Freedom Through Christ

Last week we started a new sermon series allowing Paul’s letter to the Romans to help us discover “How God Changes Us.” Last week we focused on our struggle against sin and how Jesus helps us make decisions that lead us closer to God. You can find that sermon and all our sermons on our You Tube channel.

This week we find how we can have “Freedom Through Christ.” Our scripture comes from Romans 8:1-11. The words will be on the screen.

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, nGod did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. p And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Please pray with me…

The question we are looking at today is what does it mean for us to be free? This question matters because freedom can be viewed in a number of different ways. Freedom in a worldly perspective is different than freedom through Christ.

This week’s scripture is a continuation of last week’s topic. Last week Paul was focusing on his struggles with sin and how he does not do the good he wants to do, but instead he does the evil he does not want to do.

We looked at how sin will occur but through Jesus we have been saved from the power of that sin. We no longer have to attempt to be “gooder.” We have to live lives relying and trusting on the goodness of God.

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The goodness of God is really our focus for today. It is possible for us to live in society and believe that we are enjoying our lives. We can find ourselves with nothing that we are not allowed to do. I can do what I want when I want to do it and unless I break a law, I don’t have any consequences for my actions. At least that is what we can believe.

It’s the idea that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. We are free to be who we want to be. There is nothing to stop us. Some view God, and through God Christianity, as a religion of rules that take away that freedom.

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When we view God as our Father, or what may be important to add, as a good father, we can see what he asks from us to be the rules that a parent creates for a child. They are parameters set in place to help us do and be what is best for us and those around us.

Just like a parent knows their child is not going to be perfect all the time, God knows that we will fail. God knows that there will be times that we will do what we aren’t supposed to do. God’s focus is not so much on the rules but on having the best personal relationship he can have with each one of us.

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That is why we, as followers of Jesus, can have the best of both worlds. We can have lives free from the power of sin. We can live lives focused not on the guilt and shame of doing what is wrong. We can decide that we want freedom through Christ.

Many people view the rules given to us by God in the same way that the Jewish people ended up viewing them. If you break one of the rules, you as a sinner and God is not going to like you. You will be viewed as a failure in being the person that God desires for you to be.

Our scripture gives us a different view. It says that we will not face condemnation. We do not face hatred by God. We instead are loved by God. We are seen by God as someone who is forgiven. Someone whose sins have been forgotten.

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One way that this is sometimes viewed is of a judge that sentences someone for a crime that they committed and after the sentencing the judge takes off their robe and takes the place of the convict to serve their sentence. That is what Jesus did for us. He allowed for us who have sinned, to be set free from our sin, through his willingness to be the sacrifice for us.

We don’t have to allow our past, current, and future behaviors to define us. We get to be freed from those sins. We get to be freed from having the weight of our failures define us to God and to those around us.

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With all of that being said, the rules God has set in place for us is for a purpose. We are to choose to follow the ways of God not because we have too, but because we believe God wants us to live our best life and desires for us too.

God loves us too much to leave us in anarchy. In a situation of no rules and guidelines to allow society to best be what society is supposed to be. We should desire to live lives following the path that God has laid out for humanity.

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I had Kacie offer her testimony today because she offers us another way of viewing freedom through Christ. I think she would not mind me saying that at times she felt confused, angry, and lost. She felt these things due to the war going on inside of her.

Each one of us has our own battles that we face. Our battles might not be as intense as what Kacie faced but they are there, and they truly never leave us. One part of her story that resonates with me are those that stated to her that “God will heal you,” and the frustration that seemed to cause her.

God desires to walk with us through the good, the bad, and the ugly of life. He never leaves us or forgets about us. Kacie’s diagnosis didn’t change, but her view of God and how God was at work in her life did.

She became free through Christ. It wasn’t what we would call healed. The struggle remains but we can know that no matter the struggle, no matter if all of our friends and family abandon us, God will walk through our struggles with us.

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Another important aspect of her story is an invitation to get to know God better. Not some quick answer of God will heal you but an invitation to hear and discover the love that God offers to each one of us.

