The Meaning of Freedom
A Sermon by Dave Redick
Hwy 20 Church of Christ, Sweet Home, OR

There were those in the first century church who were teaching that freedom in Christ was absolute. They encouraged Christians to indulge their fleshly appetites. After all, weren't they free to do so? Peter spoke of them in II Peter 2:18-19: "For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, be sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved." It is as though they came to the early Christians with a bucket marked "freedom" in big red letters. "Here, take this. You can be free," they promised. But the bucket had coming from it the distinct rattle of chains.

Introduction

Once upon a time there was a kite that longed to be free. Since the day he was made he never ceased to dream of the freedom of the skies. He wasn't free, however. Instead, he sat high up in the corner of a toy store shelf, rolled up and fastened tightly with a rubber band. Prospects for freedom seemed dismal since it was November and no one flew kites in winter.

Alas, though, one day in December, a few days before Christmas, someone's parents came and took him down from the shelf! They paid for him and took him home. Freedom at last!

The days passed quickly as the little kite anticipated his soon-to-be-enjoyed liberty. Finally, the great day came. His package was opened and he got his first look at his new owner. Freedom!

But no - he was put up on a shelf in the closet to wait for March winds. Again, his entire world was dark. The days of his bondage dragged on, broken only occasionally by the opening and closing of the closet door. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the closed door swung open and spring air rushed in. Freedom!

The kite was taken outside and unrolled. His cross members were braced tightly and his plastic body stretched out across the span. Ah! It felt so good to be a kite! Almost before he could get his breath, the wind swept him up up up in an exhilarating climb into the blue sky. Quickly he rose high above the earth, tail flicking back and forth as houses and cars grew smaller and smaller beneath his outstretched wooden skeleton. "Freedom! Freedom! I'll never stop flying!" he cried.

But suddenly he found he could go no further. His owner had quit letting out string.

"Why does he hold me back like this?" he fretted. "I want my freedom! I don't want to be held by anyone's string!"

He pulled and tugged. "Let me go! Let me go!" he shouted. "I want to be free!" Suddenly the string broke and he began to plunge toward the earth, pitching back and forth, driven farther and farther away from his master. As he neared the ground, his tail caught a telephone wire and he hung upside down, spinning in the wind. His frail plastic body slammed against the pole again and again. Finally, his tail broke and he crashed to the earth. The wind picked him up again and slammed him into a tree, breaking his cross member. The lights went out.

People are like kites. They want to be free. People are like kites. They need a string stretched tightly between themselves and the Master's wise hand lest they be broken and shattered in the winds of life.

Freedom is a precious thing. Very few of God's creatures would pass up the opportunity to be free if they could.

At the University of Oklahoma, for many years a project was underway to teach a fifteen year old female chimpanzee named Washoe to talk by combining sign language with simple recognition. Since 1966, this chimp learned 140 signs. Finally, the project directors decided that Washoe was prepared to "conceptualize." This meant that instead of merely imitating some human words, Washoe would express thoughts of her own. Now understand, this monkey was a pampered animal in the university's lab. She was well-fed, physically comfortable, safe from harm. Yet, do you know what the first words she put together were? And she repeated them a number of times: "Let me out!"

All God's creatures, and especially, human beings, want to be free.

What does it mean to be free, anyway? What is true freedom?

Fortunately, freedom is a Biblical subject and there is no better place to turn than to God's Word to learn about it. The words "freedom" and "liberty" appear 15 times in the New American Standard version of the New Testament.

For instance, Jesus said in John 8:31-32 that freedom is related to truth: "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. "

Freedom is also related to the presence of the Lord. Paul wrote in II Corinthians 3:17: "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

From Galatians 5:1 we learn that freedom must be defended: "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."

Let me begin this Biblical subject by saying first,

I. What True Freedom Isn't.

A. True freedom isn't doing everything our hearts desire.

Thomas Huxley once said, "A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes."

