OUTER FREEDOM

INTRO

Good morning! My name is Ryan, I’m one of the pastors here at Georgianna.

It’s so good to be with you in worship today…

[MENTION LIVE STREAM AT 9:45]

And again, Pastor Corky and Deedie are on some much needed time away....

If you’re a Facebook person you may have noticed Deedie literally wearing a Julie Andrews shirt… visiting some of the filming locations of the Sound of Music.

I think it’s safe to say they’re having a good time.

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So for us here....

I trust that this week everyone has a BBQ planned… or a parade… or a fireworks display on their agenda…

A couple of years ago we celebrated with some friends of ours…

And we all have young kids… and so the dads did what dads do. We went to Walmart earlier in the week and got one of those cheap little fireworks kits… You know just sparklers… snap and pops and such.

And as we’re lighting off these dinky little firecrackers we see the neighbors walk outside with armloads of fireworks… some in these enormous boxes, where you just light one fuse and run for your life you know…

Probably full of dynamite.

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And as awesome as those dynamite boxes were… I’ll tell you when it really got exciting.

It’s not a good, old fashioned amateur fireworks display until… one of the boxes tips over.

I’ll tell you what… if you want a good dose of adrenaline… there is nothing like a horizontal fireworks show.

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On a week like this we celebrate America, right? All of these things that make America a great place to live.

The notions of freedom, independence, even individuality… not everyone has this opportunity.

If I’m not careful I can take it for granted.

But if you were here last week you might remember that we talked about how sometimes our core values and virtues can get hijacked...

To mean something different… maybe VERY different than what was intended in the first place.

Last week we talked about how you ARE free to be the real you… you don’t have to hide your imperfections or shortcomings...

But when we use that freedom and transparency as an excuse to just sit in our sin and brokenness… as a way of saying, well this is just me being me...

Then we’re not really finding freedom from it.

Because if Jesus sets you free… YOU ARE FREE FROM SOMETHING

Transparency and being genuine are good, good practices… but only when they help us take stock and truly reckon with our brokenness...

And then pursue the wholeness that God desires for us.

Let me put it a different way…

***GOD DOESN’T EXPECT YOU TO BE PERFECT… BUT, IN YOUR IMPERFECTION, HE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO BE SATISFIED.

Because if Jesus sets you free… YOU ARE FREE FROM SOMETHING

And as we’ll talk about today… YOU ARE FREE FOR SOMETHING

ME

Over the past several years I have had a couple of interesting experiences where I have been able to watch people begin to understand what freedom really means. Begin to take it for themselves.

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I’ve had the privilege of visiting the Czech Republic three times (twice on mission, and once just as a tourist)… and I’m always struck at the overall cultural experience of a people taking their first steps toward freedom.

The Velvet Revolution was just over 30 years ago, when they were finally out from under Communist control, and so now they’re just about one generation into this thing called freedom.

This thing that we’re so familiar with.

And they’re so proud of it. If you talk to them about their country, many Czechs won’t refer to it as “the Czech Republic”... they’ll call it OUR Republic.

They’re so proud to finally be free and those who experienced communism are not taking their freedom for granted.

WE

I also have that experience that many of us in the room have… watching our kids begin to embrace their freedom and independence and individuality.

And there are times when you just couldn’t be more proud as you’re watching this… and then there are other times when it’s just about the most nerve-racking experience!

All these “firsts” that they go through… walking, riding a bike, climbing a tree.

And I have this ability… a talent, really… of being able to see about 3 steps ahead of her to whatever the worst-case scenario might be!

In my mind I know exactly what the upcoming fall or skinned knee or busted lip will look like!

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Now, I’ll confess to being a bit of a worrier… but the truth of the matter is… while freedom and independence and individuality are all good qualities or values… they have a tipping point that we don’t often talk about.

You can take these things to an extreme… and it’s not always positive.

And so can we celebrate this freedom… while also being aware the limits and the safeguards that are out there?

Because it IS something to celebrate… OF COURSE.

Celebrate it in this country… and also the freedom that is offered to us as followers of Jesus.

I mentioned this last week… long before our founding fathers… Jesus was talking about setting people free.

We see it in John chapter 8… He says:

John 8:36 NIV

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

And so we have this core American value that is also a powerful reminder of a core value of Jesus.

