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sermon: Liberty or Independence?Christian Liberty
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Christ made liberation possible with His sacrifice and our justification on Passover. Today—the first day of Unleavened Bread--represents the beginning of our liberty from sin and our sanctification. In the world, the desire and pursuit of liberty has taken many forms; and it is expressed frequently in the annals of American history. The pledge of allegiance for the citizens of the United States is this: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." (The "one nation, under God" was added later, in the 1930s or so. It hasn't always been that.)
Just before his condemnation to death by the British, the patriot Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death!" Thus, liberty has long been a desired condition. What is so important about liberty that men have so desperately sought it—even under the treat of death, or even unto death?
When the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States were written and endorsed, the Bible was assumed to be, by most people in this land, the standard for moral law. The Bill of Rights and the Constitution were written as the guiding civil law, designed to work in conjunction with the Word of God. In 1778, just a few years later, James Madison (the fourth President of the United States) said: "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future...upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to sustain ourselves, according to the Ten Commandments of God." And in 1832, Noah Webster (the author of the first American Dictionary of the English Language) said: "The principles of all genuine liberty and of wise laws and administrations are to be drawn from the Bible and sustained by its authority."
So that we can be clear on the terms "liberty" and "freedom"--Webster's Dictionary defines liberty as the quality or state of being free; the power to do as one pleases; freedom from physical restraint; freedom from arbitrary or despotic control; the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges; the power of choice. Now notice how similar the definition for freedom is. Freedom is the quality or state of being free; the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action; liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another—independence; the state or quality of being exempt, usually from something burdensome.
Let's compare liberty and freedom a little more, while adding the term license. All we are doing here is defining these terms. Freedom, liberty, and license mean the power or condition of acting without compulsion. Freedom has a broad range of application—from total absence of restraint, to merely a sense of not being unduly hampered or frustrated. Liberty, on the other hand, is very similar; but it suggests release from former restraint or compulsion. That's a critical key word there—release. Liberty suggests release from former restraint or compulsion. And license (the final word to define) implies freedom specially granted or conceded, and it may connote an abuse of freedom.
When the Bible speaks of liberty, a prior bondage or incarceration is always implied. Liberty means the happy state of having been released from servitude for a life of enjoyment and satisfaction that was not possible before. The paradigm of liberty in the Bible is the deliverance of the Israelites from their servitude in Egypt. They had been slaves under Pharaoh, and the beginning of their nationhood was marked by an act of divine liberation.
At the exodus, God set Israel free from bondage in Egypt in order that, from that time on, the nation could serve Him as His covenant people. He brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey; settled them there; and undertook to maintain them in political independence and economic prosperity—as long as they avoided idolatry and kept His laws. This meant that Israel's freedom would not depend upon her own efforts in either the military or the political realm, but on the quality of her obedience to God. Her freedom was a supernatural blessing
God's gift of liberty to Israel was unmerited. His terms were clear. Disobedience—whether in the form of religious impiety or social injustice—would result in their loss of freedom. God judges His people by (1) national disaster and (2) enslavement. As the God of their fathers had liberated them, so the liberty into which He had brought them was to be reflected in their constitution and laws.
Psalms 119:41-45 — Let your mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even your salvation, according to your word. 42 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproaches me: for I trust in your word. 43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in your judgments. 44 So shall I keep your law continually forever and ever. 45 And I will walk at liberty: for I seek your precepts.
So there is a qualification there for our walking in liberty. We have to be seeking the precepts of God. Liberty in the Old Testament means, on the one hand, deliverance from created forces that would keep men from serving and enjoying their Creator and, on the other hand, the positive happiness of living in fellowship with God under His covenant in the place where He chooses and blesses. Liberty is the opposite of slavery to those things that oppose God. It is not man's own achievement, but a free unmerited gift. It is something that is imparted from God's action—something that we do not posses at all, but are given.
In its continuance, liberty is a covenant blessing—something that God has promised to maintain as long as His people are faithful. It does not mean "independence" from God. It is precisely in God's service that we find perfect liberty. We can enjoy release from bondage to the created only through bondage to our Creator. So, the way God sets us free (from our captors and enemies) is to make us His own slaves. He frees us by bringing us to Himself.
Human nature, however, wants us to believe that liberty is independence. More specifically, Satan would like us to believe that independence is liberty or freedom from responsibility, and from obeying anyone else. It has come to be known in this society as INDIVIDUALISM. Individualism is a major deterrent to liberty! What individualism has come to mean is the abolition of community. That is, that each person stands alone—even within the natural human family. On a physical level, we see this degeneration of liberty in our own society.
