Freedom

In America we are quite proud of our freedoms. We hold firmly to our freedoms of speech, faith, even gun ownership. We understand that our country affords us freedoms other country’s do not, yet we too often take our freedoms for granted.

Teenagers long for the day they can be free of their parents. Workers long for the day they can be free of working. We love having free time, yet often fill our vacations full of activity, offering very little free time. We love options, being able to choose. We do not like anyone taking control of us. We want to do our own thing. Freedom is highly lauded, and not just in America, even if we see it as our unique heritage.

What is freedom? We all seem to want it, but what is “it”? Webster defines freedom as “the power, right or state of acting, thinking or speaking without restraint, coercion or imprisonment.” The definition also includes autonomy, independence, and the ability to fulfill potential. So many things can constrain us – pain can imprison us as much as literal bars. We can get locked into a bad job or relationship. Our desire for freedom can arise in multiple situations. We can feel trapped, enslaved, even in our most free country.

Many people see Christianity as a way of losing one’s freedom. Why would I put myself under the control of a God, or a group of people? Why would I willingly add a bunch of dos and don’ts to my life? I am free and certainly don’t want the bondage of a religion. I want to do what I want to do, make my own way and try not to be beholden to anyone. I’m basically a good person on my own and don’t need religion to improve me.

Many religions, and a lot of what people see in Christianity, do come off this way. A whole list of things we must do to please the religion or God. A whole way of living life that opens the doors to the afterlife, but means that living this life is anything but free. Those outside see the religious struggle to meet those requirements. Failure seems built in. Why would I want to entrap myself into a situation like that? I am free and have no desire to give up my freedom to some religion that doesn’t appear to work after all.

There are even some people who believe that Jesus really did come and die for them, that He probably is the only way to eternal life, but those same people would rather be free then shackle themselves to God. After all, isn’t God against all of the fun stuff in life? I’d rather freely choose hell then have to live under a bunch of rules and regulations.

So let’s talk about those perceived regulations. The Bible teaches that God gave Israel His Law for living life as He intended. Israel had said to God, “anything you ask of us we will do.” Ok then. God gave them the 10 commandments and a whole lot of other more detailed things they needed to do to please Him (and, to be honest, have a healthier and safer life, physically as well as spiritually).  I’ve talked about this before – living God’s standard is impossible. Even if you just take the 10 commandments – they just can’t humanly be done. We may not commit murder, but we’ve all been envious and probably have disobeyed our parents once or twice.

Why give them something they couldn’t accomplish? That seems cruel. But what God really wanted was for the Israelites to recognize what they couldn’t do, and seek His help. Instead of “whatever you want us to do, we will do” the more honest response would have been, “pretty sure we won’t be able to do what you ask on our own. We are a mess. What can we do? Help us live like you desire.” 

A list of dos and don’ts lead us into a system of tasks that must be accomplished to “earn” salvation. Jewish lawgivers kept adding to God’s original Law, making it even more complicated, and impossible. Jesus said in John 8:31-36 that His truth would set the people free. The people proudly shot back, “we are no one’s slave, so we don’t need you to free us from anything.”  Interesting words considering they were under Roman rule at the time. But Jesus said, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

What Jesus pointed out is that none of us are truly free. Our very nature makes sure of that. A major teaching in the Bible is that all have sinned and fall short of God’s standard. Romans 3:23 And sin controls us. Paul speaks of that in Romans 6 & 7.

How does Jesus set us free? By taking our sin on the cross and obliterating its power over us.  Prior to this (and prior to having Jesus in our life) we could do nothing but sin. We are born with a sin nature that we nurture along. Our nature is so ingrained in us, we don’t even see how it has imprisoned us. We don’t see how not free we are. We can’t see how debilitating our nature is. We can see the brokenness in our world around us, but really don’t want to see this brokenness begins inside each of us.

The Law in the Old Testament required action on our behalf, asking us to meet a standard that was impossible to meet. Today we are still, often unintentionally, trying to meet this standard. We want to be a good person, so we do what we believe to be good things and hope those actions add up to some positive points in our favor. The Bible refers to this as a works system, a bunch of activities (dos and don’ts) we put into action to please ourselves, others and hopefully even God. Problem is we can’t sustain this for very long. We get tired, jealous, angry, lonely, and suddenly we are not acting so very nice anymore. The author Timothy Keller* calls this “the crushing weight of self-salvation.”

