like there are these hurtful emotional and spiritual cycles that we just can't seem to get ourselves out of.

Maybe you know what it is to be trapped in a cycle of destructive behavior, or of damaged relationships, or maybe you've been in a cycle of guilt and shame over repeated mistakes, or a cycle of slavery to a behavior you just can't seem to change, or even a cycle of unfulfillment, where one experience after another fails to give you the peace and the meaning you've always hoped for. There are no bars, no prison walls, but we know the feeling of being locked up in a way of living we can't get out of. Just like a prisoner in a cell - or me in the prisoner seat of a police car - somebody has to let you out. And for 2,000 years, "the" Somebody has been doing that for millions of us spiritual prisoners.

In fact, in Isaiah 61:1, our word for today from the Word of God, He announced His reason for coming to earth this way: "The Lord has ... sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners." Jesus understands the powerful force that ultimately keeps us locked up in our destructive cycles. He said, "Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin." (John 8:34) Sin is simply our hijacking of our life from the God who was supposed to run it. And because we're away from our Creator, we're trapped in this self-run orbit where life just doesn't work right.

It took the coming - and the dying - of the Son of God to break the enslaving power of sin. By taking the death penalty for what we've done, Jesus has the power, not only to save us from our own hurtful ways, but to save us from the eternal penitentiary the Bible calls hell. He's come from the outside to let you out, to set you free. But He waits for your invitation to do that - your invitation to Him to come into your life, forgive every sin, and change you from the inside out.

That glorious freedom that so many have experienced you can experience, beginning this very day. It begins when you tell Jesus, "I'm Yours." Jesus has been setting prisoners free for a long, long time. This could be your day to finally be able to say - "Free at last, free at last - thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!"

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

*

The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17).

The Spirit-filled walk is neither characterized by license nor legalism, but liberty. Paul stated that we are “servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life … Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:6, 17).

I believe that our freedom in Christ is one of the most precious commodities we have received from our spiritual union with God. Because the Spirit of the Lord is in you, you are free to choose to live a responsible and moral life. You are no longer compelled to walk according to the flesh as you were before conversion. And now you are not even compelled to walk according to the Spirit. You are free to choose to walk according to the Spirit or to walk according to the flesh.

Walking according to the Spirit implies two things. First, it’s not passive. We’re talking about walking in the Spirit, not sitting in the Spirit. One of the most dangerous and harmful detriments to your spiritual growth is passivity–putting your mind in neutral and coasting. The Christian classic War on the Saints, by Jessie Penn-Lewis, was written to combat such passive thinking. Sitting back and waiting for God to do everything is not God’s way to spiritual maturity.

Second, we’re talking about walking in the spirit, not running in the Spirit. The Spirit-filled life is not achieved through endless, exhausting activity. We mistakenly think that the harder we work for God, the more spiritual we will become. That’s a subtle lie from the enemy. Satan knows that he may not be able to stop you from serving God by making you immoral, but he can probably impede your service by simply making you busy. Our service for God can become the greatest detriment of our devotion to God.

Lord, I desire to walk according to the Spirit today at Your pace, not sitting passively through inactivity or running myself ragged by becoming too busy.

The Fourth of July is an American holiday that goes uncelebrated in much of the rest of the world. At home, the Stars and Stripes flutter. The pleasing aroma from backyard cookouts pervades the air. And as dusk descends, the skies explode with a crescendo of fireworks celebrating life, liberty, and happiness.

Abroad, America is seen as many things, not all of them complimentary. The US is rich and powerful, and that sometimes engenders envy, derision, and - as we have seen with the onset of terrorism -- hatred.

America is not a perfect society, but it is truly a remarkable one. It is built on a desire for freedom, and a conviction on the part of most Americans that this freedom should not be hugged selfishly to themselves, but is a right to which all mankind is entitled.

It is a belief that has motivated Americans to fight against fascism in World War II, and for presidents like John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan to inveigh against the Berlin Wall and communism's “evil empire.” It is a belief that underpins US attitudes toward the rest of the world even though US diplomacy is sometimes marred by missteps and miscalculations.

