Freedom From, Freedom For
Freedom From, Freedom For by Rev. L. John Gable
July 3, 2016, 2016
How many of you remember the 1970’s? That sounds like the set up to a popular joke, “If you remember the 70’s you probably didn’t actually live through them.”
If you remember the 70’s, then you will most likely also remember a little book written by Richard Bach that captured the hearts and imaginations of many in that era titled Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is the story of a bird who dared to be different. He dared to do things other birds never tried before. His quest was for perfect flight and total freedom from all the rules and regulations of the seagull community, and he rejected anything that tried to limit that freedom. Bach writes that Jonathan became the teacher of other seagulls. “He spoke of very simple things: that it is the right of a gull to fly; that freedom is the very nature of his being; that whatever stands against that freedom must be set aside, be it ritual, superstition or limitation in any form.” For Jonathan Livingston Seagull freedom meant doing what he pleased when he pleased, with no limits, no boundaries, no restrictions of any kind.
That little book touched the imaginations of many because freedom is an important part of who we are and what we hold most dear. However, I fear it also exposed our mistaken notion of what it is that constitutes true freedom. We have become a people which has accepted this seagull’s mistaken notion that real freedom means having no limits, no boundaries, no authority save ourselves; a generation of what Robert Bellah calls in his classic study of American life, “rugged individualists”, a collection of individuals who dare to stand alone, hell-bent and determined each to do our own thing without regard for anyone or anything else. While on the surface this may sound like the definition of true freedom, I assure you it is not; in fact, just the opposite is true. Paradoxical as it may sound: we are most free when there are boundaries and limitations in our lives. Perfect freedom comes only in perfect obedience to an authority that is greater than we ourselves.
In the 8th chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “If you continue in My word you are truly My disciples; you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” He then goes on to say, “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Freedom is at the heart of the Christian faith, but it is not the kind of phony freedom advocated by Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The freedom which Christ offers us, as we have seen in our study of Galatians, is two-fold: first, it is release from our bondage to the Law as the means and measure of our right relationship with God, and second, it is complete dependence upon the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ to secure our salvation.
We come now to Galatians 5:1 and we can almost hear Paul say, “Everything I’ve said leads to this: “for freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” and by that he means the “yoke” of trying to please God by obeying the Mosaic Law…it won’t work, “there is no law that can save us.”
Does that really mean that in Jesus Christ there are no laws we have to obey, that we can do whatever we want because we are “free” in Christ? No. I would not suggest you use that argument if ever you are pulled over for speeding. “But, officer, I am free in Christ. I no longer have to submit to the law.” What it does mean, however, is that there is an authority higher than ourselves and a calling greater than simply fulfilling our own sinful desires, to guide us. The freedom Christ gives us is not only a freedom FROM all of the rules and regulations which bind us; it is also a freedom FOR or TO respond to God’s grace by loving Him and others in return. So Paul writes, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.” In freedom we willingly submit ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, not because we have to but because we want to, knowing that in Him we will find the only true freedom we will ever know.
When we confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord we are set free, not to the mistaken notion of life without limits or to the insatiable bondage of self-centered living, but to a life of willing submission to the high calling of God, discipleship to Jesus Christ and loving service to one another. Paradoxically, it is in this self-imposed bondage to Christ that we are most free, for “whoever the Son sets free will be free indeed.”
This is one of those teachings that on the surface seems not to make much sense, kind of like “the first will be last and the last will be first, or there is strength in weakness, or we gain life by giving it up”. How can anything that limits us set us free? It doesn’t make sense, unless or until we come to see that God gives us guidance and direction in His Word, not to confine us but to guide and liberate us. Take, for instance the 10 Commandments, after 400 years of captivity in Egypt the Children of Israel are finally set free, so what is the first thing God gives them? A set of laws to live by, not as punishment but as guidance for right and holy living. Like lines on a basketball court or lanes on the highway, the Law was given for their protection and safety. As long as they stayed within the parameters of God’s commandments they were free to do whatever they pleased and to enjoy all the benefits of God’s blessings. As one has rightly said, “We don’t break the 10 Commandments, we break ourselves against them.” Within them we are free; beyond them we are in bondage. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it is true.
