When Freedom Comes

This Independence Day our United States will mark 238 years of struggle to find freedom, define freedom, and provide freedom for all people across our land. Obvious to all, we have not reached our goal. We have thrown around the word equality as a benchmark for this idea of freedom, but we realize quickly even that word is subject to a thousand interpretations and applications.

What will it take to make all men free (mankind, personkind – how do you avoid the gender issue as we seek equality)? How can we reshape society so as to allow everyone to be equal? Is this truly a dream, an ideal that is humanly impossible? Is it even a good thing? How close is close enough to the ideal before the solutions cause more problems than they solve?

What prevents freedom in our land, or more so around the world, and keeps it just beyond our grasp? What stands in the way of equality being the natural law of society instead of another series of manmade laws that perpetually fall short of their goal?

First perhaps we need to see freedom does not “equal” equality. To be free does not lead automatically to equality. In fact to be free may even give one the power to reject equality as an undesirable status in life.

Freedom offers one the opportunity both to move toward and to move away from. Freedom offers the opportunity to make decisions without being answerable to the influence of others. Freedom in its extreme offers the opportunity to think and act without repercussions for one’s actions. That is a freedom society rejects and will not allow. No one can exist as a part of society and be free in every sense of the word.

The life of the follower of Jesus Christ is founded on and guided by the paradox that to be free one must surrender everything. John’s Gospel records,

Joh 8:31-32  So Jesus said to those who believed in him, "If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (CEV)

Neither the power of the sword nor the laws of man will ever bring about the freedom God intended for his creation. Only insofar as we know the Truth will we become free. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6) The Truth is not a philosophical postulate or treatise. Truth is a Person. That Person brings real and eternal freedom.

Freedom does not come from a release from all restrictions. Freedom comes as we choose to follow the path designed for our nature as children of God. Only as we seek, find, and give ourselves over to the way that matches our divinely intended nature can our freedom find its fullest expression.

The author of the biblical book of Hebrews writes:

Heb 12:1  As for us, we have this large crowd of (faithful) witnesses around us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us.

Heb 12:2  Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne.

Heb 12:3  Think of what he went through; how he put up with so much hatred from sinners! So do not let yourselves become discouraged and give up.

Using our freedom to place self above all else leads only to the chains which can only hold us down.

We live with the paradox. Only as we surrender our wills to the Spirit of God can we know true freedom. Life finds its fulfillment as we find our freedom in obedience and surrender.

Generosity’s Benefits

Among the spiritual gifts the Apostle Paul mentions in Romans 12 (esp. verse 8) is the action of sharing with liberality or generosity. As this biblical letter was written to Christians, it is this group that is expected to take it most seriously. It also hold lessons for anyone who chooses to lead a life not focused upon the self.

The context of this verse includes words of encouragement to think of others first and self second. There must also be a motivation springing from a high level of integrity. Such motivation has a goal helping others to become all God intended them to be. There will be selflessness and sacrifice involved from the beginning.

Generosity brings to mind opening your billfold and giving away the green. A lot of people benefit. The recipients are the first ones that come to mind. Many can also testify to the positive feelings they get deep in the chest when they have chosen to follow the words of Christ, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)

There will never be enough resources in the hands of generous people to deal with the hunger and poverty of the world. Therefore let someone who is serious about generosity start at home even while those out of sight are not forgotten. Generosity is more than money and material objects. It is an attitude, a spirit, a perspective of humanity.

We all have far more to give than just money. Too often we are trapped in a worldview shaped by a culture that places too much emphasis upon the physical and too little upon the relational. If we look beyond what we have to what we are, we find we have been gifted with more than just material possessions. When we give of ourselves in generous fashion, lives are touched in much more lasting ways.

I tell a group of senior adults in a Bible study I lead each week they never run out of smiles and encouraging words. Few of them have enough money to pay for someone else’s doctor visit or medication. Several of them cannot drive. They can offer a word of encouragement. They can give away a smile to someone whose day has not been the best. They can pick up the phone and call someone discovering this was the only interruption that person had had throughout a long and lonely day.

A word of hope can go a long way. Discouragement is no respecter of age. Someone just might be willing to take up the struggle one more time when they learn someone believes in them. You might not be able to help, perhaps shouldn’t, but your vote of confidence can be the extra push that brings someone to the top.

Sometimes a word is not necessary. The gift of presence is one of the most powerful we can give. Among preschoolers it’s called parallel play. “I don’t want you messing with my toys, but I want you here on the floor near me.” An adult can be just like that child. “I have to deal with this problem myself. I don’t want you advice, but don’t leave me to face it alone.” Being generous with your time tells someone they are high on your priority list. When you show through the use of your time someone is valuable, their value in their own eyes increases.

