Freedom

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on July 2, 2023.  The Bible verses used are John 8:31-38.

            Freedom.  It may be the thing Americans value most.  The Statue of Liberty says, “Bring me your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.”  The song “America”, which we sang a little while ago, says, “Let freedom ring.”  The old song by The Rascals says, “People everywhere just want to be free.”

            Freedom is part of our DNA as Americans.  The first amendment lists a whole bunch of freedoms we have as Americans:  freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom to petition the government.  As we celebrate Independence Day tomorrow, one of the things we celebrate is our freedom.

            From the time we’re young, we want freedom.  Little kids will try to get away from their parents and explore.  In middle school, we dream of when we’ll have a car so we can have freedom.  When we’re in high school, we can’t wait for the time we can get out on our own.

            Even animals desire freedom.  House cats try to get out of the house.  Dogs try to get out of the yard.  The desire for freedom seems like it’s part of life on earth.

            But the thing is, when we talk about freedom, what, exactly, do we mean?  We talk about freedom so much, and yet we rarely define the word.  What really is freedom?

            Some would say it’s the ability to do whatever we want to do.  And that is freedom, of a kind.  But when I think about it, I don’t really think that’s a very good or a very healthy kind of freedom.  For one thing, a lot of times, the things we want to do are not good for us.  We may have the freedom to do them, but they’ll have consequences that can get us into trouble.  For another thing, if we truly can do whatever we want to do, it probably means that there’s no one else in our lives that we care about or who cares about us.  That’s why we can do anything we want to:  because nobody really cares what we do.  And that can be a very sad way to live.

            In our Bible reading for today, in just those few verses, Jesus talked about freedom.  He said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”  A little later, he said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

            Of course, Jesus clearly did not mean free to do whatever we want.  Jesus never preached a gospel of “anything goes”.  Jesus said the truth sets us free, and the Son sets us free.  When you think about it, that’s really two ways of saying the same thing, because Jesus is the truth.  As he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

            In a way, any truth contributes to setting us free.  George Orwell once wrote that “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four.  If that is granted, all else follows.”  Now, maybe you say, well, of course two plus two makes four.  But Orwell’s point was that if something is true, it is true in all circumstances and in all situations.  It does not matter whether we like it or not.  It does not matter whether somebody else likes it or not.  In Orwell’s story, 1984, it did not matter whether the government approved of it or not.  No matter how much someone might want it to be five, and might try to force you to believe it’s five, two plus two remains four.  And as long as we have the freedom to acknowledge that, then we have the freedom to acknowledge all other truths, too.  It is the truth that sets us free.

            But of course, Jesus was not just talking about the freedom to say two plus two makes four.  Jesus was talking about the truth that he is the divine Son of God.  That he is the Savior of the world.  And that true freedom can be found only in following Jesus.

            The freedom Jesus was talking about has two aspects to it.  One is that we are freed from something.  And the other is that we are freed for something.

            What are we freed from?  Sin.  The truth that Jesus is the Savior frees us from sin.  That has a couple of aspects to it, too.  One is that we are freed from the consequences of our sin.  And the other is that we are freed from our desire to sin.

            As the Apostle Paul wrote, we are all sinners.  We are all in need of forgiveness.  And that forgiveness comes from our faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  If we believe in that truth, then the death of Jesus Christ was Jesus taking the punishment that we should get for our sins.  Because of that, we no longer have to take that punishment ourselves.  We still deserve it, but we won’t receive it.  We are freed from it because of our acceptance of the truth that Jesus is the Savior.

            But can we really say that we are freed from our desire to sin?  Not totally, perhaps.  Satan will still tempt us.  We will still tempt ourselves sometimes, too.  But if we follow Jesus Christ, we will do the things Jesus wants us to do.  We will live the way Jesus wants us to live.  Our acceptance of the truth that Jesus is the Savior, that Jesus is worthy of our worship, that faith in Jesus is the way to salvation and eternal life, will keep our desire to sin away from us.  We cannot both follow sin and follow Jesus.  If we truly follow Jesus, we will leave sin behind us.

            And that leads to the other part of the equation:  what we are freed for.  We are freed to follow Jesus.  We are freed to be faithful to Jesus.  That means, again, doing the things Jesus told us to do and living the way Jesus told us to live.  We are freed to serve Jesus.  We are freed to do things that bring honor and glory to His holy name.  We are freed to love Jesus and to love our neighbors, the way Jesus told us to.

            Now, some might say, but that’s not real freedom.  I’m not free to do what I want.  If I do this, I have to do what Jesus told me to do.  And sometimes I don’t want to.  Some of the things Jesu told us to do are hard.  Some of the things Jesus told us to do are no fun.  If I have to do those things, I’m not free.  I’m still a slave.  It’s just that I’m a slave to Jesus.

            Well, I suppose that’s one way to look at it.  But when we live the way Jesus told us to live, we have a higher freedom.  It’s not a freedom to do whatever we want.  It’s a freedom to be who we were meant to be.  It’s freedom to be who God wants us to be, who we were called to be.

            And that’s one of the greatest freedoms there could ever be.  Have you ever tried to be someone you’re not?  It can happen in a lot of ways, but usually it has to do with trying to be who someone else thinks we should be.  Maybe we try to be someone we’re not because we want to be popular.  We want to be liked and accepted, and we’re afraid that people won’t like us unless we try to be something other than what we are.  Maybe we try to be someone we’re not because we want to succeed in our work, and we think that to do that we have to do certain things even though we don’t want to do them.  Maybe we try to be someone we’re not because we see things on TV or in movies or on social media that teach us that only certain thoughts or ideas are “acceptable” in our current society, and we think we have to believe those things to live in society as it is.  There can be all kinds of reasons we can try to be someone we’re not.

            But if you’ve ever done that, you know what a trap it is.  We can never be happy when we’re trying to be something other than who God calls us to be.  We may try to convince ourselves we’re happy.  We may even manage to believe it, for a while.  But deep down, we know it’s not true.  In the long run, we can never be happy trying to be someone we’re not.  We can only find true happiness by being who we were meant to be.  Who God wants us to be.  Who we are called to be.

            When we live the way Jesus told us to live, we are as free as it’s possible to be.  Not because we’re free to do what we want.  But because we’re free to be who we’re meant to be.  If you’ve ever experienced that freedom, you know it’s about the greatest feeling there is.  To not have to pretend anymore.  To not have to live a lie anymore.  To truly be who we were meant to be.  It’s an incredible freedom.

            That’s how the truth sets us free.  That’s how Jesus sets us free.  Through our faith, we are free to live in the Lord’s love and to live lives of faith in Jesus Christ.  It’s the greatest freedom of all.

            We truly are yearning to breathe free.  So let’s put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.  Let’s live the way Jesus wants us to live.  Let’s let the divine Son set us free to be the people God intended us to be.  And let’s let that freedom ring!