I was reminded this week of a study that was conducted with a group of pre-school aged children who were put in a large, open, unenclosed area and given the freedom to go and play wherever they wanted; but rather than running freely they tended to huddle together, wanting the protection and security of being near the other children. However, when a second set of children was placed in that same sized area which was enclosed by a fence, they spread out and played in every corner. The confines of the boundaries actually gave them freedom and a sense of security. That is the purpose of God’s Law as well, to give us boundaries in which to live, freely.
We know this as parents as well. We need to give our children structure and direction, not as an act of punishment, but as an expression of our love. If there are no boundaries the independence we think we are giving them is perceived as being indifference and there is a real sense of abandonment. But where there are loving guidelines there is both security and freedom. This is one of the roles I believe the Church can play in a society which is experiencing a breakdown in the nuclear family and a disregard for authority of any kind by providing a safe and loving environment where guidelines for right and Godly living are given and expected to be followed.
Sheldon Van Auken, no relation that I am aware of to our former pastor Jerry Van Auken, tells a beautiful parable in his book, A Severe Mercy. He writes of his two dogs, Gypsy and her pup, Flurry. They lived on a farm with hundreds of acres for the dogs to roam. For the most part the dogs were free to do as they pleased. They were asked only to obey the commands of the master. One day it happened, the master called for the dogs to come just as a rabbit ran out in front of the mother, Gypsy. In an instant a decision had to be made: should she listen to the voice of her master or chase after the rabbit? It was a decision between obedience and independence. Turning her head toward her master, Gypsy chose disobedience and took off after the rabbit. Hours later when she came home she cowered under her master’s discipline. She felt the guilt of her disobedience, but she also felt the thrill of being free to do as she pleased.
The master still loved her and cared for her, but he no longer trusted her, so he put her on a chain and kept her in a pen, except for their occasional walks in the woods. One day, on one such outing, the master unleashed her to let her run. When he called she had another decision to make. If she had come when he whistled, she would have regained the perfect freedom she had once enjoyed, but she didn’t, instead she ran. The master called again with a sense of urgency. Her pup responded, but Gypsy’s ears were dulled to the meaning of the master’s call. She wanted to be free to do her own thing and make her own decisions, so she kept running. Yet, ironically, in her desire to find freedom, she lost the only true freedom she had ever known. Now, she was on her own, beyond the control of her master, but no longer was she really free to run and play as she once had. Now she was free only to struggle for daily survival, finding food and shelter wherever she could, wandering the hills and roadsides as an outcast. She traded in her real freedom for a phony notion of freedom of life without limits or authority because of an act of disobedience to the call of the master.
Friends, in many ways that is the story of Scripture, of the human race, of our lives, and the message is clear enough: true freedom is a gift to be enjoyed within the parameters of obedience to the call of the Master. In Christ, we are set free, not to do as we please, but as He pleases, and in that obedience we are truly free.
In know that sounds paradoxical and many who do not yet know the love of God think of the Church only as a place filled with an endless litany of “dos and don’ts.” What a damning indictment and unfortunate mischaracterization, perhaps of our own doing. In order to counter this misperception we must be intentional about sharing with those who do not yet know Him the liberating message of God’s love and grace in Jesus Christ. The guidance and instruction He gives us is not to shut us down but to set us free. As Oswald Chambers puts it, “No spiritually minded person will ever come to you with the demand, ‘believe this or that’, but only with the demand that you square your life with Jesus Christ.” Beyond all of the rules and regulations which bind us is the freedom we find in Christ. For freedom Christ has set us free.
There is admittedly a great paradox in freedom. To be sure, real freedom is not the kind advocated by Jonathan Livingston Seagull and adopted by so many others in our culture today. For life without limits only puts us in bondage to ourselves and that is no freedom at all. The freedom Christ offers us is comprised neither by a “laissez faire” do whatever you want, nor of an endless litany of rules and regulations, but rather by two great guiding principles: love of God and love of others. Within these two great boundaries is the freedom we have in Christ, the only true freedom we will ever know.