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Freedom! What is it exactly? What defines freedom? When you are ‘free’ what are you? Does it simply mean you are not incarcerated? Does it mean you have no commitments? Does it mean that no one can tell you what to do? Does it mean the absence of rules or laws? Is freedom the absence of consequences? What does it mean to “be free”? Freedom!. - Jesus said, “If I set you free you will be free indeed!” He also said “You will know the truth and in knowing the truth you will gain freedom.” He read from Isaiah in the temple and the day He read it He said “this day is this scripture fulfilled in your presence”. He was the fulfillment of it and this is what He read. "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME He came to grant us “Freedom”. Freedom! The very sound of the word carries with it the memories of men and women who have stood side by side on the battlefields of life and carved out for themselves and for their children and for their grandchildren a future that would hold more choices. And then the discovery comes. That’s it! That’s what freedom is. Freedom is the ability to have unlimited choices. Unlimited choices means limitless possibilities. If freedom of choice is preserved, then the development of infinite ideas is nurtured. If we have “freedom” we are free to have our lives matter. We can choose. We can produce. We can expand. We can explore. We can soar – far above the bounds of earth and into the sky – borne upon eagle’s wing power to heights hitherto undefined – hitherto un-experienced. There is quote from Shakespeare which reads – “it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” Encompassed in this statement is the idea that to really know and really experience life, one must not be afraid to experience death. In our minds and in the depths of our hearts there is a cry that bubbles below the consciousness’ of our awareness but it drives us and it fuels us and it stirs within all of mankind - even to those most oppressed – most enslaved. It brings righteous discontent and longs to burst forth and shout, “Let me be free!”. Patrick Henry, on March 23, 1775 said, “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” That was the cry of Patrick Henry that day in the midst of British rule. As Christians our cry should be a little different but none-the-less similar. It should be “Give “me” death so that I might know real liberty.”– Let the “me” in me die so that I might know real freedom! Freedom has and always will be worth dying for. It is what our Lord died for. It is what He poured His blood on the ground for - so that we might obtain it. He came to set the captives free! There is a lethargy that one gets from walking through life with no vision or purpose except to avoid discomfort or the unfamiliar. A stupefied, dull, featureless, life – lived as those anesthetized in our institutions. Not feeling the pain, but not really living either. Slowly it creeps over us as we become adults – if we let it. When we were children we used to dream dreams – we believed in the impossible and every day was an adventure. Sure we cried, got sad, felt scared, - we hurt when we bled and sometimes we got all huffy and angry. But when we got excited we got really, really exited. When we laughed we really laughed and the sense of being on an adventure never ever left us. We never worried that we might hurt, because we knew in the end it would be okay. We didn’t believe in failure or in depression or in anxiety. We waited breathlessly for the things that would happen next, anticipating with delight the unknown. We had an undying optimism that went “following any bad thing was the next good thing” and we as children spent little time contemplating the bad. Maybe we would pout – but did it ever extend past the boundaries of that day? Never! It was only as we grew older that we discovered pensiveness and anxiety in any voluminous way. It was as we became much more aware of good and evil that we grew to contemplate the evil that could happen more than we contemplated the good we experienced. We learned to dwell on it – brood on it – fear it – and avoid it at all cost lest it come to us. Suddenly we began to think that it was our responsibility to “deliver us from evil” and this part of the Lord’s prayer lost its meaning to us. Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all." And as we contemplate “freedom” or should I say the loss of it, we begin to understand the doorway to the kingdom. Its a doorway that leads to infinite possibilities and unbridled passions - a doorway that leads us to life and away from death - and yet has in its promise the echoes of death. “Freedom is the name of this doorway - this doorway that the Lord wants to take our church through this year. It is magical. It is delightful. It is sort of scary. Beyond it lies all that you are meant to be - all that you are meant to experience. And all that Jesus is! There is no hypocrisy through this doorway. There is no facade. There is no Churchianity. There is just “life”, and that there is abundantly! The common place cannot pass through it. “The way its always been done” never survives the passage through this “doorway of freedom.” “Ownership” and “Control” may not be taken through. And no one can pass through it while holding tightly to themselves. The infinite beyond can only be navigated by holding tightly to the hand of our Lord Jesus. There is a “highway” that lies just through the doorway that the Lord desires to bring us through this year – this doorway called “freedom”. This is what awaits us on the other side. It is from Isaiah 35 verses 3-10 “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you." Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground will become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; In the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes. A highway will be there, and a road, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, will not go astray. No lion will be there, nor will any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They will obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Each who have come to Jesus has the opportunity to pass through this doorway called “Freedom” and walk this highway called “Holiness”. To go through means you can never return. There will be those – maybe family – maybe friends - who will wait for natural death to experience “Freedom”. They will not go through this door. This is not the Father’s wish, but it will happen. I would that all men would let go of their death grip on life in this kingdom and walk free in the kingdom of God – but I am not so naive as to believe that all have that level of courage in God. “The fearful die daily but the courageous only once!” I’ve watched men sell their souls and abandon their liberty for a few paltry dollars – something so worthless as a new home or new car, so valueless as mere money. My prayer is that you will choose to abandon the common and embrace the extraordinary. My prayer is that you all will pass through this doorway. Jesus – The Christ – His Spirit – is to lead those who will follow Him, to freedom this year. It is a freedom from condemnation – freedom from fear – freedom from the chains that bind us whether physical or mental – freedom from our addictions whether natural or emotional – freedom to soar and to fly as the eagle. Freedom to do and be ALL that God created you to do and be! This clarion call goes out by the Spirit of God to all of you who call “the Place” their church home; “Come! Let us discover and pass through this doorway called “Freedom” together this year. And may we never be the same again!” Amen and Amen
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