James Dobson tells of a little hamster that his children had when they were growing up. They kept the little animal in a comfortable cage. Inside were all the food and toys any hamster could ever wish for. But instead of playing with what was in the cage, the hamster would spend his waking hours gnawing on the bars, trying to get out. He just couldn't wait to get free.

At that time Dobson also had a little Dachshund dog named Sigmund Freud or "Siggy." Siggy would sit beside the cage and watch the hamster for hours, as if to say, "Go ahead, get out of the cage. I'll get you when you do."

That hamster thought he would be happy if he just had the absolute freedom his cage prevented. He didn't know that such freedom would lead to his instant death.

True freedom isn't doing everything our hearts desire, yet, if you were to ask the average person to define "freedom," he would probably say something like, "freedom is being able to do as I please."

What does the Bible say about this matter?

Galatians 5:13 tells us that we should voluntarily restrain our freedom: , "For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh..."

In other words, the desire to do as we please must be restrained when it comes to our fleshly desires.

I Peter 2:16 says, "Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God."

From that verse, too, we learn that true freedom is not the liberty to indulge in evil. As a matter of fact, our freedom is spoken of in the same context of being "bondslaves to God."

It takes personal responsibility and discipline in order to continue to have true freedom. I could sit at a piano and be at liberty to play any keys I want, but I don't really have freedom to play what I want, because I can't produce anything but noise. I can't play Bach. I can't even play "Chopsticks." Why? Because it takes years of disciplined practice and obedience to lessons to be truly free to play anything I want.

When is a train freer to do what it was built to do? When it is confined to the track or when it jumps the track and goes off across the country on its own?

True freedom takes a willingness to discipline and restrain self.

Will and Ariel Durant, in their huge work on the history of the world, said this: "The first condition of freedom is its limitation; make it absolute and it dies in chaos."

There are those who think that freedom should be absolute in the area of drug use. "Legalize drugs so that they can be taxed and regulated," they say. "After all, you can't legislate morality, anyway." Yea, right.

Try that one out on the policeman who stops you and gives you a ticket for speeding. "But officer, you can't legislate morality!" But he gives you the ticket anyway. It's 150 bucks. You pay it. It hurts. And the next time you drive slowly when you come to that stretch of road. He legislated morality!

So if we were to legalize drug use, who is going to pay for the medical bills of all the addicts who can't or won't work to pay for it themselves? You and I will, my friends. Our taxes will go through the roof! For us that won't be freedom. It will be bondage. Our paychecks will be drained of more money. We'll have to work more hours and we'll have less free time and less discretionary use of our hard-earned money. Their "freedom" will lead to our bondage!

The cry of the militant homosexual for absolute freedom to live and spread his perverted lifestyle out in the open has led to the bondage of an Aids epidemic.

You see, absolute freedom always leads to bondage. There were those in the first century church who were teaching that freedom in Christ was absolute. They encouraged Christians to indulge their fleshly appetites. After all, weren't they free to do so? Peter spoke of them in II Peter 2:18-19: "For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, be sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved." It is as though they came to the early Christians with a bucket marked "freedom" in big red letters. "Here, take this. You can be free," they promised. But the bucket had coming from it the distinct rattle of chains.

Absolute freedom or "license" as it is sometimes called is not true freedom. It always leads to bondage.

B. But neither is true freedom found in multiplying laws to cover every possible transgression.

Every time a law is passed in our society to curb the irresponsibility of some other person, we all give up a little freedom. Let me give you an example.

Suppose crime became so bad in our town that, in order to get it under control, the Police Department established a 10:00 curfew on all citizens. No one can go out after 10:00. That would make controlling crime a lot simpler. Anyone spotted out of his or her home after 10:00 is arrested. The crime rate would drop markedly, but at what price? You would be a prisoner in your own house! Your freedom would be forfeited to curb those who refused to respect the rights of others.

