Sermon Central
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Eleutheria - Freedom Within Part 1 Series
Contributed by Thomas Bartlett on Jul 28, 2021 (message contributor)
Summary: Did you know that in the ancient world, just before the time of Christ that nearly 90% of the population was in some form of slavery? By the time of Christ that number was still around two-thirds. Freedom was longed for.
He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God. Romans 4:25 (NLT)
Because we have been made right with God, no longer His enemy, on the same side,
we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege [grace] where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. Romans 5:1-2 (NLT)
We have left this hostile place against God and are now on a journey to know Him fully. Instead of hating God we now focus on growing in this relationship.
These words, “Christ has brought” us are really one Greek word and it refers to this incredible moment when a person is ushered into the presence of royalty.
“Christ has brought us” – Greek – prosagoge – “Ushered before royalty”
The larger idea of the word is that someone comes along and gets us ready to stand before the king. They make sure we’re clean, put fresh clothes and so forth.
Imagine this, you’re a peasant with nothing of real value and you supposed to meet the king of the kingdom where you live. Your first thought might be, “I can’t go looking like this!”
In the same way, you cannot as a sinner go before God and meet Him as you are. Jesus is the one who by His sacrifice cleanses us and also introduces us to the Father. All that stuff in your past, He wipes it out. He clears the ledger.
• Jesus prepares me to confidently meet God
And because of that, your focus is on that preparation for one day when we will all stand before the God of the universe.
My freedom guides me to focus on knowing God and then it leads me to . . .
RESHAPE WITH SPIRITUAL TRAINING
3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)
Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m under a heavy load right now”? Maybe you’ve said that. The amazing thing is that before Christ all those heavy load issues were beyond us and weighed us down, but since knowing Christ, they serve a completely different purpose.
The Greek word here for trials is Thlipsis and it really means the pressures of life.
“trials” – Greek – thlipsis – “Life’s pressures”
My attitude toward every pressure in life can now be and should be seen through the eyes of my own maturity. God is now using the very things that I hated and were weighed down by as training for my own character development.
Because I’m free and God is growing me. . .
• I see problems and trials as necessary for maturity
• Problems don’t rob me of my joy
• Problems develop endurance
o Endurance develops strength to “remain true under pressure”
? Strength develops hope “certainty of a promised outcome”
• Hope does not disappoint