The New Testament is full of passages explaining our imprisonment to our sin nature and how accepting Jesus’ gift gives us freedom, just as Jesus said. When we place our trust in Jesus, His Spirit can empower us for the first time to successfully choose not to sin.  However, there is also the fact that we do trade bondage to sin for bondage to God. The misconception comes in believing that bondage to God means doing a whole new list of things (like the Israelites being given the 10 commandments). But listen to what these passages say about our new freedom and bondage.

Romans 6:18-23 In Jesus we become free from sin and become slaves to righteousness (God’s goodness). When we were slaves to sin we were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap from that? But now you are set free from sin and have become slaves to God. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life. Working earns a wage. In this case, working for one’s salvation or one’s personal goodness earns the wage of death. But accepting God’s free gift of Jesus gives eternal life.  There is a difference between a wage and a gift.

Romans 8:2-3 We are set free from trying to live the Law on our own. When we become a Christian, what the Law was powerless to do because of our sin nature, God’s Holy Spirit in us works through us so we can fulfill the requirements of the Law. We can’t do it on our own, we are powerless, but with God’s power, we can do what God asks. Remember the Fruit of the Spirit? Have you tried to be kind or patient and failed miserably? Try allowing the Spirit to bear His fruit in you and see what happens.  

Romans 8:21 We are delivered from the bondage of decay and brought into the freedom and glory as Children of God.

Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free

Galatians 4:8-10 We were formally slaves to our nature. Now we know God and are known by God. We are free from that old life. Why go back? Good question. Why does it appear that so many believers are trying to live by their own ability, using their own strength to live up to God’s standard? Why is this the picture so many have of Christianity, a failed works system? Most likely it’s because we very much want to be in control of our own life; even when we’ve accepted God’s gift, we still act like we are earning wages towards salvation.

Galatians 3:13 Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the Law (our inability to ever live up to it) by becoming the curse for us. We are redeemed to receive by faith the promise of the Spirit. Our life in Jesus includes the Holy Spirit. His power gives us the ability to actually live the life we’d like to live. But it comes at the cost of our being in control. That is the struggle. When we take back the controls (and we do constantly) we place ourselves back under the slavery of sin. When we give the control back to the Spirit, we can do the good that we really wish to do.

The myth tells us we are truly free, when in fact we are not. If we really examine our lives we can see the variety of chains that hold us. But we are challenged by Jesus’ claim that the truth of who He is can set us free. Christianity is not about earning our salvation through our behavior. Christianity is a relationship with God. Our basic job is keeping connected to the Vine, stepping back from controlling our own life and letting God’s Spirit control it for us. It’s a moment by moment responsibility.

What would His freedom mean in our life? If nothing else, being rid of the “crushing weight of self-salvation” seems worth it.

 

*Timothy Keller, Hope In Times of Fear, The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter.

 

Laughter

 I love to laugh. I don’t think I laugh enough. Not just a chuckle or a smile, but a deep, belly, makes you cry type of laugh. The kind of laugh that can’t easily be tamped down. If you try to smother it, you end up belching out strange noises, usually through your nose. That kind of laugh doesn’t happen often enough. I always feel a sense of euphoria when that type of laughter overtakes me.

Laughter doesn’t strike everyone the same way. Humor isn’t one size fits all. What strikes me funny may not hit you at all. I remember one noon at school several of us teachers were watching a video of Mr. Bean doing his absurdity. Some of us were laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe, and others were looking at those of us laughing wondering what on earth was wrong with us. They saw no humor in the slapstick. If you slipped on the ice in front of me, I would check to see if you were alright, and then I would probably laugh. Slapstick humor is definitely my type, but it is certainly not for everyone. Not every type of slapstick works for me either; I never understood what was funny about the Three Stooges.

Laughing in church can be quite dangerous. There are certain places and times when laughter just isn’t appropriate, and those times can be the funniest, at least to people with my sense of humor. As a pastor’s kid, I got in trouble so many times for laughing in church, but sometimes even my dad couldn’t keep a straight face. Like the time the PA system in the church tangled up with the CB radio channel across the street on Good Friday. My dad had just said something like, “Pilate said,” and the next response was “10-40 big buddy.” Really, who wouldn’t find that funny? Every time you thought about it for the rest of the service type of funny.

Laughter is wonderful, and I wish I could do it more. It’s a gift that clears the air and lifts the load on one’s shoulders. We all need a good laugh every now and then.

I think God laughs a lot. I think He has a wonderful sense of humor. Just looking at the diversity of people and our inane antics and you can see that. The animal world makes us all smile at their antics. Humor seems built into us, so of course it would stem from the Creator.

