In an AP article last week, a political strategist argued that Trump needs to respond to the message that Harris was building, around protecting Americans’ freedoms — he wrote that she was taking ownership of a word that Republicans often try to make a centerpiece of their campaigns.
To that point, Harris’s campaign walk off song is Beyonce’s “Freedom”
I’m not particularly a Beyonce fan…but I’ve read the lyrics to the song…and I think it’s mostly about the title than the actual content…. freedom.
Because on both the democrat and republican side of the aisle…it has become, in many cases, more about “titles” or sound bites/emotions than content.
Both sides of the political spectrum champion freedom, and each has their own definition of what freedom is…but they are at the core, the same.
Freedom, for most people, at its basic level, is the ability to do what you want.
Is this human freedom?
“Yes, because getting what I want equals my happiness”…and it is my right to pursue happiness.
That treasured phrase from the Declaration of Independence, “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are called “inalienable” rights…. meaning they unable to be taken away from.
Is the pursuit of happiness, in itself, a good thing? Well…it depends, doesn’t it.
The evidence is strong that the founders did not advocate for perpetually “chasing happiness” as we would think of it…but they thought of it as something we could obtain.
In another political document, written two weeks before the Declaration of Independence, it speaks of “pursuing and obtaining” happiness.
I don’t want to get too far into the weeds on this…but I will just say that the average perception of the pursuit of happiness then was very different than that of today.
Today, people don’t tend to actually “obtain” happiness…they just spend their lives “chasing it”.
Because to become actually happy…you have to have the capacity for contentment and the habit of gratitude…people don’t tend to have those things
Happiness is impossible for the person who lacks contentment and the practice of gratitude.
Happiness is now merely an elusive pursuit of what we can never obtain…but don’t you dare get in the way of my vain pursuit!
The pursuit of a little bit more, something different, then, if only, when I get (fill in the blank), graduate, get married, have kids, kids are gone, retire.
Happiness is like tomorrow…when you get there it is always still a day away.
Freedom in our age is often thought of as the vain pursuit of personal happiness.
So, we never actually get there.
Freedom is my right to be continually discontent.
Freedom is my right to do the things I want to do, even if they ruin my life.
The pursuit of this kind of freedom, makes us unfree.
Reproductive freedom is most often a euphemism for the death of a child…and the searing of a human conscience.
Sexual freedom most often becomes sexual bondage…the demeaning of human bodies and souls, terrible addiction, broken relationships, the loss of all human thriving
All forms of the pursuit of human freedom untethered from the design of God…leads to terrible bondage.
What is freedom?
This question is not new, it gets at the heart of the gospel…and the constant misunderstanding people had both in Jesus’ time and in our own.
Look at John 8:31
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word,, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
*This inscription is on the main building at the University of Texas. (it’s actually on a number of buildings in the country)
If you read the history behind its placement at UT, it is clear that the ones who put it there, did not have in mind what Jesus meant by it.
They misused it to mean that truth as “education/information” will set you free.
Truth/factual information, education is super important…I’m glad the person who designs airplanes knows truth about aerodynamics
I’m glad the surgeon who cut into my knee last summer pursued truth about how knees work and how to fix them.
But this is far from what Jesus meant.
Does Knowledge set you free? Well Ask Adam and Eve.
They ate from the forbidden fruit of knowledge of good and evil…untethered from obedience to and relationship with God…they lost all freedom.
So, what did Jesus mean by this.
Jesus is by self-definition, “The truth.”
He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
So, in context…Jesus says…
“If you follow me…if you do what I say and become who I have made you to be…put your faith in me…and keep on doing it, then you actually are my followers, and then you will live in freedom.”
Living in freedom is living in saving relationship with Jesus (he is the truth).
I understand this is a different way of using freedom than politicians most often mean by it…but the fact is we cannot separate ourselves into component parts…we are social, moral, spiritual, physical beings.
It all works together.
Real freedom at every level of who we are…begins with living as we were designed to live.
Real freedom must include therefore the knowledge of what is right to do, and the freedom (power, ability) to do that right.
So, freedom is revealed truth (knowing what is the good to do) and the grace (ability) to be able to do that good.
Freedom is being born again…that is where it starts.
Freedom is being transformed into the image of Christ…that is how it is expressed over a lifetime.
Freedom is becoming perfected in Christ at death…that is how freedom is finally experienced.
But they missed his point…they misunderstood the nature of freedom because they didn’t understand the nature of slavery as Jesus had it in mind.
33 “We are descendants of Abraham,” they answered him, “and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”
If Jesus is offering them freedom, the assumption is that they are currently slaves…they reject this idea.
Keep in mind, the ones responding here are the ones who John said had “believed” in Jesus.
But that belief was, we will see, not saving faith…it was belief like in James…a brief change in mind, but not a permanent change in heart.
