Evil Arrested

Thanks to Crossover for this series

Introduction

We’ve been asking, ‘What is the best news ever?’ What’s the best possible news that you could receive today? That you’ve just inherited $10 million? Would that be good news? Countless people around the world and throughout history would laugh at the $10 million compared to the news I have. Many have considered it more valuable than their own lives: The Greatest News Ever.

What We Really Want is Real Secure Freedom

The $10 million is tempting because we think it might get us to the place we really want to be. And that is a place of freedom and security. We want to be able to breathe. We want to get to a place where we don’t need to worry because we are absolutely secure. Where we’re truly free to be our creative selves rather that weighed down by constant obligations and the expectations and judgements of others. A place where we know that we are enough, and we belong, and that secure standing is not contingent on us meeting ongoing performance criteria, or shadowed by the possibility of getting kicked out. Could it even be possible?

But We’re Stuck in Slavery

John 8:34–36 (NIV)

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Jesus is talking precisely about this here. It comes down to slavery versus freedom. In those days slavery was common and a slave would belong to a wealthy family. But think about those words ‘belonging to a family’. They would only belong to the family in the sense of being owned. Not in the sense that matters. Even if they liked their master-family – they could be flicked off at any time. So a constant performance treadmill to earn a place that has to be earned all over again next week. That feeling of having to constantly perform but never achieving security is actually familiar to most of us – long after we thought slavery was abolished.

What does Jesus mean when he says “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin”? (You might know his Story of the Lost Son) When we step outside of God’s reign to live our own way, we find ourselves trapped instead of free. Empty instead of full. Lonely instead of connected. And trapped, because we can’t earn our way back or operate on ourselves to fix our own brokenness. Much as we try.

Jesus’ Mission is to Set Us Truly Free

The Truth is, God wants you back more than you want to be back. Jesus would still be one of the world’s great teachers if he just observed “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” It would be one of the great truths. But it would not be the Greatest News Ever. Jesus goes on to say that a permanent, unthreatened place in God’s family IS POSSIBLE. His mission: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”Mk10:45

God is a rescuing God. The full extent of his love for us is before us today! “If THE SON sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

So how do you get it? And why do so few people seem to have it?

We Need to Actively Receive Real Freedom

Jesus told a story about a king who forgives a servant who was hopelessly in debt. (Recap Mt 18:21-35

Matthew 18:21–35 (NIV)

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.

Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’

The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.

When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.

Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’

In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Now the word “forgive” in the original Greek meant “to loose” – it’s the word you’d use for untying your donkey from a post. It means to set free. So when that servant’s massive debt was forgiven, it was meant to set off a chain reaction. He would in turn go and forgive (set free) the people who owed him money. And they would forgive others. A domino-run of chains being broken and people being released.

But instead of having the words “Your debt is forgiven” ringing in his ears as he left the palace, this one had the words “Be patient with me, I’ll pay be every cent” as his mind-set. And so when he bumped into a debtor, he put the squeeze on him to get money to pay off some of his own debt. And can you see the chain reaction there too? A whole conga-line of choke-holds.

There’s too much of that! People under the pump putting other people under the pump. A vortex spiralling down.

And Jesus offers a far better way. A spiralling up freedom that’s like an untangling knot that gets looser and looser and easier with each step. You can be part of one or the other. Jesus offers his forgiveness openly. But you need to receive it with two open hands, so you can’t be in the middle of choking someone else. Receiving God’s love and loving others goes hand-in-hand and always will. Just as Jesus taught us to pray “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

And so it comes down to this: As ywe gather around the lords table, considering the death of Jesus - what words will you have ringing in your ears? Going round and round in your mind? Underlying all your decision-making and conversations?

Will it be that you’re insecure and inadequate and on ice and needing to prove your place? Or will it be these words: “It is finished.” “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Instructions for partaking in Communion

Video

Prayer