Tuesday, September 2, 2003
It's one of those historical images that you just don't forget -- the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in the heart of Baghdad. That moment, more than any other, represented the liberation of the Iraqi people from the long oppression of a brutal dictator. Now, the mission had been called Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the Iraqis were finally free. Good news! Maybe. The days immediately after those powerful moments of liberation showed what can be the ugly side of freedom, as well -- with people looting, pillaging and rioting. They were free -- but some were out of control.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Downside of Freedom."
The great gift of freedom -- tragically abused. It's a scenario God knows all too well. Because some of the people He has set free are using that freedom in ways that hurt Him, that hurt them, and hurt other people.
Until we meet Jesus the Liberator, we are under the oppressive bondage of our dark side -- our sin nature as the Bible describes it. We do what our dark side prompts us to do, even when it hurts us and people we love. Jesus said, "Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin" (John 8:34). We've all lived the truth of that one. We can't stop our lying, our temper, our lust. We can't stop our selfishness, our bitterness, our addiction, until we surrender our lives to the One who died on the cross to break sin's power. That's what Jesus was announcing when He said, "It is finished!" So once you give yourself to Jesus, you don't have to serve the tyrant of sin and do what it tells you to do. Jesus said, "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).
Good news ... unless you abuse your spiritual freedom. Now it's time to consult our word for today from the Word of God, beginning with Galatians 5:1 and continuing with verses 13-15. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again with a yoke of slavery. You, my brothers, were called to be free." Great news -- the dark statue in your heart has been toppled by your Liberator. This declaration of independence continues: "But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love."
There are those who have been liberated by Jesus who now abuse that blood-bought freedom by flaunting it. They're "free" now to use whatever language they want, to watch and listen to things that portray and even glorify the very sins Jesus died to remove, to go where they want to go, do what they want to do, and forget about what it's doing to other people. "Hey, if they've got a problem with it, they've got a problem. I'm free, man!" You're not free to hurt other people, to indulge in what breaks Jesus' heart, to trade the old loveless legalism for a new brand of selfishness you call "freedom," or to bring discredit to the name of Jesus by acting in ways that contradict everything He's about.
You're free to do what pleases God. You're free to finally care about someone other than yourself and to make other people feel valuable and respected. You're free to do what's right. If you're flaunting you're freedom, then you're just a slave again -- a slave to having to prove how free you are. That's just another dictator.
Thank God, we're free from a life governed by loveless rules and regulations -- and free instead to love our Liberator in a relationship and a lifestyle that can choose the path of no regrets, no guilt, and no judgment. Nothing to prove, nothing to hide, nothing to lose. That's freedom -- freedom that's too precious to lose because we abused it.