Freedom Through Dependance

Independence, historical independence, although there is a celebration July 1st, which involves pretty much the type of things you do here, to celebrate Canada Day. It used to be Dominion Day, but now it's Canada Day. I mentioned that because in my time, you know, if you're a Canadian or a foreigner, you know, and you're living in someone else's country, it helps if you understand the holidays and the thinking of that particular nation. I mean, I've been here several years, lived here several years. I've gone to school here and so on and so forth and people almost assume that I'm an American, you know, because I know about American history and customs and so on and so forth.

But what I know, I've learned through observation and through study and from talking to people. And in my time here, I have learned that for Americans, the concepts of independence and freedom have been synonymous terms for over 200 years. Independence and freedom, you know, they go together. Independence and freedom. Freedom and independence, 200 years.

And, concepts that are very dear to the hearts of, I would say, most Americans. However, these ideas I find as I read, as I, observe the world at large, beyond the borders of the United States, I find that these twin ideas of independence and freedom are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. In this day of the global community, independence freedom is a tough equation to keep happening. Let's face it, we have groups of countries now getting together for trade, the Western Bloc, the European Economic Community, the Pacific Rim. We've got countries now that are grouping together to trade, blurring borders.

We have countries that gather together and participate in common military exercises. NATO, these types of alliances are being formed for the management of the environment. You know, the environment doesn't know a border. Pollution doesn't stop at somebody's border. And countries are starting to understand that they have to kind of work together to prevent pollution and to stop war and other kinds of problems.

And so there is less room for independence in the independence slash freedom equation that has been held so dear by this country. I believe that America is finding it difficult to accept the new reality that in order to preserve freedom, the nations of the world have to become less independent and become more dependent on each other. Now, I say that, you know, this sounds like a political speech and no, I'm not running for office. My son, William, could be president of the United States. He's an American citizen.

But I couldn't be because I'm a Canadian citizen. That's the wonderful thing about this country. If you're born here, you can aspire. It's a wonderful thing about democracy. But I'm not making a political speech.

I'm saying this and tying this into what we're thinking about this weekend, because this idea that independence and freedom may not go together is a new concept politically, but it's one that has been firmly established in the church from the very beginning. As Americans, we sometimes think that our political ideology is the same as our church ideology and they're not really the same because the 2 are so married together. The concept that's in the Bible is that dependence equals freedom. Not independence. It's dependence.

When you are dependent, that is what produces freedom. Contrary to what we think politically, that independence is what guarantees freedom. And I want to talk about that concept today and kind of roll that around with you. In the church, total dependence on God and mutual dependence on each other has always been necessary to preserve the freedoms that we have, not in the constitution, the freedoms that we have in Christ Jesus and to promote the growth of the body. And the reason I want to get this across is that a lot of times we bring in our political ideology into the church.

We think as Americans, as Westerners, that, well, if independence and freedom is good for the outside world, independence and freedom is good for the church. And it's not. The Bible teaches that it is dependence, the concept of dependence, that promotes and guarantees freedom. Someone might say, well, how does dependence on God preserve freedom? How does that work?

Well, dependence on God is the thing that obtains and preserves our freedom from sin and death. How do you gain freedom from sin and death? You depend on God for that. You see, our freedom from the law of sin and death you know what the law of sin and death you know the law of gravity? You know what the law of gravity?

Here's the law of gravity. There's the law of gravity, very simple. And it works every time. I could take an innocent little baby and hold it up like this and drop it, it, boom, and it would fall. It didn't matter.

You laugh, but I wasn't making a joke. What I'm saying is that gravity doesn't know about keys or babies. It works every time. Alright. Well, there is a spiritual law too that works every time.

And it does not discern who you are and what you are. And that's the law of sin and death. And it says, If you sin, you die. That's the law. If you sin, you die.

If you disobey God, you'll be destroyed. That's the law of sin and death. Okay? Now, here's the point. Our freedom from that law of sin and death is based on our dependence upon God's grace and mercy.

That's how that works. Our freedom from sin and death is not dependent on how strong we are, how smart we are, how well we perform. Our freedom from the law of sin and death is purely dependent on our dependence on God. When we depend on God for this freedom, we are no longer judged on our performance according to the law tradition, which could never free us from the condemnation to sin or the impulse to do sin. You know, the interesting thing about this law of sin and death, even if you know it, even if you know in your mind that if you sin, you die, that knowledge still doesn't give you the power to overcome sin.

You see, usually you say, Oh, wait a minute. I didn't know when that happens, when I do this here and it drops. Well, I won't do that anymore. I won't drop the baby anymore. With the law of sin and death, the curse of this thing is even if you know about it, you still do it.