Unfortunately, there are way too many things in our world that are anything but funny. Too many people are suffering around us to find much humor. The cost of things like food and medicine making people decide not to eat, or not to take a full dose in order to make things stretch. And people who aren’t even given the decision, there just isn’t any food or medicine for them. Decidedly not funny.

Yet people create memes about all manner of things, especially about the unfortunate situations others find themselves in, and those memes get sent around and find a wide audience. Apparently some people find these things funny. And, lest I get too judgey, I very easily laugh when listening to late night comedians talk about current events. I know they are putting their own spin on things, and are making fun, but they do make me laugh.

Sometimes what seems funny to one person comes off as very hurtful to another. Making fun of someone is not something I often find very funny, and yet, I laugh at those comedians making fun of politicians. I know I find very little humor in things that embarrass me, yet I have been known to laugh at something that is embarrassing to someone else. I don’t mean to be cruel, sometimes I just can’t help it, especially if it’s a slip on the banana peel kind of thing.

I want more laughter in my life, but not at someone else’s expense. So maybe I should be more circumspect about political humor. I found nothing funny about an AI figure of our president dressed in biblical robes, looking angelic and seemingly healing someone. That was disturbing. But when he said we’d misunderstood the picture, it wasn’t biblical; it was from the Red Cross and was him as a doctor – well, that made me laugh. Not the good kind of laughter, however. It was more the sarcastic, “right” type of chuckle. But the pictures of real doctors wearing biblical robes – those were funny.  I’m not sure the President was trying to be funny as a heavenly healer. It must have made some people laugh; it certainly has run its course.

I don’t get all upset at something like that as being blasphemous or anything. They have Jesus super hero dolls that come with different outfits. That doesn’t bother me. However, I do understand that things like that really offend others. So again, I need to beware of how, where and when I share my humor. My laughter liberties might be horribly offensive to someone else.

I think that’s my point. Laughter is healthy and air-clearing, but not at the expense of someone else. We need to know our audience. If my primary purpose is to be exhibiting the Fruit of the Spirit, then my humor needs to reflect kindness and self-control.

Ecclesiastes 3:4 reminds us there is a time to laugh and a time to cry. We are not promised laughter every day, though I don’t think there is anything wrong with looking for it. We are promised joy, which is deeper and more profound. Jesus tells us that He came that we might have abundant joy. Joy can be there in the midst of sorrow. That is pretty amazing. I’ve experienced that joy.

I guess if I had to choose, I’d choose joy. But I really love to laugh.

Healthy Branches

 We have a type of palm tree on our property at the coast. It adds a lovely, exotic look to the place, and had grown quite tall. A couple of summers ago it started to die. The fronds turned brown and eventually only a few, small green fronds remained down at the bottom. So, we cut it off just above the little green sprouts, hoping maybe something would survive. We found that the insides of the tree had rotted and was all pulpy.  We’ve been having drought conditions, so that may have added to the issues, but a major portion of the tree had definitely died.

Still, beneath that rot there grew some healthy fronds, and since removal of the dead portion, they have kept growing into a fine, strong (though smaller) palm tree. Once the rotted portions had been removed, the tree began to flourish again. We had cut the “cancer” out.  Even more surprising, one of the tall, chopped down portions of the dead tree began to sprout new growth along the bottom. My husband trimmed it down and then planted the growing end, and a year later it’s still growing!

Cutting away the bad allowed the good, healthy portion of the tree to survive. We’ve seen it before with plants where we’ve cut off dead or withered branches, the rest of the plant begins to thrive. Living portions of trees and bushes are pruned to encourage fuller growth. Even drastic “prune” jobs, like the palm, and like several trees we lost during a severe ice storm, seem not so lost. Growth comes out of the stump, because there is still life present.

The view of Christians as branches on a Vine reads into this idea of pruning and cutting to encourage healthier and more productive growth. Most of us probably don’t want to think about that. Once we become Christians we like to think we are OK, set. And, in one way we are; Christ in us gives us eternal life. However, our productivity in life this side of heaven presents the issue of needing our branch to be tended. We carry a lot of stuff that needs pruning away for us to be the best we can.

John 15 begins “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (:1-5) The passage also says that those branches that continue to not bear fruit are cut off from the vine. “If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burn.” (6)

Fruitless branches are not worth much in a vineyard. Sometimes they can damage the rest of the tree because they are diseased. The life-force from the tree obviously isn’t running through a diseased or dead branch.

