SET FREE
PSALM 119:32,45
JANUARY 14, 2007
I read some real life warnings on products. The first one was found on a snow sled. It warned: “Beware: sled may develop high speed under certain snow conditions.” I wonder if that warning was for ignorant Floridian kids who have never seen snow. I mean when I was a kid we were looking for those “certain snow conditions” so that we could tear down the hills around Lansing. That was a boys dream—not a legal nightmare.
On a package of fishing lure was attached the warning: “harmful is swallowed.” Now that strikes me funny! Is that written to warn fish in the pond? Or can you imagine a fisherman in a boat getting hungry. He has been out so long on the water that he is starved. He looks down at the brightly colored lure and thinks: “that looks tasty.” He is about ready to pop that puppy in his mouth when he sees the warning label. I’m just not sure who they are warning.
A carpenter’s router carries a warning, “This product not intended for use as a dental drill.” I wonder if Sears has had too many dentists in their tool isle wondering if they could buy their routers instead of expensive dental equipment.
One company sells those cardboard sunshields used to keep the hot sun off car dashboards. One of their legal eagles is really concerned that someone might forget to remove their product before heading onto the highway. So the shield carries the warning, “Do not drive with sunshield in place.” Who could forget to remove the obstruction?
Life is full of warnings. It seems like someone is always telling us what we can’t do. Some think that is the essence of Christianity. God sits up in heaven on his throne issuing rules like lawyers. He commands, “Don’t do this! Don’t do that! And don’t you dare have any fun!”
Religion for many becomes drudgery instead of freedom. What a tragedy! You see God is all about freedom. Only with him can we experience real freedom.
I invite you to consider these two statements in Psalm 119.
“I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.” (v. 32, NIV)
“I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.” (v. 45, NIV)
Are You Free Yet?
These two statements connect freedom and the Word. One says because we are free we are able to keep the commands of God. The other says that since we seek out the precepts of the scriptures we are able to live in freedom. Both verses say freedom and the Word go hand in hand.
Does that sound like your life? As a college student I encountered the Lord in a powerful way. My life was changed. I was filled with the Holy Spirit and boldly tried to live out the Scriptures. In 1975 I enrolled in Asbury Seminary. One of the guys in the dorm observed that I was different. He said you seem to be really free.
I don’t know if he was right or not, but I know that I have not always experienced freedom in Christ. In fact, I think I have often slipped into living to please others and to conform to religious expectations. Sound familiar?
Often our culture defines freedom as being loosed from the shackles of religion. We talk of “free thinkers.” The Catholic Encyclopedia defines them as “those who, abandoning the religious truths and moral dictates of the Christian Revelation, and accepting no dogmatic teaching on the ground of authority, base their beliefs on the unfettered findings of reason alone.” (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06258b.htm) Free thinkers usually reject the teachings of scripture and choose their own beliefs. They consider themselves free.
Young people often consider the Bible as restrictive. If they were to follow it they wouldn’t be free to do what their friends do.
But is freedom from God and the Word really freedom? No! It is really slavery. Let’s look at John 8:31-38 to contrast true freedom from the actual slavery of rejecting God’s word.
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." They answered him, "We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" Jesus replied, "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. I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father." NIV
Rightly, his Jewish listeners discerned that the opposite of freedom is slavery. They bristled at the suggestion that they were slaves to anyone. Politically and spiritually they prided themselves for being fiercely independent of others. But Jesus declares that they are really slaves.
Let’s take a moment this morning to consider some forms of slavery grasping the Pharisees. First, there is the slavery to sin. The obvious example of the grip sin had on them is that they were ready to reject and kill Jesus, the Son of God (v. 38).
As much as we try to blank out the guilt of sinful disobedience, we are not really acting freely. When we stop obeying God, we become a slave to the devil. Have you ever tried to stop sinning? If you have, you know you are not truly free.
Another slavery is religious arrogance. Do you recall the story about two men praying in the temple? "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ’God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ’God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:10-14, NIV)
Unfortunately, we identify with the first character all too often. We judge others as inferior. We are certain that we are closer to God than other religious folk. We are really slaves.
