Only in America can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.
Only in America do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions, while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
Only in America do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our junk in the garage. Hello.
Only in America do we use answering machines to screen calls and have call waiting so we won’t miss a call from someone we didn’t want to talk to in the first place.
All joking aside, it is no doubt that we live in the greatest country in the world. Today we celebrate 234 years of independence. This is the time of year when we reflect upon U.S. history, usually through John Wayne movie marathons, but never the less we acknowledge the price of freedom.
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 swept 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 harassed 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 Gwinnett 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 reimbursed 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. 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. 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, and his properties destroyed. 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, 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.
I have known for over a month this would be my first Sunday. I wanted to share a sermon that had the theme of Independence and Freedom. I knew I would want to talk about the independence of our country and how that relates to our own individual independence.
Independence is a great thing isn’t it? Do you remember as a child that longing to be independent, out own our own, my own boss, making my own decisions without input from our parents?
Ironically, isn’t this what we teach our children? I remember from a young age being told that I needed to independent, self-sufficient; to take care of number1 and everything else would fall in place.
Well, what I didn’t know was that God was going to give my family the opportunity to face independence in another form this week; the type of independence that comes when one of your responsibilities chooses to become independent from your daily influence and guidance. This morning was to be our first service as a family; my wife (Tee), daughter (Cheyann) and David (DJ) would place their membership among the love and grace of Saint Paul’s. But God had another plan in store. After we returned from a weekend spiritual retreat, David decided to rejoin his biological family and try to work through their issues, to help his family become dependent upon God.
TRUE freedom, friends, is not the right to do as one pleases but the power and capacity to do what is right. True freedom brings an inner contentment with who we are in Christ and what our relationship with Jesus means to us. True freedom in Christ allows us to serve God out of love, not fear, meaning we have the freedom to love God with all our heart! The question is what impact does this have on the world around us? If I may go from preaching to prying...What impact does this have on your life, the lives of your family, this Church, our community?
The youth last Sunday, in Sunday school, were discussing part of our scriptures this morning. Let me narrow our scriptures down to scripture… Galatians 5 and verse 22 we see the fruit of the Spirit defined as, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”.
Something I noticed for the first time is the word “fruit” is singular. This is not a list we can pick and choose from but it indicates to me that we have to have all nine of these qualities to keep the fruit from spoiling. Let’s break the fruit into three categories to help us discern the impact true freedom in Christ can have for us individually, corporately, and outside of these church walls.
1. The first 3 traits are: Love, Joy and Peace represent our attitude, but because of our freedom; they should represent our life. Tell me how do people judge our life… our attitude. Attitude is defined as the position or posture of the body appropriate to or expressive of an action. Our attitude reflects our life. When we allow our outward circumstances define our attitude… it defines us! To put it simply, I can tell those of us who walk in the Spirit, not by the way we act, but by the way we react!!Attitude is the foundation for the nine traits of the fruit of the Spirit. Until we can learn to control our attitude; we are going to have trouble developing the rest.
2. The second 3 traits are: Patience, kindness, and goodness. This should represent our liberty. Liberty is defined- freedom from arbitrary control, captivity, confinement. Today if you are here and want this true freedom, all one has to do is answer Jesus’ call to repentance, accept His offer of forgiveness, and receive His promise of eternal life. If you are here this morning and you have already done this in your life; Patience, kindness, and goodness, because of your freedom from the bondage of sin, should be our actions towards our family, our church and our community. Why, because we have experienced God’s grace and mercy. Matthew penned, in his gospel, that we hold the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Patience, kindness, and goodness should reflect what we have planted deep and still growing in inside us.
3. The last 3 traits are: Faithfulness, gentleness, self control. These are the traits that reflect our “pursuit of Jesus”. Jesus showed us that living in the Will of God doesn’t mean success defined by a democratic or capitalistic society, not living the American dream, having a life of luxury, or any form of worldliness that requires one to attain wealth, position, honors, or the like. These traits should make us vulnerable, open, and willing to serve with a servant heart and maintain a servant attitude. May I remind you the Bible tells us "to whom much is given, much will be required". Faithfulness, gentleness, and self control these reflect our character; the moral fiber we have developed as a disciple of Jesus 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 to be all that God wants us to be.
We each have personal freedom and today you should reflect upon what it means to you as a Christian and how that impacts you and the loved ones in your lives. AS I have already mentioned, Tee and I have stood on the side lines this week to watch a loved one struggle with his quest for independence and for what he considers to be the “God’s call in his life”…This past week has served a keen reminder that there is always a cost associated with freedom. Whether it is a simple or temporary inconvenience to someone or a permanent change or impact there are consequences associated with freedom. What better two examples do we have than the Holiday we celebrate today to remember the lives lost to establish the independence of this country AND today’s Holy Communion to remind us of the most important single life ever sacrificed…when Jesus….gave up his life for you and me.
I offer this to you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…AMEN!!
Let us prepare our hearts and minds to partake of the sacrament of Holy Communion.