You're cursed by this thing. When we are freed from this law of sin and death by dependence on God, what happens is that we become judged based on our relationship with Jesus Christ, demonstrated by a spirit filled life. When we depend on God in Christ, we are freed from a judgment based on law and perfect obedience. And now we become acceptable to God based on our dependence on Jesus' sacrifice to save us from sin. You see what I'm saying?

We're under this law that says, if you sin, you die. No matter how hard we try, we can't get out from this law. And the only way we get freed from this law is if we depend on the cross of Jesus Christ to wash away our sins. That's what I mean about dependence equals freedom. Now, dependence on God also frees us from the stress and strain caused by the fear of the loss of independence.

That's a long idea, isn't it? Let me repeat that. Think about it now. Stay with me. Dependence on God also frees us from the stress and the strain that is caused by the fear of our loss of independence.

You know, one of the things as people grow older that they really do not enjoy about growing older, growing older has its certain pleasures and certain, blessings. But one of the blessings that is not there is independence. We lose our independence. What's the hardest thing to do when we have to take care of our parents or our grandparents that are getting older and sicker and so on? It's that decision to perhaps put them in a home or put them in an institution that will care for them.

And what's the issue? The issue is always, but for the older person, I don't want to lose my independence. You know, my grandmother, she died when she was, I think, 89 or 90 years old. And almost to the end, she firmly grasped the idea that nobody was going to put her where somebody would feed her Jell O and stuff like that. Hey, until she was 85 years old, she took public transportation to go downtown and go shopping and do her thing and she was independent.

So the greatest one of the great fears we have is to lose our independence. So here's my point. My point is that dependence on God frees us from this fear of our loss of independence. You see, the world strives to build armies and wealth and power to establish their independence, which they think will guarantee their freedom. Bigger bombs.

I've got more jets than you've got. I've got more tanks than you've got. I've got more money than you've got. And because of that, I guarantee my independence from you. That's how the world thinks.

But the world doesn't seem to learn that this constant struggle to gain independence only produces a struggle to obtain more resources and more power. And that struggle ultimately ends in war. What do you think Bosnia is all about? It's about the struggle for, We want our independence. We don't want to be with you anymore.

We want our own state. The struggle for independence and maintaining it always leads to war. God tells us that true freedom comes when we recognize and accept our full dependence on him to supply all of our needs. A nation that seeks for justice rather than riches. A nation that exercises mercy instead of power will always be free.

And do you know why? God will keep that nation free. You know, the psalmist says, and I quote, Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. Psalm 127:1. Unless the Lord is the one that guards the city, unless the Lord is the one that guards the nation, it doesn't matter how many bombs you've got.

It doesn't matter how much power you have. It doesn't matter how many computers you've got. It doesn't matter if you're the first one on the moon or Mars or Saturn, wherever. If God is not the one that is watching over your nation, it doesn't matter how strong you are. That's the point.

Isaiah says of God. He says, He shall be the stability in your times. He shall be the stability in your times. Isaiah 33:six. You see brothers and sisters, God can supply all the resources and all the strength and all the ability necessary to nurture and to protect freedom.

And that includes an economy that sustains us or an army that protects us. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying, let's do away with military or let's do away with money. I'm not some sort of pie in the sky utopian thinker. I'm very pragmatic.

We live in a dangerous world. There are a lot of mean, evil people out there. We need to protect ourselves. What I'm saying is that if we depend on God, God will see to it that our economy is sufficient. And God will see to it that our army is sufficient to care for our needs.

That's the point. And if we don't depend on God, it doesn't matter how much money we have, and it doesn't matter how many bombs we have. If God is not watching out for our nation, we are not protected. Another question that might arise is this, how does dependence on each other I can understand, okay, depending on God, if I depend on God, God will watch over the nation. You know, that's okay.

I can understand that. But how does depending on each other, how does that protect freedom? Well, a wonderful example, another military one is the Gulf War a couple of years ago. What a wonderful example for the need for mutual dependency in order to guarantee freedom. You're all familiar with this.

I remember being in Canada in those days, watching it on TV. What a wonderful example of mutual dependency. You know, the nations of the world needed the strength of the United States to combat Iraq and its threats. However, the United States needed the moral support and the cooperation of other nations, in order to avoid a long and protracted campaign that would have cost many, many lives of American soldiers and civilians and an enormous amount of money. The United States had the military might, but they still needed the cooperation of other states for their airspace and their strategic land area and all the rest of that business.

See, every nation wants freedom. Do we think we have invented the idea that we want freedom? I mean, Paul says to Christians in the 1st century, 2000 years ago, who were slaves, If you have a chance to get your freedom, get it, he says. Get it. The desire for freedom is nothing new.

Every nation wants freedom from economic and ecological and ideological and military slavery. Nobody wants to be a slave. But each nation in a rapidly shrinking world is finding out that they need to cooperate with each other, in order to achieve the freedom that they so desire. You know, the Iran's and the Iraq's of this world and the petty dictators, they're becoming a relic of a bygone era. Nations are recognizing that global interdependence is necessary to preserve their homes, as well as their freedoms.

