1st Corinthians 9:19-23
This weekend we celebrated the independence of our nation for the last 233 years. This morning I would like for us to reflect back to that first July 4th and hear the price for freedom explained by Paul Harvey.
THEY PAID THE PRICE Americans, you know the 56 men who signed our Declaration of Independence that first 4th of July--you know they were risking everything, don’t you? Because if they won the war with the British, there would be years of hardship as a struggling nation. If they lost they would face a hangman’s noose. And yet there where it says, "We herewith pledge, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor," they did sign. But did you know that they paid the price? When Carter Braxton of Virginia signed the Declaration of Independence, he was a wealthy planter and trader. But thereafter he saw his ships swepted from the seas and to pay his debts, he lost his home and all of his property. He died in rags. Thomas Lynch, Jr., who signed that pledge, was a third generation rice grower and aristocrat--a large plantation owner--but after he signed his health failed. With his wife he set out for France to regain his failing health. Their ship never got to France; he was never heard from again. Thomas McKean of Delaware was so harrassed by the enemy that he was forced to move his family five times in five months. He served in Congress without pay, his family in poverty and in hiding. Vandals looted the properties of Ellery and Clymer and Hall and Gwinett and Walton and Heyward and Rutledge and Middleton. And Thomas Nelson, Jr. of Virginia raised two million dollars on his own signature to provision our allies, the French fleet. After the War he personally paid back the loans wiping out his entire estate; he was never reimbused by his government. And in the final battle for Yorktown, he, Nelson, urged General Washington to fire on his, Nelson’s own home, then occupied by Cornwallis. And he died bankrupt. Thomas Nelson, Jr. had pledged his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor. The Hessians seized the home of Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey. Francis Lewis had his home and everything destroyed, his wife imprisoned--she died within a few months. Richard Stockton, who signed the Declaration of Independence, pledging his life and his fortune, was captured and mistreated, and his health broken to the extent that he died at 51. And his estate was pillaged. Thomas Heyward, Jr. was captured when Charleston fell. John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside while she was dying; their thirteen children fled in all directions for their lives. His fields and gristmill were laid waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves and returned home after the War to find his wife dead, his children gone, his properties gone. He died a few weeks later of exhaustion and a broken heart. Lewis Morris saw his land destroyed, his family scattered. Philip Livingston died within a few months of hardships of the War. John Hancock, history remembers best, due to a quirk of fate--that great sweeping signature attesting to his vanity, towers over the others. One of the wealthiest men in New England, he stood outside Boston one terrible night of the War and said, "Burn Boston, though it makes John Hancock a beggar, if the public good requires it." He, too, lived up to the pledge. Of the 56 signers of the Declaration, few were long to survive. Five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes--from Rhode Island to Charleston--sacked and looted, occupied by the enemy or burned. Two of them lost their sons in the Army; one had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 died in the War from its hardships or from its more merciful bullets. I don’t know what impression you’d had of these men who met that hot summer in Philadelphia, but I think it’s important this July 4, that we remember this about them: they were not poor men, they were not wild-eyed pirates. These were men of means; these were rich men, most of them, who enjoyed much ease and luxury in personal living. Not hungry men-- prosperous men, wealthy land owners, substantially secure in their prosperity. But they considered liberty--this is as much I shall say of it--they had learned that liberty is so much more important than security, that they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. And they fulfilled their pledge--they paid the price, and freedom was born. Paul Harvey, Good Day. SOURCE: Paul Harvey, News and Commentary. July 4, 1974 July 2, 2001.
In the beginning of our chapter Paul starts off by asking,” Am I not free?” Our scripture today Paul is talking about freedom. Our fore fathers are very much like Paul for he too is not a hungry man or a poor man, but a man of means who did leave the comfort and security of who he was to be in service for God. He too knew about liberty… the liberty of being a child of God …and was willing to lose everything for the glory of the Kingdom. Paul says, “I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them” vs.19. We are called to follow the example of Christ. His freedom was a freedom not to do as He pleased, but He had the freedom to live as God directed Him. Our liberty in Christ should not only strengthen us, but place a burning desire in our hearts to understand where the lost is coming from and to want to seek them out, to share that God loves them and has a plan and a purpose for their lives and will accept them as they are. This is not something I’ve come up with in my own wisdom, but from the teaching of Jesus to His disciples in Matthew 10:8. Jesus instructs them to, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” this is a principle not only for the disciples, but for us as well… “Freely you have received, freely give.”
But to do this we have to be willing to leave our comfort zones. This means we are willing to make ourselves vulnerable to the religious as well as the non-religious, to those who live loosely as well as those who are the meticulous moralists and especially, especially the defeated and the demoralized. The 56 men who signed our Declaration of Independence were willing to do this for the common good of us all. They, too, were willing to see every man’s place in society, to be strong for the weak…to consider and experience things from another’s point of view. For the apostle Paul, he and our forefathers shared some the same values. These values are freedom and discipline.
