Chasing Life: Freedom from Sin
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Happy 2nd of July!
The Revolution Begins
In the early 1770s, more and more colonists became convinced that British Parliament intended to take away their freedom.
Britain began to prepare for war in early 1775. The first fighting broke out in April in Massachusetts.
In August, the King declared the colonists “in a state of open and avowed rebellion.”
For the first time, many colonists began to seriously consider cutting ties with Britain. The publication of Thomas Paine’s stirring pamphlet Common Sense in early 1776 lit a fire under this previously unthinkable idea.
The movement for independence was now in full swing.
The colonists elected delegates to attend a Continental Congress that eventually became the governing body of the union during the Revolution.
Its second meeting convened in Philadelphia in 1775.
In less than a year, most of the delegates abandoned hope of reconciliation with Britain.
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution “that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states.”
They appointed a Committee of Five to write an announcement explaining the reasons for independence. Thomas Jefferson, who chaired the committee and had established himself as a bold and talented political writer, wrote the first draft.
On June 11, 1776, Jefferson began to write. He borrowed freely from existing documents like the Virginia Declaration of Rights.
Less than three weeks after he’d begun, he presented his draft to Congress. It was debated and changed a bit....and then...
On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to declare independence. Two days later, it ratified the text of the Declaration. These colonies were declaring their independence from Britain’s system of rule.
And we were free. Free from someone else’s Kingdom. The designers of our nation began with the mindset that one man or group wouldn’t sit at the top. They knew where that leads…human nature. Power corrupts.
So with the idea of elected representatives…and the role of justice to guide people…we were set on a path different than any other nation.
It was called the great experiment.
No longer would there be a monarch or emperor ruling in their own power.
We were free....not free to do whatever we wanted…but free to not be ruled by the power of a man or of a group who made a claim of power.
And that’s why we have at the beginning of the declaration…that we were under someone already…the creator. The founders knew full well that mankind was sinful. Not all believed in God the same way…but the vast majority believed that morality and life came from outside of mankind. Therefore…having someone (a person) rule us…had the high risk of going bad (human nature). So we would be ruled by…ourselves.
As Abraham Lincoln would later say, a government of, by, and for the people.
Different founders would add that for this to work well, there would need to be a foundation of religion…a moral ethic that came from outside of humanity would need to be the base.
Without that, man would decided their own morality, and then anyone with power would be able to gain more.
So that was the hope they had....they were not perfect people.
And you can read that in their own writing in many documents and texts.
They knew that man was faulty…therefore…a group of people who wanted to have a full life…might elect people who’s intentions were pure…looking to God for direction. And if that began to falter, so would the nation.
This is a direct picture of what happened in Eden and afterward as well.
We had the Kingdom of God. Perfectly created. God was the ruler over all…and mankind would have dominion over specific parts of creation.
However, man was not suppose to rule man. That idea was unnecessary. God was King.
But when man sinned…mankind saw power in ruling. And all through the ages we see people who come to power…and rule.
And it doesn’t even have to be a ruler. It can be a bully, or a boss, or a family member who chooses to be above…over…someone else.
So we see this idea of rule in more ways than just a king that 13 states declared independence from don’t we?
I was passing a Burger King the other day and on the sign it said…You Rule. Of course this is in their declaration that you can ‘have it your…way.’
Crown
Even if we rule over ourselves, we neglect God’s rule over our lives. And guess what…that’s the same as saying.....
God, I make a declaration that I can rule my life better than you. I can chase down a full life myself.
And we know that this is the completely wrong idea.
All because of this idea of sin.
And we know what sin did.
The consequence? Punishment? God could not have imperfection near Him.
Like oil and water don’t mix…righteousness and sin can’t mix.
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
Consequences of sin. And God explained in Genesis that now…not only death…but the order of all things has shifted as well. All because of sin.
Separation from God (they needed to leave His Garden…a picture of His temple here on earth). …not only that but also death.
And more consequences. Satan was told that on an appointed day in the future, God would take care of what he had done.
People? Well, the idea of tending and ruling over nature and filling the earth…all still there…but again the order of things now turns to chaos.
Pain during childbirth....the ground wouldn’t easily give up food...”by the sweat of your brow you’ll eat” is what God said.
And humans?…Man and woman would no longer have a perfect relationship with each other....
Which if you think about it…now will affect every generation following…
This will affect every person from here on out who wants to have a full life.
A full and Abundant life = a perfect relationship with others…a perfect relationship with all of nature…and a perfect relationship with God.
What do we see now? Nature against humanity. Humanity in many ways against the rest of creation. Humans against humans.
3 Therefore the land mourns, and all those living in it languish with the animals of the field, and the birds of the heaven, and even the fish of the sea are being swept away.
Everything has been affected by sin.
Ivy vine strands....a few kids....
BROWN BAG of POISON IVY....
SLIDE SLIDE SLIDE
Bennett Murphy 6 yr old. grandson to Mikel and Annette Rawlinson
Picture
Poison Ivy - does it make you flinch?
Shouldn’t sin do the same? Shouldn’t sin make us flinch? It should be against our nature....right?
I-77 on ramp and highway…we got use to it.
The other day Peach and I were heading up to Belden Village to eat with Drayke and his mom and dad before he left for boot camp.
I went through the light here at Faircrest and continued up the road to the Faircrest and I-77 entrance ramp. Peach looked at me and said, “Where are you going?”
I said to the highway.....
I got used to the new way of doing things.
Sometimes we get used to sin…desensitized to sin. We become accustomed to it in us and around us.
Wait…it should make us flinch right? Like something bad is going to happen.
Jesus said this....John 8:34
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
Sin separates us from God…and when separated from God…someone will rule us…usually we ourselves. We’re tied to the sin nature. As Jesus said…slaves to sin…and its effects.
Paul wrote this about love.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Meaning…we have to act towards sin like we act towards poison Ivy.
Not to delight in it…but to be very aware of what it does. Love for God means that we will stick to His truth.
We might get used to sin around us or in our lives…like I-77 detours and lane changes..but God wants us to know that sin changed everything…even cursing the plant that poison Ivy used to be.
In the end we know that the only one who can save us from this sin is Jesus.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
Two questions:
What’s the gift? Life
Who gives it? Jesus
Did we earn it? No…it came through forgiveness of our sins.
Matthew 16:25 (CSB)
25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.
Jesus wants to give us full life. That’s why He came. To begin to reverse the curse on everything…us included.
Satan wants to give you a false idea…or false ideas of what full life means.
Jesus died to give it to you.
Freedom.
Freedom from sin.
Let freedom ring. Amen!?
Will you choose freedom today?