Suppose we have two or three sisters who insist on coming to church in bikini bathing suits. Also, suppose that after much patient teaching on the subject of modesty, they don't change their dress. Decent Christian people are offended by it. Good Christian men are stumbling over it. Something has to be done. Speaking to them about it offends them. After all, the Bible doesn't mention a ban on bikini bathing suits! They say it's modest, even though others don't agree.

Now, suppose that in order to curb the problem, we make a rule that, in order to be fair and not get into the gray areas and offend someone, all women from now on should wear long black robes to church. That would solve the indecency problem, wouldn't it? Sure, but at what price? Would you ladies be happy with that? Why? You would be giving up your legitimate freedom and individuality in your dress for the sake of a few troublemakers.

See what am I saying? True freedom isn't found in multiplying laws to cover every situation. Such practice leads to bondage, not freedom.

II. What True Freedom Really Is.

A. True freedom comes when we all accept our individual responsibility to live in a manner pleasing to God.

The key words in what I just said are "individual responsibility."

We find the concept of individual responsibility in the 14th chapter of Romans. In that chapter Paul dealt with the issue of Christian liberty (freedom). Because some of the meat sold in the public meat markets might had been offered to idols the night before it was put out on the shelf, some Christians thought there should be a law in the church that Christians shouldn't eat meat at all, lest they be unintentionally guilty of worshipping an idol. Other Christians said that since idols were just chunks of wood and metal, it was no big deal. Besides, they weren't worshipping idols. They were eating dinner! As a result a huge controversy arose. The church in Rome and in Corinth was embroiled in the controversy.

So, Paul stepped in and settled the matter by giving a commandment from above, right? Wrong! Though, as an apostle, he could have made vegetarians of the entire apostolic church, he didn't. In fact, he said that both meat eaters and vegetarians were acceptable to God if they didn't violate their individual conscience or cause someone else to stumble. Eating meat was not something that was wrong in itself. It became wrong if it hurt the faith of another. Let me read to you just a portion of what he said to them. It is the golden text for individual freedom.

(Read Romans 14:1-5)

The key phrase for us is in verse 5: "Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind."

That doesn't mean "Let him destroy the church with his conviction." It doesn't mean, let him offend everyone in sight. What it does mean is "Give him the freedom to think for himself! Encourage him to think about his actions. Call on him to do so! Put the responsibility on him to do what is right!

Paul goes on to call on such Christians to be aware of their individual responsibility before God and to exercise it as they should.

Let's go back to our imaginary bikini clad sisters. We could issue a gunny sack order. That would solve the problem of those who were offended, but it would never teach individual responsibility. What should be done is that she should be approached and called upon to take responsibility for her dress and its effects her brothers and sisters in the church. If she listens, the other ladies will continue to be free of the gunny sack law. If she doesn't listen, others should go to her. If she doesn't listen to them, then the whole church should appeal to her.

What would happen if a parent were so afraid his child were going to fall that he never let him attempt walking? Would the child ever walk on his own, free of the watchful eye of his parents? No. He would be in bondage to his parents for the rest of his life.

What happens when a society does not respect the freedom of the individual to learn and grow and create and produce and, instead, puts that responsibility into the hands of the state? If you don't know, go down and buy a post-1992 map of the world and look for a country called "The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic." You won't find it. Why? Because it no longer exists? Why? Because the responsibility of the individual was taken away in favor of the rule of the state in every matter of life. And it produced bondage! Freedom went out the window. Ultimately it produced destruction!

What happens when well meaning Christians, fearful that someone else will fall, take away the need to learn and accept individual responsibility in making decisions about holy living? Do people mature? No. Paul knew that, so he didn't do it!

What happens to churches, over the years, that develop extra-biblical lists of rules to govern the behavior of their members and then these rules are mistakenly adopted as "thus saith the Lord" decrees? My observation is that it produces stunted growth (little people who think they're big), quarreling, strife, and ultimately, division. When the division comes, people give up and desert the Lord. (Do you know anyone who gave up Christ in the midst of a church split over petty differences?)

