Freedom for All

Pastor Phillips’ Sermon

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

What a great weekend, the 4th of July weekend. It falls on a Sunday. I can’t remember the last time it fell on a Sunday. But what a great weekend to gather together and celebrate and watch the fireworks and enjoy a cold beverage, take in a ballgame, get together with friends, cook out on the grill, all those things we enjoy here in America. What a great weekend.

But for us as Americans and as Christians, this weekend is so much more. It’s a time for us to reflect on the freedom that we enjoy and to pledge ourselves to protect and proclaim it. Whenever you look at history and you see there’s been a struggle for freedom, throughout history, there’s always something they have been freed from, for instance, way back in the bible times, when the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt, they were freed from the slavery. Some years ago, the South Africans were freed from apartheid. Even more recently, after the Cold War, the Eastern Europeans were freed from Communism.

But listen now as we tune into our own history. Listen to the authors, the writers, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, as they identify what they are freed from. “We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America in general congress assembled appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions due in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved.”

Now if you know our American history, those words come back to you, don’t they? You’ve heard them before. This is a portion of the Declaration of Independence, a great document for us as Americans to read regularly. Every 4th of July, pull that out. Read through it so you can get back into that time and understand what it was that our forefathers were experiencing, the abuses they endured, what they suffered as they were struggling for their freedom. When you begin to walk in their steps a little by studying history, you feel their emotions. You have an appreciation for their struggle and you learn why they were so hungry for freedom, why it was so important to them to even fight for it.

As Christians, we also enjoy a freedom. In Christ, we have been set free but from what? Romans 6:18 says, “You have been set free from sin.” From sin. We’ve been set free from sin. But what does that mean? Does it mean now that I’m a Christian, I don’t sin anymore? “I am sin free.” I don’t think so. All I have to do is look in the mirror and I know that guy is not sin free. And I think you know the same truth about yourself. We continue to sin.

But there are some elements of Christianity who claim they get to a certain level of holiness and, at that point, they no longer sin. What it really amounts to, though, is they just stop calling it sin. They sin just like you and I and so we’re not free in that sense. What this scripture passage tells us is illustrated more by 1 John 1:8-9, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and forgives our sins and purifies us from all unrighteousness.” You know those words, don’t you? They’re part of our liturgy, the confession of sins that we use from the hymnal. If you confess your sins, we are free. We receive freedom. We are set free from our sins when we confess them. Anytime, anywhere, we can confess our sins and receive that wonderful blessing, to know that we are no longer guilty of that sin and we will not be punished for that sin.

So freedom throughout history has always had this “from” aspect to it. We are freed from something. But we’re also freed “to” something, free to enjoy the blessings of our freedom. You think of the early colonists, they were freed now to establish their own laws and government. They were free to make decisions locally instead of waiting on that frustrating process of correspondence with Europe. You might not remember that but this is how it worked. If they had a problem in the colonies, they could appeal to the British-appointed authorities to resolve it but if they didn’t find satisfaction, which frequently was the case, they had to correspond with England. Now remember, their only way of communicating was by a written letter. So they would write off their statement, their complaint, pack it up and put it on a ship. The ship would sail and eventually arrive in England and when the king felt favorably disposed, he’d finally read it. But most often, he ignored it or acted in opposition to what they were requesting. Then they had to wait for his response to come back by ship. What they were fighting for was freedom from that process, freedom so they could make their own laws, so they could govern themselves, so they could make decisions that were best for them locally instead of waiting for some king in a foreign country to decide something.

As Christians, we’ve been freed to confess our sins and receive forgiveness anytime, anywhere. And as God’s children, we’ve been freed from living this life without hope or direction. Now we have a purpose. Now we have a sense of self worth. Now we have a loving, heavenly Father who walks with us step by step throughout our lives and never abandons us. Now we can go to Him at any time with our troubles.

