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Freedom
John 8:31-34
Wiley Coppinger
In many pulpits this Sunday, there will be sermons dedicated to celebrating our country’s 229th birthday. This is a great topic; in fact, I’m reminded of my teenage years when a particular substitute Sunday school teacher would talk about freedom and responsibility. Many of my friends and I looked forward to his being our teacher although his lessons didn’t do a lot for our spiritual development. His lessons were inspiring and helped set our resolve to be good citizens. I believe that most people go to church to be fed spiritually. So it is for this reason that I will not address our country’s foundation and subsequent blessings of our free society.
In the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence we all can recognize the famous words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Often times we construe these words to believe that we have some sort of guaranty of happiness. Well the founding fathers were more realistic than that. They wanted to pass on to us the opportunity for the pursuit of happiness. With this thought in mind I have a question to consider this morning, can we be happy if we are in the bonds of slavery?
You might ask yourself how can he even think that? Isn’t this the United States of America the bastion of freedom? Aren’t our soldiers dying every day in Iraq in the quest to bring freedom to those people?
How can we think on this July 3rd about slavery?
I am talking about Sin. The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans chapter 6 verse 6-7: “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”
So again the question comes; can we be happy if we are in the bonds of slavery? Will sin really enslave us? Well one answer comes from Peter’s second general letter in chapter 2 verses 17-19: “These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity – for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.”
In John chapter 8 verse 34: “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin”.” This is a pretty all-inclusive statement. Are we as sure of ourselves in our pursuit of happiness? Are we slaves to sin?
Last Sunday the topic scripture was Romans chapter 1 verses 29-31, in that reading is a list of sins and sinners. “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.” This is something to meditate on. Can this list describe us?
Let’s put it in more modern terms. Last week I read in the newspaper about a teenage boy that was addicted to Internet pornography, over the years I have seen many examples of our entertainers that have been addicted to drugs even to the point of death. What about the alcoholic that has a bottle hidden in every conceivable place? Now we might say to ourselves that these examples are pretty extreme, that doesn’t describe me.
Well what about the person that is feeling kind of blue and goes shopping? Yes, simply goes shopping and adds to their family’s debt burden. After all we have our mortgages, car loans and an average of $8,000 in credit card debt. Would it be wrong to add to that debt just to make us feel better for a short time? Of course, there are many other examples that we could name. After all we are Americans, so just maybe we could add pride to that list that we’re working on.
It really doesn’t matter what our spiritual status is, sin is an equal opportunity enslaver. Obviously if we are outside of Christ we have a sin problem but what about those people that Peter was talking about in 2 Peter 2:17-19 were leaders of the church that had become corrupt and sinful. So we need to be aware that we have never arrived at least not until we meet our savior in heaven itself.
Sin is very deceitful. It steals our attention, our resources, our time, and of course our spirits. We will find excuse after excuse to rationalize our behavior because we are so enslaved to our sin that we would do anything to not have to give it up. Last week Jim Davis talked about losing focus and indeed sin is there to help us do that. How can I pray effectively or get the message from God’s word or meditate if I have sin dragging me down. It is a terrible burden and it is easy to see if we are honest with ourselves the enslaving power that sin has over our lives. Can we really be happy? Or are we just involved in a fruitless pursuit?
Can we get away with blaming Satan for our condition? Is Flip Wilson’s phrase “the devil made me do it” valid? Consider what James wrote to the church in his letter. “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor des he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (Jas 1:13-15) Was Eve able to successfully use the Satan defense? Did God tempt Job? Could Satan tempt Job without permission from God?
We have to see that taking responsibility for our sins is at least a first step toward fixing the problem. After all the prodigal son could not have gone home if he hadn’t finally realized his condition and that he was the cause of it. If we try to blame someone or something else for our sins then we deceive ourselves and give in to our chains. It is only when we wake-up and see our life for what it is can we begin the process of breaking the bonds of sin.
What keeps us from seeing our condition? I believe that our sin is comfortable to us it is an old friend. Surely what we do is not really sin. Maybe we would rather focus on our neighbor’s sin. When I am looking at how bad off someone else is then I don’t have to look at how horrible my life is. Of course, even using that technique is just another form of sin that we have just added to our already heavy burden. The thing that we must face is our own desires not my friends not my parents or my spouse but mine.