We are slaves to tradition. Have you ever examined what you really believe and how you practice your faith? If you compare your life and beliefs, you will see a discrepancy with scripture. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference because we are so wedded to our religious traditions. The Pharisees continually conflicted with Jesus with their traditions over ritual cleanliness and Sabbath regulations. Guess what? Traditions won out every time over the authoritative word of the Lord.
Christians can also be enslaved by their fear of men. As the Proverbs say: “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” (29:5, NIV) We are like Abraham. Though he was promised by God that he would father many nations, he feared men instead of God. When famine struck, he traveled to Egypt. Because his wife was beautiful, they agreed to tell people she was his sister. He was afraid that the Egyptians would kill him so that they could have his wife (Genesis 12). He did the same thing later when he escaped famine by going to the Negev (Genesis 20). When his son, Isaac, faced the same situation what do you suppose he did? Being afraid of men, Rebekah and he lied that she was his sister (Genesis 26).
Aren’t we also easily enslaved because of our fear of men? We are so desperate for approval we will do all kinds of things to please others. This is one of the cruelest forms of slavery. But Jesus has come to set you free!
How Can I Be Free?
Freedom is found in careful obedience to God’s word. Psalm 119:45 says “I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.” (NIV) It may sound strange but submission to the authority of God sets us free from a host of different slaveries. There is nothing quite like the inner peace associated with obedience to the Word.
One way the Word sets us free is that it warns us of the destructive things that threaten to enslave us. “A park ranger at Yellowstone National Park was leading a group of hikers to a fire lookout. The ranger was so intent on telling the hikers about the flowers and animals that he considered the messages on his two-way radio distracting, so he switched it off. Nearing the tower, the ranger was met by a nearly breathless lookout, who asked why he hadn’t responded to the messages on his radio. A grizzly bear had been seen stalking the group, and the authorities were trying to warn them of the danger.” (Harold M. Wiest, Power for Living, p. 109.)
There is also marvelous power in the Spirit-inspired word of God. It will release you from slavery sin, tradition and the need to please others. Jesus declares this in John 8:31-32. "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Consider Adam and Eve. All their needs were provided for. God gave them an important purpose—to fill the earth and rule over all of creation. I think I could get excited about that job! He only gave them one rule—a rule designed to protect them. They could not eat of the fruit from the tree of life. Other than that protective prescription designed to keep them free, they were free to live in sweet fellowship with the Father.
Since they were “free thinkers” they shook off the fetters of the Word and chose to be free. What resulted? They were filled with shame and loss of fellowship. They experienced the curse on the land. They and all of their descendents were slaves to sin.
The way of freedom is submit willingly to the Word of God. If we want to be free disciples, we need to hold on to the teachings of Jesus. I believe this means learning what Jesus teaches us in the scriptures and letting it seep deep into our minds. The Word is powerful to loose us from slavery. The Spirit of the Word will empower us to live in the freedom of obedience to God.
Challenge
Maybe you don’t feel too free today? You are caught in the trap of sin or wrong relationships or personality issues. Would you like to be free today?
I would like for you to write down on the paper you have been given the name of your slavery. It may be sins like: lust, bitterness, gossip, substance abuse, lying or greed. Whatever sin holds you, name it. It may be relationship slavery. You are so bound with the need of pleasing another that you can’t be free. Maybe you are trapped by fear or anxiety. Maybe you are caught by depression or self-focus or hatred. Name it!
Now that you have named one or more thing that has enslaved you, I want to declare to you your freedom in Christ. Remember: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Over a century ago our nation was embroiled in civil war. A primary issue was the slavery of people from Africa. On one September day, President Lincoln issued an executive order. He wrote: "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.” (http://www.nps.gov/ncro/anti/emancipation.html)
Suddenly, thousands of people were declared free people by the government of the United States of America.
One more powerful than that or any president has made a greater proclamation of freedom. It is contained in his Word. This is your proclamation.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Gal 5:1, NIV)
You are free! Hold on to the Word of God and live in your freedom!
Would you like to celebrate your freedom in Christ? Tear up the sheet that names your slavery. Turn it into confetti. Now throw it in the air in celebration.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Cor 3:17, NIV)