Individualism requires liberty. But the paradox of individualism is that liberty unchained (without restraint) leads ultimately to servitude—to the end of all individual freedom. This is where the descendants of Israel are rapidly heading now. Unchained liberty does not lead there directly, as though the prompt results of a nation's free political election were tyranny. The pursuit of freedom leads first to political liberty; and then, if there is no self-discipline of the free, to a hedonistic liberty (which we could call "licentiousness" or "lasciviousness") where whatever pleases a person is allowed. Licentiousness is undisciplined and unrestrained behavior. Especially a flagrant disregard of sexual restraint, it is a deficiency of a morally unrestrained mind.
Mark 7:21-23 — For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
The Greek word translated lasciviousness here in the King James version, and in the New King James as licentiousness, means "outrageous conduct"—showing that licentious behavior goes beyond sin to include a disregard for what is right, and a disregard for the good of others. License to do whatever pleases leads to chaos when pleasure is not regulated by self-discipline. Chaos ultimately yields to tyranny, and the tolerance to do so precedes the chaos. Someone once said: "Tolerance is the devise used to change a form of government from a tolerant one to an intolerant one." That's a profound quote, actually. No one anticipates this as the outcome of the pursuit of liberty; and as long as liberty is tempered by "the law written in our hearts" it is not a danger.
Romans 2:14-15 — For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.
So God tells us here, in verse 15, that humanity knows of His laws. Everyone knows of His laws. It's just that we don't understand them deeply enough--until we are converted and receive God's Holy Spirit.
Romans 2:16 — In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
When the heart no longer knows such a law, then the decline of liberty through licentiousness becomes inevitable.
The United States of America was born in the 18th century—the century of the triumph of Enlightenment, or (as some would call it) Illumination. The Enlightenment is often portrayed, by its very nature, as "the enemy of religion." One "Illuminist," Immanuel Kant, defined Enlightenment as "liberation from self-imposing immaturity"—by which, of course, he meant religion (and more specifically "mainstream Christianity" and the worship of God). The Age of Enlightenment is not defined primarily by enmity to religion but, more specifically, by enmity toward God. And this Enlightenment has had a huge impact on our thinking in this society.
Romans 8:1-7 — There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
James 4:4 says "...know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." So the Enlightenment (as it is called)--which brought this world to INDIVIDUALISM--is anti-God and anti-Christ, having enmity toward Jesus Christ and God the Father. Its source, therefore, is Satan.
In looking back at the Middle Ages, the time of feudalism was a time when interpersonal covenants were dominant. For example: emperor to elector; king to vassals; landlord to tenant (or serf); and, of course, the people to God. Individuals were strongly tied to their community, or communities. And people took care of each other in a more personal way in society—especially within their communities. However, general freedom of movement was very restricted, which made it hard for a worldwide work of God to flourish. So, of course, God had to change what the world was like in the Middle Ages to eventually bring it to a point where freedom reigns—so that God's Word could go worldwide.
God decided to break down this stranglehold that feudalism and the Roman Catholic Church had on a great part of the world. The rise of towns, where a self-sufficient bourgeoisie could grow; the discovery and conquest of the American continents; the rise of capitalism; and the Protestant Reformation broke down traditional forms and understanding, and made room for individuals to become autonomous—a law unto themselves. Private interpretation of Scripture exploded at this time! (It's always been a problem, but especially when this "freedom" and "liberty" were given in a physical sense.)
II Peter 1:19-21 — We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
The Protestant principle of permitting individualistic "private interpretation" was set loose in the context of the freedom, democracy, and equality of North America. From this came the present attitude in mainstream Christianity that "Every man's opinion is as good as everyone else's." Let me repeat that. It is believed in this society, as a result of Protestantism primarily, that every man's opinion is as good as everyone else's. This principle does not work in physics; it does not work in medicine; it does not hold true in law; and it certainly does not hold true in theology!
Judges 17:5-6 — And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
We see there an example of what happens when men do what is right in their own eyes. They move to Sabbath breaking, to idolatry, to breaking all of the commandments, and to a very degenerate society which God eventually has to send into slavery and send through tribulation-type of suffering. God sees this attitude as stemming from pride. In Proverbs 21:2-4 it is recorded: "Every way of man is right in his own eyes; but the LORD ponders the heart. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. A high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked is sin."
Mainstream Christianity is a product of INDIVIDUALISM. It puts people in contact with what they think is "God," and seemingly would rule out autonomy. But it degenerates into a religion of "just me & Jesus" and loses the perspective of community and fellowship. Autonomy comes from another angle. It sounds similar to this—"If Jesus is my 'personal Savior,' then no minister and no congregation can tell me anything." The hidden implication is that unless Jesus is actually talking to me personally (which He seldom is, of course--at least, in the literal sense), then "I can do as I please." That is the attitude of Protestantism.