The desire for freedom is one of the great, driving historical forces of our times. I have watched it simmer, erupt, and surge in countries from South Africa, to Indonesia, to the Philippines, to Latin America, and to Russia and a host of countries in Eastern Europe. One of the most satisfying experiences in my life was a stint at the Voice of America during the bad old days of the cold war. From behind the Iron Curtain, notes and messages would trickle in, telling of Russians and other East Europeans who listened at some peril to VOA broadcasts, and who pleaded for continued broadcasts to keep the flame of liberty flickering.

People who have never known freedom still yearn for the freedoms that Americans take for granted - freedom to worship in the faith of their choice, to live where they want, to travel where they will, to work at a profession of their choosing in a free-market economy.

The good news is that the overall trend throughout the world is in a positive direction. The bad news is that there are still too many countries where such freedoms do not exist.… In a new book, “The Future of Freedom,” which has attracted attention in the foreign-affairs community, Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria reminds us that “spreading democracy is tough.” …

Though critics may harp, America remains for much of the world a beacon of liberty and opportunity. It is to America that every restless and politically dispossessed student in the underdeveloped world wants to flee - not to China, or even emancipated Russia.

America to them stands for freedom. It is that freedom, deeply cherished by Americans, for which they long.

__________

John Hughes, editor and chief operating officer of the Deseret Morning News, is a former editor of the Monitor. Copyright 2003 The Christian Science Monitor

*

All that is found in the promises of summer has long been a theme on the lips of poets and songwriters. Poet or not, I imagine we have all agreed with Shakespeare that, “summer's lease hath all too short a date.”

It is the time of year when we savor the days of summer, and recall what it felt like to run home from the last day of school with three months in our back pocket. For me summer vacations call to mind the shores of Lake Michigan, a picturesque reminder of the origins of the word “vacation” itself; “vacation” comes from the Latin word “vacatio” which means “freedom.”

Nonetheless, even as children on summer break, we are all sadly aware that it is a freedom that does not last. In truth, that a vacation ends, that the summer fades away, is perhaps a detail that makes them more sought-after; it is time set aside, time that shouts all the more of meaning because of the other moments with which it so contrasts. And yet there is a promise within the freeing days of summer that captures our hearts and remains with us through the longest of winters.

A poem by C.S. Lewis suggests that the promise we look for is that the cycles will one day come to a grinding halt and death will be no more. It is the hopeful possibility that we were created to know a freedom that endures. Writes Lewis,

I heard in Addison's Walk a bird sing clear

'This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.

'Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees

This year, nor want of rain destroy the peas.

'This year time's nature will no more defeat you,

Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.

'This time they will not lead you round and back

To Autumn, one year older, by the well-worn track.

'This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,

We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.

'Often deceived, yet open once again your heart,

Quick, quick, quick, quick! — the gates are drawn apart.’[1]

In the changing seasons, the fading of flowers, and the dying of summer are signposts of the eternal. In his wisdom King Solomon saw that written upon the seasons of time is the signature of the One who made them. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot... He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men.” Rising sun and emerging summer declare that the heavens will not forget nor forsake; upon each budding flower is written the promise of resurrection.

That God has stopped the cycle of death with the Cross of his son is the hope on which the Christian stands, that Christ is coming back to bring us where he is is the weighted promise we carry through the seasons. The effect of such a promise upon the life of a disciple was perhaps put into words best by hymnist Fanny Crosby. She wrote,

I know in Whom my soul believes,

I know in Whom I trust;

The Holy One, the merciful,

The only wise and just.

I know in Whom my soul believes,

And all my fears depart;

For though the winter winds may blow,

'Tis summer in my heart.

This prolific hymnist wrote of Christian hope as clearly and profoundly as she saw it written upon her life. Blinded as an infant by a doctor's error, she sang her life in darkness but radiated the light of Christ, ever carrying the promise of summer in her heart.

Knowing in Whom our souls believe, let us walk through every season with the light of Christ and the promise of resurrection. There will be a day when summer will come true.

__________

1. “What the Bird Said Early in the Year,” Poems, (Harcourt: San Diego, 1992), p. 71.

__________

Copyright © 2004 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

==========================

Version from July 7, 2006:

All that is found in the promises of summer has long been a theme on the lips of poets and songwriters. Poet or otherwise, I imagine we have all agreed at some point with Shakespeare: “summer's lease hath all too short a date.”

