We are made to be free; in fact, we need freedom. Every person needs freedom. That’s obvious. That’s what God has made us for. The Scripture says, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” We say we want to be free. We want to be free.
But therein lies a problem. The problem is that that’s not the whole truth. We don’t always want to be free. We don’t always want to be released from the things that hold us back. Freedom sounds wonderful; but freedom also frightens us.
We’re working together during this Lenten season on the theme~ "Habits of the Heart", which is a way of talking about listening to ourselves. We’re trying to discover who we are deep down, and how the Spirit of God can work in us. When I speak of the habits of the heart, I am speaking of the deep seated, habitual ways in which we think of ourselves, and I am asking us to try to hear what is going on inside our very souls.
I said last week that listening to ourselves is actually a way of listening to God. Last week, together we stood with Moses, out in the deserts of Midian, tending sheep and watching a bush burning with the fire of God’s presence. We listened to Moses and his “I am” experience. We learned, first, that if we can begin with declaring our availability to God. . as when Moses said, “Here I am, Lord” … then God will respond with His declaration that He has a place for us in His plan. “I am the God of your father, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” God, we learned, does not treat us as if we were but a speck of dust in the vastness of the universe; no, God shows us that we have place in His plan.
And then last week we also found out from watching Moses that listening to God always makes us feel responsible. In one way or another every time we listen to ourselves we hear the voice of God calling us to responsibility; Moses phrased it, “Who am I that I should go to Egypt and bring out the Israelites from slavery? Who am I?” But we also discovered that when we hear that call to responsibility, however inadequate we may feel, still we are buttressed and supported by the dynamic, enabling presence of the ancient of days, whose great word is simply, “I am”. I am who I am. Tell them that “I am” has sent you. That means that the presence of God is with you.
But I want to go a step further this week. Still working with the personality of Moses, still watching Moses live out his calling before God, I want to explore another of the habits of the heart with you. This one too has to do with listening to ourselves. This one too is a way of listening God through listening to ourselves.
This time I am concerned with freedom, listening for freedom. I am concerned with the deadly habit of the heart that will not accept freedom even when it is offered. We need freedom, but we don’t want it. We say we want it, but we don’t accept it. That is a deadly habit of the heart.
In Exodus, chapter 6, Moses, having accepted his calling, has gone to Egypt with his brother Aaron. There he has reviewed the plight of the people of Israel. He has seen for himself now profound their suffering is. He has stopped off at the brickyard, where they are expected to turn out bricks by the thousands, but with inadequate materials. He has watch the taskmasters whip and drive the salves mercilessly. Moses has seen the deadlines of servitude. But he will discover that the physical slavery of the people is nothing when compared to their spiritual slavery. Listen to the story.
We are made to be free; in fact, we need freedom. Every person needs freedom. But therein lies the problem. That’s not the whole truth. The problem is that we don’t always want to be free. We do not always want to be released from the things that hold us back. Freedom frightens us. We even resist it when it is offered.
I
You see, there are reasons both internal and external why you and I don’t like being offered freedom. There are reasons both inside our own hearts as well as in the outside circumstances that explain why we have a hard time with God’s offer of freedom.
Moses has heard the wonderful promises of God. Moses has discovered that God is offering the people freedom, and has promised it in every kind of way imaginable. I don’t know if you noticed how many times in this passage the phrase, “I will” turns up. Six times in the short space of a few verses, God promises that He will free His people. Now that ought to be good news. But somehow it’s not.
Moses, profoundly stirred and deeply excited by God’s gracious offer, goes out to tell the people. Can’t you just imagine it? Bravely Moses goes out to tell them, “There’s good news! A better day is coming. You’re going to be free!” But listen to this wet-blanket response:
“They would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.” They would not listen to Moses, or listen to freedom, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.
They had both an internal problem and an external problem. They could not hear the message of freedom, because of what was wrong on the inside .. a broken spirit .. and what was wrong on the outside .. cruel slavery.
Over the years I’ve worked with a lot of people who were victims. They were victimized by all kinds of circumstances. Some of them were victims of racism, or of poverty; still others were victims of poor education or of limited opportunity. A good many were victims of unhappy families or even of bad religion. There is such a thing as bad religion, you know. I could write a book on the imprisoning power of bad religion.
But there is nothing quite so deadly as a combination of negative circumstances plus an unhappy personality. If you have been beaten and battered by the storms of life, and, in addition, you beat up on yourself, then you cannot hear the call of God to be free. Of if you do heart, you do not hear it as good news.
I am thinking of one person I know who is never happy unless she is unhappy. She’s been though a few things in her life, yes; but the things which have happened to her are reinforced by what she does to herself. She had a disabling accident, but the handicap has become a reason for refusing to do many of the things that would fulfill her. She enjoys her ill health, thank you! She had to leave her home, but she does have nice enough apartment now. Yet the loss of her home has become a source of moaning and groaning that never ends. She lost some family members, yes; but her endless recital of names and death and illnesses leave you limp every time you talk with her, because she is a victim. She is an eternal victim. And while you may sympathize with her about all the things that have happened on the outside, you go away feeling that the real issue is on the inside. God’s offer of happiness and fulfillment and freedom will never be hers as long as she hears nothing but the mutually reinforcing threats of a broken spirit and cruel slavery.
