Freedom

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You know, I will never forget the first time I went into a maximum security prison.

I was a young pastor, and there was an older man in our church that wanted me to learn to share my faith uh more boldly and also to really care for people that no one cared about.

And so we got in our car and we drove several miles.

There's a lot of maximum security prisons in uh Texas.

And so we did all the things you need to do, and then I'll never forget you you walk up and all the doors open at one time, and there's guards everywhere, and they've got guns, and it was, I mean, these are people that have committed murder and rape and um in for a long time, nothing to lose.

And they'd push a button, it goes shh, and all those steel doors would open, and then you would take a step, and then shh, it was behind you.

And you know, I remember sitting there and hearing uh different men's story and looking around and just realizing here's a little open toilet, uh uh, a bed.

Uh I mean, I mean, it's just a little box that they lived in, and if they were, quote, bad, then they found themselves in solitary confinement.

And I just thought, what would it be like to live without freedom?

To be stuck in a tiny little room.

Um, the next picture that comes to my mind is uh I've been, I think, seven times in probably the last three years to China, maybe more.

And um it's a different kind of prison.

Uh we doing everything legally and God's opened and blessed, but I would be with someone and say, Would you like to get a cup of coffee?

No, I can't.

Why?

I don't want to be seen with you.

Why?

And we would look up here, look up here.

There are cameras everywhere.

When I walk into the country, all ten fingers are uh, you know, fingerprinted.

Uh the moment then there's eye scans.

When I go to a hotel, they scan my eyes.

They know where I'm at and where everyone is at all the time.

And there's just the sense of being a prisoner to someone watching you and what's going to be your social score and what will people say about you.

And if you're with a white person, especially one who's teaching God's word.

And then I think the third picture that comes to my mind when I think of freedom and the value of freedom is times where I've sat across a kitchen table with a guy that really got honest with me and talked about his workaholism was just the tip of the iceberg of his life.

And he had tried to quit pornography, I don't know how many times, and weeping, and just I've tried, I've tried, I've tried, I've tried, I can't.

What I want to talk about is uh is freedom.

I I would argue that the greatest gift that Christianity has given mankind is freedom.

I mean, I mean, think about it.

The great story, the narrative, the great arc is that there is only one creator, and uh this one creator made us for himself, and then there was this tragic fall where we became bound to sin and it created death, and we have an enemy, and then there's this narrative all through the Old Testament of this coming deliverer, this redemption, and then there's the return of Christ, there's consummation, and then ultimate freedom, a new heaven and a new earth.

Now, even when you open it up, if you've never read, I didn't read the Bible growing up, and you know, you get to the second book, the Exodus, the moment.

I mean, all through the Old Testament, it's the picture of God delivers them out of slavery, the waters part, they walk through.

There's this message that God longs to bring us freedom in our life.

And then Jesus came.

And do you remember He would he got the scroll from Isaiah and he unrolled it?

And remember, he said, Today, this passage, this truth is fulfilled in your hearing.

And then he said, I've come to set the captives free.

And then went and talked about ministry to the poor, and the eyes will receive their sight.

And you know, I think about all that, and that's great stuff.

But then I thought about in my own life and maybe your life, um, maybe how little freedom we actually experience.

Now, certainly there's struggles and addictions, and boy, you talk about how many of us, this COVID, boy, I felt like a prisoner.

And I was uh just getting back into sort of moving around a little bit.

I've taken a couple plane flights, done a couple pastors' conferences, and I took a trip to Dallas, and I was flying back from um Dallas, and I was thinking about, I don't know why.

You know how you you read different passages and you memorize some passages, and you know, everyone's got a mask on and everyone's you know sitting and making sure there's distance.

And I just was meditating and I began to think of I really am free, and what are the implications of my freedom?

And what I'd like to do is I'd like to share some ways that you are free so that you could begin to practice it.

Because what I think is we we're starting to believe and feel that we're not free.

And the freedom doesn't have to be uh external.

There's strongholds, there's beliefs, there's unconscious expectations, there's ways that we literally are prisoners and don't even know it until someone taps us on the shoulder and says, Well, why are you thinking like that?

Why are you trying to live that way?

Well, what why do why do you unconsciously feel afraid of that?

And uh the Bible says that we're to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ.

And so these were things I was meditating on.

It's really kind of a bit of a devotional.

But in the world that we're living in right now, I think it'll be a huge help to you.

And so uh I begin to write down, and here's my phrase, I am free.

You know what?