Can we over come our weaknesses? I’ve heard people refer to things that we call vices and the phrase that comes to mind is “I’m working on that.” How are we working on these things? Will New Year’s resolutions help? Next New Year’s listen to the comedians on television and count how many jokes you hear about broken New Year’s resolutions. If we call these things our weaknesses, how then can we break out of their grip by ourselves?
Is our sin serious? Of course it is! It will separate us eternally from our heavenly Father. It will condemn us to an eternity of punishment. In the sermon on the mount Jesus illustrated just how serious sin is by the following statement: “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Mt 5:29-30) Did Jesus literally mean for us to dispose of our body parts to keep from sinning? Of course, most of us aren’t surgeons and can’t properly cut off a hand or gouge out an eye safely. Would doing these things keep us from temptation?
I think that Jesus used illustrations such as these to get our attention. It certainly answers the question of whether or not sin is serious. I believe that he meant we have to do whatever it takes to get away from the influences that feed our weaknesses. If we have to give up some friends then we should be ready, willing, and able to do just that. If we have to find a new means of making a living then that is what is required. For if we continue to stay in the same environment that helps us to sin then there is no hope for us. Think about our own history. When we had slavery in America one of the options a slave had to break their bonds was to run away and hope to contact the Underground Railroad and thus achieve freedom. It is the same today with the bonds of sin we may need to run from the environment that feeds that sin.
However, that is not the only answer. Keep in mind that when we speak of the bondage of sin words such as addiction, obsession, and compulsion come to mind. Are these conditions easy to get rid of? Usually, when we think of conditions such as these we associate professional help. This won’t work here because the things that we are talking about having addictions, obsessions, and compulsion over are not only permissible by society but they are sometimes considered the preferable lifestyle. The professionals are likely to tell us to just get a handle on this guilt problem that we have. It seems that we won’t find any answers here.
What about friends and family, can they help? First, sin is personal and is the responsibility of the person committing the sin. Not family members or friends. I know of a family that watched helplessly as their alcoholic son quietly killed himself over the years. They or he didn’t know that eventually in spite of everything that they did or tried to do he would eventually step out in front of an SUV driving at the speed limit one night and that was it. His parents wanted to help him but it was to no avail. Some have other remedies such as infant baptism and proxy baptism but you can’t really make a personal spiritual commitment for someone else. The remedy for sin cannot really be found on this earth. Can friends or family pray for us and be supportive, yes but this still implies help from yet another source.
Do we finally see the actual hopelessness of sin? I hope so. It is not trivial it cannot be dealt with as we deal with most of our problems. It will kill us spiritually. Of course the death is very slow and sometimes undetectable. Many times or sins are unseen by those around us also we tell ourselves that this is not really a problem at all thus we believe our own lies. Can we see how that the death is slow and often undetectable? We tell ourselves that there is plenty of time. I’m still young or I’ll have time to deal with that when I finish school, or retire. But how much time do we have anyway? Personally I look around me and I say I might have 20 more years. Even if I do those years will seem to pass quickly for me. So do we really have the time that we expect to have and will we waste it?
If we want true freedom then we have to look to the only source that can free us from our sins. How was David freed from his sins of adultery and murder? How was Abraham freed of his sins of lying and deceit? Name any of the flawed characters that we read about in the Bible and what was their answer? The answer of course comes from the Lord. He personally freed Abraham from his sins. He gave Moses the Law to free the Israelites from their sins. Finally He gave us His Son to free us of our sins and all of those who went before or will come after us.
In the gospel of John chapter 8 verses 31-32 “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” So it is as Peter proclaimed in the gospel of John chapter 6 verses 68-69: Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
In conclusion:
Can we truly be happy if we are enslaved to sin? The answer is obviously no. Is there a path to freedom from our sins? Yes, through the blood of Jesus. It is only then will we really be free to pursue happiness as written in our Declaration of Independence.
If you have never put on Christ in baptism or if you have slipped back into the shackles of sin and need the prayers of the church would you come as we stand and sing the song of invitation.