Freedom and Responsibility
Mat 7:12, Acts 16:31, Rom 10:9, John 3:16, 1 Pet 2:16, 2 Cor 3:17, Gal 5:1, 13-14,
1 Cor 8:9 Mat 28:19-20
I. This week we celebrated the anniversary of our nation’s independence, and I wonder how many in government today really understand what Independence meant to those people who fought for it and established the guidelines for our democracy.
A. If we look at the history of Europe, which is where most of the people that settled in America came from, and we see what many of them were trying to get a way from, there can be no doubt that the freedom and democracy that we celebrated Friday was based on Christian principles.
B. In His book "Shalako" Louis Lamour writes about a German Prince that had come to America in the late 1800’s. In his depiction of the prince Lamour outlined how the prince couldn’t understand why the men of America wouldn’t take orders from him just because he had a title.
C. He had grown up in a place and time where you were born to authority and respect or you had no way of gaining it.
D. Every one born in the European nations of that day had their fate decided by what family they were born into. They were either born to nobility or a common existence, and there were few options available to change it.
E. The people that settled in America and pioneered the wilderness were people who wanted opportunity to be whatever their hard work made them.
F. They didn’t want to bow to someone who was given the authority to rule as a condition of their birth.
G. They didn’t want to live in an unjust society where those who were not born to privilege, were treated unfairly and forced to feed the greed of those who were born to power.
H. They wanted the chance to make something for themselves, and they believed in fairness. They believed that you shouldn’t decide someone’s value based on who their family was, but on who the person was, and how they conducted themselves.
I. They believed in honesty and equality, and those beliefs were based on Christian principles.
J. United States history tells how George Washington found rest and relief in prayer during the trying times when he and his soldiers passed through Valley Forge. With all the problems he faced during that time, he found hope in prayer. One day a farmer approaching the camp heard an sincere voice. Coming closer, he saw George Washington on his knees, his cheeks wet with tears, praying to God. The farmer went home and said to his wife: George Washington will succeed! George Washington will succeed! The Americans will secure their independence! What makes you think so, Isaac? asked his wife. The farmer replied: I heard him pray, Hannah, out in the woods today, and the Lord will surely hear his prayer. He will, Hannah; thee may rest assured He will.
K. The freedom that we have and the government that was established at the time that it was won, was based on Christian principles, and leaders that depended on God.
L. The People that migrated to this country from Europe were also forced by a king or queen and the church that was accepted in that country to believe what they said they should believe about God, with little way of changing it.
M. The people who settled America didn’t see it that way, and fought to gain the right to choose the course of their life not by what family and country they were born into, but by what they chose to do with their life and what they chose to believe about God.
N. We’re blessed in our country to live in a place where we can be what ever we choose, and advance by our own efforts and diligence. We are also blessed by the fact that we are free to come to our own conclusions about God by what we learn from our own study and the leadership of the Holy Spirit, not by what someone else commands us to believe.
O. But we have to remember that our independence is only as good as our dependence.
P. The very structure that we live in that allows us freedom to choose can only be as good as our personal decision and actions.
Q. Democracy is based on right decisions being made for the common good of all that are involved.
R. That means that all are to be considered, and for democracy to work as it was intended by those who fought gain it, it has to be based on the Christian principles that it was founded on.
S. We as a people who are free to make choices have to function under the dependence on God that our country was founded on.
II. Only as we follow the commands of Jesus about how we should relate to other people can Democracy function as it was intended. (Mat 7:12 NIV) So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
A. Our Democracy, is based on the Christian principles of love and unity that the bible teaches. Principles that are founded on treating others the way that we want to be treated.
B. Principles that are based on honestly and love for our fellow man, and looking to the interests of others and caring for others the way that Jesus did and taught.
C. What our democracy was based on are the principles that Jesus outlined about how we’re to deal with other people.
D. And the only way for it to work is for the people involved to live according to the guidelines that are laid out in the bible.
E. And only as we make choices that improve the way that we can relate to God as we are instructed in the bible can we learn what that means.(Acts 16:31 NIV) "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved..., (Rom 10:9 NIV) That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (John 3:16 NIV) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
F. Democracy and freedom of religion go hand in hand with what is taught in the bible.
1. God has given us the freedom to choose, because it is only in choosing Him by faith that can we can be saved.
2. There were people that decided that all people should become Christians, and they tried to force others to become Christians by threatening to kill them if they didn’t.
3. They lost sight of the fact that God gives each person the freedom to chose because they have to choose to accept Him of their own free will and choose to live by His Commands for it to work.
