Sermon Title: Free Indeed

First Reading Romans 6:1-14

What shall we say, then?Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?2By no means! We are those who have died to sin;how can we live in it any longer?3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the deadthrough the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.6For we know that our old selfwas crucified with himso that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a]that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead,he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.10The death he died, he died to sinonce for all;but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sinbut alive to God in Christ Jesus.12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.13Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness,but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.14For sin shall no longer be your master,because you are not under the law,but under grace.

Second Reading John 8:31-36

31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said,“If you hold to my teaching,you are really my disciples.32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendantsand have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34Jesus replied,“Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.36So if the Son sets you free,you will be free indeed.

We are in part three of a five part series entitled "God Never Said That." This series is inspired by one Craig Groeschel did and in it we are considering different cultural assumptions about God, and life, that are things that God simply did not say. Last week, we considered the damaging cultural myth that God will never give you more than you can handle. Next week, we will address one of the most persistent beliefs in our culture, "it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere," God never said that. The cultural belief we are talking about this week is that it doesn't matter what you do, as long as no one gets hurt. The truth is, God never said that! (video)
Let's see if we can fill in the blanks of these sentences. Las Vegas has been called America's playground, it is also called blank City. It is called, all together, Sin City. This chocolate is so good it is, sinful. It seems that sin has been associated with fun, pleasure, and, perhaps even fulfillment. This positive attitude toward sin, and a life of sin, is reflected in Mark Twain's quote, "I want to go to heaven for the atmosphere and hell for the company." Sin is seen as fun and enjoyable whereas righteousness is seen as stifling and boring.Attitudes like this have lead to the belief that "It doesn't matter what you do, as long as no one gets hurt."
God never said that. Instead, Jesus says in our gospel reading, "anyone who sins is a slave to sin" and "anyone who the Son sets free, is free indeed!" How is this possible? Are we really slaves? How can we become free indeed? There are many ways to address these questions. This morning we will consider three steps that enable us to be free indeed. Steps beginning with the letter 'd' to help us with memory.
The first step is to discover what Jesus means when saying that everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
Upon first hearing that we are enslaved, we may respond in a way similar to the people Jesus was talking to. In John 8 Jesus says that the truth will set you free. His listeners say, what are you talking about,we are Abraham's children we have never been enslaved? In the same way, we can say, we are Americans, you know home of the brave, land of the free. One of the few things we can rally around in our polarized political culture is that we, as Americans, are free, or at least value freedom.
I am reminded of a story Ravi Zacharias tells of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. While speaking to a hostile university audience that jeered him, he stopped in the middle, and in non-regal language he said, "Shut up and grow up! Freedom can be destroyed as easily by making a mockery of it as it can by its retraction." Reflecting on this, Ravi wrote that this is what we have done. Now I am quoting him, "In an attempt to be reasonable, humanity has become irrational. In an attempt to deify themselves, they have defaced themselves. In an attempt to be free, they have made themselves slaves. And like Alexander the Great, we have conquered the world around us but have not yet conquered ourselves."
How have we lost our freedom by making a mockery of it? In the light of Christ we discover several lies about sin that cause us to become slaves to it.
First, it is a lie that all sins are the same. The result of all unrepentant sin is the same. In Romans 6:23 Paul writes that all unrepentant sin leads to death. This death is eternal separation from a righteous and holy God, but that doesn't mean that all sin is equal. In Luke 20:47 Jesus says that the Pharisees will be punished most severely because they lay heavy burdens on widows while trying to impress everyone with their religious performance. If some will be punished more severely they are, in some way, unequal.
Think about earthly and eternal consequences. If someone cuts me off and I shoot them the one finger salute, that's a sin. However, if someone cuts me off and I shoot them with a gun, that's a sin with much different consequences. Eternal consequences in our relationship with God are different as well. Think about it like a marriage relationship. What will damage the relationship more a momentary lustful thought or sleeping with someone? This lie is important to understand because sin is progressive. The pastor that married Brittany and me said during a premarital session, sex starts at the water cooler. Very rarely do people who are fulfilled in their marriage and cautious about boundaries all of a sudden find themselves cheating. It starts with inappropriate flirting at the water cooler and grows.
