SERMON
11/2/14 – Reformation /Friendship Sunday – Rev. Peter Sulzle
You are Free!
1. Free from Slavery.
2. Free through the Truth.
John 8:31-36:
31
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my
teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free.”
33
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have
never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to
35
sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son
belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free
indeed.
October 31st is a special day. For many people it means
Holloween. For our church family, it’s something more. That was the
day that a man named Martin Luther nailed 95 sentences to a church
door in the 1500’s to begin discussion about the true Word of God. That
started a grassroots effort to get God’s Word back into the homes. It
started a concerted effort to remain faithful to the Word of God. If you
had to summarize this spiritual reformation into one word, what would it
be? If Martin Luther summarized it, maybe he would say – freedom.
Luther was concerned about slavery – not physical slavery to
human authority. He was concerned about freedom from slavery to sin,
death, and the power of the devil. This freedom can only come by
believing God’s Word of truth. Jesus gives us good news in John’s
gospel. You are free! You are free from the slavery to sin. You are
free through the Word of truth.
Jesus is pretty blunt about our condition in this reading.
Everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Spiritual slavery isn’t confined to
any certain group of people. Everyone sins. Everyone disobeys God’s
commands and earns death. The Bible says, “No one will be declared
righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather through the law
we become conscious of sin… for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God.”
The sinful nature tries to tell us otherwise. It says you’re free to
live however you want, whether it hurts others or not, whether it’s in
public or in secret, whether it’s commonly accepted or just you being
yourself. The common thought is to live how you want, even if it is
completely immoral. But actually, when you disobey God’s commands,
you’re being led around by your sin like a puppy dog on a chain. Our
innermost thoughts, desires, and emotions can all be influenced by sin.
And just like there’s no such thing as a little harmless cancer, there’s no
such thing as a little harmless sin. Jesus is clear about the consequence.
“A slave has no permanent place in the family.” Our slavery to sin
puts us outside of God’s family forever.
One of the greatest threats to faith is to think that sin isn’t all that
bad. That’s why some objected to the thought that Jesus would set them
free. They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have
never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set
free?” They knew Jesus was talking about spiritual freedom, because
Abraham’s descendants were now under the domination of the Roman
Empire. But they claimed spiritual freedom because they belonged to the
line of Abraham. They had commands given through Moses, the temple
worship, the sacrifices, the traditions, and rules they followed
meticulously! But their trust in those things meant slavery to their
heritage and false beliefs.
How many trophies do we put up on our heritage wall of fame?
I’ve been a Lutheran all my life. I got confirmed in this church. I’ve
followed everything my pastor says. Not one of those things can set us
free. Heritage, a family name, and church membership can’t set us free.
And neither can hard work. Martin Luther proved that. For years he
tried to free his soul by obeying church tradition. He became a church
leader. He lived in solitude. He prayed hard and worked hard. He beat
up his body sleeping on a hard floor and crawling on his knees in prayer
until they bled. But he got the opposite result. The harder he worked,
the more he hated God for demanding so much and the more he saw a
just judge telling him he was never good enough and the heavier the
shackles of sin weighed him down. He wrote this hymn later on, “Fast
bound in Satan’s chains I lay; death brooded darkly o’er me. Sin
was my torment night and day; In sin my mother bore me. Yet deep
and deeper still I fell; life had become a living hell, so firmly sin
possessed me.”
Is that you? Examine your heart, your effort, your case full of
futile trophies. We’ve been there. We can’t escape the shackles of sin
through the underground railroad of our good works. When we try, we
rob God of the credit because freedom has to come from him.
We have to come to God helpless. Have you ever felt helpless?
Imagine having car troubles in the middle of nowhere. You’re cruising
along, then you’re sputtering along, then you’re coasting along into the
nearest gas station. You get out and open the hood as if you know
something about engines. Maybe you’ll see a piece that popped off and
you’ll just pop it back on and go. Someone stops and asks if you need a
jump. No. Someone else stops. They could fix older cars, but not this
car. Someone else thinks you need a fuel pump, but they left it in their
other pants pocket. So there you sit. Do you know that helpless feeling?