We see that here in verse 33…instead of conviction at hearing the Lord’s words…they move straight into dispute and self-justification.
They fall back on their religious heritage rather than yielding to Jesus.
Of course, the Jews had been enslaved by every major world power…Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Syria and then Rome.
But in spite of this they held that they were spiritually free…they were God’s chosen race.
So, Jesus has to define what freedom and slavery are…he does that in the next three verses.
34 Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
“Truly I tell you” is emphatic…it has the force of “Hey, listen up!”
Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin
This is literally, “The one who does sin.”
Those who are unredeemed sinners are slaves to their sin.
We who are redeemed sinners are no longer slaves to sin…but we can live as if we are. (more on that later)
Remember last week: Sin singular: the root sin of unbelief, Sins plural: the terrible fruit of that root.
Ultimate bondage is not to a political or social system but to moral failure, to rebellion against God, to sin.
Caesar is not their enslaving master…sin is.
Caesar is himself a slave just as they are.
So, Jesus refused to let them make him a political Messiah.
He came to bring real, lasting freedom.
As I said last week…hearts transformed by the gospel do bring social transformation…but it doesn’t work the other way around.
35 A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.
The true son in verse 35 is not the Christian but Jesus, this word for “son” is only used by John to refer to Christ himself.
Jesus is the true son and if he sets you free…you are actually free.
True freedom then, is not the ability to do whatever we want but the liberty to do what we ought.
We are really free not because we now have a set of rules that we must follow…but because we can live as we were made to live.
In free relationship with God.
God’s revelation of his will and ways in the Bible are not arbitrary they are a description of how he has designed us.
We are free, because now, we can do what we were made to do, and become who we were designed to become.
Every week I read, and almost every week I see firsthand…both the bondage of sin at work destroying lives, and the freedom of Christ setting people free from bondage.
All this is of course, enormously practical…tragically practical and wonderfully practical.
37 I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you. 38 I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father;, so then, you do what you have heard from your father.” 39 “Our father is Abraham,” they replied. “If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did.
Morality, not genealogy reveals whether we are truly children of God.
Fruit reveals root.
Sure, you are descendants of Abraham, Jesus gives them that.
But little does that matter.
So, as John is prone to do…he gives us yet another group of people who begin to follow Jesus because of something he says or does that they like…but then when he says or does something they don’t like…they turn away.
They deconstruct their faith.
Real faith finishes…faith that doesn’t finish, Scripture is clear on this, was faulty from the first.
40 But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. 41 You’re doing what your father does.” “We weren’t born of sexual immorality,” they said. “We have one Father—God.”
This is a childish ad hominine attack, off point, referring to rumors that Jesus was an illegitimate child.
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on my own, but he sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
Jesus says that God is not your spiritual father otherwise you would see me for who I am.
Your father is the devil…he is, by nature…a murderer (you want to kill me) and a liar.
Satan introduced death into the world by the success of his temptation.
His native language is lies…he speaks to them in lies…and his kids believe them and live in them.
45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Who among you can convict me of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.”
This is astonishing.
Imagine a person, around 33 years old giving the public challenge…”Find one single sin in me, I dare you.”
Last week he declared that he is THE not A light
Now he says, I am sinless…talk to anyone, look anywhere…find a single sin that you could actually convict me of.
Can you imagine anyone laying down that challenge.
Their response…is again, more childish ad hominin attacks.
48 The Jews responded to him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you’re a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 “I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and judges. 51 Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
52 Then the Jews said, “Now we know you have a demon. Abraham died and so did the prophets. You say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? And the prophets died. Who do you claim to be?”
They are stuck on mere physical death…which is a matter of relatively small concern to Jesus.
Not that physical death is unimportant…but it is of relative minor importance as compared to spiritual death.
Abraham and the prophets believed God and still died physically…are you greater than them…they ask.
Who are you?
54 “If I glorify myself,” Jesus answered, “my glory is nothing. My Father—about whom you say, ‘He is our God’—he is the one who glorifies me.
Self-promotion means nothing…Jesus lives for and will die for the glory of his Father
If they truly knew God, they would recognize Jesus for who he is.
55 You do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.”
“I” Jesus says, “Unlike you do know God.”
“And in regard to Abraham…he looked into the future and saw me, and he rejoiced.”
57 The Jews replied, “You aren’t fifty years old yet, and you’ve seen Abraham?”
Fifty is a round number indicating full maturity.
“Ha, what a joke, you’re a young man and Abraham has been dead for a couple thousand years.”
Then Jesus pulls out the “Hey, listen up “again.
“Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”
This is not poor grammar…he didn’t mean to say, what would have been simpler.
“I existed before Abraham.”
That would have been bad enough…this was far worse.
In Exodus 3 when Moses asked God who should he say had sent him he was told “I AM has sent you.”
This is holiest name for God in the OT.