The United States is a country of an astronomical number of churches. All religions prosper here. Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, New Age, the Occult--the list goes on and on and on. The United States is so full of religion and religious enthusiasm. It is also the place where no such thing as "sin" exists. Any attempt to speak out for traditional moral values, or to criticize newly fashionable lifestyles that once were called "perverse," is met with fierce antagonism.
The more this society degenerates, the more we see the separation between God's church and the world. The world is always in our face in a perverse way. That should move us closer to God. The degeneration of this nation has reached the point of "anything goes"—from abortion, to physician assisted suicide, and all manners of things in between. As a people "every imagination of the thoughts of our hearts are only evil continually."
If the universal rule were "I want it my way," it would lead first to license, then to chaos, and then to the loss of liberty. This is exactly what we are seeing happen in this nation today, and also throughout the world. A prime example of the wrong pursuit of liberty is that the Declaration of the Rights of Man of 1789 led to the "Terror of France" four years later. Liberty and fraternity disappeared; and the only reliable equality was that of the guillotine, which devoured even its most devoted servant—Robespierre.
In more recent times, American has given INDIVIDUALISM to the world. To some extent, we can still afford it—for we have the land, the money, and the leisure (for most people). We can still have it when we say, "I want it my way." As a nation, we are still living off of the national blessings God promised to the descendants of Abraham. But the rest of the world cannot, and we will not be able to do so much longer.
The free market, which flourishes in an individualistic society, does not create values. It consumes them. And unless it's constantly immunized against "rot," it will collapse. The only immunization is God's Word, which has been totally rejected. Therefore, the world—and especially this nation—is totally susceptible to the disease of INDIVIDUALISM and "Enlightenment" (as the world looks at it).
The roots of religious liberty go back to the settlement of the colonies by the British in the 17th century. Not only England, but Europe as a whole, was still in a state of religious ferment caused by the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. Many of the early settlers were religious dissidents who came seeking a home where they would be free to practice their religion, and to worship as they desired here in the colonies of the United States. Several of the colonies were established as havens for specific sects and denominations.
Several were, in fact, "experiments" in establishing a new form of governance based on religious ideals. The problem was that the religious ideals were based on private interpretation—because of the individualistic attitude that so many had. The Plymouth Colony, for example, was founded by British Separatists. Massachusetts and New Haven (which is now Connecticut) were established by Puritans favoring a reform of the Church of England along Congregationalist lines. Pennsylvanian was founded as a Quaker experiment by William Penn. Maryland was founded as a sanctuary for Catholics from Protestant England.
Christians, who were persecuted within the newly founded colonial communities, started new settlements where they could worship freely. In the 1630s, Roger Williams established the colony of Rhode Island—based in the principle of freedom of conscience, and complete separation of church and state. Many seventh day Sabbath keepers established themselves there, because they were free to worship on the seventh day. Even though the rest of the colonies declared "religious liberty" and "religious freedom," it wasn't truly there--because of the bias of those specific groups.
Not only did a wide variety of English dissidents migrate to the new colonies; but, as the reputation of the American colonies for religious freedom spread, Huguenots fleeing France, Mennonites from Holland and Germany, and others made their way to the colonies. In the 1600s, religious dissidents from Europe made up the majority of the population of the American colonies—even in those colonies that were nominally Anglican, such as Virginia. So you can see that the nation that we are in today was founded by people with diverse religious beliefs. Although under the banner of "Christianity," they still interpreted Scripture as they thought right.
Controversies over biblical issues and religious practice spawned new denominations—such as the Baptists, who spread throughout America. We see the same INDIVIDUALISM continuing to spread through the United States today. Diversity of race, ethnic background, and religious background helped fuel the flame of INDIVIDUALISM. This cancer has been going through the greater Church of God for years now.
Freedom is possible only within limits. Spiritually, the instrument through which this "liberty" was imparted is the truth. (You find that in John 8:32) We are earnestly warned not to presume upon, or abuse, our liberty in Christ.
Galatians 5:13 — For, brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
We are given that gift of liberty through Jesus Christ; and we are warned not to abuse it, because it is a great gift and one that can be abused to the harm of others.
Galatians 5:14 - For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
It always comes back to that, doesn't it? We are given liberty and freedom; but, in order to properly use it, we have to have love for one another.
Galatians 5:15 - But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another.
So IF we abuse our "liberty" and our "freedom" in God's church; and we use private interpretations; and we don't show love for one another in the proper way—by keeping the commandments and the laws of God—THEN we can actually cause each other to loose salvation. We, as individuals, are responsible for how we impact others. We, as individuals, are responsible in God's church for helping each other to the Kingdom. Of course, that's with the help of the Holy Spirit, and by the guidance of Jesus Christ and God the Father through the Word of God.
