Freedom

John 8:31-36

Every Fourth of July we celebrate freedom by remembering the day we declared our independence from Britain. When you look at our nation in comparison to the whole of civilization we are very young. 245 years young. Compare that to Greece or mighty Rome which lasted nearly 1000 years, we have just now entered into our young adult stage. We all remember the late teenage years when we desired to be free from restraint and want to be our own man or woman. We thought we knew better and could do better than our parents and so we wanted to be like

“Yankee Doodle” who “went to town riding on his pony, stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni.”

Oh the foolishness of those teenage years. I look back now and what I really wanted was not freedom but license. I did not understand what true freedom is and today as America in its late teenage years doesn’t have a concept of what freedom is either. There are three misunderstandings about freedom that I want to bring to our attention on this upcoming Fourth of July.

First, freedom is not free! It cost us to achieve it, and it has cost us to keep it. That’s why we stand for the flag and sing our national anthem, because in doing so we remember those who have paid the ultimate price...the men and woman of our armed forces. The biggest challenge that our founders was concerned about can be summed up when the Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia, Mrs. Powell asked Benjemin Franklin “What did you all achieve?” Franklin responded “A republic madam...if you can keep it!” Freedom comes with a price and that price is a soldier’s life!

Second, freedom is not license. Our founders saw that freedom wasn’t this “what’s in for me attitude.” It was not a selfish, “get off my back or get out of my body” interpretation of Liberty in which John Locke, Montesquieu, or even John Calvin had a vision of. Both sides of the isle today, for the most part have no understanding of what the founding fathers had of freedom. There was a “spirit” of freedom or what Alexis de Tocqueville referred to as “The habit of the heart.” In other words freedom, like anything else had to be taught. This is were we have failed over the last 50 years or so in our public schools and universities.

Lastly, the biggest enemy to freedom is not China, Russia, or Iran. The biggest enemy to freedom is “freedom!” We are losing our Liberty in the name of liberty. Freedom and liberty to the founders was freedom of the press, holding our leaders accountable. Freedom to own property. Freedom of conscience. Freedom of religion. Today we are losing our free speech in the name of free speech. Political correctness now is the new free speech. Today a persons property is not held sacred any more. Just look at the looting and rioting that is destroying personal property in the name of protest, also the new free speech. Because of someone else’s conscience we are losing our freedom of conscience. And not to mention religion, when the Churches were treated unfairly in liberal (another word for liberty) cities when it came to reopening during the pandemic. The new freedom is not freedom for everyone.

So which freedom are we celebrating and which one will we be celebrating in years to come? The reason why we have gotten away from the Spirit of Liberty is because we have gotten away from the foundation on which we gained our freedom. The Bible! Biblical freedom is not selfish but relational. Biblical freedom is not freedom from but the freedom to be! And the only way to experience true freedom is to be set free from the imprisonment of sin and self by God’s Son Jesus Christ who said “He that the son sets free is free indeed.”

Did our founders do it all right to begin with? Of course not. Were there not blind spots. Of course. But we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We have made great strides, but we are not pacing ourselves either. The memorials that are being taking down are a reminder of where we have come from. How we have advanced. To tear those down only means we will be building them again in the future because when we do away with history we will repeat it again! Are some of them ugly reminders? Yes! But it keeps us from making ugly mistakes again also.

The bases of our declaring independence was due to “Taxation without representation.” Today, in the words of Tim Allen in Last Man Standing, we have “Taxation with representation.” Our modern idea of freedom has become very taxing because it does not represent what true Biblical freedom is. The only way that God can truly bless America again is if America goes back to the Blessed Book on which is was found and get right with the Son. Until we receive God’s son, we will continue to see America’s sons and daughters destroying and looting everything men and woman shed their blood for!

Pastor Robby