Saturday, July 29, 2006
July 2, 2006--The Urge to be Free--a Declaration
Note: This sermon borrows heavily from one given by my friend, my brother in Christ, Jack Morehart, at Mt. Nebo UMC, 5 July 1992. No video of either sermon available. Sorry!
Scripture: Galations 5 (emphasis verse, 5:1)
On July 4th 1776, 56 men with great courage signed a parchment to be sent to the king of England saying in part, "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. We...appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world...solemnly publish and declare that these Unitd Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown and all political connection between them...And for the support of thsi declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence (that's God, by the way), we mutually pledge to each otehr our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
The Declaration of Independence declares a political freedom to live life, to feel liberty, and to pursue happiness--all unalienable rights endowed by God. But, this political freedom does not guarantee that any of us shall actually experience life, liberty, and happiness. For, evil can limit life, bind liberty, and whisk away happiness. Each of us, though can courageously sign our own Declaration of Independence to absolve oursleves from the crown of the prince of evil.
Upon what basis may we declare freedom? The World of God says, "it is for freedom that Christ has set us free." (Gal. 5:1a). How has Christ set us free? Theologians wrestle with what really took place upon the cross, how freedom occurred. CS Lewis in the theological fairy tale, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe, depicts the mechanism for freedom as a prisoner exchange (See Hebrews 9J:15; Colossians 1:22-3, 1 Peter 3:18). The great good lion, Aslan, voluntarily becomes a prisoner of the wicked witch in exchange for the freedom of the bad little boy, Edmund. The witch in spiteful ahtred then kills the lion, her arch enemy. But the boy, he is free. We are that boy, some would say, and I would tend to agree.
The mechanism for freedom is not so important as the fact. Christ has set us free. When we believe this, we in essence declare our freedom. "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:36)
But the Word of God continues with this command, "Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1b) The loud and clear implication is that we can fall back into slavery.
well what kind of slavery does this mean? Two kinds: one is a slavery to rules, to a list of does and donts. It was a big deal whether the Gentile Christians had to do everything written in the Jewish Old Testament. The answer is no. "The entire law is summed up in a single command: love your neighbor as yourself." (Galations 5:14; James 2:8)And, that royal law is written upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:8-12, 10:16-17). Further, almost at the birth of the church, the council of Jerusalem said, "you are to abstainf rom food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. Youi will do well to avoid these things." (Acts 15:29)
That slavery doesnt seem so hard to avoid. But, Paul describes a second kind of slavery. It is a slavery to what Paul calls the "sinful nature." He elaborates on the "sinful nature" as: idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish amibtion, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like." (Gal. 5:20-21a) Wow, what a list.
Now, I observe that each of these enslavers starts as a feeling or a thought and that sooner or later these thoughts or feelings will prompt a worng actino. I call these nasties "pattern sins." By this, I mean our minds travel down the same pahtways when a stimulus occurs with predictable actions, following as the night the day.
Let me give an example of a friend of mine. In England a number of years ago, the fashion craze was for women to go braless. While walking down the most fashionable streets of London, it was not always easy for my friend to remember that he was looking for Arab men to give Christian literature to.
Pattern sin is like driving a car in the early nineteen hundreds. On a dirt road a sign read, "Choose your rut carefully." The meaning? If you didn't know which rut to get into, at the fork in the road you might be forced to go the wrong way.
What ruts do we get into? Those big ruts of rage, envy, jealousy, drinkin etc. are obvious, but waht about smaller ruts of grouchiness, gloominess, sexual fantasy, little cutting remarks, manipulation, worrying about money or anything, junk food eating, vegging out? I suspect hat each of us could name at least one thing we do repeatedly, a little rut, a pattern that we wish we wouldn't do.
"A person is a slave to whatever has mastered him or her." (2 Peer 2:19) So even a little rut takes away some freedom of life, liberty and happiness, doesn't it?