Now I don’t believe this metaphor is teaching us that if we don’t bear fruit we will lose our salvation. That isn’t possible. We did nothing to earn our salvation, so we can do nothing to lose it. However, if after salvation, our purpose is to stay connected to the vine and bear fruit – perhaps we are of no earthly use anymore if we stop bearing fruit. We are still branches, but useful only as fuel on a fire. The point is, we want to be useful, fulfilling God’s purpose for our life. We are supposed to be bearing fruit, and we can only do that when connected to the life-source.

My concern shouldn’t be on whether I’m useful or not, it’s whether I am connected. The rest follows naturally. I can know I am connected if I am allowing God’s Spirit to be active in me. If I am connected I will be bearing the Spirit’s fruit. That’s what it means to “remain in Him”. Sin breaks the connection. But, as I’ve written about before, unlike a vine in our garden, branches belonging to Christ can be reconnected. We do that by confessing whatever it was that took us away in the first place, and restoring the communication, the connection. That opens us up to be filled with the Spirit and bear fruit. Probably this is a daily, if not hourly quest – to stay filled with the Spirit. And to make confession a habit.

Again, this isn’t about our salvation. This is about what we do with our lives from our conversion until we enter heaven. We have work to do. Some of that work is becoming more Christ-like, so the Fruit of the Spirit.  Some of the fruit is bearing witness to others about Christ in our life. And fruit comes as we work in concert with the Spirit’s leading in our life. The Spirit can only lead when we are connected to Him.

There was life in my palm tree. You couldn’t see the extent of that life until the dead portions were pruned away. Once free of the poison the tree once again began to grow and flourish. The longer we allow sin to rule in our life, the more rotten our branch becomes, eventually requiring severe pruning to restore health. We can choose to allow our branch to totally fall away and be unfed by the vine. We can choose to let sin rule in our life, but if we have truly invited Christ into our life, why would we?  James, in his book, questions if a true believer could have a totally fruitless life. Why would I give my life to Christ only to live like I never knew Him?

We need to learn to keep a short account of sin in our life. We probably sin every day, several times a day, but need to develop an awareness of that so we can quickly stop and confess and get back on track. When we confess, we put the Holy Spirit back in charge, where He belongs. When we sin, we take back the power and try to live our lives without Him. Though we never stop sinning in this lifetime, we can learn to do it less and quickly confess when we do sin. That practice keeps us connected to the vine and living our life as God wants us to live.

My little palm tree makes me smile. It is obviously well connected to its source, and very healthy. I want to be like that in my relationship with the Living Vine, Jesus Christ. I want my branch to be healthy and fruitful, even if it means that some stuff will just need to be pruned away.

Christ Is Risen

 Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

We celebrate Easter, the resurrection of our Lord. I know for many people Easter is simply egg hunts, brunch and baskets full of goodies, a celebration of spring and family. But in actuality, Easter is the celebration of our risen Savior. All the other things, though fun and festive, have nothing to do with the real reason we have Easter.

Christians believe that Jesus was nailed to a Roman cross, died, was buried and then rose from the dead. If that sounds unbelievable, it is. It’s a full blown miracle, not a usual event. Even more unbelievable, Jesus went to that cross to die for our sins, to take God’s punishment for sin in our place. How unbelievable is that? Yet all of this unbelievable is what Christians believe.

Paul writes in I Corinthians 15 that if there was no resurrection, Christians of all people are to be “most pitied”. Most pitied because they believe in a pipe dream, an empty promise; they believe in the unbelievable. Resurrection is the central heart of Christianity. Christians place their faith in Jesus because He died in their place. There is no doubt that historically Jesus died, but the proof that God accepted His sacrifice is in the resurrection. Because He lives, we too can live, fully accepted by God. Forgiven. So without the resurrection, the death is just another martyr’s sacrifice of life. Sad, but accomplishing little beyond a powerful testimony. “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins" (I Corinthians 15:14, 17)

Recently I spent a lot of time talking about Jesus’ I AM statements. I AM (Yahweh) is the name God called Himself in the burning bush before Moses. It is the most sacred name of God for the Jews. Every time Jesus used that phrase, beginning with “before Abraham was, I AM”, the Jewish religious leaders were shaken to the core. They understood what He was saying. They took it as blasphemy. A mere human claiming to be God. Jesus wasn’t a “mere human”; He was God incarnate, come in human form. He came to die, because He was the only way humankind could be saved. Nothing short of God Himself could save us from our sin. He couldn’t just wave a hand and wipe it out (like many wonder why not?). Sin demanded a penalty – death. Sin is that horrific, nothing but death, spiritual and physical, can end it. Nothing we could possibly do could clear sin and its penalty from our lives. But God could do it for us, and did by going to death in our place. And, being God, He gave His life for us, no one took it from Him.

