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Reformation Day (Observed), October 29, 2006
In Bondage to Freedom
*Text:* John 8:31–36
*Other Lessons:* Psalm 46; Jeremiah 31:31–34; Romans 3:19–28
* *
*Theme:* Who is this man?
A slave or free?
*Goal:* That the hearers believe in that God who out of the freedom of his love gave his Son that they might live in the freedom of love.
/Introduction:/ WHAT WAS THE REFORMATION ALL ABOUT?
In one of his earliest Reformation writings, Martin Luther wrote /On the Freedom of a Christian Man/.
Indeed, the Reformation was about the question “What does it mean for man to be free?”
In our culture and society, freedom is usually associated with choice; a person is free who has the right and power to choose as he wills.
We often, therefore, hear of the freedom of choice.
However, such freedom arises from the idea that man is free by way of detachment from persons and things; such freedom arises from the idea of the person as independent and autonomous.
The Bible knows of no such freedom of man.
The Bible rather reveals man as entrapped, dead in sin, and destined to death.
That man can live only if he is freed from /that/ slavery and is reborn to the servanthood of love.
/Illustration/: At the beginning of Mel Gibson’s movie /The Passion of the Christ/, Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, being tempted of the devil.
The devil tempts Jesus to reject the way of the cross that the Father has given to him.
The scene climaxes when Jesus determines to follow the will of his Father and indicates that resolve by crushing the head of the snake with his foot.
Is Jesus, by submitting to the will of the Father, therefore accepting, settling for, resigning himself to slavery, or is he indeed free?
Just
Who Is This Man?
A Slave or Free?
I.
Who is this man who willingly goes the way of the cross for the sinner?
A slave?
A.
To die is his purpose; for this reason he has come (Jn 12:27).
1.
Someone had to come; someone had to die, for we needed someone to set us free (vv 31–32).
2.
Though the Jews didn’t want to admit it, everyone who sins is a slave of sin (vv 33–34).
B.
This man, Jesus, is the One who is sent for this purpose (12:28b—the Father’s voice).
1.
Jesus does nothing but the will of his Father (8:28).
2.
What Jesus does is by the authority of the Father (10:18).
C.
He is the Son of Man sent to be “lifted up” (12:32; 3:14).
1.
This lifting up is light; it reveals (12:35, 46); Jesus is himself light (8:12–20).
2.
This lifting up reveals the Father (12:45 ESV—“Whoever sees me sees him who sent me”).
D.
He is the man crowned with thorns, robed in purple—a king (19:1–5).
/Illustration: Here the preacher might refer to Gibson’s movie, specifically the scene of the flogging where Jesus is tied down to the flogging pole and the scene of his being nailed to the cross.
Reflect on these two scenes—tied down, nailed—as symbolic of Jesus bound to the will of God./
E.
Does that mean this man, Jesus, is a slave?
No! To die the death of the cross reveals the freedom of the Son (freedom to do the will of his Father).
II.
Who is this man who gives over his life?
Absolutely free!
A.
He is the Lamb of God (1:29, 36).
B.
He is the Son of God who freely does and reveals the Father’s will (5:30–38).
1.
What the Son does makes known the Father (1:18; 5:30–38).
2.
The Son is loved by the Father (5:20), and what the Son does is a vision of the Father (5:19).
C.
He is the Word of God, that is, the manner in which God speaks and is spoken.
(See also Col 1:15: “the image of the invisible God.”)
D.
The Father and the Son are one (Jn 14:20; 17:11).
E.
The love of the Father for the Son is the gift of love for the world, sent in the coming of the Son (3:16), who freely gives over his life.
III.
Who is this man whose life is given so that others might live?
A slave? Free?
A.
He is the Son who is no slave, but remains in the house forever (v 35).
B.
Therefore, he is the Son who made us free indeed when we were baptized into him (v 36).
1.
In Baptism, we have received his Spirit (3:3, 5; 20:21–22; 1 Jn 4:13–14).
2.
In this Son, then, we are created anew as new men baptized into the man, Christ (Rom 6:1–14).
C.
But these new men, free men, are also slaves.
1.
We are no longer slaves to sin, but we are slaves of righteousness (note the discussion of slavery and freedom in Rom 6:15–23).
2.
In him we are bound to the commandment of love, given to him by his Father (Jn 14:15–21; 1 Jn 4:7–16).
IV. Who, then, is this man whose life is willingly given over for others?
A slave /and/ free?
A.
This man is the baptized—you and I—who is invited freely to pray “our Father” (Rom 8:12–17).
B.
This man is the baptized—you and I—who gladly lives as a slave the life of Christ (1 Jn 3:16–18).
C.
This man is the baptized—you and I—who is bound to the law of love (Jn 15:12–17).
D.
This man is the baptized—you and I—who lives in the perfect freedom of God’s own love.
/Illustration: Here the preacher might refer to the scene in Gibson’s movie in which there is an outpouring of blood and water from the side of Jesus on the soldier beneath, who then kneels./
Baptism! Jesus is Lord whose will and way have become our own.
/Conclusion/: The Reformation preached the God who is known in the crucified Christ (see 1 Cor 1:23–24).
The Father gave up his only Son out of the freedom of his love (/sola gratia/).
It is impossible to receive that which is freely given except through the freedom of a thankful reception (/sola fidei/).
This is the Gospel that is proclaimed through the Scriptures (/sola scriptura/).
\\ Liturgical Setting
The Festival of the Reformation is rightly celebrated by the Protestant Church, for through the Reformation, the Gospel of the righteousness of God was restored in its purity to the Church (/Epistle/).
The /Psalm/ proclaims the God of Jacob as “our refuge and strength” (Ps 46:1) and “our fortress” (46:11).
It invites us to “come, behold the works of the Lord” (46:8 ESV) and to know that he is God and “will be exalted in the earth” (46:10).
But who is this God, and how is he exalted in the earth?
This was the real question answered by the Reformation.
The answer was that this God is the Christ, Son of the living God, who by the work of his death forgave sin and gave life to men.
This work is the “righteousness of God” apart from the Law, but to which “the Law and the Prophets [bore] witness” (Rom 3:21 ESV).
The demands of the Law were fulfilled in him who is the Word made flesh.
In him, the old covenant of stone was replaced by the new covenant of the flesh (/Old Testament Reading/, also Ezek 36:26).
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