Fortunately, God builds superhighways that we can ride on with great freedom, with no ruts or potholes. Back to my friend in London. He prayed that God would give him the ability to look only at people's faces. It worked! In fact, it became much easier to stop and talk with arab men and be a genuine witness for Christ.
so how does God help us maintain or even increase the freedom of our minds and feelings? Very simply, if we ask and let Him, God will take captive our evil feelings and thoughts. Paul tells us, "the weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguements and every pretension that sets itself up against the knwoeldge of God, and we take captive every thoguht to make it obedient to Christ." (2Cor. 10:4-5)
"The weapon" is the indwelling Holy Spirit, God's Spirit. "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." (2Cor 3:17) Amen!
We travel the rut free superhighway of truth. "When he, the Spirit of Truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." (john 16:13) "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8: 32) Amen!
This truth we seek by prayer, by reading the Living Word of Truth, by hearing truth proclaimed. We travel the highway of truth in the encouraging fellowship of truth.
Some suggest that there are seven basic urges, one of which is the urge to be free--free spiritually, physically, emotionally, intellectually, religiously.
A keyh ingredient to satisfy the urge to be free, or any of the others, is to be in touch with the Holy Spirit. There are five ways the human spirit can be said to be out of touch with the Holy Spirit: 1. We have never known Holy Spirit power, 2. We gave up the search, 3. We do not believe spiritual power is available to us, 4. WE have taken a wrong path, 5. We3 lose touch because of dehumanizing conditions--poverty, drudgery,a buse. I think this is a great summary of some of what we have already talked about.
The urge to be fee is having a goal of self-determination, that is the opportunity to choose our rut, or no rut. And it takes courage to do this. They also note that experiencing inner freedom frees us to live with limited physical freedom, great uncertainty, and change. Further, one certainty we know is that we need each other. "United we stand, divided we fall." (George Morris) "We all hang together or we hang separately" (Ben Franklin)
So, I would like for us to unite now and with great courage pray our own Declaration of Independence:
Scripture: Galations 5 (emphasis verse, 5:1)
On July 4th 1776, 56 men with great courage signed a parchment to be sent to the king of England saying in part, "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. We...appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world...solemnly publish and declare that these Unitd Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown and all political connection between them...And for the support of thsi declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence (that's God, by the way), we mutually pledge to each otehr our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
The Declaration of Independence declares a political freedom to live life, to feel liberty, and to pursue happiness--all unalienable rights endowed by God. But, this political freedom does not guarantee that any of us shall actually experience life, liberty, and happiness. For, evil can limit life, bind liberty, and whisk away happiness. Each of us, though can courageously sign our own Declaration of Independence to absolve oursleves from the crown of the prince of evil.
Upon what basis may we declare freedom? The World of God says, "it is for freedom that Christ has set us free." (Gal. 5:1a). How has Christ set us free? Theologians wrestle with what really took place upon the cross, how freedom occurred. CS Lewis in the theological fairy tale, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe, depicts the mechanism for freedom as a prisoner exchange (See Hebrews 9J:15; Colossians 1:22-3, 1 Peter 3:18). The great good lion, Aslan, voluntarily becomes a prisoner of the wicked witch in exchange for the freedom of the bad little boy, Edmund. The witch in spiteful ahtred then kills the lion, her arch enemy. But the boy, he is free. We are that boy, some would say, and I would tend to agree.
The mechanism for freedom is not so important as the fact. Christ has set us free. When we believe this, we in essence declare our freedom. "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:36)
But the Word of God continues with this command, "Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1b) The loud and clear implication is that we can fall back into slavery.
well what kind of slavery does this mean? Two kinds: one is a slavery to rules, to a list of does and donts. It was a big deal whether the Gentile Christians had to do everything written in the Jewish Old Testament. The answer is no. "The entire law is summed up in a single command: love your neighbor as yourself." (Galations 5:14; James 2:8)And, that royal law is written upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:8-12, 10:16-17). Further, almost at the birth of the church, the council of Jerusalem said, "you are to abstainf rom food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. Youi will do well to avoid these things." (Acts 15:29)
That slavery doesnt seem so hard to avoid. But, Paul describes a second kind of slavery. It is a slavery to what Paul calls the "sinful nature." He elaborates on the "sinful nature" as: idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish amibtion, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like." (Gal. 5:20-21a) Wow, what a list.
