Sermon Tone Analysis

The Source of Freedom

This is an exciting week for our country as we celebrate FREEDOM!

Every person on earth is searching for some form of freedom.

The freedom to make the choices they want to make: dream job, where to live, who to marry, what time to go to bed, mayo vs mustard.

Freedom from some form of bondage: debt, work, laws, taxes, mandates, oppression, slavery.

Freedom is very powerful.

It carries inspiration to do things you would have never thought possible otherwise.

It offers hope and joy to give you strength in dark moments.

It cultivates peace that can hardly be explained.

It stirs up creativity and the desire to create good.

It moves us to love others.

Throughout history, freedom has moved some to love so much that they would be willing to give their lives to win and preserve freedom for those to come.

Today we are kicking off a new series based on a bible study by River Valley Church called, “Freedom: Moving Forward in Purpose.”

Today we will be talking specifically about freedom.

Living here in the US we are definitely no strangers to the idea of freedom.

One could argue that we take it for granted.

Having not experienced the opposite of freedom, we probably don’t appreciate being free like someone living as a slave on the other side of the world would.

This week we get to remember some of the sacrifice that others have made for our freedom and independence.

I want to read this quote recounting some of the stories of people who were committed to the founding of our country…

Toward the end of the Declaration of Independence we find a summary sentence which places everything in perspective: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

This is a unique creed.

The signers believed something very special was happening and that God would see them through.

It was a new and courageous covenant, men mutually pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor!

This is breathtaking and inconceivable in the fermentation of today’s world.

Have we forgotten the high price some of our founding Fathers paid for their freedom?

Have we forgotten that nine signers of the Declaration of Independence did not survive the war?

Many lost their homes and fortunes.

Thomas Nelson of Virginia directed bombardment of his own mansion at Yorktown.

It was occupied by Cornwallis.

Nelson also undertook to raise $2 million to repay the French fleet for its assistance.

The war notes he redeemed cost him his fortune.

He died in poverty.

This was his sacred honor.

Francis Lewis, a wealthy New York trader, lost everything he had.

His wife was thrown into prison and died shortly after her release.

Richard Stockton of New Jersey, a Princeton graduate, lost his wealth, property, and magnificent library.

He was imprisoned and died following the war.

These illustrations of sacred honor should suffice to remind us that the Fourth of July commemorates a costly freedom, one that documented the rhetoric of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

The stories of the founders of this country can be very inspirational and motivating, but they were just fighting for the freedom of a country.

In the NT the author of Hebrews recounts the stories of some of the faithful ambassadors of God’s freedom.

Afterward he makes a statement that paints us an amazing picture of what it looks like to be truly free.

If you are taking notes, this is our driving scripture for this series…

I love the imagery of a “cloud of witnesses.”

If you have ever been working on a very hot and sunny day you know how encouraging it can be to have a great cloud give you some shade.

Some days when I ride my bike the sun can be very hot and draining, but a cloud can give you a second wind and inspire you to push a little harder.

To ride with nothing holding you back and finish the ride with endurance.

The author of Hebrews talks about a runner running with nothing holding them back.

What a picture of freedom.

Letting go of the baggage and weight that drags us down, holds us back, and slows us to a crawl.

Having endurance to do what we were created to do.

If you look it up on Merriam-Webster’s website, the first definition of freedom you will see is this…

Freedom: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action

According to David Copperfield, freedom is magic...

On April 8, 1983, before a live audience and on television, in a dramatic effort to illustrate the tragedy that would ensue should America lose her freedom, David Copperfield, the renowned magician, created the illusion that the Statue of Liberty had disappeared.

Following the incredible feat, the young man spoke briefly, spontaneously.

He declared that he was a son of immigrants, and that his mother pointed with pride to France’s gift of the statue to America.

The unveiling was October 28, 1886.

That which impressed David Copperfield’s mother was not its enormity—the statue and pedestal is 305-feet, six-inches tall and weighs two-hundred-twenty-five tons—but a portion of the poem by Emma Lazarus articulating the basic philosophy of American democracy, especially these two lines: “Give me your tired, your poor,/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Mr. Copperfield continued that America would remain free so long as people remembered to communicate, to care, and to show compassion.

True freedom, he declared, “is magic.”

I understand that David Copperfield was playing on his show to the impressed audience, but in truth freedom is much much more than “magic.”

Like love, true freedom comes from God. God is love, love could not exist without God.

God is also freedom, freedom could not exist without God.

Freedom is one of God’s creations.

One could say that it is a byproduct of His love.

We can look to scripture for a solid definition of biblical freedom...

We know that God’s truth sets us free, not managing sin by tipping the scales one way or another.

And we know the truth to be Jesus...

Christ is the truth.

He is the only way to be set free, but what exactly is freedom?

According to the English definition in 2022, freedom is the absence of something.

Specifically the absence of anything that would keep you from acting in ANY way you choose.

According to Paul, freedom is the presence of something...

I love the way River Valley Church says it, “We see in these passages that freedom isn’t simply the absence of something, but freedom is where the Spirit of the Lord is.

It is His presence dwelling in us that brings us freedom.”

Paul dives a little deeper with a great analogy of a veil.

He says there is a veil that covers the mind and keeps people from understanding the truth that sets them free.

The only way to understand the truth of Christ is to believe in Him.

He says…

In other words, we have a veil over us like a bride on her wedding day.

When we turn to God, He lifts the veil.

While the veil was down we couldn’t see the truth, but once it has been lifted what do we see?

If you are taking notes, here is the takeaway for today:

Freedom is being in God’s presence, seeing the truth, and reflecting His glory.

*light bulb* You could think of freedom being a lot like electricity.

If I want to turn on a light bulb, it will never operate the way it was intended unless I find a power source.

As soon as I plug it in to a power source it will work.

I could even try plugging it into a potato or one of those wind up emergency batteries, but it will never fully work the way it was meant to until I find a power source.

*screw in light bulb* In a similar way, we are like the light bulb and God is our power source.

We were created for a purpose and we have to be plugged into the power source to function the way we were intended.

My garage has two separate overhead doors.

I never use one side because there is so much stuff piled behind it, so I have to use the other.

Unfortunately, the light in that one doesn’t work properly so I really don’t like using it at night.

When I use the good door the light comes on and illuminates the garage and I can see all of the junk that’s blocking that door.

When I use the other one the light just barely comes on and every now and then it will flicker and flash like it is trying to work.

You can tell it is doing the best that it can to light up and work the way it is supposed to, but it just can’t.

I’ve tried new bulbs, I’ve tried talking really nice to it, I’ve even tried smacking it.

There is something in the electrical system of that light that is keeping it from having a solid connection to the power source.

A veil, if you will.

No matter how hard it tries, it will never be free to operate the way it was intended.