Jump Start # 1884

John 8:32 “and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

NOTE TO OUR READERS: With tomorrow being a holiday, there will not be a Jump Start. We will be back on Wednesday, Lord willing.

Tomorrow is the fourth. It’s not just any fourth. Every month has a fourth. But the fourth of July remains special. People are off from work. Some are on vacations. It’s time for patriotic songs, fireworks and cookouts. This fourth, the fourth of July, remains the hallmark of our countries freedom. Independence. No more taxation without representation. No more control by a government across the seas. Generations later, we who have grown up here, just expect the rights and freedoms that are the foundation of this country. The freedom of speech and religion, flowing together in simple things like these Jump Starts. These Jump Starts do not have to pass the eyes of the government or even be approved by the government. Freedom— it is a great experience.

Our verse today, written a long time before there was an American democracy, speaks of another type of freedom. It is the freedom from the tyranny of Satan. It is the freedom from the bondage of sin. It is freedom to not only know the truth of God, but to follow that truth and to please God. Moses led Israel to freedom from Egyptian slavery. Christ led all mankind to freedom from eternity in Hell.

There are some common principles that follow freedom. This is true as we think about our national independence and this is especially true as we think about our spiritual independence.

Freedom comes with a cost. To break free, takes enormous courage and a huge price to pay. For our nation, there was a war, the Revolutionary War. But even before that war started, there were little skirmishes and battles which took place. Blood was shed. Many died. Many have continued to die to preserve this freedom. Spiritually, the ultimate bloodshed was Jesus on the cross. It took more than one drop. Had that been enough, He could have pricked His finger. He was the divine sacrifice. Lambs were slaughtered under the O.T. system. Christ was slaughtered. His death was bloody. It was gruesome. It was necessary to bring our freedom. John said that Jesus is the “propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn 2:2). Propitiation means satisfaction. The price was paid. What we owed God was paid off. We were bought or redeemed with a price, the blood of Jesus.

Freedom always has heroes. This is true in war and this is true spiritually. In my area, after the Revolutionary War, a broke country could not pay the soldiers money, so land was given to them. Hundreds and thousands of acres in Ohio and Indiana were given to the vets who provided freedom. The Clark brothers, William and George, settled here in Southern Indiana. Many may have heard of the famous explorers, Lewis and Clark. That Clark was on of these brothers. They were war heroes. So around here we have Clark county and Clarksville and a lot of Clark things. They were heroes long ago.

Spiritually, Jesus tops the list of our spiritual heroes. He did everything perfectly. That’s why we call ourselves “Christians.” We belong to Christ. Our congregations honor Him in name, place and in worship. When a bride gets married, she doesn’t keep her maiden name. She takes the last name of her husband. It is one of the great ways that she honors him. Likewise, we carry the name of Christ, whom we honor, in all things.

There has been other heroes spiritually. The apostles, brave as they were, spread that message about Jesus Christ throughout the known world. Others, some we read in our Bibles, such as Titus, Apollos, Timothy, endured much to build congregations and keep things going. Even in our times, there has been men and women, brethren, who have sacrificed and held things together for another generation. Just about every congregation as a hero or two in it’s history. Those that taught, preached and built a faith in the community they lived in. Today, we stand upon the shoulders of those heroes. Our lives are made easier because of them. Our spiritual freedom flows onward because of their work.

   Freedom comes with responsibility. There is a price to maintain freedom. Freedom can be abused. Freedom can be lost. We are seeing some of that in our times now. Some feel that their voice is the only voice that should be heard. They feel that their way is the only way. If you do not agree with them, they will ridicule you and destroy you, one way or another. Those that act that way, certainly would not like to be on the receiving end of what they are doing to others. They certainly are not practicing the golden rule. They do what they want, however they want, even if it offends, wounds or takes the freedoms of others away.

We have a responsibility to defend our freedoms, sometimes from our fellow countrymen. Sometimes it’s hard to know who is on the enemies side.

Spiritually, our freedom comes with responsibility. Free from Satan means that we ought to worship God often and in the way that God wants to be worshipped. It means we have the responsibility of defending the Gospel and honorably carrying out the message of God. Like our national freedom, too often, fellow brethren act like the enemy. They stand in the way of God’s word. They act irresponsibly. They believe that they can teach any wild idea that crosses their brain. They feel that they are in the position to change what God has established. They do not understand the authority of God nor their position in the kingdom.

Freedom—enjoy it. Preserve it. Honor it. Respect it. Be willing to pay the price to maintain it. Spiritually, Satan will do everything that he can to get you back. He will mess with your marriage. He will cause strife in the church. He will use family and friends to confuse you and lead you back into his arms. Our eyes must be open. We must be careful. We must always be diligent. We don’t ever want to go back to where we were before Christ saved us.

Where would you be today, had Christ not pulled you out of sin? How many marriages would you have trashed by now? What addictions would you have now? How many years left on a prison sentence would you have? What selfish and ugly attitudes would you have? Would you even be alive today, had it not been for Jesus?

Freedom—what a beautiful word. Enjoy it as a nation, thank the Lord for it spiritually.

Roger