The result of all unrepentant sin is the same but not all sin is equal. When we start down a sinful path we have to recognize it early, before it gets a grip on us. We used the example of adultery, but we can think of many examples. A little lie turns into living a lie, a little gossip turns into a rumor mill that hurts many people, a little over drinking turns into alcoholism, and the list could go on. Craig Groeschel said it well when saying "Sin will take you further than you want to go and cost you more than you want to pay!" It will enslave you!
This is not meant to lead to a mentality of sin management. Sin is okay as long as it is not overboard. Thus the second lieis if I started doing something sinful, I might as well manage it, and keep on doing it. If I started being promiscuous, I might as well keep doing it, I said one lie, I might as well keep doing it, the list could go on. Apparently this is not a new problem. In Romans,Paul writes, "if grace abounds over sin should we sin so that grace will super abound? By no means!" To go on sinning is to make a mockery of God's grace.
Think about this analogy. A father tells his son not to go near the river because it is dangerous. The son goes anyway and gets caught up in the current. The boy is about to drown when the father jumps in after him, fights the rapids and current and saves the boy. The boy finds himself on the river bank next to his dad, half dead from saving him. What would we think of the boy if he jumped right back in? Ungrateful, making a mockery of his father's heroic act. We do not want to remain in sin because we are grateful of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.
God frees us because the third and underlying lie is that sin is fun, in it we can find fulfillment. While sin can be temporarily fun, is a life of sin management really freedom? No, instead freedom is found in living into who we were created to be. In Christ, we discover that we are created to be bearers of His image, reflectors of His love. When His light shines on our sin management attitude, we see our selfishness, our pettiness, our slavery, to comfort and pleasure. Think about what gets us upset. Children starving around the world, people hurting, lost, and broken next door, or somebody cutting us off in traffic. I know it is true for me!Often times I am enslaved to my own self importance. Do we get more angry over a perceived slight or people who are hurting around us? In the light of Christ we discover who God is and how we fall woefully short. I resonate with the poem by Emily Bronte that says “intense the agony—When the ear begins to hear, and the eye begins to see;When the pulse begins to throb, The soul feels its flesh and the flesh feels its chains."
When we feel these chains the next step, our next 'd,' is to decide. Decide to not just fear and want to avoid the consequences of sin but fear, and want to avoid, sin itself. Because we know that is not who we were created to be. Decide that we want the new life Paul wrote about in our reading out of Romans. The new life that is dead to sin and alive with Christ's resurrection power.
What does this life look like? Too often, we envision the Christian life as the church lady from SNL. As if God only loves us if we are super straight-laced, holier than thou, and able to see SATAN under every rock. The good news is that Jesus is a friend of sinners. In Mark 2 Jesus says the healthy do not need a doctor, only the sick do. In the same way, He is the Savior because he has not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
You may be thinking, "Pastor Bill, you do not know where I have been and what I have done. I am damaged goods." Listen to me, you cannot out sin God's grace, period. There is no one who is too far gone and no one that God does not want to forgive. Listen to the words of the hymn we sang this morning, "Let not conscious make you linger nor of fitness fondly dream, the only fitness He requires is that you feel your need of Him." Jesus is the only one who can break the guilt and power of sin! In Him, we are free indeed!
That freedom leads of our final 'd.' Jesus breaks the power of sin so that our lives can go in a new direction. Leave that path of rebellion against God and live as new creatures.
In our gospel reading Jesus says "If you hold to my teaching,you are really my disciples.Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." What makes us free is trusting in Him and becoming His disciples. The world disciple literally means learner, pupil, or follower. The best analogy I have heard is an apprentice to a journeyman.
The apprentice learns what the journeyman knows, and, under the guidance of the journeyman, does want the journeyman does. To be a disciple is not to have life all figured out, in fact it is the opposite. It is to admit I don't have life all figured out, I need to be apprenticed by the master. In following the master, He takes our lives in a new and exciting direction. In following the master we become free, free indeed!
No matter where you are this morning, I would like to invite you into a life of freedom. A life that is more exciting than sin city and more satisfying than decadent chocolate!
A life of taking the scary look inward, asking the Holy Spirit to bring Christ's light to our thoughts, actions, and heart dispositions to discover the darkness within. Discovering the darkness not to become better sin managersbut rejecting sin itself. Rejecting it because sin is an affront to a holy God, and destructive to who He has created us to be. Deciding to not rely on our own strength to reject sin, but on the forgiveness we find in Christ. Trusting that He died so we could die to the guilt and power of sin and He resurrected from the dead so that we can live new life. A new life in which Jesus takes us in a new direction. A direction of being transformed by His love, grace, and power! A life where we are free indeed!
Let us pray: Lord break the bondage of sin in our lives so that we can be free indeed!
Receive this blessing and benediction: Let us go forth a people who trust in Christ. A people who are free, free indeed!