And so I want to celebrate it, but I also want to try to get it right… you know?

It’s important to honor what this virtue really is.

And the best way I can think to do that is to remember that:

WE ARE FREE FROM SOMETHING… AND WE ARE FREE FOR SOMETHING.

OPENING PRAYER

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight… O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

GOD

There’s a story in the Bible where these early believers in Jesus are wondering what to do with this newfound freedom that THEY have.

You see the freedom of Jesus IS about a freedom from oppression… and one specific place where people were being unnecessarily burdened was in their religion.

Let me explain… before Jesus came onto the scene… many people believed that following God meant following an enormous list of rules and guidelines and laws… 613 to be exact.

But over the years these rules and guidelines became less and less about loving and honoring God and more about proving how good you were. And many people were just buckling under this pressure…

Then Jesus comes along and he says… Actually ALL 613 of them are really there to get us to Love God and Love our neighbors… that’s it. So if you do those you’re on the right track.

So you can imagine the sense of relief that came with a message like this.

Because freedom in Jesus is being free FROM something, right? Free from this impossible burden.

Imagine the sense of freedom that comes when you’re given permission to unload 611 rules.

(Now of course Jesus’ message went a bit deeper than that, but some people probably heard it that way).

BUT there comes a point where the churches in the city of Galatia become concerned about the possibility of freedom taken to the extreme.

“Freedom run riot” if you will… how much freedom is too much?

PASSAGE

This is in Galatians chapter 5… so get your Bibles out or your phones out...

What are people going to do when they find out that there are almost no rules anymore? This is the fear.

AGAIN Jesus’ message went deeper than that, but some people probably heard it that way.

Sometimes people just hear what they want to hear.

And so many people in Galatia get nervous and want to retreat back into all of the rules.

Yes it’s burdensome, but that is what kept everyone safe and in line right?

And the apostle Paul has some really strong words for those who just want to go back to the rules for rules’ sake…

In fact he pulls no punches in verse 12… I’ll let you read that for yourselves… :)

BUT… in this case Paul has that talent like I do… he can see a few steps ahead…the worst case scenario… he can see what freedom run riot might look like…

And so Paul talks about a safeguard in Galatians 5… or a counterbalance if you will...

So that when things reach a tipping point… there is something there that brings us back…

Galatians 5:1, 13-15 (NIV)

1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

WE’RE FREE FROM THE RULES… WE’RE FREE FROM GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS WITH OVER 600 COMMANDS…

Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

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13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh;

DON’T LET FREEDOM RUN RIOT!

rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

REFLECTIONS

We have these super important core values… and some of them help make us who we are… and they make our society what it is… BUT it’s possible that there is a tipping point.

We certainly want our kids to find their own voice and discover their freedom and independence for themselves…

BUT as that counterbalance… they need that social interaction… they need to learn how to cooperate, how to get along… how to compromise…

This stuff happens in a children’s ministry for instance… or at school… or with their friends.

Because while someone’s uniqueness IS something to celebrate… everyone needs to learn that it’s not always about them.

What are you free FOR?

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***If you ever go to Prague in the Czech Republic, one thing you may notice is that it is one of the most beautiful and also one of the most graffitied cities you may ever visit.

It’s everywhere!

And it’s not even the good, artistic kind either…

Many citizens there are taking their first steps into freedom and there is a tipping point. All of the graffiti is evidence of “freedom run riot” you might say.

Some of the troublemakers spray paint graffiti on the buildings simply because… now they can.

And they need a counterbalance.

They are free FOR something...

And it’s more than just a chance to have no rules anymore.

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It’s obvious that freedom is hugely important for Paul. But he can see ahead at what unchecked freedom might look like.

It is an opportunity for indulgence.

After all what will people… what will Christians do without the Law… the Code that most of them had lived by? The rules that constantly kept them in check and accountable?

Many people thought that this freedom of the early church… this freedom from the Law simply would leave them adrift in a sea of moral relativism.

I’ll do what’s right to me… you’ll do what’s right to you.

Luckily we don’t struggle with this anymore..........

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So there’s this whole book in the Bible written about this very thing… stories that Paul and the early church would have known.