As believers in Christ, the most important freedom we possess is that we are now set free to enjoy eternity in paradise. Colossians 1:13-14 sums up this great truth in this way, “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

We have been freed to enjoy living this life as citizens of heaven so that no matter what troubles we might experience here on this earth, we know there is a better life to come. This is especially comforting when, like we are facing in our congregation, people are seriously ill and we see them struggling and battling, when we see in our society the senseless cruelty and violence, when we see the lack of justice in the world around us, at these times, Hebrews 12:2-3 are very helpful. Listen to these words and take heart, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Think about the struggles we face daily, worried about the economy and the direction of our government, worried about our loved ones who are facing illness or those who have lost their loved ones. I have three relatives, as Pastor Burcham was highlighting at the beginning of this service, who are serving our country currently. One is in security for the Air Force at a base in South Korea. One has recently graduated from boot camp, a Marine heading to Afghanistan. And the third is in the National Guard. So these things are important to me, that in these times and with these circumstances that we face, I can talk to God about them. I can ask God to protect them and be with them and I can encourage them to do the same thing. As we’ve been set free and God has given us His pledge that He will be with us always and He will hear our prayers, this is what we’ve been set free for.

Freedom has something we are freed from and something we are free to enjoy but freedom also has a cost. When we gather with our friends and families this weekend, we’re encouraged to think about those who paid the cost for our freedom. You can think over our history and maybe count some of them. The signors of the Declaration, Patrick Henry, the great man who said, “Give me liberty or give me death,” Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, those great writers who authored so many of our historic documents, all those signors of the Declaration who pledged their fortunes and their lives. One was heard to say, “We must all hang together or surely we will all hang separately.” That was what they faced. It wasn’t just a joke. They faced life and death.

Since that time, countless others have pledged to defend our country and our freedoms. They’ve risked their lives to maintain what we enjoy. Who can calculate the cost? Those who understand it best are those who have paid the price. You know those people, some of them in your community. Imagine during the times of World War II and Viet Nam, there were more of them, families who had experienced the loss of a loved one who died in a military conflict. They know the cost. They know the price that was paid.

Other people who understand the cost of our freedom are those who’ve lived elsewhere in other countries, other places in the world that don’t have all the things we enjoy and then they’ve come to join us with our freedom.

The freedom we enjoy as Christians also has a cost. For us to receive God’s unlimited love and forgiveness, Jesus paid the ultimate price because our sins required the ultimate price. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin,” what we deserve because of our sin, “is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Peter says in the second chapter of his first letter, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree.” Jesus paid the price, the ultimate price. He gave His life for our freedom from sin. He is our champion.

Now many times, you can look at a historical struggle for freedom and there are numerous champions and such is the case for us as Americans, the founding fathers, the minutemen, George Washington and all the great leaders throughout history, every person who gave their life for our country, every person who served our country, all are champions for our freedom and are due our honor and gratitude.

For Christians, however, there is only one champion, Jesus Christ, who has paid for and won our freedom from sin. Luther puts it this way in his great hymn, A Mighty Fortress, “A mighty fortress is our God, a trusty shield and weapon. He helps us free from every need that hath us now overtaken. The old evil foe now means deadly woe, deep guile and great might are His dread arms in fight, on earth is not His equal. With might of ours can naught be done, soon were our loss effected. But for us fights the Valiant One whom God Himself elected. Ask ye, who is this? Jesus Christ it is. Of Sabaoth Lord and there is none other God. He holds the field forever.” I want to pause one second and talk to you about that word, “Sabaoth Lord.” I know that’s strange to you. It’s not Sabbath. A lot of times we say it’s Sabbath. “Sabaoth” is a Hebrew word and it means the leader, the commander of the Lord’s army. That’s Jesus, our champion who’s won our freedom.

In the Declaration of Independence 234 years ago, 56 founding fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor putting literally their lives on the line to guarantee freedom for future generations. Because of their sacrifices, America is still the longest ongoing constitutional republic in the history of the world. But as great as that is, you and I know that this freedom can be lost, through political change, through military conflict. That freedom could be lost.

But 2,000 years ago, Jesus gave His life on the cross. And with His blood shed on the cross, He paid for our freedom from sin and has given us the promise of eternal life. It is in His name alone that there is freedom for all eternity. May God bless you as you celebrate your freedom. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2010 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church