So how does stressing and accepting individual responsibility bring freedom? Well, when people accept individual responsibility for living their lives before God, they don't need someone else doing it for them. They don't need laws beyond what God has written. Guidance? Yes! Suggestions? Yes! Godly examples to copy? Yes! But not laws that go beyond what is written.

There was a group of people in the first century who did remove personal responsibility and took it upon themselves. Jesus ran into them often. They were the "scribes and Pharisees." The Scribes dreamed up the laws that would prevent people from slipping into sin and the Pharisees policed them. In the end, Jesus called them hypocrites and said that their man made traditions led people away from God's Word, not toward it.

In addition, the Bible comes right out and says that such an approach as making extra-biblical rules doesn't work.

"If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!' (which all refer to things destined to perish with the using)-- in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence."

Paul is saying here, "It doesn't work!" Why doesn't it work? Because if a person hasn't truly died with Christ, you cannot write enough laws to keep him in check. He'll always be able to figure a way around the restrictions. In the meantime, you'll spend so much time talking about all the regulations that you will neglect the core teaching of the New Testament which is, according to I Timothy 1:5, "love, from a pure heart and a good conscience, and a sincere faith." You see, in churches where people fear Christian liberty, and faith is reduced to a list of do's an don'ts, people mistake the list for the gospel and often are not really converted to Christ. Rather, they are converted to the system of keeping the list.

If a list of do's and don'ts had been what God wanted, don't you think he would have stuck with the OT and just introduced it to the Gentiles instead of writing a new one? But you see He is after more than forced robot obedience to rules and laws. He wants more than just terror motivated compliance. He wants our hearts.

When my children were little, I gave them rules. "Don't touch! Don't play with that," etc. But as they matured, I was able to relax some as they took hold of the spirit of what I want from them. My aim is that when they leave home, I tear up the last rule and they are free. Does that mean they're free to drive their cars 90 M.P.H. in 30 M.P.H. zones and shoot windows out of houses? No. It means that they are free to decide for themselves how they will respond to the call of God's will on their lives. I expect them to be responsible individuals.

True freedom isn't found in multiplying extra-biblical laws to attempt to cover every possible transgression! True freedom is found when men and women accept individual responsibility to do what they should based on its effect upon themselves and others.

III. What Can We Do To Promote True Freedom?

A. We can accept God's call to behave responsibly as individuals.

My friend, just because it isn't mentioned by name in the Bible doesn't mean you are free to do it. If it is something that will lead you or another person into sin, then it is wrong to do it! And it is your responsibility to see to it that you keep your life from sin. (If you don't pursue holiness, you won't see God!)

In my home, if everybody does his assigned chores and lives by the general rules of the house, we don't have to multiply decrees and laws. We can be free of those things. Do you want freedom? Then live responsibly before God! And I will do the same.

B. We can resist the temptation to bind more on individuals than God has bound.

Frankly, the kind of freedom I am talking about here scares some of us so much that we would rather have bondage. We're like the Israelites facing the risks of being free after 400 years of slavery. We'd rather go back to Egypt! It was safer! But was it really? Or is it just that false nostalgia about the "good old days" has deceived us into thinking that we lived on a diet of leeks and onions and other delectables when in reality we were slaves?

C. We can dedicate ourselves to bringing about true spiritual maturity in the lives of ourselves and those around us.

The most powerful case for an inoculation against disease is a cured man! If you think your particular opinions are as good as what God has written, then show it by your life and people will follow you. Don't just put on your uniform, jack-boots, and carry a night stick. And don't expect me to do it, either!

Henrietta Mears once said this about true freedom: "A bird is free in the air. Place a bird in the water and he has lost his liberty. A fish is free in water, but leave him on the sand and he perishes. He is out of his realm. A Christian is free when he does the will of God and is obedient to God's commands. This is as natural a realm for God's child as the water is for the fish, or the air for the bird."

True freedom, then, is found when we accept personal responsibility to do God's commands. Please, do it!

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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