Free Indeed

(This sermon was preached on July 4, 2010)
John 8:31-38
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." 33 They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, "You will be made free'?" 34 Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. 38 I declare what I have seen in the Father's presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father."

In 1992 more than 100 world leaders met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for an international conference concerning environmental issues. Everything from atmospheric change to zoological endangerment was discussed and debated among leaders from every nation, tribe, and tongue imaginable. What stands out most about this historical meeting to me, though, is what an article in the June 1992 edition of Time magazine reported. In the article “Summit to Save the Earth: Rich vs. Poor,” Philip Elmer-Dewitt reported that “U.S. delegates backed the status quo on one topic after another, insisting over and over that ‘the American life-style is not up for negotiation.’” That sentence (“The American life-style is not up for negotiation”) became a sort of slogan for many Americans (particularly conservative politicians) in the 1990s and is in fact still the disposition of many Americans today. They firmly believe they are entitled to the “American life-style.”
But who can blame them, right? I mean, after all, we are Americans! We’re the most prosperous people on the planet, and that isn’t by accident. Our land is plentiful, and we’ve taken advantage of our every resource. We’re blessed—some would even go so far as to say we are God’s chosen nation. We deserve to have our cake and eat it too! We are a nation (in the words of church leader Rob Bell) that started as “an idea, an experiment, an attempt at a new kind of nation,” and we “went from being a few small colonies to the superpower in a little over two hundred years.” That’s nothing short of incredible! We’ve grown accustomed to a certain level of comfort, not to mention a certain level of freedom. As such, we are a people who take at least one day out of every year to observe our freedom on July 4th; with this holiday we set aside time to remind ourselves of just how good we have it and just how much we deserve to keep having it.
Unfortunately, there is a dark side to such feelings of privilege. There is danger in feeling as if you have a right to whatever you want simply because you were born in this great country. If you aren’t careful, those feelings of patriotic enthusiasm can quickly turn into arrogant attitudes of entitlement, attitudes that say to the rest of the world, “It doesn’t matter what you think I deserve; I’m taking what I want because I’m an American!” Furthermore, if such feelings get too out of control, you may find yourself in a situation where your sense of entitlement encroaches on your calling of faith.
We’ve witnessed just such an incident in our Scripture for this morning. In this passage, the Evangelist John relates to us an encounter that Jesus had with some “Jews who had believed in him (v.31);” it is an argument about what it means to be free. There are those “Jews” who, because of their birthright and nationality, claim that they are already privy to the truth, that they somehow are already privileged to the freedom and knowledge Jesus seems to be speaking about simply because they are born of a certain nation, the nation of Israel. That is why they take such offense when Jesus says in verses 31 and 32, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Notice their reaction in verse 33: “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free'?” Now right away anyone with even an informal relationship with the history of Scripture and God’s people knows that this statement is unequivocally false—just watch the movie The Ten Commandments! The people of Israel had not only been slaves at some point in their history, but they had been slaves of (or at the very least, under the authority of) foreign nations for most of their history as a people, beginning with Egypt, on through Syria, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and now (in the time of the text) Rome. It seems that they, the descendants of Abraham, had in fact been slaves to someone. But if this statement is so plainly false why use it as a defense at all? Why conjure up some fanciful notion of a nation that had never been enslaved in the hopes that it will somehow change Jesus’ mind, or at the very least, get him to alter his statement and modify his vocabulary?
Maybe it had something to do with what they could have heard in the streets and synagogues from the religious leaders of their day. The ancient rabbis used to boast, “All Israelites are sons of kings,” referring to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and it was understood that the merits of Abraham covered the demerits of all of the people of Israel. In fact, according to one scholar, “Freedom was considered the birthright of every Jew. The law laid down that no Jew, however poor, should descend to the level of slave.” Perhaps it was with that heavily engrained sense of entitlement, with that reality-altering perspective of history, that these new believers took offense at Jesus’ words.
It doesn’t really come as a surprise to me that Jesus’ words shocked and even offended a group of people whose national identity outweighed their religious commitment. But what does surprise me is the nature of their defense, that these were not just any patriotic converts, these were (as John never fails to remind us) “Jews”—God’s chosen people from God’s chosen nation. They were a people defined by a divine calling to “bless the nations,” not any sort of geopolitical domination or economic excellence, but blessing. Yet it isn’t in that sense of their national pride that they react to Jesus: rather, they react out of some sense of security and entitlement. It is as if they said, “We are a part of God’s nation already; don’t waste your breath telling us about freedom. We like what we’ve heard you say so far, Jesus, but don’t go treading on our concept of freedom and liberty.”