To exhibit these character traits, these Godly values, one must be focused on the goal that God has before them. The reason I say that these are Godly traits, especially freedom, is because too many of us are scarred of true freedom. Freedom ain’t free. Jesus experienced this before His crucifixion. Jesus freely gave of His love by ministering and healing so many. And we read in the gospel of Mark 1:45 that when Jesus healed the leopard and brought about freedom to this man physically and spiritually for he was unclean and disqualified to worship… “As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stay outside in lonely places”…
Paul’s freedom wasn’t any different. His freedom didn’t mean Paul was a chameleon who changed his message and methods with each new situation. Nor was Paul a compromiser who adjusted his message to please his audience. He was an ambassador for Christ, the founding father of the church at Corinth, a Jew with great love for his brethren, and he was called for the advancement of the Kingdom among the Gentiles.
Paul knew that true freedom came from the right relationship with God. That right relationship with God is found in our faith. A faith that causes us to take action like the lady in Mark 5:29. When she touched the cloak of His garment the verse reads, “Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.” Paul knew that Jesus free us from our suffering and so did the forefathers of our country. This is why God is so important in every decision they made and why God is mentioned in so much of the literature that surrounds and embraces the beginning of our independence. These men believed in God and their faith moved them to action, just like the bleeding woman. Friends, faith that isn’t put into action isn’t faith at all. Our faith brings about our true freedom and freedom comes from a right relationship with God.
Oswald Chambers said,
“When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God’s will.”
Paul also teaches us some valuable insights about being in ministry in verses 20-23(READ).
In his personal life, Paul lived so that he did not offend either the Jews or the Gentiles. He did not parade his liberty before the Jews, nor did he impose the Law on the Gentiles. Do you think that Paul behaving in an inconsistent manner? Of course he wasn’t! He simply adapted his approach to whatever group of people he was ministering to.
We read that Paul took the time to find common ground with those he came in contact with. He avoided the know-it-all attitude. He made all feel accepted by him regardless of their intelligence or lack of, their past, their nationality, or even the wrong they were presently doing. He was genuinely concerned about their needs, and used every good and bad situation in his life and theirs, to share the love of Christ.
I believe that real freedom causes us to serve the lost and the weak ; for they are in search of the truth and the truth is Jesus. We read in the gospel of John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The reason Jesus is the truth, because He shows us clearly the way to eternal life with God. Jesus doesn’t give us the freedom to do what we want, but the freedom to follow God. Jesus’ perfect truth frees us up to be all that God wants us to be.
But Jesus had to pay a price for our freedom just like our forefathers paid a price for the freedom of this nation. Yes, Jesus paid the ultimate price for our freedom and we can read about it in Acts 2:24, “But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him.” This is where true freedom comes from. Not from a form of government or from reaching an age of leaving home or marriage or divorce or drugs or alcohol or sex or money. True freedom comes from the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Without it there would be no reason to believe in Jesus or celebrate our freedom. For I believe that if the cross did not happen, then there wouldn’t have been a 4th of July that declared our Declaration of Independence. And though our nation celebrated our freedom, I pray today, as every day, that all of our brothers and sisters in Christ will celebrate their freedom from the bondage of sin.
I beg you though, do not lose sight that there are many who mirror the spy captured by an Arab chief;
Closing Illustration: An Arab chief tells a story of a spy who was captured and then sentenced to death by a general in the Persian army. This general had the strange custom of giving condemned criminals a choice between the firing squad and the big, black door. As the moment for execution drew near, the spy was brought to the Persian general, who asked the question, "What will it be: the firing squad or the big, black door?"
The spy hesitated for a long time. It was a difficult decision. He chose the firing squad.
Moments later shots rang out confirming his execution. The general turned to his aide and said, "They always prefer the known way to the unknown. It is characteristic of people to be afraid of the undefined. Yet, we gave him a choice."
The aide said, "What lies beyond the big door?"
"Freedom," replied the general. "I’ve known only a few brave enough to take it."
As we prepare to come to the Lord’s Table to celebrate in His love and our freedom, I would like to take the time to share some scriptures with you to help you recall your freedom in Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:23-26, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
Romans 6:18; 6:22, 23 “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”--- “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:1-2, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”
Let us pray!
READ: ACTS 2:42 1 CORINTHIANS 10:16 LUKE 22:17-20
RESOURCES:
Wiersbe, Warren W.: The Bible Exposition Commentary. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1996, c1989, S. 1 Co 9:15
The Life Application Bible NIV
Franklin Electronic NIV Bible
The Message Bible
The Wesley Study Bible NRSV
Sermon Central. com:
Illustration from S.C. (Paul Harvey)
Beyond the Sunday Face Bob Ashcraft
What’s Real Freedom George Rhodes