It’s called Judges… you’ve heard us talk about this before…

It’s stories about scandal and debauchery and violence… it’s kind of like those guilty pleasure books on your nightstand...

But this is the Bible… so you’re good. :)

But Judges is that worst case scenario. It’s this time in history when no one embraced God’s Law and there was no King to unite people and hold people accountable to some sort of standard.

There was no counterbalance.

The book of Judges doesn’t have a happy ending. At the end it simply says… “In those days Israel had no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”

They weren’t free FOR anything or anyone but themselves…

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Our own country was built with these incredible values in mind… freedom, liberty, independence.

And as we talked about last week… at its inception… it WAS freedom from oppression. You had the right NOT to be unjustly governed.

Granted, it took us a while to make sure everyone had those rights… but the basic idea was to be free FROM something unjust.

Very often, though, I wonder if we have reached that tipping point. To use Paul’s words… at what point does this sacred American value of freedom begin to look more like indulgence?

I have to confess, often times I wonder if we get freedom confused with “You can’t tell me what do.”

A couple hundred years later in America it seems that freedom is much less about escaping tyranny and much more about doing whatever I want.

Have we reached a tipping point… realizing that “all the freedom we desire” is not necessarily a good thing?

Where is our counterbalance?

What are we free FOR?

APPLICATIONS

As Paul writes in this letter to the churches in Galatia, as Jesus offers freedom from the Law in the first place… I get this mental image of a scale that needs to be in balance.

And you can be weighed down by oppression and bondage… NO freedom on one side.

Or you have freedom run riot… self-indulgence on the other… all the freedom you desire on the other.

And in the middle, Paul tells us to embrace our freedom… get out of the bondage and oppression… but then to serve one another. He says “serve one another humbly in love.”

Or as Jesus puts it… “Love your neighbor as yourself..”

You are free FOR others…

BUT If your freedom is the “you can’t tell me what to do” kind… then you’ve missed it. You’re over here in self-indulgence. You need that counter balance.

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And here’s what’s weird about this scale. The more I read from Paul, the more I realize what happens on this self-indulgence side… what happens without that counter balance.

When you find yourself in this extreme of self-indulgence… there is this phenomenon that happens that flips you back over toward bondage.

Listen to this from another one of Paul’s other letters:

1 Corinthians 6:12 (NIV)

12 “I have the right to do anything,”

IN TODAY’S LANGUAGE THIS MIGHT BE, “YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO...”

12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.

Isn’t that weird?

How is it possible that freedom and having the right to do anything… would put me in danger of being mastered… In other words.... LOSING my freedom?

Flipping me back over here to bondage?

Paul says this fascinating thing… he says that when we take our freedom to selfish extremes and indulgence… then we’ll find that we become mastered by and slaves to our own desires and appetites.

This is what happens with no counter balance.

Jesus knows… Paul knows that when it is all about us… it doesn’t go well. We will trade one form of bondage for another. The bondage of oppression for the bondage of our sin and selfishness.

We need that counter balance… the one that says to love our neighbors as ourselves.

The one that says we are free FOR something....

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As Paul writes I picture him balanced in the middle… embracing the idea of freedom… Gosh America would be proud.

But he embraces freedom, with a posture for serving.

A posture toward those who have none.

As Christians, THAT is WHY you were set free.

You were set free FOR something… maybe for someONE.

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Maybe you’ve heard the expression that freedom isn’t free?

Usually it’s used in the context of military service, as in the freedom that we have really cost us something in the history of hard-fought battles.

And that is true.

But experiencing… living into true, biblical freedom also costs you something. It’s not free either.

It’s not “do whatever I want” freedom.

It’s not “you can’t tell me what to do” freedom.

We are free FOR something…

I’ve heard the saying that “hurt people hurt people.”

Have you heard that before?

Today I want to make that more positive and say that FREED people free people!

You are free FOR something.

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I’m not against American independence and July 4th celebrations and this central idea of freedom behind this great country… but I’d hate to see it hijacked to indulge our selfish impulses.

Because there is a concept of freedom that is at the heart of our faith and one that could change this country as we know it.

It involves these paradoxical ideas of freedom through serving.

It’s independence and being our unique selves… while acknowledging our dependence on one another.

It’s finding our individuality as we make our home in community.

