Created for Freedom

Created for Freedom!

Part 2

Sermon Notes: Saturday, July 10, 2010 & Sunday, July 11, 2010

Rev. Jim O’Neal, Senior Pastor

Sun Lakes United Methodist Church, 9248 E. Riggs Road, Sun Lakes, Arizona 85248 - (480) 895-8766

John 8:31-36 NRSV

³¹Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” ³³They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. ³⁶So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

A. Introduction

1. Prison Escape

a. Some years ago a man in a Sydney, Australia jail longed to escape from his imprisonment. One day he saw his chance. He climbed under the hood of a van which was delivering bread to the institution. When the van made its next stop the man sneaked out from under the hood. He was hot, dirty and he was in pain because his arm had been burned by the manifold. Quietly he snuck away from the van until he discovered the truth that he was now in the yard of another jail facility just four miles from the other one!

b. We all long to be free. Freedom, indeed is God’s will for us. However, for freedom to really mean anything it must be rooted in God’s word and will.

2. Today’s Scripture: John 8:31-32

a. That’s what Jesus was telling people in today’s Scripture: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32 NRSV)

b. Our understanding of what freedom is, and how we strive for freedom must be as God’s word directs us. Today, we continue to confess our struggles to understand what freedom is and to hear the call to live responsibly in our liberty. Today, we also celebrate Jesus’ gift of our liberation from the bondage of sin.

B. Freedom means different things to different people

and freedom calls us to live responsibly.

1. No Fourth of July in England!

a. An American asked his British friend, “Do you have a Fourth of July in England?” The British friend replied, “No, we just go from the third of July right to the fifth of July!” Laughing the British fellow said, “Of course we have a fourth of July. We just don’t celebrate your (expletive) holiday.”

b. The English celebrate other events as pivotal moments of freedom, as do the people of other countries. We celebrate different events and we understand what freedom means in different ways. That’s true not only of others overseas, but also here in America. By and large we all want freedom, but we don’t agree as to what this means. As we struggle to understand and embrace this wonderful and elusive concept, remember that freedom calls us to live responsibly.

2. Bernard Malamud

a. Last Sunday I talked a little about that and suggested several quotes from the Bible as well as Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette to help us see the call to live responsibly in our freedom. Today, I give us another quote that comes from Bernard Malamud: “The purpose of freedom is to create it for others.”

b. True freedom is not selfish. It does not want to trample on the rights of others, and it respects the needs and dignity of others.

C. Freedom is release from the bondage of sin.

1. Snake

a. Billie Cannon of Knoxville, Tennessee decided to paint her back porch. In order to protect the floor, she very carefully placed around the edges double stick cellophane tape. She planned to use this tape with adhesive on both sides to secure her drop cloth to the floor. After installing the tape she went inside the house to get the drop cloth. Answering a phone call she took longer than she intended. Returning later to the porch she found that all of her tape was gone. Mystified she wondered, “Where did it go? Who would have taken the tape up?” Then she saw movement in her backyard. Looking closer she discovered it was a snake and a very large one! However, the snake was no threat to her. It was hopelessly immobilized by being enmeshed in a large ball of Scotch tape. Evidently while she was inside the snake had crawled up on the back porch and onto the double stick tape. Sensing the tape was sticking to its skin, the snake had obviously put up a terrible struggle. In doing so it pulled every bit of tape from the floor. The harder it fought, however, the more hopelessly it became entangled in its cellophane prison until it was totally captive.

b. This is what happens when we give in to temptation: We not only dishonor God, and do hurtful things to others; we also put ourselves into bondage to sin. The greedy man’s life is now ruled by his money. The fellow who thinks he’s a “player” finds his life unfulfilled going from one meaningless relationship to another over and over again. He is a slave to his desires always looking for that next relationship that never meets expectations. As Jesus said, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34b NRSV)

2. Skunks.

a. Some years ago the newspaper in Darlington, Maryland carried this story. One evening a mother of eight children went visiting next door. When she came home she saw her children kneeling on the carpet in the living room very much interested in some wiggly squirmy critters. She thought they were some stray cats that her kids let in. As she drew closer it became obvious that her children were gathered around a family of skunks! In horror she yelled, “Run, children, run!” Whereupon each child grabbed a skunk and ran onto the front porch. The skunks sprayed and bit the children. The children dropped the skunks and the animals ran away. The mother rushed her children to the hospital. The family was bathed in several cleansing solutions and given shots for fear of rabies. Everyone would be just fine, but all were a bit sadder and wiser.

b. This true story is also a parable of human life. We may be horrified at that part of our lives that is selfish, sinful, neglectful, and even mean spirited. Yet too often, even though we know the right way, we continue to latch on to the wrong path. For all of us despite our good intentions there is this tug to do the wrong things that the Bible calls sin. And the Bible tells us that we all have this problem. The Bible reminds us: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23 NIV) Also in Romans 6:23 the Bible warns us and gives us Good News of great hope: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NRSV) Thus, our only hope is to turn to Jesus the only one to ever live a perfect, sinless life. In and through Him we find forgiveness of our sins and in His spirit we find the strength to resist the temptation of evil.