It is the time of year when we savor the days of summer, and recall what it felt like to run home from the last day of school with three months in our back pocket. For me summer vacations call to mind the shores of Lake Michigan, a scenic reminder of the origin of the word “vacation” itself; the Latin word “vacatio” means FREEDOM.

Even so, we are sadly aware it is a freedom that does not last. Even as children on summer break we knew that vacation would end and summer would fade away. It is, in fact, this quality that makes vacations all the more sought-after; it is time set aside, time that shouts particularly of meaning because of the time with which it so contrasts. Yet regardless of its short lease, there seems a promise within the freeing days of summer that captures our hearts and remains with us through the longest of winters.

A poem by C.S. Lewis suggests that the promise we look for is that the seasons of life will one day come to a grinding halt and death will be no more. It is the hopeful possibility that we were created to know a freedom that endures. Writes Lewis:

I heard in Addison's Walk a bird sing clear

'This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.

'Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees

This year, nor want of rain destroy the peas.

'This year time's nature will no more defeat you,

Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.

'This time they will not lead you round and back

To Autumn, one year older, by the well-worn track.

'This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,

We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.

'Often deceived, yet open once again your heart,

Quick, quick, quick, quick! — the gates are drawn apart.'(1)

What if the changing seasons, the fading of flowers, and the rebirth of summer are signposts of the eternal? In his wisdom King Solomon saw that written upon the seasons of time is the signature of the one who made them. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot... He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2,11). Rising sun and emerging summer declare that the heavens will neither forget nor forsake. Upon each waking flower is written the promise of resurrection.

It is this weighted promise we carry through the seasons: Christ has stopped the cycle of death and is coming back to bring us where he is. The effect of such a promise on the life of a disciple is well illustrated in hymnist Fanny Crosby. She wrote:

I know in whom my soul believes,

I know in whom I trust;

The Holy One, the merciful,

the only wise and just.

I know in whom my soul believes,

and all my fears depart;

For though the winter winds may blow,

'tis summer in my heart.

Crosby wrote of the Christian hope she saw written across her life. Though blinded as an infant by a doctor's error, she radiated the light of Christ, ever carrying the promise of summer in her heart. Knowing in whom our souls believe, let us walk likewise through every season, holding near the hope of Christ and the promise of resurrection. For there will be a day when summer comes true.

________

1. C.S. Lewis, "What the Bird Said Early in the Year," Poems, (Harcourt: San Diego, 1992), 71.

________

Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

*

[Original illustration here was a duplicate in HolwickID 25837-26027]

In business and life the opportunity to harbor bitterness for a wrong suffered is great. We are given plenty of opportunities to grow bitter from relationships that bring hurt and pain. The writer of the Hebrews passage above admonishes us not to miss the grace of God so that we won’t take up bitterness as a response to life’s pain. He cautions us against this because he knows that a bitter root grows and grows until it eventually defiles many others through a wake of bitterness. If bitterness is allowed to take root, we become imprisoned to it. God’s grace will no longer have as great an effect in our lives. We become ineffective, insensitive, and spiritually dead. We can even become physically ill from it. God does not live in bitterness. He lives in grace. He has provided grace for every person to walk in.

One day I was challenged to deal with an individual who hurt me terribly. I was faced with a decision. Would I choose bitterness, or would I choose grace? Oh, how my natural tendency was to choose bitterness. But God provided the courage to choose grace. With that grace came freedom-a freedom to love and even accept the person who was the source of such pain.

This is the real place where Christ’s power is most revealed. We cannot live without His supernatural grace. Are you in need of grace today? It is there for the receiving. It will take courage to accept it and walk in it. This will be your step to freedom.

American Transcendentalism, espoused by Thoreau and Emerson among others, believed strongly in human freedom. If I wish to be free, they argued, then all must wish to be free, and none may be denied freedom. In the formulation of the African-Amnerican writer and leader Frederick Douglass, "there is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong, for him."