Hopefully, and here's my point here, if you're wondering, have we gotten into a political speech again? Hopefully, we in the church can model this concept of mutual dependency for the outside world. What do you think we're about here? Do you think we're some kind of closed community? Do we think that we close the doors on Sunday, and it's just us against the world, and our job is just to kind of edify each other and make each other feel good and then go out into our little thing and then come back?

Do you think that's the role of the church? We're the light of the world. That's what Jesus said. We are the light of the world. The Bible says that we are the pillar and the support of the truth.

The truth, not only that Jesus is the Son of God, but the truth of how things work, and what is good and what is right. It's not National Geographic that determines what is good and what is right. It's not Time Magazine or CNN. It's God's Word that tells the world what is right and what is good and how things ought to be. You know, Rush Limbaugh wrote How Things Ought to Be.

But the real author of how things ought to be is the Holy Spirit. And the church, the church is the spokesman for the Holy Spirit in the world. And my point is, how the church operates in this mutual dependency mode ought to be an example for communities and for countries to demonstrate to them how we ought to operate. If we can show how the church operates in peace and in love, maybe we've got something to show the world. Wouldn't it be great if the United Nations send the delegation to the Church of Christ and said, you know, we need to go to the Choctaw Church of Christ because that microcosmic community has learned how to take several different kinds of people and put them together in one community and they're actually living in peace.

We ought to go study that group of people, so we can apply the principles that they have learned and apply them to the United Nations. Wouldn't that be wonderful? That's how things ought to be. You know, Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:11-16. He gives 2 principles there on how things ought to work in the church to create mutual dependency.

And basically, it's a long passage, but he says 2 things. 1, he says that each individual has to learn to receive instruction, to receive training, to receive discipline, to receive love, to receive help, to receive support in order to grow. You've got to learn how to receive training and discipline and correction in order to grow. That's the first principle. And the second principle is, each individual has to learn to give according to his or her talent in order to fully mature as an individual or as a group.

Perhaps our example of mutual dependency could spark the same spirit between communities and towns, even countries, so all the world could enjoy freedom and peace. What a shame when the people from the outside look on the inside and what do they see? They see sometimes, not always, they see pettiness and bickering and complaining and grumbling and stuff like that. And they look at that and they say, Well, wait a minute. Well, that's the same thing we see out here in the world.

They've got nothing to teach us. Jesus says, This is how all men will know that you're my disciples in the way that you love one another. See, that's what we have to teach the world. Mutual dependency guarantees our freedom. And during the next couple of days, we will celebrate the things that represent the blessings visited upon this nation.

You know, the firecrackers and the dinners and the going away and the day off and all that kind of stuff. What are we saying? We're saying, This is a blessed nation. That's what we're saying when we celebrate those things. I want us to kinda add one more thought.

Let's realize that the freedom that we experience here in the United States is only a reflection and not the substance of the freedoms that we as Christians can enjoy as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Yes, sure, the United States enjoys certain freedoms, but those freedoms were long established by God through Christ. And the things that we enjoy politically here are just a reflection, a shadow of the true freedoms that Christians enjoy. It was Jesus and not George Washington who said, If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Jesus spoke of freedom long before anyone ever thought of it, in this or in any other country.

So apart from the picnics and the fireworks, let's rejoice in our true freedoms. Do you know what those are? We're free from condemnation. God will not condemn us. We are free from death.

We will die, yes, but we will raise from the dead again. We are free from judgment. God will not judge us. And we are free from eternal suffering. There is a heaven and there is a hell.

And we know as Christians that we are going to heaven, we're free from eternal suffering. I encourage you this morning, if you're listening to my lesson and you're saying, yeah, I see those political ideas, but wait a minute, I am an American and I enjoy freedom of speech and freedom to vote and freedom in all this business, but he just talked about freedom from condemnation, freedom from death, freedom from judgment, freedom from eternal suffering. Wait a minute. I don't have those things. If you don't have those things, you can be set free.

This is your Emancipation Day. You can be set free by confessing Jesus Christ, repenting of your sins, by being baptized in order to be forgiven and receiving the holy spirit, and walk out of this building this morning a free man and a free woman in Christ Jesus. And if you have returned to bondage because you've sinned, because you've shamed yourself in any way, and you wish to be free of that, then you can also come and receive the prayers of the church and the forgiveness of Christ through those prayers. Finally, let us continue to be a people who say, in God we trust. You know, it's on the coins, on the money.

Let's keep saying that, in God we trust. So that not only the freedom that we have in Christ will be preserved, but that God will also preserve the freedom that makes the USA a great nation. I pray that God bless you this morning and that God bless America. Thank you. If you have a need to respond to our lesson, I encourage you to come forward now as we stand and sing.