May I add one more area in which generosity is much needed? A friend of mine with more years in this area of ministry told me the most valuable thing we can do for our pastors is pray for them. Salary raises are nice. Bringing in consultants to help with challenges is helpful. Nothing, however, will do them more good than consistent and sincere prayer. May we all be found generous in our prayers for others as we pray for God’s will to be revealed in their lives, for his hand to be at work in their lives, and for their lives to become channels of his power into the world around them. Generosity of prayer can impact countless lives for eternity.

Mark of a Winner

Jokes abound about what it means to come in second. One tells of two hikers trying to outrun a bear. How fast does the faster one have to go to outrun the bear? Only a little faster than the other guy. Another legend has a two-car race being run between the United States and the old Soviet Union. The newspapers in Moscow proclaimed the day after the race the Soviet car had come in second and the American car had come in next to last. No further details were given.

Being able to finish at all in some cases is a miracle in itself. The recent US Open held in Pinehurst was a runaway by the winner. The rest of the story revolved around Eric Compton who came in tied for second on the power of his heart transplant, not his first but his second! Sometimes the victory is just in being able to be there.

For some people winning is everything. To come in second is to lose. Anything but first is not an option. One can never be in the shadow of someone else. If there is a stage, you must be on it. If there is a spotlight, you must be in it. You never enter a contest to do your best; you enter only with the goal of winning.

Sometimes winners don’t win the race. In sports there can only be one winner, but some races such as a marathon are seen by many not so much as a competition against the others in the race as it is a personal challenge against one’s self. The prize is being able to finish, being able to say with pride you did your best and that carried you through.

In the big car races for some drivers the goal is to finish the race, to take their car from beginning to end in good time without a wreck. They may not win, but the knowledge gained will be invaluable for the next effort. Mountain climbers do not start with Everest. Learning to climb by conquering smaller peaks first is not to lose. It is to gain skills for the next and greater challenge.

The Apostle Paul came to the end of his life with a certain pride about his life’s efforts in support of the Kingdom of God. In II Timothy 4:7 he gives us the words he might have wanted on his tombstone. “I have fought well. I have finished the race, and I have been faithful.” (CEV)

In I Cor. 9:26-27, Paul talks about what he must do to succeed as a faithful servant of God. “I don’t run without a goal. And I don’t box by beating my fists in the air. I keep my body under control and make it my slave, so I won’t lose out after telling the good news to others.” (CEV) Paul sees himself as a winner when his life reflects a submission to the God he serves and faithfulness in delivering the good news of God’s love without his own failure to live out God’s expectations.

A winner in the eyes of God is not always the one who stands on the highest dais, nor the one who comes in first. Sometimes it is simply the one who finishes against overwhelming odds. Sometimes it is simply remaining faithful to the task regardless of the final position.

Eric Compton would have loved to have won the US Open Golf tournament. The prestige and the money make it a major goal for a professional golfer. Yet if you ask him and close family and friends, you would probably hear them say his presence in the tournament at all was an event that filled them with the greatest joy.

Winning in the eyes of the world will always come second to winning in the eyes of God. At the end of the race, when God says, “Wonderful!...You are a good and faithful servant…Come and share in my happiness” (Matthew 25:21, CEV), we will know none of his people ever come in second. They are all winners.

Honey Bees and Mosquitoes

Jesus talked about bearing fruit on multiple occasion. He cursed a fig tree when it had nothing for him to eat when he was hungry as an illustration of the barrenness of the temple ritual. (Mark 11:12-21) In one instance he said the quality of fruit in a person’s life would indicate the character of the person. (Matthew 7:15-20; Luke 6:43-45) In another situation he talked about fruit that endures beyond a momentary season. (John 15:2-8, 16-17)

We have our own sayings that carry the message Jesus tried to convey. “Your actions speak louder than your words” and its twin, “Your actions make so much noise I can’t hear what you’re saying.” Being transparent is a modern oft repeated phrase. What you see on the outside is what you have on the inside.

This talk about fruit, or results, should lead to a self-examination that includes the question what do people see when they look at me. Do they see good fruit, bad fruit, or no fruit at all? What am I trying to produce? Jesus put a high priority on fruit that made a positive difference.

A significant part of this self-examination is evaluating how we spend our time. What kind of fruit do we produce through the way we spend our time? Are we just busy or are we taking care of priority business?

An interesting comparison exists between a honey bee and a mosquito. We look at the honey bee making his thousands of trips between field and hive and feel admiration. He works with a group to produce food for kin and us. Leave him alone and he leaves you alone. He’s just an all around good guy busy taking care of business.