One of my professors divided the class into groups of five and asked us to decide which of the following three individuals had the most freedom:

1. A person who is not able to sin,

2. A person who is both able to sin and able not to sin, and

3. A person who is not able not to sin.

Less than five minutes into the discussion, my group had concluded that the person who was both able to sin and able not to sin (person #2) had the most freedom. We correctly eliminated option #3 since a person who cannot help but sin is really in bondage. But the unanimity of the decision and the ease with which it was arrived at caused us to suspect that something was wrong. Why would we be asked to “discuss” such a “simple” question in a graduate seminar?

We had made two serious errors in our deliberation: we did not take into account the biblical meaning of “freedom” and we did not fully appreciate the nature of sin. Like most people, we thought freedom was the ability to do what one wanted to do -- whenever, however, and wherever one chose to do it. Consequently, we reasoned that the person who had the most choices automatically had the most freedom. When I wondered out loud whether we really believed that a person who could sin had more freedom than God, who cannot sin, we found out why we needed some time to discuss the question.

Biblically speaking, freedom is THE ABILITY TO FUNCTION THE WAY GOD DESIGNED US TO FUNCTION. This is the reason why freedom and truth are so intertwined; we need to know what our purpose and design are before we can exercise the freedom to fulfill our mission on earth. That is also true of things we ourselves make. A meticulously manufactured Ferrari which, I’ve been told, is a marvel on the road, is completely useless in the ocean. A hammer functions at its best when it is pounding nails, and a multi-million dollar piece of equipment made for space travel is useless to us unless we know its purpose. Similarly, we function at our best when our lives measure up to our Designer’s specifications. It is true that God’s purposes can be fulfilled even through people who reject Him, but true freedom is found only in Him.

Misunderstanding the kind of freedom Christ offers leads to a distorted view of the nature of sin. Some find it hard to give a good reason why sin is prohibited by God. Don’t God’s prohibitions limit our freedom? Wouldn’t some acts, at least, be harmlessly enjoyable if God, for some curious reason, did not brand them “sin”? The answer to both questions is no, and the reason is that sin is a serious defect in humanity, not a virtue. It will eventually turn those who relentlessly cling to it into grotesque distortions of God’s original intent for them. Anything that impedes our progress towards our true identity and calling diverts us from our journey to freedom, even when no one else finds out.

That is why it is NOT quite true to tell people that knowing the truth will set them free. That phrase is part of a very instructive discipleship statement in John 8:31-32 which reads, “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. THEN you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” Did you notice the conditional nature of the freedom proclaimed here? Only by holding to the teaching of Christ in the context of purposeful discipleship can true freedom be found. James 1:25 tells us that practicing God’s perfect law gives us freedom. Without a clear understanding of our call to freedom in Christ, our thirst for righteousness and passion for the lost will be seriously hindered, for we will secretly think that the requirements of righteousness are really deprivations.

No, I am not advocating works salvation. We are saved by grace through faith alone, but in the process of growth as believers, the light of the gospel must gradually shine on those areas of our lives that hold us back from fulfilling our true calling. When the gospel of Christ begins to chip away at those holdups, we learn what it means to be truly free and why it is prudent to hate sin. John Witherspoon was right. In his sermon on the first Thanksgiving Day called after the war for independence in the US, he declared, “A republic once equally poised must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty.”(1) Whether for an individual or a sovereign nation, truth and virtue are the rails upon which the wheels of freedom roll.

________

1. Quoted by Francis Schaeffer, A CHRISTIAN MANIFESTO, 33.

________

Copyright © 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #21033]

Have you ever drunk from a cup that had a crack in it, perhaps an heirloom tea cup that had been glued back together after an accident? When I handle something delicate that is fractured, I find myself on edge and guarded, lest the whole thing fall apart in my hands. It may still serve its function, but it must be handled with care.

“Integrity” is a word that we usually associate with morality and ethics, but potters use “integrity” as a word to describe the soundness of a vessel. A pot or bowl that has a flaw in it lacks integrity. Though it may adequately serve its function, the flaw diminishes its ability to withstand pressure; it could break without warning.

I believe that thinking about the integrity of china or pottery can help us understand why integrity is so important for us. While most people admire integrity (and probably consider themselves to be of above-average integrity), when a situation comes along that reveals a flaw in their own life, they are more likely to try to cover it up rather than expunge it. They live in self-deception, failing to realize that burying flaws only keeps the flawed one from soundness and strength.

