Freedom

 Freedom

What comes to mind when you think about that word?  What life experiences have helped to shape the way you think about it?  What does it really mean to be free?  Is freedom something that is primarily external, or internal?  It it possible to live in a land of freedom and yet not be free at all inside?

As you read and reflect on the scriptures to the right, you can hear the kind of freedom that God invites us to enter into.  Not just the kind of freedom that has to do with being free from external constraints, but the kind of that frees us internally. 

Jesus invites us to come and follow Him.  To live like He did, to learn from Him, to live freely.  Notice how this is described in The Message in Matt 11

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”   

Jesus invites us to learn what it means to live freely and lightly.  To do it by watching Him, doing things like He does, reflecting the priorities that He reflects, being like He was in the world.  That is what it means to experience and live in the freedom that God offers us.  It is the freedom that flows from grace.

Sadly, that are those in the Christian community who downplay the importance of grace.  As if the real "meat" of the scriptures is found once you get past all that "love and grace stuff."  But the truth is that it is the love and grace of God that makes living with freedom possible, and the depth of which we will never be able to exhaust though we study it all through eternity.  There is nothing more important, or more central.  That is what we celebrate when we reflect on what it means to be free.

Jesus tells us that when we know the Truth, the Truth will make us free.  This is the same Jesus that says "I am the way, the Truth, and the life."  Knowing the Truth, and knowing what it means to be genuinely free, is all about knowing Jesus, embracing Him, and allowing Him to guide us.  If we miss the centrality of this, we miss the heart of it all.

It is following Jesus to freedom that Pastor Jon reflects on with us in this sermon.  If you would like to listen to it again, or perhaps for the first time, you can access our sermon library here, or the livestream version of the entire service here. 

More Scripture for Reflection

 

Scriptural insights on Freedom

Proverbs 25:28

Like a city whose walls are broken through

    is a person who lacks self-control

Psalm 51

1 Have mercy on me, O God,

    according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

    blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity

    and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,

    and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned

    and done what is evil in your sight;

so you are right in your verdict

    and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth,

    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;

    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;

    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins

    and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,

    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence

    or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation

    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

    so that sinners will turn back to you.

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

    you who are God my Savior,

    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

15 Open my lips, Lord,

    and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;

    a broken and contrite heart

    you, God, will not despise.

Colossians 1:22

22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—