The struggle for freedom is a universal struggle. Through generations, in all cultures and in many parts of the world we have had and still have, freedom fighters. People who disregard their own comfort and their own safety and security to fight for freedom for themselves and for their countrymen. In the country of my birth, arguable the most famous freedom fighter, Nelson Mandela wrote his biography…Long walk to freedom.
Teenagers live by it, people are prepared to die for it. We also see this struggle for freedom in our homes and our churches. This is also not new. Often, when these brave souls appear in the church, they are labeled “rebels’. The ones who dare to go against convention, against the norm and status quo of tradition or church policy. These are the ones who are not satisfied with the answer “because that’s how it has always been done”. It is indeed a long walk to freedom for most of us.
Jesus is the best biblical example of this kind of rebel. He fought relentlessly against convention, against traditions of men and against every spirit that would keep people bound up. In Luke 11 we read the story of Lazarus, the friend of Jesus who died and was brought back to life after Jesus prayed. In verse 44 Jesus says to the disciples, after Lazarus walked out of the tomb “Unwrap him of the grave clothes and let him go free”. This has always been the Father’s heart for His children. The we would not be entangled by grave clothes, but that we would be free.
This intention for us is clearly expressed in the Word of God. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says: “Now the Lord is Sprit and where the Spirit of The Lord is, there is freedom. Galatians 5:1 tells us that it it for freedom that Christ has set us free, therefor we are not to subject ourselves to slavery again.
From these passages we can come to two conclusions: Where there is no freedom, there is no presence of the Spirit of The Lord. When He comes to us, freedom comes with Him.
The second is that we are to value our freedom, the freedom Jesus bought at such a costly price. We cannot submit ourselves to bondage again – not to the bondage of the law and to the bondage that comes with sin and definitely not to the bondage of religious tradition. In chapter 2 of his letter to the Colossians, the apostle Paul warns us about being strangled by the rules and traditions of men. In verse 20 and 21 he tells us: “Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to this world, do you submit to its rules? Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!
What Paul is saying is that we are no longer subject to the laws and traditions of men. In Colossians chapter 3 he urges us to put to death everything that has to do with our earthly nature, our love for rules and regulations, of man-made traditions, our love of the carnal. He reminds us in verse 3 that we have died to all of these and that we are now hidden in Christ – the ultimate freedom.
In Matthew 23 verse 13 to 15 is the account of a very harsh criticism Jesus had of the teachers of the law and of the Pharisees. Jesus says to them: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You shut the door of the Kingdom of God in people’s faces! You yourselves do not enter, neither do you let those enter who are trying to! Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are!”
Jesus goes on to proclaim woe after woe on the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, calling them whitewashed graves with dead bones inside. Jesus is really serious about this! In verse 26 He tells them to clean the inside of the cup, then the outside of the cup will be clean too. Sadly, many of us are doing the same, trying to keep the inside clean, by submitting the outside to a thorough scrubbing.
Laws, rules and regulations will never make us holy – only the love for Christ and the resence and power of Holy Spirit will stop us from becoming slaves to sin again. Let us today invite the Spirit of The Lord to come and clean us on the inside, to bring true freedom to our spirits, our bodies and our minds. Let us rejoice as we see how the freedom Jesus paid for brings with it the desire to be holy and righteous and how we grow in freedom and holiness as we walk with Him.