As we celebrate the nation's Independence Day, we honor Jesus for the ultimate freedom from sin, Satan, death and hell that He purchased for us on the cross. As we continue to look at the Israelite's entry into the promised land we see how in every generation, there is a subtle drift from that freedom and will find ways that we can return to it.
The Freedom of Christ
What type of freedom did God intend for us?
God intended His people to live in the freedom of His good design which leads to the most fulfilling life relationally, economically, socially and legacy-wise that anyone could ever imagine (Genesis 12; John 10:10; I Corinthians 2:6-10). God has a specified plan to accomplish this and has charged us through His Word to live in a manner that will please Him and bless us.
Yet there are all manners of opportunity through which we can go astray. This is what we saw with the Israelites.
Judges 2:6-15 When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
True freedom is realized when you have an encounter with God yourself. This is what the generation of Joshua experienced crossing the Jordan (Joshua 3), seeing the walls of Jericho come down (Joshua 6), seeing the sun stand still (Joshua 10), etc.
You must determine to seek God both individually and corporately. You come to Jesus through one and remain in Jesus through the other. Where one or the other disappear, like the Israelites, you begin to see people assimilated into the culture around them (abandoning the Lord) instead of being set apart for God.
Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Are you living in first hand relationship with Jesus or on the second hand smoke of the kingdom? If it is second hand smoke, once those who influenced you for Christ are removed, so is your faith. If this is you, you can meet Jesus in a real way today.
Baal meant "master" or "lord" and was usually represented as the god of the storm (for economic provision in an agricultural society) and fertility (posterity).
Ashtoreth was the female goddess of fertility, sexuality and war, who the people looked to for power.
To thrive in Christ and not become a statistic you need to:
1) Know God well enough through His word, not the trends of culture, to be able to know who He is, what pleases Him and how you might worship him acceptably.
Freedom lies in discernment, the ability to think and distinguish between good and evil.
2) Identify what the gods or rulers of the culture are and make sure that you are not bowing down to them in opposition to the ways of God.
“Friend, I am not suggesting at all. You see, I know now. Let us be frank. Our opinions were not honestly come by. We simply found ourselves in contact with a certain current of ideas and plunged into it because it seemed modern and successful. At College, you know, we just started automatically writing the kind of essays that got good marks and saying the kind of things that won applause. When, in our whole lives, did we honestly face, in solitude, the one question on which all turned: whether after all the Supernatural might not in fact occur? When did we put up one moment's real resistance to the loss of our faith?”
― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
The Subtle Drift from That Freedom
The Israelites began to pursue and bow down to the precepts of the foreign gods, making appeals to them and sacrificing to them in exchange for what they perceived to be blessing in their economic life, sexual fulfillment and legacy.
How are you doing the same today?
What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace.
-John Wesley
Judges 2:16-23 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
What does God do in times of moral drift away from the freedom that He intended? He raises up judges who know Him, His ways and will fight to bring the people back to the freedom He intended.
How do we do it in a city like ours? We must model Jesus who came with both grace and truth (John 1:17), both modeling and speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).
Love does not mean assimilation. Rather it speaks of a courage, strength and faithfulness to God that allows you to be different. It is setting an example of and patiently declaring the design of God that leads to humanity's true freedom in Christ.
Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
The Return to True Freedom
Truth is ultimately found in the person of Jesus and His redemptive work on the cross. A return to true freedom is a return to Christ and His good design for us.
Galatians 6:14-15 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
Let's meet Jesus today afresh with a repentance of thought and life that we might worship the only true God of freedom.
Following the message, communion was taken. The following is a communion inspiration shared by Caleb Bergmann.
What does communion mean when you're working on spreadsheets, speaking with clients, changing diapers or doing homework? Surely on Sunday morning it has loads of "religious" significance, but what about during the week? What does it mean when you don't want to get out of bed because you're too depressed or when you can scarcely think about anything but the bitter memories of abuse? What does it mean in the times of inexpressible pain?
Communion is about the gospel, or the "good news." The good news is a person, Jesus Christ. The reason that He is "good news" is that in His very person He brought heaven and earth together. He was fully God and fully man, which seems insignificant at first, but couldn't be further from it. Christ Himself experienced fully what we feel when we suffer, He experienced abuse by the Roman guards. Verbally He was crushed, physically He was beaten, He was hung on the cross His naked body exposed to all. He is the most human of all humans. He knew what it was to not want to move onward, to be in so much agony from life that He sweat blood. But He, too, is God above all gods. He created galaxies with His cosmic power. He held them in the palm of His hand. He is the union between man and God.
Romans 6 explains to us the significance of His person, of His saving death and life. It reads,
"4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."
Specifically, Romans 6 is speaking about the reality of baptism, of being buried and raised again with Christ. However, it certainly extends to communion, as communion is a "sharing" in Christ's body. By eating bread and juice, we are sharing in the One who puts our sinful selves to death, and raises us to new life.
So what does it mean in our suffering? What does it mean in our pain, in our day to day grind at work? It means that God has literally experienced all of it. He has grown tired, sleepy, been in unspeakable agony, worked hard, needed time with His Father. Jesus Christ is human, just as we are. He, too, is not like us at all: He is God. He is all powerful and all knowing. Christ can sympathize with all that we are going through in our day to day situations because He has actually experienced it. Our God is not a God who remains far away in the sky. He comes and meets us when we come and meet Him.
So here we are in communion- many of you are weary from work. Many of you were up late with your children. Some of you are haunted by past mistakes. Others are terrorized by memories of abuse. Some of you are looking for meaning and hope in a dark and troubled time. This is the place to come, because in communion, we encounter God. We encounter His death, His agony and pain. We encounter life, His joy and celebration. He meets us in pain and in joy, giving both His life and His death to us.
As we take of the bread, know that it symbolizes His body that was broken for you.
As we take of the juice, know that it symbolizes His blood that was poured out for you.
He is with us. He knows what it is to be in pain. He knows what it is to experience the heights of joy. Jesus Christ is God with us, and God never apart from us. May we bring all of our pain, joy, and sorrow to Him because He has experienced it all, and can heal us when we no longer know where to turn.
Second City Church- Designer God Sermon Series 2015