3. Martin Luther

a. The great reformer, Martin Luther once said, “Strange, though I am saved from sin, I am not saved from sinning.” When we say that Christ saves us from the bondage of sin, we mean that in several ways. First, Jesus saves us from the consequences of sin. By His merits we are forgiven and restored in our relationship to God. By His sacrifice on the cross we are bought out of slavery to sin and captivity to the way of evil. We again belong to God and Jesus is our Master. This amazing, wonderful and undeserved gift came at great cost to Jesus, but is freely given to each of us. For this gift alone we could praise Jesus for all eternity! This is the point at which some denominations stop in their presentation of the Good News.

b. However, there is a second way in which we are freed from the bondage of sin. In gratitude for God releasing each of us from the consequences of our sins, we want to please God. We want God’s Spirit to rule over all of our thoughts and actions. In prayer, Bible study and service we give all of ourselves to the Almighty that by His power we might begin the process of being freed from the bondage of sin completely! Thus to those of us in the Wesleyan tradition, salvation is the beginning point and sanctification is the process by which God claims all of you.

4. Corrie ten Boom (from: “The Hiding Place” by Corrie ten Boom)

a. After World War II Corrie ten Boom traveled all over Europe preaching God’s forgiveness of sins. She was sure that she had overcome her own desire for vengeance against the S.S. troops who had treated her so cruelly in the concentration camp and caused the death of her sister and other family members. On one of her trips she went to Munich, Germany. On a Sunday, outside of a Church, she found herself face to face with a former S.S. guard. He was one of those who had forced the women to undress to enter the delousing showers. Each time he went in and watched the women showering, making lewd comments at some, and making fun of others. Suddenly, the horrible old feelings were present again. Corrie could picture this man and the other mocking men, and she was once again filled with fear and shame. His words called her back to the present. Beaming from ear to ear and bowing he said, “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein. To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away.” The man then put out his hand. It was too much for Corrie. Her hand stay frozen, paralyzed at her side. Forgiveness for such a thing would be hard for anyone, and she thought it seemed outrageous for him to expect it of her. At that moment she confesses that she had angry and vengeful thoughts. She struggled to raise her hand. She could not. She felt nothing, not the slightest spark of forgiveness. So she breathed a silent prayer: “Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness.” Then God touched her heart and released her from her hatred and hostility toward this man who had wronged her and her sister. And she held his hand and forgave him.

b. I share this story to remind us that all of us, even exemplary Christians like Corrie ten Boom, struggle in our walk with God and have things to work on. No matter how far we have gone in our Christian walk none of us have arrived at the perfection of Jesus Christ. One thing all of us struggle with is the call, in all of life, to be obedient to God’s will. Concerning that we confess that as Christians we may fail and even sin. But sin is no longer our master. Jesus is. We have given ourselves to Him. He will help us. He is guiding us and molding us into the loving person God created us to be. We now have Jesus helping us to do the right thing; that which is pleasing to God and that which is kind and loving to others. Yes, we have things to work on, but we know with the help of our Lord we will grow more into His likeness. As we open our hearts to Him more each day we will find ourselves overcoming evil and striving for good. We struggle, but we are growing in our pursuit of perfection in love. More and more Jesus rules our thoughts and actions. More and more as we cling to Him is the promise of today’s Scripture coming true: “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36 NRSV) And in Heaven we trust that we will be perfected in God’s love and completely free from the bondage of sin.

D. Conclusion: Recap… On this beautiful Sunday in July we continue to be grateful for the God given blessings of freedom that we enjoy in our land, and have talked about three things:

1. Freedom means different things to different people.

2. Freedom calls us to live responsibly.

3. True freedom is release from the bondage of sin.

Created for Freedom!

1. Freedom means different things to different people.

2. Freedom calls us to live responsibly.

3. True freedom is release from the bondage of sin.

Galatians 5:1 NRSV

¹For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:13-14 NRSV

¹³For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. ¹⁴For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

1 Peter 2:16-17 NRSV

¹⁶As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. ¹⁷Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

John 8:31-36 NRSV