That’s the feeling we need to have when it comes to our immortal soul! I
can’t fix what’s wrong! I can’t buy a replacement part from the Heart
Parts store! I can’t free myself!
So Jesus gave this solution to the skeptical crowd. If you hold
to my teaching, then you are really my disciples. Then you will know
the truth and the truth will set you free. The truth of God’s Word sets
us free. Jesus is very specific about what this truth is. It’s not something
that people learn and discover through research and life experience.
Some universities even have these words as their motto, “The truth will
set you free.” But real truth sets us free from slavery. Jesus prayed for
his disciples saying, “Sanctify them by the truth, your Word is truth.”
If you remain in the Word, you are his disciples. No one else
can be in the Word for you. No one else can believe for you. No one
else gets the blessing of your faith. God’s Word creates an amazing
personal reformation in your heart. It’s a true reform from pitiful, bitter,
chained unbeliever to precious, joyful, free believer. If this reformation
does not happen in our personal walk with God, then we might begin to
believe something only because a spiritual leader says so. Without the
Bible as our standard of truth, we might believe something because it
feels right or everyone else says it’s true. And do we really want to put
our spiritual welfare at the mercy of others or even ourselves? No! We
put our spiritual welfare into the hands of a loving God who always tells
us the truth.
The Bible opens our eyes to the greatest truth, a light that shines
through every page. “If the Son sets you free, you will be free
indeed.” Freedom from sin only comes through Jesus. We see that
Jesus is the Son of God who came to earth as a human being to rescue us,
to set us free from slavery to sin. He did that by shedding his innocent
blood for sin, washing us clean in God’s sight. He made complete
satisfaction for our guilt and payment of our debt. Jesus has broken your
chains of sin and by his resurrection, he has broken down the door of
death to give eternal freedom. You now have righteousness from God
that comes through faith in Jesus. Sin cannot condemn you and death
cannot hold you! No more slavery!
The Holy Spirit has led so many people, like Martin Luther, to
see this truth, to believe it, to teach it, to proclaim it even under the threat
of death. He has caused people to encourage Bible reading and study in
the most important place – the home. Because of faithful witnesses who
have gone before us, we have the book of truth that gives freedom.
This book has set us free just like so many before us. Young
Josiah of the Old Testament found the book and reformed the Old
Testament church reading the book to the people. The Apostles who
wrote the book of truth died to defend it. God used Martin Luther to
bring the truth to light, a truth that was obscured by false teaching. Now
it’s your turn. He has reformed your heart. Show yourselves to be his
disciples. Hold to his teaching. Listen to God. Talk to God in prayer.
Take it to heart. Live it out in how you daily interact with others.
Martin Luther wrote about this in his explanation to the third
commandment. We should fear and love God that we do not despise
preaching and his Word, but regard it as holy and gladly hear and
learn it. That’s the kind of daily reformation we desire. So this is our
daily prayer. God, give me a heart for your Word. Change my heart
with your Word. Let me live in freedom according to your Word. That’s
the mark of a faithful disciple.
Remain in the Word so you don’t lose your freedom. Compare
it to a teenager who gets the keys to the car for the first time. Freedom!
But the teenager doesn’t have the freedom to run red lights and zip
around corners at 90 miles an hour. They could lose privileges, their
license, or even their life. God has given us freedom. We don’t want to
abuse it and hurt ourselves. Instead, we see the honor and responsibility
God puts into our trembling hands and hearts to hold his Word and speak
it faithfully. He lets us bring his truth to light!
You are free. The truth sets you free from sin. Read it. Cherish
it. Hear it. Commit to having your faith founded on it. Enjoy your own
personal reformation. Then live it in freedom as his disciples. Then
your life will continue to shout! Free at last! Free at last! Thank Jesus
Christ my Savior! I’m free at last! Amen.