Free your Mind

Morpheus: “You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

What Morpheus was offering Neo was nothing more than the Truth, a Truth that would reveal a Slavery that Neo unwittingly had been in bondage to.

That truth would start the process of freeing Neo’s mind, but there was a lot of work that had to be done before his mind could be freed from the bondage he was born into.

I love this movie... because I’m sure the Wachowski Brothers had no idea that they were mirroring the very narrative of the Gospel when they wrote and directed the film.

Jesus offers the Ultimate RED PILL

Let’s drop in on a discussion Jesus is having in John 8:25-36

John 8:25–36 NET

25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus replied, “What I have told you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the Father who sent me is truthful, and the things I have heard from him I speak to the world.”27 (They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father.) 28 Then Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak just what the Father taught me.29 And the one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do those things that please him.” 30 While he was saying these things, many people believed in him. 31 Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”33 “We are descendants of Abraham,” they replied, “and have never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the family forever, but the son remains forever.36 So if the son sets you free, you will be really free.

It’s pretty common for guys to have an experience with Jesus and then after a short period of time drift back into old behaviors and destructive patterns.

The enemies of your soul will use these drifts to undermine your faith and help you indulge in self-sabotaging efforts which will lead to a costly downward spiral.

You can be freed and never enjoy freedom.

If all you have every know is bondage, then freedom can be difficult to grasp and learn to live in.

God is faithful to those who belong to him and he will never leave or forsake you but he also won’t stop you from leaving or forsaking him.

You’re still an agent of free will and rebellion .......comes easy for us as humans

We may be tempted to think, just like some of these folks did that we are free and that we have never been slaves!, That is not the truth!

As Humans, we are Body and We are also Spirit. The body may look like it has life, but the Spirit is born in bondage to Sin.

Paul speak about this in Romans 7

Romans 7:14 TPT

14 For we know that the law is divinely inspired and comes from the spiritual realm, but I am a human being made of flesh and trafficked as a slave under sin’s authority.

In this saw chapter he continues by saying

Romans 7:21–25 TPT

21 Through my experience of this principle, I discover that even when I want to do good, evil is ready to sabotage me. 22 Truly, deep within my true identity, I love to do what pleases God. 23 But I discern another power operating in my humanity, waging a war against the moral principles of my conscience and bringing me into captivity as a prisoner to the “law” of sin—this unwelcome intruder in my humanity. 24 What an agonizing situation I am in! So who has the power to rescue this miserable man from the unwelcome intruder of sin and death? 25 I give all my thanks to God, for his mighty power has finally provided a way out through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One! So if left to myself, the flesh is aligned with the law of sin, but now my renewed mind is fixed on and submitted to God’s righteous principles.

This brothers, is the truth that has the power the be a RED PILL for you.

What has been held in Slavery is your Spirit (what we would also call our mind or our wills) and true lasting transformation only happens when we engage our minds and wills (our Spirit) with the truth of the Gospel. The Apostle called the Gospel the Power of God for our Salvation in

Romans 1:16

The word Salvation used in this passage doesn’t mean a 1 time event, The Gospel Saved me, The Gospel IS Saving Me, and at Christ Return I will be Saved by the Gospel, because it is the Power of God to Save Us.

Romans 1:16 (NET)

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes,...

The First crucial step to learning how to live free - is understanding the slavery you are being held in and then not just accepting the emancipated from Sin that God offers through Jesus, but learning to live CONTINUALLY in That.

We can’t walk in New Life if we are still under the power and authority of the old life.

On January 1, of 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation was made issued by President Lincoln.

On that day, all persons held as slaves in any state of the United States of America, were deemed free persons.

On that day, did all the Masters who held slaves, obey the command and relinquished their claims on the persons they held in bondage and helped them get a new start in life?

No,

These folks were proclaimed free, but there was a lot ground left to cover and lot battles that had to be faced before they could start walking in that freedom.

When we believe that Jesus is who he says he is and accept him as Lord we are emancipated from sin, but that is just the beginning.

Now, We....who have only known how to walk in bondage to sin, must learn how walk in freedom and that brothers takes faith and intentional effort.

Being proclaimed free is one thing and that proclamation is effective, but living free takes more than just a proclamation, you must own it and there will be battles fought to do so.

There is a partnership with the Holy Spirit that we must engage in. Our Minds and Wills (what the biblical writers called our Heart or our Spirit) must be submitted daily to a process of transformation.

Next week, we will look at this transformative work, that allows us to walk in freedom and where this takes place inside a man. We will also set the stage to talk about the intentional practices we must engage in if we are to walk in that freedom purchased for us.

For 30 years, I was a man who was proclaimed free, my freedom was a reality but I was still living like a slave instead of like a Son.

Today, you have a choice, You take the blue pill, the looks like Stoicism, Positive Thinking and Mindset Shifting and the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.

You take the red pill that God offers in the Christ, that looks like foolishness to the world but is steeped in deep wisdom, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Until next week

24 ‘May the Lord bless you

and protect you.

25 May the Lord smile on you

and be gracious to you.

26 May the Lord show you his favor

and give you his peace.’