In I Peter 2:15-16, Peter says "For so is the will of God, that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God." Physically, freedom is possible only within limits; but humanity cannot agree on those limits. The reason they can't agree on those limits is because they have rejected the Source of righteous standards—God!
The people who emigrated from Europe to come to the American continent were people unwilling to be satisfied with a gradually evolving status quo. They left an older stifling civilization behind and established new commonwealths in the wilderness. When conditions in the seaboard colonies seemed oppressive, colonists rebelled against the English crown and made themselves independent.
Then, when conditions in the States did not provide the freedom and opportunity they sought, large numbers abandoned the Puritan establishment of the North and the plantation culture of the South to move farther West. When the forests were cut clear and the trees were gone, when the land was exhausted--then they could move on.
When the inner cities became run down, they could move to the nearby suburbs. When those "streetcar suburbs" deteriorated and the tracks were torn up, they could build larger homes on larger lots and commute by larger cars on a network of new and larger highways. When that began to displease them, they could begin to "gentrify" to the central city. There was no need to conserve--no need to preserve—for there was always a new opportunity across the road, across the river, or across the prairie.
INDIVIDUALISM began with a quest for freedom, but freedom is possible only within limits. Without limits, freedom leads to chaos; and after chaos, one is privileged if the new limits are gentle. But under man, the new limits are not gentle—when freedom is taken to its extreme, without restraint. It ends up bringing us back to slavery—to corrupt leaders, to corrupt bosses, to cruel criminals, and on and on and on. In this society, freedom and limits are incompatible at the extreme; but there is a healthy middle--where freedom is real, and the limits are balanced and acceptable. This liberty only God can provide (by freeing us first from sin).
The true spiritual enemies, from whom God through Jesus Christ liberates His people, are revealed to be (1) sin, (2) Satan, and (3) death. Christian liberty is from sin and from law simultaneously. Sin is presented as a "master" whose slaves are unable to escape its control except by dying or becoming the property of another. But the elect (That's us.) pass from the control of sin through their death with Christ. Paul says those who have died to sin can no longer live in sin.
Romans 6:1-6 — What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: 6 knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
So that is liberation--a liberation that we see begins on this day, the first day of Unleavened Bread.
Romans 6:7-11 — For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: 9 knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death has no more dominion over Him. 10 For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He lives, He lives unto God. 11 Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:14-15 — For sin shall not have dominion over you [We've been given liberation.]: for you are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Paul emphasizes that again. He emphasizes it in verse 2, and he emphasizes it in verse 15.
Romans 6:16-17 — Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
That is, the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles.
Now, Herbert Armstrong is credited many times for delivering us "the faith once delivered." But I'd like to clarify that, because I don't think that is quite accurate. If we look at our lives in the church throughout the last several decades, some of us came into the church in the '60s under Mr. Armstrong. Some of us came in the '70s, some in the '80s, and some in the '90s—into the Worldwide Church of God, under Joseph Tkach. Each of us received, in a sense, similar but different doctrines (comparing the '60s and '70s with the '80s and the '90s). The same doctrines that had been changed in the '90s had been changed, or attempted to be changed, in the '70s. So it was just a repetition of what Satan had already tried.
But if I was to say that Mr. Armstrong delivered me "the faith once delivered" in the '60s and someone else said that Mr. Armstrong delivered "the faith" to them let's say in the '70s (during the very liberal times that the Systematic Theology Project was being done—the STP), then there were different religious doctrines between those two. But, yet, Mr. Armstrong was over the church at that time—not realizing that these changes were being made. But he was over the church. So we can't say that we got our faith from Mr. Armstrong as our "faith once delivered." We have to go back beyond that.
"The faith once delivered" that we got from Mr. Armstrong was the faith that was delivered to the apostles by Jesus Christ and to Moses in the Old Testament. That's the faith once delivered! Mr. Armstrong re-instated and reaffirmed that. He brought it back to our attention. But we have to be careful how we word that. Mr. Armstrong is credited for re-establishing that—under God's direction, with God's power and authority. But it was already there. It just wasn't noticeable, completely, to the Church of God. So remember that our "faith once delivered" (and that faith that we first received) was what Jesus Christ gave to the apostles. We have to go back to the source of these things.
Romans 6:18, 22 — Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. ... 22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants of God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Having died with Jesus Christ, we now "walk in newness of life," as verse 4 says—living from that time on in the service of God and enjoying sanctification and its end, eternal life. The Days of Unleavened Bread explain and memorialize the second major step in salvation—sanctification. The first major step is the justification that Passover pictures. Verse 22 gives us a three-step process to eternal liberty and everlasting life. It is actually a summary.
First, Jesus Christ liberates us from sin. Second, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we serve God in obedience to the law of liberty. And third, in liberty from sin, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we produce righteous fruit—including love, joy
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