This is the sort of freedom that we see in scripture...

And there are places where I DO see this in our country.

In fact we see it in one of our favorite monuments.

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***The Statue of Liberty has a posture.

She’s not turned inward… facing her country… she’s turned outward to the ocean.

She doesn’t hold a weapon toward the outsiders… she holds a light of welcome to those who need it.

She stands at the gates of this country… not saying “you can’t tell me what to do,” but essentially, “what can we do for you?”

There is a poem written about her by Emma Lazarus and engraved on the monument. It’s called “The New Colossus.”

***In case you’re not aware, the “old” colossus refers to another statue, long since demolished, and it stood at the gates of another harbor … but a statue of pride and vanity for the ancient city of Rhodes.

And so, in the face of the indulgence out of which the “old colossus” rose… Emma Lazarus wrote this about the “new” colossus… the Statue of Liberty

***The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

IN THOSE DAYS THEY CONSIDERED NEW YORK CITY AND BROOKLYN TO BE 2 CITIES.

SHE GOES ON… MAYBE YOU’VE HEARD SOME OF THIS NEXT PART BEFORE…

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Church… before you send me emails… and definitely before you send Corky any emails… please hear me.

I’m not trying to make a statement about the complex issues of immigration or borders.

Here’s what I want you to hear.

The freedom of this country… and the freedom of this book… is a freedom that is aimed toward those who have none.

Not only does the Statue of Liberty have a literal posture toward the outsider… She has this posture of freedom that is bent, that is aimed toward others.

Only a truly free person can say, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.”

And that free person is in NO danger of self-indulgence. It’s not about them at all.

You are free FOR something.

WE

This week… celebrate your country. Parades, BBQs, fireworks… all of it.

Just make sure the fireworks don’t tip over!

But what if we celebrated THIS type of freedom? What if we celebrated the fact that we our not under oppression… whether the tyranny of sin or the tyranny of another country?

What if we took that freedom… NOT to it’s tipping point!

Not to the “You can’t tell me what to do...” extreme.

But what if we took hold of that freedom and we realized that maybe we had that gift so that we could give it to someone else…

Your teenagers did this this past week. They had some youth work days… where they offered what they had… namely their age and more able bodies to those who might not have that freedom.

They did some awesome work.

The Kenya team traveled thousands of miles to do some hard work and share their love with precious babies at an orphanage.

And it cost them something… It actually cost them a bit of their freedom because they quarantined due to stinkin’ COVID afterward!

Maybe you can use your freedom and give it away to kids who are seeking Jesus at VBS this year?

Maybe you can use your freedom of resources and give it away to young mothers at Essentials Pregnancy Center… who don’t have those resources?

Maybe FREED people can FREE people?

Church you were set free FROM something and you were set free FOR something.

What are you going to do with your freedom?

CLOSING PRAYER

Who You are, who we are, who You’ve called us to be…

COMMUNION

Well Jesus is here… Freedom is here… through everyday elements like bread and juice.

Today I want to acknowledge those who are here and may not feel like you’re free FROM something just yet.

You may not suffer from the tyranny of another people or another country.

Maybe you’re under the tyranny of addiction. Maybe it’s the tyranny of difficult relationships. Maybe it’s the tyranny of your own anxiety. Guilt. Maybe it’s the oppression of depression.

Maybe you’re not free FROM something.

But Jesus is here. And freedom is here. And healing is here.

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Or maybe you know and have found that freedom in Jesus… and you know that your freedom is not your own… it’s not for self-indulgence. And you’re ready to share freedom as you serve one another.

Well take communion today knowing that you are taking in Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to help you do just that.

And we’re starting with our Communion offering today. Today 10% of what is given in the offering in the plates outside or online is going to the House of Hope orphanage in Ukraine.... helping to provide a safe place for orphans in such a volatile time.

Using our freedom FOR something and someone else.

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And so I invite you to receive communion this morning and to KNOW that if the Son sets you free… you are FREE indeed.

BENEDICTION

As you celebrate and light fireworks and grill burgers and hot dogs… ENJOY IT!

Let it change you… and let it change others… because I’m pretty sure that is true American freedom...

And I know that that is true gospel freedom.

You are free FROM something… and you are free FOR something… in Jesus’ name.