The Myth of Freedom

Ephesians 2:1-10: talks about being formally dead and living in the various and passing lusts of our mind and body. Gladly, we have been made alive in Christ, an act of grace.

 

It is true that we have sometimes as believers we have indulged the desires of the flesh and mind. We have set goals for ourselves that God did not give us. We have longed for things and when we finally achieved them they proved to be a disappointment that we could hardly admit. They fell so easily from our grasp like a child with a new plastic toy on Christmas day. But many of us have grown up in our understanding; we have realised that while we are amazingly objective and resourceful people who can achieve goals that we have desired for ourselves, we know they can hurt us.

 

All believers are called to a separated life; taking the things of God seriously without becoming overly religious. Our young need good modelling to avoid the moral confusion and shallow excitement exhibited by those who are impressed by the ‘bread and circuses’ of secular culture.

 

Jesus also had to learn to live a separated life: Hebrews 5:8 “Although he was already a mature son, he learned obedience through the things which he suffered” Jesus models the primary skill for us: Obedience. This raises the a question, do we obey God because of Hellfire or because He is always right? It is best to obey God because He is God.

 

Leviticus 20:22-27:  ‘You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out.  Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them. ²⁴ Hence I have said to you, “You are to possess their land, and I myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples.”

 

Even the land cannot tolerate Canaanite practices that reflected total depravity. As long as we set our own standards of human behaviour and make our foolish laws, we descend into the same level of Depravity that invited annihilation such as Canaanites suffered. The progress has begun and while we may bring restraint to society as believers, we cannot ultimately stop it.

 

In every issue we face there is right and wrong but things are only right because God says they are right. Ecclesiastes 10:2: “A wise man’s heart directs him toward (what is) right, but the foolish man’s heart directs him toward (what is)left.” Society has clearly rejected Gods concept of right and wrong. Society’s notions of ‘good and right’ are due to what has become “a cultural memory of good” based on how we understood things 120 years ago. (Darwin etc and so-called ‘enlightenment ‘came and existential humanism arose ) Expressing ‘cultural memory’ a different way, we could say that fruit does not wither immediately once the branch has been cut-off. The fact is that 120 years ago we cut the tree down so new fruit will not grow in human society outside of the Church. Our Jails are full, crime of every sort and destruction is increasing at a furious pace.

 

Yet strangely despite all of these facts, the notion and concept of ‘freedom’ is espoused as if this were the means to mankind’s salvation. It requires an acceptance of total selfishness. “One must throw-off every constraint until total autonomy is achieved.” In the words of worldly philosophers: “To be totally free you must see yourself as no more important than a blade of grass.” One ‘existentialist’ philosopher wrote that “falsehood, bondage and irrationality are essential truths of freedom.” He advocated schizophrenia as a way to achieve this state of human bliss and oblivion. He probably became one.

 

This philosophy has infected humankind to the degree that people have a continuous sense of futility and hopelessness. Everything is temporary and short term. People are now fooled by shallow imitations that will crumble to dust in a few years. ‘Leadless solder’ will guarantee we need to replace electronic devices within 6-8 years. Nothing can be trusted yet people are enamoured with a shallow culture of temporary benefits.

 

The only constant during the last 2000 years in Human Society has been individual believers meeting in simple groups to fight for and maintain the truths we now have. Their worship and attitude has been like most bible-believing Christians today. They like you and I, have found true freedom in submission to Jesus Christ as our Lord.  John 8:36
“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

 

Where does the Church go from here? Throughout the Churches history, wrong concepts of leadership have driven believers into following populist views and submitting to the demands of loyalty to manmade organizations. Yet many believers have recognized the failures of existing movements and have ultimately created yet more movements out of reaction. It is as though we are searching for the right way to worship and the right environment and style of ‘message.’
I believe that in the near future we are going to have to simplify. Big churches will become dangerous. This week Obama has outlawed bibles and any other Christian religious items in USA military hospitals. Our weak politicians tow the American line now. What’s next? Watch this space.