What do you think of when you
hear the word freedom? Do you think of
financial freedom? Do you think of
political freedom? Do you think of the
freedom to do whatever you want? The
world tells us that if you want to be free, you need to gain as much resources
and influences as possible, then you can choose to live anyway you want. This is not the way God intended for us to
live.
We are
seeing the negative effects of worldly freedom through marriages falling apart,
personal/corporate debt increasing, rebellion in young people, and lack of
social moral values. In order to bring
hope to our society and to our family, we need to live out God’s desire for us in
order to be truly free.
What is
Biblical Freedom? Freedom is defined as being
who God made you to be. For example, a
train is designed to run on the designated tracks. If one day, the train decided to move apart
from the track, we do not call this freedom, but a disaster. God made you to be holy in his image and we
are designed to live according to his Words.
Worldly freedom is the freedom of choice, but Biblical freedom is the
freedom for choice in obedience to God.
Freely
refrain from activities that may stumble fellow believers and seekers
We as
followers of Christ are free to engage in activities led by the Word of God
through the Holy Spirit. God loves us
like how you parents love your children.
His commandments are there to protect us so we can live out an abundantly
life. In Chapter 8, the issue is regarding
food sacrifice to idols. People were
debating whether it is ok to eat or not.
Idols are nothing and eating or not eating means nothing. However, he does say that if by eating the
food, he may stumble those with weak conscience, he would rather not eat it at
all.
How can this
situation happen today? We may be
invited to attend business/wedding parties where a roasted pig was being
offered to the god of money or god of love.
I love to eat roasted pig especially with the crunchy skin. There is nothing wrong with eating it, but if
this may cause believers to stumble or let the non-believer think that we are
conforming to the patterns of this world, I will freely refrain from eating it. This applies to many common activities such
as drinking, entertainment choices, and political agendas. We refrain from activities that may stumble others
out of our freedom.
Freely lay down one’s right for
the sake of the Gospel
In chapter 9. Paul was defending
himself against his accusers. Even
though he was a hard-working and passionate leader, he had oppositions to his
work. We see that Jesus Christ was full
of opposition in his life. Paul said
that he had the right to obtain wages for the work of preaching the Gospel. He used the analogy of workers for the
vineyard and soldiers going to war, and how they both obtain wages for their
labor. Paul freely refuses from getting
pay so that no one can accuse him of benefiting from the Gospel even though he
had the right to receive wages for his labour.
Personally, I do get a wage from
the church for the work of ministering to our young people. I do thank the church for the support so that
our pastoral staff can devote more time in ministering through God’s Words and
prayer. When one can freely and
passionately devote his/her time, money, energy to God’s mission, without
considering receiving rights from the cause, this is genuine freedom.
Most of you probably heard about this man, Rick Warren, who is the author of Purpose Driven Life. This book is a best seller and as it attracted readers from all walks of life. Pastor Rick received lots of money and fame because of this book. He prayed and he desired to be free from the criticism of becoming wealthy through God’s message. He gave back all the wages he received in his past churches. He decided to reverse tithe, which means he gave away 90% and kept 10% for himself. How many of you faithfully tithe 1/10 of your income to God?
How do we set ourselves free by laying down our rights? We start by giving up small rights we have. I see brothers and sisters giving up your time and resources to prepare for the love coffee. I see brothers and sisters giving rides to people without transportation to small group, and often go out of the way to do so. You do definitely have the right to use the time of traveling around to chill, but you freely give up this right because you want to advance the Gospel.
Willing to serve one another humbly as a servant
We are convicted that we are God’s beloved children. We are free in God’s eyes. Jesus Christ is God Himself, but he freely and willingly became a servant to all. We as followers of Jesus Christ are to willingly lay down our lives to serve those whom we share the Gospel with. Paul said, to the Jew, I became a Jew. To the weak, I became weak. We are not talking about conforming to the patterns of this world (Romans 12:2). We come as servants and we are willing to help the people of their practical needs. When we share the good news of Christ, we do not come in as experts looking down on the people we are trying to reach. In this manner, we earn the right to preach the Gospel.
If we are to reach out to young people, we are to walk in their shows. We serve them by putting our effort in listening and understanding their culture. If we are to reach people living in a less privileged community, we move to where they are and serve them in their comfort zone. If we are to reach out to our friends and relatives, we come to them with the attitude of a servant.
Willing to go through strict disciplines
We are willing to discipline ourselves to run the spiritual race with the crown that last forever. The spiritual race is compared to runners in a long distance race. Competitive long distance runners must be disciplined and practice continually. How many of you here have competed in running?
If you have done long distance running like 5-10km, you would know the amount of practice and discipline involve in getting your body ready to sustain. In long distance running, the mind must be willing more than the body. When we discipline our mind and body in tough exercises, we gain more energy and become free to accomplish more than we can ever imagine.
There is a man named Dean Karnazes and he was passionate to know how far the human body can be stretched. He started by completing in 10km, then the half marathon, and eventually the full marathon. A full marathon is 42 km and the distance is like running from here to CN Tower, I used Google map to verify that. Dean is curious to how far he could be stretched. He enrolled in the Western State 100, which requires the participants to finish the 50 mile qualifier. He conquered that, and eventually, he move on to compete in a 200 mile relay race solo. His story inspires many people as he is also has other great accomplishments. Athletes willingly choose to engage in tough physical disciplines. When one can stretch his/her body to the extreme, he/she becomes free to conquer the many challenges of life. We as believers of Jesus Christ are in a spiritual race. We are called to run in such a way to win the prize.
What are spiritual disciplines? Spiritual
disciplines are meditation on God’s Words, prayer, and service. Like physical disciplines, Spiritual
disciplines take efforts. Initially when
I was introduced the concept of devotion, I was turned off as if we are already
not busy enough with things in our lives.
It was tough in the beginning. As
I engage more and built into a routine, I found devotions joyful as I am strengthen
from within to serve God. Like high
performance athletes, the more they disciplined themselves, the more passionate
and free we become. We see that the saints in the past like Martin
Luther, John Calvin, Augustine, all engaged in rigorous spiritual disciplines
despite how busy they are. They freely disciplined
themselves and people today are still reaping from the fruit of their labour.
To conclude, what is real freedom in Christ? Our freedom is living out our abundant life in Christ. We are created by God for the purpose of glorifying Him. Through Christ, we are free from the bondage of sin, and freely accept the identity of being God’s children. Therefore, we are freely lay down our rights, being a servant to others, and willingly to accept spiritual disciplines. Our freedom will help others in receiving the benefits of the Gospel. As a result, more and more people can be released to live out a live of freedom in Christ.
