So we just finished a nice three day Memorial holiday weekend. Many Americans spent a lot of time talking about their freedom and they spent time honoring and remembering those who fought and who served for our freedom. I also did this. It is so great to know that we live in a country in which we are free to live and act and think in any way as long as we are in the boundaries of the laws that are in place here. Just as many men and woman died to give us this freedom there was One Man who also died to give us freedom. The freedom that this Man gave us is some what different that the freedom we have as Americans. This Man that I am talking is Jesus Christ. He went to a cross and gave His life and because of that He accomplished many things. One of those things is giving people freedom. Jesus said in John 8 verses 32, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus told this to a Jew who had believed in Jesus’ name for salvation. Jesus wants us to understand that there is freedom available for those who want it. All it requires is knowing the truth. What is the truth, well Jesus Christ is the truth. Knowing Christ is knowing freedom. As I thought about this freedom, I thought about three things in which in Christ we are set free from.
1. We have been set free from Hell. All people are free to say yes or no to Jesus. Everyone is free to choose to believe in Jesus Christ or not to believe. Everyone has the freedom to make this choice, yes I believe in Jesus Christ or no I do not believe in Jesus Christ. And since we are free to choose yes or no to Jesus we are also free to choose Heaven or Hell. Part of the truth setting us free is in the very fact that we are freed from eternity in Hell separated from God in a place called Hell. Make no mistake Hell is not some fairy tale, it is not some imaginary place, it is not some symbolic place. It is a real physical place in which everyday people are going because they used the freedom that Christ gave to choose to say I don’t believe.
2. We have been set free from sin. You are free to be freed from your sin. You are free to be real about your sin. You are free to say I am a sinner that falls short of God glorious standard and when I confess this to God and make war against it by fighting not to practice it, it does not affect my standing with God. You are free to confess this sin to other believers also and not have to be ostracized about it. Don’t confuse this with a license to sin, I do not mean that. Because part of our freedom to be freed from sin is that we acknowledge sin as sin and in acknowledging it as sin we confess it to God and because of doing that God forgives us and remembers the sin no more. There is great freedom in the Christ centered life to be freed from the burden, shame and guilt of sin, only when acknowledged and confessed. Part of the truth setting us free is being freed from the pain, guilt and shame of sin. If we use our freedom in Christ to be real about our sin and go before God as a humble sinner and admit our wrong doing we are freed from the bondage that sin puts us in.
3. We have been set free from legalism. In Christ we have been set free from a list of does and don’t of the law and we are free to develop a relationship with God through his Son. Getting this freedom means we no longer have a relationship with God by the outward appearance of obeying the law but by the inward relationship through Christ. This means that our righteousness is no longer measured by how well we can keep a set of rules but our righteousness is measured by what Christ did on the cross. When we experience this freedom it means we no longer feel a burden to serve God but we freely serve God out of the relationship that is growing between Him and us through His Son. This means that we are free to live our life according to Gods word and not fear condemnation from Him when we fail. This also means we are free to be unique people with unique personalities that uniquely serve God. We have been set free from living a Christ centered life as if we are stuck in a box as long as we stay with in the box that the Bible outlines. (Just like we are free to live, talk and act in any way in the U.S. as long as it is within the law) There is much more we have been set from in Christ that we could talk about these are just some that I have been thinking about this morning.
So as we finish up this Memorial weekend in which we are so thankful for the freedom that we have in the U.S spend some time thanking God for the freedom He gave us through His Son Jesus Christ. As you do examine your life to see if you are living in this freedom. See if Galatians 5:1 is true for your life. “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”
No comments:
Post a Comment