John 8:31-32 (NIV)
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my
teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free."
Today,
the greatest virtue is the idea of personal freedom. The mantra of today is, I
am free to do whatever I want, as long as I am not hurting someone else. This
idea of freedom has led to the casting off of many, if not all, of the
traditional restraints that we have recognized for millennium. We have raised a
generation of people who believe that they can be and do whatever they desire.
We have done them a major disservice because the idea that I can be or do
whatever I want is a myth.
The
reality is that freedom comes with limits. Freedom is a good thing when it is
exercised within those limits. It becomes destructive when it strays outside of
those limits. Tim Keller, in his book Making Sense of God, points out
that to have the freedom to do some things we have to give up the freedom to do
others. As an example, he points to a man who wants the freedom to eat whatever
he likes and the freedom to engage with his grandchildren. The man goes to his
doctor and the doctor informs him that if he doesn’t stop eating everything
that he likes he is in danger of having a heart attack or a stroke. If he wants
the freedom to continue to engage with his grandchildren in the future, he will
have to give up the freedom to eat whatever he wants.
In all
of life, we are constantly running into limits on our freedom. Those limits are
not arbitrary. They are givens that we must live within. We can acknowledge
this in the physical realm. I don’t have the freedom to defy gravity by jumping
off my roof and expecting to fly. It is harder for us to accept these limits
when we think of moral, social, and relational limits.
We live
in a promiscuous generation. Many people want the freedom to engage sexually
with multiple partners, but at what cost. Often what is sacrificed is a
long-term, fulfilling marriage relationship. The more sexual partners a person
has, the harder it is to commit totally to one person. We sacrifice genuine
love for momentary personal pleasure.
Jesus
made a bold statement in John 8. He said that if a person lived by his rules
that person would know the truth and the truth would set them free. What Jesus
was saying was that God designed the world to work in a particular way. Kind of
like the owner’s manual to a furnace or dishwasher. When a person lives within
the limits set by God’s owner’s manual, they are free. When they choose to live
outside of those limits, they sacrifice their freedom.
Jesus
made another bold statement in John 14:6. Jesus answered, “I am the way and
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If
we want to live a truly free life, then we need to live it in relationship with
Jesus. Jesus doesn’t just reveal the truth, he is the truth. If the truth can
set me free, and Jesus is the truth, then in order to be free I need to know
Jesus.
Here is
the problem. Sin has entered our lives and made us captives to its desires. We
think we are free when we indulge our every desire, but we are really slaves to
impulses we cannot control. Like a drug addict, sin leads us to ever
diminishing rewards from our so-called freedom. The things that thrilled us and
gave us the feeling of freedom soon fade and must be replaced or expanded. True
freedom can be experienced only when we are released from our bondage to sin.
Again,
Jesus makes it clear that true freedom comes only through the saving grace found
in him. Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a
slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son
belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
John 8:34-36 (NIV)
We
all desire to live freely. We do not want to have others imposing restrictions
on our freedom. This is not a bad thing, to a point. But genuine freedom comes
with real limits. It is only as we live within those limits that we can find
real freedom.
1 Peter 2:16 (NIV)
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live
as servants of God.
Galatians 5:13 (NIV)
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to
indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
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