Now, I observe that each of these enslavers starts as a feeling or a thought and that sooner or later these thoughts or feelings will prompt a worng actino. I call these nasties "pattern sins." By this, I mean our minds travel down the same pahtways when a stimulus occurs with predictable actions, following as the night the day.
Let me give an example of a friend of mine. In England a number of years ago, the fashion craze was for women to go braless. While walking down the most fashionable streets of London, it was not always easy for my friend to remember that he was looking for Arab men to give Christian literature to.
Pattern sin is like driving a car in the early nineteen hundreds. On a dirt road a sign read, "Choose your rut carefully." The meaning? If you didn't know which rut to get into, at the fork in the road you might be forced to go the wrong way.
What ruts do we get into? Those big ruts of rage, envy, jealousy, drinkin etc. are obvious, but waht about smaller ruts of grouchiness, gloominess, sexual fantasy, little cutting remarks, manipulation, worrying about money or anything, junk food eating, vegging out? I suspect hat each of us could name at least one thing we do repeatedly, a little rut, a pattern that we wish we wouldn't do.
"A person is a slave to whatever has mastered him or her." (2 Peer 2:19) So even a little rut takes away some freedom of life, liberty and happiness, doesn't it?
Fortunately, God builds superhighways that we can ride on with great freedom, with no ruts or potholes. Back to my friend in London. He prayed that God would give him the ability to look only at people's faces. It worked! In fact, it became much easier to stop and talk with arab men and be a genuine witness for Christ.
so how does God help us maintain or even increase the freedom of our minds and feelings? Very simply, if we ask and let Him, God will take captive our evil feelings and thoughts. Paul tells us, "the weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguements and every pretension that sets itself up against the knwoeldge of God, and we take captive every thoguht to make it obedient to Christ." (2Cor. 10:4-5)
"The weapon" is the indwelling Holy Spirit, God's Spirit. "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." (2Cor 3:17) Amen!
We travel the rut free superhighway of truth. "When he, the Spirit of Truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." (john 16:13) "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8: 32) Amen!
This truth we seek by prayer, by reading the Living Word of Truth, by hearing truth proclaimed. We travel the highway of truth in the encouraging fellowship of truth.
Some suggest that there are seven basic urges, one of which is the urge to be free--free spiritually, physically, emotionally, intellectually, religiously.
A keyh ingredient to satisfy the urge to be free, or any of the others, is to be in touch with the Holy Spirit. There are five ways the human spirit can be said to be out of touch with the Holy Spirit: 1. We have never known Holy Spirit power, 2. We gave up the search, 3. We do not believe spiritual power is available to us, 4. WE have taken a wrong path, 5. We3 lose touch because of dehumanizing conditions--poverty, drudgery,a buse. I think this is a great summary of some of what we have already talked about.
The urge to be fee is having a goal of self-determination, that is the opportunity to choose our rut, or no rut. And it takes courage to do this. They also note that experiencing inner freedom frees us to live with limited physical freedom, great uncertainty, and change. Further, one certainty we know is that we need each other. "United we stand, divided we fall." (George Morris) "We all hang together or we hang separately" (Ben Franklin)
So, I would like for us to unite now and with great courage pray our own Declaration of Independence:
We Hold these truths to be self evident,
that all people are created equal
before almighty God,
that theya re endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are
life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
we,
appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world,
Jesus Christ,
do solemnly declare
that we the people of God
of right ought to be free
for Jesus has freed us
emotionally, intellectually, religiously, and spiritually;
that we are absolved from all subjugation
to the crown of the prince of the world
and to our own sinful anture;
that all connection with even small evil is severable;
that we will call upon the Holy Spirit
for maintaining our freedom
to live the Royal Law of Love,
to never let dehumanizing evil
rob us of inner freedom.
And for the support of this Declaration,
with afirm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,
the Holy Spirit of truth,
wemutually pledge to each other
our love, our prayers, our kindness, our encouragement,
and our sacred Honor
amen
# posted by Mark : 10:35 AM