Very few people love laws. We view rules as constrictions and impositions against our freedom. Yet the Bible portrays the law in a radically different light when James refers to “the law that gives freedom” (James 2:12). Contrary to our expectations, James implies that freedom comes not from lawlessness but THROUGH the law.

Chances are, I’ve set off alarm bells in the minds of those of you who recognize our status as new covenant believers. Let me make clear that I’m not implying that we are saved through keeping the law. I merely want to affirm with James (the brother of Jesus) that following God’s law and the laws of our government, employer, or institution can actually enhance our freedom rather than diminish it.

Most of us recognize that major violations of integrity can enslave us: pornography leads to addiction; fraud and embezzlement lead to prison. But seemingly minor flaws in our integrity also enslave us. Whether our temptation is to shade the truth, to cut corners, or to take advantage of an employer, the rationalizations that we use to justify these breaches of integrity enslave us rather than free us. We fail to recognize that the law gives freedom, the freedom of having nothing to hide.

Now, there is a danger for people who start to love the law. It is all too tempting to trade the sin of law-breaking for the self-righteousness of law-keeping. But those who use the law as proof of their self-righteousness have not understood that the law gives freedom. If keeping the law leads to freedom, and you have kept the law, you have done what is in your best interest. No one need admire you for that. Neither should you look down on those who haven’t yet recognized that the law gives freedom; you should long for them to know the freedom you have found!

Alistair Begg writes, “The Law of God provides a boundary, a fence for our protection, a pathway to safety and freedom. To wander from it is to flirt with danger.”(1) Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” (Luke 16:10). Be aware that even the very smallest crack can imperil the integrity of the whole vessel. God offers us a path to freedom, and those who seek it find it!

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1. PATHWAY TO FREEDOM (Chicago: Moody, 2003), 164.

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Copyright © 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of #21005]

The Fourth of July — a day on which we celebrate our liberty — is a good time to ask, what is the state of religious freedom today?

Let's see. In New York last month, the owners of a private skating rink were warned by the state's Division of Human Rights to stop holding a Christian skating event on Sundays. It allegedly discriminated against non-Christians.

In Iowa, as part of his ruling against Prison Fellowship and the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, a federal judged grossly mischaracterized the orthodox beliefs of evangelicals (such as the bodily resurrection of Jesus). He said these beliefs are hostile to “many Christians.” Then he ordered the InnerChange program in Iowa shut down.

And in Boston, Catholic Charities was recently forced out of the adoption business because it would not, for doctrinal reasons, agree to place children with homosexuals.

This hostility towards religious practice would have shocked America's Founders. They understood that freedom is a gift of God, made possible only when societies recognize God's authority.

Two hundred and thirty years ago, our Founders bravely declared their independence in one of the most eloquent documents ever written, the Declaration of Independence. It was a ringing call to freedom — not only for the American colonists, but for people the world over. But what few remember is that our IN-dependence declared that day is predicated on our DE-pendence upon God.

The Declaration's first lines refer to “the Laws of Nature and Nature's God.” The Founders also declared their “firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence.” And in the most stirring lines of this document, they wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

But these truths are far from being self-evident to many elites today. For 50 years, they've tried to scrub religion out of public life. Even to speak of God's authority is deemed intolerant.

This is madness. Thomas Jefferson, himself a Deist, understood that political independence could rest only upon human dependence upon a higher authority, whatever one might call that authority — God, or Providence, or the Almighty.

Today we are engaged in a clash of civilizations and a noble mission in Iraq, not to conquer, but to liberate — to give Iraqis what President Bush calls “God's gift of human freedom.” But we cannot export something we don't have. If we don't see freedom as God's gift, we will have great difficulty establishing free societies around the world — or, for that matter, hanging onto our own freedom. As Rodney Stark writes in his brilliant book, THE VICTORY OF REASON, our ideas about democracy and equality stem from the Christian understanding of man created in God's image.

And that's why freedom has flourished only in those societies where citizens have embraced Judeo-Christian understandings of human dignity and God-given rights.

We do have much to celebrate and be grateful for this Fourth of July. But we must also be vigilant and defend against attacks on religious freedom that could undermine the very liberty we celebrate.

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Copyright (c) 2006 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.