I’m worried that we Americans have taken on a similar attitude. We hear words that tell us of the freedom that can only come through faith in Jesus Christ, yet we look all around us at the supposed freedom and comfort we have now, only to shrug our shoulders and assume that those words must be for those who weren’t as fortunate as us to be born in such a wonderful place as this. In fact, it seems some of us celebrate Independence Day with more pomp, circumstance, and religious regularity than we celebrate our true day of independence when the Son of God died for our sins! Perhaps there are some of you who find the claims of these “Jews” to be justifiable. After all, you live in a free country; you have opportunities galore, comfort in ways unimaginable to most in this world, so why do you need Jesus, why do you need the sort of freedom he promises? Why even bother with religion if you live in a country that gives you the freedom to practice it or not?
That seems reasonable, doesn’t it? It seems reasonable to simply brush aside the words of Jesus that make you uncomfortable and only accept the ones you like and already (by coincidence) believe. But then again, what if your understanding is wrong? What if you’re missing the point? What if Jesus’ words speak to a deeper sense of freedom, one not measured by what you can or cannot do but by what he can and has already done?
Sure you’re free: free to be whatever you want to be, free to speak your mind, free to worship or not worship whatever you want in whatever way you want, free to own property, to carry guns, to critiques our leaders, free to live and free to die. But are you truly free? Are you “free indeed”? Not according to what Jesus has to say to us this morning. In verse 34, rather than simply continuing on his way with the passing remarks he has made, Jesus answers the reaction of these “Jews” when he tells them “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” What?! What does he mean “everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin”? I thought the Bible says “all have sinned (Romans 3:23);” so surely Jesus’ words aren’t meant to be taken so seriously, right? After all, that would suggest that I am, you are, we all are SLAVES, and that has to be impossible because we are so obviously free, right? Well let’s not try to sell the Savior so short just yet.
In a sort of “mini parable,” Jesus clarifies his statement from verse 34. In verse 35 he says, “The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever.” These Jewish believers wanted to use their familial lineage to prove their claims to truth; they wanted to use their nationality to prove their claims to freedom. In this short parable, however, Jesus puts up his own lineage, and shows them that since they are slaves to sin they have no real security in their truth, no steadfast promise in their freedom. He, on the other hand, as the one and only Son “has a place there forever.” They may have been under the impression that their heritage would somehow deliver them, set them free, even save them, but Jesus shows them that it is only the Son who is able to secure such freedom in verse 36: “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
These first century Jews thought they were free simply because they could claim a national heritage tied to God, and in their claims of entitlement, wished not only to quiet Jesus, but to kill him (according to verse 37). Jesus calls them out in their hypocrisy, claiming to be the descendants of Abraham, while seeking to kill God’s Messiah. Their feelings of heritage had clouded their vision of God, even when He stood before their very eyes! But we must not be too quick to judge. After all, some of you in this place have perhaps claimed your security, not in your faith in Christ, but in your nationality. Perhaps for you being an American is more important than being a Christian. If that is the case, then you cannot judge those ancient Jews so harshly. However, there is a word that calls to us all, every nation, every tribe, every tongue, a word that calls us to true freedom, that word is the divine Word, Jesus Christ, Son of God.
Today, July 4th, we as Americans celebrate our independence as a nation; we celebrate our liberation from oppressive rule and a monarchial hierarchy. Today, Sunday, we as Christians gather together to celebrate our independence as a people of faith; we celebrate our liberation from the oppression of sin and the end of death; we celebrate more than simple terrestrial freedom—we celebrate eternal freedom. But perhaps you are here in this place on this Independence Day without knowing the true freedom that only Christ Jesus can bring; perhaps you came into this place today hoping to sing some patriotic songs, hear some words about living in a “Christian nation,” and then gather with family and friends to celebrate around a table with food and laughter. But I have a better word for you today: yes you and I are blessed to live in such a wonderfully free nation as this, but there is a greater freedom. There is a greater freedom that comes when you live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and let the freedom that only he can give change you. Will you simply celebrate this day as the day of America’s Independence, or will you begin to celebrate this day as the day you became free, free indeed in the name of Jesus Christ?
Let us pray…