4. And it was after men decided to force others to believe in God at the point of a sword that some of the darkest days ever in the history of the church occurred.
5. God gives people the freedom to choose or reject Him, and that is basis of what our democracy came from, man’s freedom, and personal responsibility.
G. It is a great thing that we as Americans and Christians have been given, in having the right to choose, but it is only as we realize that our independence is only as great as our dependence on God that our democracy can function as it was intended.
H. Because it is only when we exercise our freedom rightly that we can understand freedom comes with responsibility, and it is only when a nation lives by the principles of honestly, love and concern for others as the bible defines them that freedom can be what it should. (1 Pet 2:16 NIV) Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
I. If freedom, becomes the right to lie cheat and steal, then democracy will not work. Because democracy is designed to be for the good of all people and operates out of a respect for our fellow man.
J. That too is connected to the bible and the way that God deals with people. We are given freedom in our salvation. God does not condemn us for our sin, he provides us forgiveness.(2 Cor 3:17 NIV) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
K. But, if we take that as a licence to sin without being concerned about our actions then it destroys what God intended us to be when he provided forgiveness. And, it makes us slaves again to the very control of sin that Jesus died to free us from.(Gal 5:1 NIV) 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.
L. If we see our freedom in Christ to be a license to sin then we destroy the very freedom that we have been given, because we let sin control our lives and our actions.
M. God gives us freedom, but He also expects us to take responsibility for the freedom that we have been given, and live according to the commandments that He gave us out of gratitude for what he has done for us.
N. And if we don’t live for him out of gratitude, and we don’t have any concern for what God says is right and wrong, then we destroy ourselves because of the very freedom that he gave us.(Gal 5:13 - 14 NIV) You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature ; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
O. Paul warns us about that very thing again in (1 Cor 8:9 NIV) Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
P. Those are the Principles that our government was based on, and if we lose sight of them our government, and our freedom will fail.
III. If we abuse our freedom, and don’t hold to the Christian principles that it was founded on, then we will by the freedom that we have, destroy ourselves, and the very government that gives us our freedom.
A. We hear often that our democracy is meant to give all people freedom, and thankfully that is true, but when we tear away at the fiber that holds it together (which is our dependence on God and willingness to choose his commandments as the constitution of our personal lives) we risk destroying our society and our government, and the very freedom that we say we stand for.
B. There are a lot of people in our country today and it is scary that more an more of them are people who are in government and make laws, who seem to believe that our country has to move away from its connection with God.
C. But I will tell you with no doubt in my mind, that democracy can’t survive without Christian principles at the heart of it. Democracy was based on living free but with dependence on God, and with the guidelines of love for our fellow man, and a life style that reflects the teaching of the bible, and without those foundational principles it will fail.
D. I think that we should take care not to let other people who don’t put God first interpret what America and freedom are, because if we do we allow our freedom to destroy the very thing that makes it work
E. Because freedom without responsibility is a ticket to destruction, and democracy without God is just as much a ticket to destruction.
IV. There are ways that we can change that, but it will take every one of us who say we are Christians doing our part to make the difference that will preserve our freedom.
A. A part of our freedom in America is the right to choose who leads us, and we have to take that seriously. I don’t like to involve politics in what I preach, but I can’t not say this.
B. We as Christians have to vote, and we have to vote for those people who uphold the Christian principles that our democracy was based on if it is going to survive.
C. As I said freedom comes with responsibility, and it is one of our responsibilities to vote and be involved and it is also one of our responsibilities as Christians to vote for people who uphold the principles that our freedom was based on.
D. It is also our responsibility as Christians to share the message of salvation with as many people as possible.
(Mat 28:19-20 NIV) Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
E. Only as we are a part of as many people in our country and in our world as we can coming to know Jesus can we preserve the freedom that we have for the generations to come.
F. And only as we are a part of seeing as many people come to know Jesus as we can, can we be a part of God’s vision for the world, and be obedient to the most important command that he has given us in our freedom.
G. That does not mean that we try to force people to believe, because God gives every person the freedom to choose, but how can they make the right choices if there is not someone to help them see what the truth really is?
H. As Americans we have been blessed with a great freedom, but with the freedom comes responsibility, and we are responsible for standing for those things that make our freedom work.
I. And as Christians we have been given and even greater freedom, and we are responsible for that freedom too, and a part of that responsibility is to live by the principles that make that freedom work which is to live according to the guidelines that the one who made that freedom possible outlined, and to share that freedom with as many people as possible.
J. Freedom is a wonderful thing but it comes with responsibility, and I hope that you will make a commitment to live up to the responsibilities that come with it so it can be preserved for the generations that will come after us.