The mosquito is also busy. He is constantly pursuing that perfect meal, your blood. He is never more than a few feet away from your bare neck, arm, or leg. He rarely lands until he is ready to take a bite.

We praise the honey bee. We squash the mosquito. Why? Because of their fruit, their priorities.

Being busy does not mean you are producing fruit that is good or enduring. God calls us to examine our time, this valuable thing called life. We need to look at our fruit, the results of our efforts, and compare them to what God sees as having value.

You can get real graphic in comparing the honey bee and the mosquito. The bee makes honey. He stores it to be available for the queen and the long winter nights. Then we come along, rob his hive, and we eat off his labors for months to come. Hopefully we say thank you along the way.

The mosquito is only interested in food for its own reproduction. It leaves us with a red whelp that itches and a question about whether it was carrying West Nile bugs. It takes for its own selfish reasons. It won’t share its bounty drawn from our veins with other mosquitoes or anybody else. It is focused on one thing only, contributing to the survival of its species.

We cheer the honey bee. We squash the mosquito.

Jesus said his disciples would produce fruit that would endure, remain, abide. It would be good fruit coming from a good tree. Everything he said about the fruit produced by his disciples was positive.

The passage from the fifteenth chapter of John describing fruit is in the context of the new commandment Jesus gave his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) There is purpose here. There can be no enduring fruit where there is no love. And not just any love. Jesus used his actions as the example.

Jesus showed his love in his teaching, his healing, his proclamation of God’s love, and his own self-sacrificial death. “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) He was willing to lay down his life to provide hope of eternal life for all who would call him friend. That is bearing fruit for eternity.

Obeying the Law

It is expected of every citizen and guest in our country. Obey the laws of the land. We tend to obey some as a matter of convenience, as in highway speed limits. In spite of our sometimes appeal to grace in such cases, we feel society has a much better chance of staying civilized if everyone obeys the laws, liked or not.

Some laws were passed we now know did not contribute to a healthy society. We have also seen laws overturned or rejected because later legislatures or courts felt those laws were not beneficial to the citizenry. Every generation has battled with what constitutes a legal system that promotes the best culture for society as a whole. Each generation has had to define the absolutes that would be the foundation for a healthy society.

Our three branch government was designed to help the citizenry reach the best set of laws for the country with the least amount of bloodshed. The American Civil War showed even then it was not always possible. Yet we still believe a strong executive branch working in conjunction with a strong legislative branch subject to a fair and independent judicial branch will in the long run give us a society offering the most benefit to the most people. Nonetheless, as Martin Luther King, Jr. has said, “America is a dream.” It is a work still in process.

Jesus declared the laws of God would be valid as long as time endures. (Matthew 5:17-19) Jesus and the Pharisees both had high views of the Law, but the friction came when the purpose of the Law was expressed. The best examples were the laws surrounding the observance of the Sabbath.

One of the Ten Commandments, honoring the Sabbath, was seen in Jewish history as a sign of the covenant between God and his people. (Exodus 31:16-17) Countless secondary laws were generated to explain and protect the holiness of the seventh day. The legalistic Pharisees saw these laws as protecting the holiness of the Law and the holiness of God.

Jesus turned all this upside down when he said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28) As important as it was to honor the day acknowledging God as Creator of all that exists, Jesus still insisted the law could not stand in the way of doing what was right.

Rather than pointing to the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament (Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5), Jesus said there were two greater commandments that superseded these ten words. These two revolved around the concept of love as defined by the nature of God. (Matthew 22:35-40) Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

Obedience to the law in the eyes of Jesus must begin with a recognition God deserves our first and our best. As such we acknowledge his authority over everything else. It is not a matter of saying, “Hey, God, we love you,” and then go do what we want. Recognizing God for who he is translates into a mindset, a value system, and a lifestyle that say all we do is designed to honor the One who created us and loved us first. (I John 4:10-12, 19)

Jesus refused to allow this first and greatest commandment to stand alone without outward expression. Your neighbor must be the recipient of a love defined by how God has taught you to love yourself. God loved you enough to allow his Son to die in your place as the punishment for your sins instead of you catching the penalty. To love your neighbor in such a way is far more than just making sure you keep your dogs out of his roses!

Jesus told a parable of one who lived out the law of loving one’s neighbor. In that brief story the main character risked everything to help one who in a reverse situation would have rejected him. (Luke 10) That is loving your neighbor – help even those who would not help you.

Obey the law. Obey the right laws and you won’t have to worry about the others.