“I am” indicates eternally, unchangeable, self-existing God.
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden, and went out of the temple.,
There is a lot in these two verses.
First, what we have already noted.
Jesus calls himself “I am.”
He is THE bread of life (life depends on him)
He is THE light of the world (his light is the life of mankind)
He is I AM (he is the eternal God)
Again, Jesus will not allow you to think of him as merely a good teacher or a good man…he is to be rejected out of hand as delusional or worshipped as God.
Second, they responded in the first sense…they rejected his claims and the proper response for them at that time for this level of blasphemy was stoning.
-Now by law it was not meant to be a mob reaction but rather a calm, judicial proceeding…but they were not calm about this…they wanted him dead.
Third, Jesus was hidden from him (how, we don’t know). It was not time, they had no ultimate say on how, when, or why he would die.
That is true…by the way for you as well…your death is in his hands his time.
We are not to live fearing that which is in our Father’s hands.
And, then, John writes…he went out of the temple.
There is a big storyline breadcrumb from John in that statement.
So far In John, Jesus replaces the Sabbath, Manna, the light of the Exodus, the tabernacle and the temple…and here he symbolizes the glory of God abandoning the temple.
The OT Prophet Ezekiel was taken into Babylonian captivity when he was around 30.
He had a vision that included the glory of God leaving the temple because they had rejected him for many generations, they had given themselves over to sin…and judgement was now inevitable.
This set the stage for the temple’s coming destruction.
God did not abandon his people…he went into captivity with them and in Ezekiel’s vision a remnant would return with transformed hearts.
The book of Ezekiel ends with a future hope…in the future, transformed humans animated by God’s life-giving Spirit…living in the Kingdom of God.
This OT historical event pointed forward to Jesus…here Jesus, because of their stubborn rejection of him…leaves the temple.
God is making a new people, a living temple…this stone temple is just a few years will be destroyed…but the church will spread across the planet.
APPLICATION
We can look around at the political landscape and see freedom defined as:
-more Personal autonomy
-Less government
-More restrictions on things that I don’t agree with
-Less restrictions on things I have preference for
People disagree on what will lead to freedom…but not, generally, on what freedom is.
It is doing what I want.
The newly selected democratic VP nominee even called it a “Golden rule.”
What has traditionally been called The golden rule is what Jesus said was “doing to others as you have them do to you.”
Now it is…mind your own business, let others do what they want to do…and of course, let me do what I want to do.
But let’s reel our minds in.
There is plenty to get up and arms about in the world of politics…I started down that path on purpose.
And we are getting off of it on purpose.
We can easily do what the people when Jesus spoke directly to them do…we go political or look around for targets rather than apply the truth personally.
“Those stupid Romans…or gentiles…or Samaritans…or republicans or democrats.”
Listen to James.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
Let’s look in the mirror, see clearly, and repent.
Jesus has defined freedom for us.
“If you continue in my word,, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
And as he has defined its opposite, what slavery is.
“Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.”
If you have not been born again, you lack the power of the Holy Spirit to live in freedom.
It is not a criticism it is a fact as given to us by God’s word.
Believe. Repent. Follow Jesus.
If you have been born again, and you are not pursuing holiness…training in godliness…then you are not going to enjoy the freedom that is your rightful inheritance.
Mephibosheth: Jonathan’s son.
-Living in Lo Debar (nowhere)…crippled man living in dire poverty, not in what the King had determined was his birthright as the son of his dear friend.
You need to understand…it is the pursuit of Christ, not personal happiness that is your inalienable right from your Father.
If we hold to his teaching, then we are his disciples…then Jesus, the truth, will set us free.
There is a real sense in that freedom is doing what we want…but that freedom is when what we want has been transformed.
We want to do what we ought…we want to do what God wants.
That is real freedom.
If you want to be happy…pursue contentment and gratitude. Do the collaborative work with the Holy Spirit to see your heart changed.
At the same time…
If you have trained your physical body, your brain, your appetites, your reflexes for sin…you have a lot of work to do to live in freedom.
It is not going to be as simple as pray more, read more…you need to do the work to retrain your mental, relational, verbal, emotional reflexes.
This is not a work void of the Spirit’s power…it is a work of grace and grit.
It is a work that can only become effective when practiced in community.
We are not a church we are not an event on Sunday mornings.
We are more like a team training for the Olympics, or a unit training for combat…Paul loved sports and military analogies.
We are training together for godliness…we train for actual change in the real world.
We push our bodies, Paul wrote, to train for godliness…and we do this in relationship with others.
You will not do this well or for long by yourself.
Let’s finish with some strong words of challenge and encouragement.
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Romans 6:1
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Col 3
Grace and the Grit:
Grace: You have been raised, your life is now hidden
Grit: Set your hearts, set your minds, put to death, rid yourself.
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. Gal. 5:1