Can we listen to ourselves this morning? Do you hear anything familiar? Can we identify this habit of the heart? If we have it and do not cut it out, we will never know or have what God wants to give us.
II
So how do we break that cycle? How do we get past that deadly combination of broken spirit and cruel slavery so that we can hear God’s offer of freedom? Where do you intervene to make a difference with such a personality?
I believe you break the cycle by choosing to be the good news for someone else. I believe you break down the threat to yourself by working from someone else’s freedom. You may not fully believe that you are free; you may think that you yourself are in bad shape. But if you can do something to make a difference in someone else’s life, when you can begin to her the sounds of freedom for yourself.
When Moses found that the people would not hear him, then he turned to God in his complaint. And God said, Moses, “Go and tell Pharaoh … to let the [people] go out of his land.” Just go do something, Moses; go strike a blow for freedom, whether they want it or not.
Now that’s where things got dicey. That’s where Moses almost lost his way too. Listen to Moses, about to join this pity party: “Lord, the Israelites have not listened to me; how then shall Pharaoh listen to me, poor speaker that I am?” Lord, I can’t even get your own people excited about being free. How am I, with all the stuff going on inside me of me, supposed to speak to the enemy?
Moses almost joined the pity party! And how easy it is, when you meet resistance and you try to help somebody who doesn’t really want to be helped, how easy just to give up! How easy just to yield to the broken spirit that’s in us and never challenge the cruel slavery that’s in somebody else’s life.
But the answer comes in the form of God’s straightforward command to Moses. God commands Moses to challenge the things that enslave the people. “The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them orders regarding the Israelites and Pharaoh … charging them to free the Israelites from the land of Egypt.”
Orders! Command! God says, “I don’t care if you don’t feel like challenging the slavery of my people. Just do it! I don’t care if you are all caught up in feeling sorry for yourself! Just get busy! And Moses, you’ll find that you can heal the brokenness in your spirit if you will just challenge the cruelty of somebody else’s slavery! “The Lord spoke to Moses … charging [him] to free the [people] from the land of Egypt.” Just do it!
It is sometimes said that we here at Takoma Park Baptist Church are not going to do ministry in this community because we are such wounded people ourselves. To that I respond, yes, we are, but God commands, “Announce healing to the community, and you will find healing for yourselves.” Just do it! It is argued that we are not going to do evangelism because we are too busy attending tour own problems and our own issues. And that may be true. But God commands, “I charge you to announce the good news to others; then you may hear it for yourself.” Just do it! I am told that we are never going to missions boldly, because we have to take care of ourselves first and that charity begins at home, they say. To that I can only say that if that were true, you and I would still be wallowing in our sins and blind in our ignorance, because somewhere, somehow, someone looked beyond their pain and decided to follow God’s command and bring us the gospel. Whether they felt like it or not! Just do it!
In the past several months we as a church have been challenged to confront just a few of the powers that enslave. We have responded … modestly, perhaps but we have responded. We have started a single parent action group, so that young people may not have to carry a difficult burden with a broken spirit. We have started a marriage enrichment group, so that young couples might be able to live a victorious spirit. We’ve done some other things, in response to God’s command, and despite the perception that it couldn’t be done.
But we still have along way to do. We still have many more of pharaohs to challenge out there. I hope you can hear God’s command! I hope you can listen to freedom!
Some day we will challenge the Pharaoh that enslaves teenagers and young adults with boredom and recklessness, and we will offer them something positive to do. Some day we will confront the Pharaoh that tells boys and girls that when school is out they have to be chained to the TV set, and we will offer them this church a place to be free. Some day we will speak up to the Pharaoh that keeps older people locked up in their homes, feeling powerless, and we will offer them a roof over their heads and an atmosphere of care. Some day. Some day we will show this community that in this congregation there may be some broken spirits and their may be the vestiges of cruel slavery, but, by the grace of God and because of the sacrifice of Christ, we have heard God’s command. And we will follow. “The Lord spoke .. and gave orders … charging them to free the {people} from the land of Egypt.”
Some day, some day. Some day God’s people will no longer dwell on their brokenness but will fully accept their wholeness. Some day God’s people will no longer convince themselves they are in slavery, but will accept God’s gracious offer of freedom. Some day we will listen to ourselves and we will hear freedom, not broken spirits and not cruel slavery, but freedom. Some day the habit of our hearts will be to listen for freedom and then to offer it to others. Some day.
“Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter, feelings lie buried that grace can restore. Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness, Chords that are broken will vibrate once more. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying; Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.”
