The Pursuit of Freedom
Notes
Transcript
I. Opening: Independence Day & The Signers
I. Opening: Independence Day & The Signers
- This week we celebrate Independence Day and the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.
Take a quick glimpse into history:
Imagine the scene — Philadelphia, July 4, 1776, in the stifling heat of a Pennsylvania summer.
The Second Continental Congress met in the Assembly Room of the Pennsylvania State House — later known as Independence Hall.
It was a room full of tension, conviction, and courage.
These men — many of them young, fathers, farmers, merchants, lawyers, ministers — knew that by putting their names on this parchment, they were committing high treason against the Crown of England.
If they won, they’d secure freedom for a fledgling nation. If they lost, they’d lose everything — their property, their families, and likely their lives.
One by one they stepped forward to sign — fully aware this was the point of no return.
It was their pursuit of freedom that led them to stake everything on this declaration:
Read aloud the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Title Introduction:
“The Pursuit of Freedom”
“The Pursuit of Freedom”
As disciples of Jesus and followers of the Way, we too began our journey with the pursuit of freedom… but not freedom from taxation without representation, not freedom from government (Jesus said render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s), but a freedom from the bondage and slavery of sin.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
If you desire freedom, pursue His Spirit. Pursuit of His Spirit will result in freedom.
Freedom is inherent in the presence of God. We were made in His image; His breath is in our lungs. In His presence we are more home than anywhere else.
Freedom is when we are immersed in the presence of the One who created us and gave us purpose.
Therefore, the pursuit of freedom is not the pursuit of an ideal, but the pursuit of the Spirit in whose presence is freedom and fullness of joy.
II. The World’s Version vs. Biblical Freedom
II. The World’s Version vs. Biblical Freedom
- The world casts off restraint and calls it freedom, but they are slaves to the sin they see as freedom.
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
You think that the temporary feel good is worth pursuing, but you’ve made yourself a slave to that sin…
In fact Peter says of those who would teach others to follow their own sinful, fleshly desires that they speak words of vanity:
19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
They promise freedom, they think reveling in their sin and desire is freedom, but they are slaves of corruption because their own corruption has overcome them…
If you’re overcome by it, you’re a slave to it… But there is a freedom to be pursued!
- For those who trust Jesus and give all they are to Him, they have been freed from the bondage of sin.
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
Because we have shared in His death, so also we will share in His life…
Because He freed us, we can LIVE WITH HIM!
He empowers us to live a life of freedom!
This is what real freedom looks like! It is not casting off restraint, but having power over the sin that we were enslaved to!
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Sin shall not be master over you… You’ve been set free of the power of sin!
Jude said,
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,
He is able to keep you from stumbling and make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy!
Notice where you will stand.. IN HIS PRESENCE!
Because there is FREEDOM in His PRESENCE!
III. It Is For Freedom That Christ Set You Free
III. It Is For Freedom That Christ Set You Free
1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
- In this context Paul is talking about the law, but same applies to patterns of sin.
- “It is for freedom that Christ set us free.”
He didn’t free you so that you would continue struggling with sin and living a life of not enough…
NO! It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us free! Don’t fall back into the yolk of slavery of sin!
- “Here’s the thing about the church at Galatia, they were in deep debate as to whether certain parts of the old Law still applied, namely circumcision.
They wanted the freedom Christ offered, but to do it in their own power and with their own rules… That’s not how this freedom works…
This freedom isn’t something you earn or muscle through or grit your teeth or pull yourself up by the bootstraps…
No — this freedom is a gift from God!”
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
This freedom is a trade of an old tattered life of sin for a new life of righteousness and victory, liberty and joy!
Don’t allow yourself to be ensnared again by the sin that bound you in chains of oppression!
Rather,
1 …let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Why after being delivered from the bondage of sin would you entertain the very thing that captured you and held you captive in chains of bondage to begin with?
NO! It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!
Run from sin. Avoid even the very appearance of sin.
Pursue freedom in His Spirit! Pursue righteousness and love!
For those whom the Son sets free are free indeed!
If you’ve laid your life and passions and priorities down and died with Christ, you’ve been freed!
Don’t go back to the chains of bondage.
Continue your pursuit of Him with everything in you!
IV.Closing Illustration & Altar Call
IV.Closing Illustration & Altar Call
“Let’s return for a moment to that hot summer day in 1776 — back to that candlelit Assembly Room in Philadelphia where the signers of the Declaration of Independence gathered. It was sweltering. Windows were thrown open to let in a breeze — but they risked British spies overhearing their plans.
These were not reckless men. They knew exactly what they were doing. They were pledging everything they had — their reputations, their fortunes, their families, their very lives. The moment they put pen to parchment, they crossed a line they could never uncross.
John Hancock, the first to sign, wrote his name big and bold so the king could read it ‘without his spectacles.’
Benjamin Franklin is famously said to have quipped, ‘We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.’
(Years later reflecting on the cost) Thomas Jefferson:
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
They understood that freedom would cost them everything — and they staked their lives on it.”
- “As we stand here today, we are in a moment much like they, where we are being given the choice that will change everything.
But there’s a major difference…
The price foryour freedom has already been paid…
The blood has already been spilled…
The only death that awaits is the death of the old self with the promise of resurrection with Christ…
Would you pursue freedom today?”
Call for Response:
- Show of hands for salvation, prayer together, connect with those around.
Before we start worship:
VII. Final Charge
VII. Final Charge
- “Use this celebration of freedom as a chance to share the freedom you have in Christ with your families and friends and offer them the same choice.”
Would you be as bold as Hancock and make your pursuit of freedom clear enough that they can see it without question?
- 2 Corinthians 3:17 — “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
