Fourth of July Sermon

As you can imagine, thing get a little crazy around here leading up to the fourth. There has been a lot going on, and I will post about it soon, but I wanted to share my sermon from yesterday. The actually delivery went okay, I think I was really nervous to give the sermon and felt extra pressure because I was really proud of writing it. Given my frustrations with people who tie Christianity too close to America (instead of the world), I was really happy to find a relevant, significant and yet appropriately patriotic topic and tie-in. Let's face it, I probably wouldn't survive if I got through the whole message without mentioning the Fourth of July at Mount Rushmore. A little over halfway through it my notes blew away, and I actually did better without them. I forgot one part but other than that it went a lot smoother without them. More updates on how God is working here soon.

Salves of Righteousness

Good morning! Happy Fourth of July! Aren’t we extremely blessed to enjoy the freedom we do as Americans? What a great opportunity we have to reflect on and celebrate this freedom today. This morning I want to talk about this freedom, and relate it to the freedom we enjoy as Christians. These great freedoms also bring us great responsibility, and this morning I want to use our national freedoms to illustrate our freedom from sin. I also want to take the opportunity to explain how this great freedom we enjoy binds us as slaves to righteousness. I know slavery might be a dangerous topic for today, but it is the second half of freedom as Christians.

Up to this point in Romans, Paul has been explaining that we are all called to righteousness, but all fall short of this on our own. However, through our faith (belief + trust) in Christ we can attain this righteousness. In fact, we are expected to. In the beginning of this chapter, Paul explains that through our faith in Christ, we participate with Christ in his death and resurrection. “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” (Rm. 6:6-8) Through our relationship with Christ we die, releasing sin’s grip from us, and are born again in the freedom of God’s righteousness.

Now, we’ve used the term “righteousness” a lot here, and I think it’s important to clarify its meaning. Throughout the entire Bible, the terms that are translated as “righteousness” refer to actions that align with God’s Will. That is, to be righteous is to do God’s will. So, when we become “slaves of righteousness”, we become slaves to God’s will. Simply put, being righteous means just doing what God wants and what God has planned for you. Paul explains that Abraham was righteous because he picked up everything and moved to a strange land when God commanded him to. (Rom 4:3)

(Rom 6:17-18) “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."

The New Testament really takes this metaphor or servant hood seriously, and I think we should too. It is used several times throughout the Gospels, and is no coincidence that in the many parables that use slavery as an illustration, we are referred to as the servants and God is the master. In his introduction to Romans, verse 1:1, Paul refers to himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 3:7, Paul says, “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.” In Phillipians 2:7 Jesus taking on the human form and humbling himself is said to be an act of servant hood. Many of Paul’s examples of faithful Christians are referred to as servants of Christ. In James 1:1, James also refers to himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. This is more than a useful metaphor for us, it is a model that we are to follow.

We only have two options. We’re either for God or against God. We can either serve God, which is righteousness, or serve anyone or anything that is not God, including ourselves, which is sin. By following God, being in relationship with Him and serving Him, we chose to die to sin. By choosing to be released from the oppression of our slavery to sin, there is no other choice but to willingly submit ourselves as servants of God’s will. It is God’s will to lead you to eternal life, and any other will or plan leads to death, so cast them aside.

Don’t misunderstand this as a list of rules to follow. There is not a list of rules to follow now in order to be saved. In fact, reducing this call to do God’s will to a list of rules would be to greatly devalue it. Paul asks in verse 21, “What benefit does your sin bring you?” The answer is that it is a path of destruction that ultimately leads to death. Because of our faith in Christ, we have been freed not only from the debt of our sin, but through our faith in Christ we have been freed from having to do sin at all, and empowered to not sin. This is God’s will for us, to rely on our faith in Christ and pursue righteousness. That is God’s will for us, God’s plan for us, and we know that it is God’s plan for us that ensures our salvation. “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” (v. 22).

So, through Christ we are freed from our slavery to sin, which we could not get out of on our own, and since we are freed from every sinful act, the only thing left is God’s will.

In a similar yet smaller way, our freedom as Americans compels us to do certain things. We enjoy the freedoms of religion, speech, press, the freedom to vote, to a fair trial, and the list goes on. And we are compelled to use them. What a waste it would be, how useless it would be not to use them! These freedoms also compel us to serve, honor and defend our freedoms, because that’s how we’ve kept them for over 200 years. Let us take a minute to thank those who have defended our freedoms in one of the most significant ways possible, through service in our armed forces (ask to stand and be recognized). Now, just as it would be pointless and idiotic to have these freedoms available to us, at the expense of the service of others, and therefore self-impose restrictions, limitations and slavery on ourselves, we actually do this to a much greater extent when we bypass our own call to righteousness in order to go back to being servants of sin. Jesus freed us so we don’t have to do that.

Being patriotic is a quite necessary reaction to the freedoms we enjoy in this country. But realize also that the freedom we have as a gift from God sets us free from our worst form of slavery, sin, and leads us to eternal life. So, our necessary reaction to that freedom requires so much more from us, our entire selves. Don’t limit and confine yourself to sin anymore, but accept the call to be bound by righteousness and wholeness.

Servant hood is a popular example for us in the New Testament. In Luke 12, Jesus explains that we are to be servants that are watchful for the master’s arrival. That is, they act like their master is watching and are responsible with the resources given to them. This is where the phrase comes from that says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.” We have been given great freedoms, and we should be using these to pursue righteousness.

Servant hood is a very powerful example and model that, given our past, carries significant, negative connotations. But slavery to God and God’s will is significantly different than slavery to any human, which no one was ever intended to be subject to. Serving God means coming back into relationship with Him. It means participating in His plan to rescue the world. At a practical level, Jesus tells us that by serving the least, the last, the oppressed and the widowed we are serving him. It is giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, being welcoming and hospitable to the stranger, clothing the needy, caring for the sick and being with those who are imprisoned (Matt. 25:34-40). It is not hard to hear God’s call, but it is impossible to accept it and do it without also being dependant on God to do it through you.

So, as Christians in America, considering what today signifies; recognize, enjoy and give thanks for your freedom, and consider what this freedom means you are called to do. Consider what this slavery you are saved from and called to means, and bind yourself to it.

And, if you’re not yet a Christian, consider this an honest look at the Christian life. It’s a call to be freed from your slavery to sin, and to be subject to the loving God that rescued us from that sin. God wants to be with you for eternity, and the joy of this salvation compels us to want to do His will. That alignment with God’s will is how we are simultaneously free and slaves.