John 18 gives an interesting look into Jesus’ arrest. He asked the arresting soldiers whom they were seeking, and they said “Jesus of Nazareth.” John 18:5, 6 “‘I AM he’, Jesus said…When Jesus said, ‘I AM he’ they (the soldiers) drew back and fell to the ground.” The force of God hit them, and they fell to the ground. Some arrest party.  We are told that Jesus gave Himself up for sacrifice. No mere human could have arrested Jesus, let alone nailed him to a cross. Jesus went willingly, because His death was necessary in our place. Nothing else could satisfy God’s penalty for sin. So the soldiers pick themselves up off the ground and arrest Jesus; they arrest God!

On the cross Jesus bears so much more than the physical horror of the Roman cross. It goes beyond imagination what Jesus felt bearing the sin, the brokenness, of all humankind. He took it all, there on the cross. And when that occurred, He said, “It is finished” and gave up His life.  Note, He gave up His life, no Roman soldier took it. When they pierced His side, He was already dead.

They take the body and carry it to a tomb, probably a niche carved into a hill side. Because the religious leaders were aware of Jesus’ promise to rise after three days, the Romans put a huge stone in the doorway of the tomb and set guards to prevent anyone messing with the body. And there He lay.

Paul wrote, “Christ died for our sins according the Scriptures, he was buried, he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” (I Corinthians 15:3, 4) Paul goes on to describe the witnesses of the resurrection. The women, Peter, the rest of the disciples and more than 500 of His followers all saw the resurrected Lord. Paul says at his writing “most of whom are still living.”  Why add that? Because you could go seek them out for yourself and see if they had indeed witnessed the resurrection. “This is what we preach, and this is what you believed.” (I Corinthians 15:11) 

Here is fact, the tomb is empty. It was empty on that Sunday and it’s empty today.  There have been many explanations given – Jesus didn’t really die; He just swooned. - The disciples stole the body to perpetuate the myth that Jesus was resurrected. - The people all went to the wrong tomb and believed what they wanted to see. – Or Jesus actually rose from the dead. The description of the sword piercing while Jesus was still on the cross is pretty convincing medically that Jesus was indeed dead – no swooning. The disciples were terrified they too were going to be hunted and killed. Many were in hiding, and Peter and John only came out when the women came to tell them the tomb was empty. There were Roman guards at the stone. Stealing would have been impossible. But even if they did steal the body, how could they have kept such a secret? Most of the disciples were eventually martyred. Not many of us would be willing to die for a lie. And as for everyone going to the wrong tomb, give me a break. The women went that morning to better preserve the hastily prepared body. They worried about the stone and if the guards would move it for them. The guards were gone and the stone had been moved, they knew they were at the right place, it was the body that was missing.

Jesus rose from the dead. There were many witnesses who saw the risen Lord. The resurrection is true, crazy, miraculous, unbelievable, but true. “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.” (I Corinthians 15:20)

I listened to an interview with author Timothy Keller. He had recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and knew his days were limited when he gave the interview. He made one statement that has stood out to me this Easter season. “If Jesus is really raised from the dead, everything is going to be alright.”* Let that sink it. If you believe, as I do, that Jesus is raised from the dead – no matter what this broken world throws at us, it is going to be OK. God is in control. Crazy presidents, deadly disease, aging, stray bullets, covid, even death - whatever may come can’t hurt us because we are “in Christ Jesus.” Paul ends I Corinthians 15 asking, “where is your sting, death?” The sting of even death is gone because He lives, and because He lives, so do we who have put our trust in Him. Paul says in Romans 8, “Christ Jesus who died- more than that, who is raised to life- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?....No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life…nor anything in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31-39)

A few days before my sister died (of pancreatic cancer), a pastor friend of ours came to visit. Before he left he started singing, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow! Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future, life is worth the living, just because He lives.”**

Because He lives, everything will be OK. He is risen indeed!

Happy Easter!

*an interview with Russell Moore and Tim Keller about Keller’s last book Hope in Time of Faith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuCusQ3Y6HY

**Bill and Gloria Gaither. https://www.hymnallibrary.org/hymns/because-he-lives/https://www.hymnallibrary.org/hymns/because-he-lives/