You most likely have people or will have people in your life that are also struggling. They might be nearing the end of their rope struggling to find answers. We have an answer. We have an answer that they can receive. Those that need help can find freedom through Jesus and people that care for them here at The Church of the Good Shepherd.

We need to be willing to invite. We need to be willing to let those we know and those we meet know that we may have an answer to what they may be missing in their lives. We shouldn’t state that God will heal them or guarantee how God will help them.

What we should do is invite them to experience the love that God offers through worship. We need to be willing to say try what has worked for me. Allow God to possibly offer to you the love, joy and peace that may be missing in your life.

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Another aspect of freedom through Christ is that there are those around us that are enjoying the freedom of the world so much that they are unable to recognize that there is something better out there for them.

They are living lives that are stable enough so that they can’t see how life can get any better. They aren’t seeking something better. But that does not mean that they are truly happy, that does not mean that they will not be willing to listen and show up on a Sunday morning if they are invited.

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We offer the best of both worlds. God wants us to live our lives in the world, but he wants us to live our lives differently. He wants us to live a life focused on those around us. We become free in Christ through removing a focus on ourselves.

Our scripture says it this way, “5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” We are to be people of compassion focused on those around us.

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There is nothing more gratifying than discovering the freedom of helping someone who is in need. Jesus gave us this example. We find it in the word compassion. We find him often helping those around him. Sometimes they ask him but a number of times he just steps up and helps.

Scripture says he helps because he had compassion for them. Two quick examples I am thinking of would be the feeding of the 5000 and the widow whose only son had passed away.

Jesus wasn’t asked by someone in the audience that they wanted him to feed them, he just did. Jesus sees this widow; he knows that she will be struggling after the death of her only son and he raises the son from the dead.

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We are free to be who we want to be, but we should choose to be people of compassion. Compassion is that gut feeling we get when we see a situation and desire to help. It is my belief that this “gut feeling” comes from God. It is God stating I have placed you in this place with the purpose of being of help to someone.

But here is where individuals and churches sometimes get it wrong. We are not called to step up and do what we believe we should do for somebody. We need to ask first if the person or group wants help, and if they do how do they want us to help.

Too often, we want to help people how we think they want help and often we want to help them in the way it will be easiest for us. We show true love and compassion when unless it is clear how someone needs help, we ask if they want help and how we can help.

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Our first reading offers us an example through what is called the parable of the Good Samaritan. We have a person who has been robbed, beaten and left for dead. Three people see him: A priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan.

The priest and the Levite see this man who we should consider to be Jewish, the same nationality of them and they choose to walk around the man instead of helping him. In their world helping this man would have made them unclean.

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Both of these men worked in the synagogue. They would have been unable to do their work if they touched this man. They had a worldly excuse. They would be unable to do their job if they showed compassion and helped the man.

You can make your excuse in their place. I am to busy. I will be late for that important meeting. He may cause me harm if I get his blood on me. I don’t know first aid. We can go on. If we choose we can always find an excuse

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The last man was a Samaritan. He was someone who had a reason not to help. He was of a nationality that was despised by the Jewish people. He was of a mixed race who was Jewish and non-Jewish. The Jewish people would have considered the Samaritans unclean and unworthy of compassion.

This is the man who shows compassion. He stops. He bandages the man’s wounds. He takes him to a place where he can recover. He is willing to help even though he had a reason not too, while those that would have been considered closer to God chose to not even get close to the man.

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Jesus tells this story because of two questions asked to him. The first was “how do I inherit eternal life?” with the answer being “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

And the second, who is my neighbor? The expert in the law has to acknowledge it was the one who they believed was far away from God. This story should point out to us that there is no one unworthy of our love and compassion.

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What does it mean for us to have “Freedom through Christ?” It means that we have been saved from the power of sin. It means that we have a God that will walk with us through the good, the bad and ugly of life.

It means that we will choose to be people who love God, meaning that we will desire to live as God desires for us to live. But who also, choose to be people of compassion. We will be people that will be willing to show the love of God to those around us.

Let us pray…