You might, if you're taking notes, you might take a sheet of paper and put a line down the middle, and on the one side, just write, I am free.

And on the bottom of your sheet of paper, you know, you might go all across the bottom, you know, it says, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

That's 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 17.

2 Corinthians 3:17

And then this is what I did.

I started to think about I don't have to control.

I just, I just in my mind as I was on the plane, I don't have to control.

I was feeling myself kind of get anxious and uptight about some things and thinking about, and then it was just like I'm free.

I don't have to control the government's decisions, I don't have to control friendships, I don't have to control the decisions that other people make.

I don't have to control outcomes and make sure everything happens the way I think they should.

I don't have to make phone calls and control conversations or relationships.

I don't have to control.

And if you're taking notes, with each one of these, there's one key verse, and the key verse here is Psalm 46.10.

And the context, you know, we often hear it in devotional literature, you know, it's like it's be still and know that I am God.

Literally the word is cease striving.

It's the same phrase Jesus uses when the waves are are coming out and he's in the boat and he says to the wind, stop, be still.

It's cease striving, knock it off.

And what God is saying to us is this stop striving, stop trying to manipulate and control and work out and align and get everything where you feel like you're on top of it and it's gonna come out the way you think.

Cease striving and know that I am God.

It's been really freeing for me.

Cease striving.

COVID's gonna be over when COVID gets over.

Cease striving.

The economy, the things that you can't control, I can't control, decisions that are made that are outside our scope.

Cease striving.

We have a God who knows what's going on.

The second moment of freedom is this it's I don't have to hurry.

This is probably a shock for those of you that know me well, that I actually tend toward hurry, that I can be intense and I want to get everything done.

I want to get it done really quickly, and I'm guessing a lot of you the same.

And the key passage here is Ecclesiastes chapter 3.

Ecclesiastes 3 · chapter mention

Uh in verse 1, it says, There is an appointed time for everything, and there is a time for every event under the sun.

And then the wisest man who ever lived begins to say, There's a time to give birth, and a time to die, a time to plant, a time to uproot what's been planted, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to embrace, a time to refrain from embracing.

He goes on to say, a time to be silent, a time to speak, and then he summarizes this list.

He goes, He, God, has made everything beautiful, or literally the idea is appropriate in its time.

He set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

Now listen to this.

Verse 12, chapter 3, Ecclesiastes.

I know there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime.

Moreover, that every man who eats and drinks and sees good in his labor, it is a gift from God.

And what I want to help you and maybe me get is that when I'm driving, I don't have to hurry to look at the text.

I don't have to check my email every other minute to find out who I need to get back to.

I don't need to hurry through a conversation.

You don't have to hurry when you're tucking your kids in bed.

You don't have to hurry when you're having a cup of coffee after dinner and just causing the world to stop and have a conversation with a great friend or with your spouse.

You don't have to worry to get all your work done.

You don't have to always, you know, looking at changed lanes and getting in this lane and that lane and this lane to get there as fast as you can, as though somehow my life or your life hurrying around is going to make a big difference.

I um had tremendous struggles with workaholism and hurry and multitasking and trying to get everything done.

I remember years ago, I uh I read a quote by Dallas uh Willard who said, if you want to be godly, if you want to have an intimate relationship with God, if you want to experience peace in your life, you must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.

And it was like bang.

And as I heard that, I thought, oh wow.

You know, I was always uh in the old days, I was the last guy to get on the plane.

I was the person that's finishing one or two or three more things.

And just before the meeting starts, I'm there three seconds in advance.

And I when I drove, you know, I would, okay, which line is the fastest?

And I get in this lane, then I get in this lane.

I was the guy that's always in the grocery store going, okay, okay, how many people are in this lane?

How many of this, which cashier's the fastest?

I'm gonna.

And I lived under a stress that was self-imposed.

And I remember reading uh another book that talked about uh the spiritual disciplines and how to sort of break out of hurry.

And as I read that book, I did what this author said.

I went into training to slow the pace of my life.

And many of you, this will be hard to believe, but it changed my life.

For two years, I drove in what I called the slow lane on the right.

Whatever the speed limit was, just set it right there, drove in the slow, no zipping around.

I actually uh disciplined myself.

I would go to a bank, to the grocery store, and on purpose get in the slow line.

And I just I just wanted to stop thinking that control and hurry go together.

And as I did that, what I can tell you is I got to the airport 30, 40 minutes earlier.

I took something with me.

I took a good book, I was relaxed getting there, I wasn't in a hurry.

The person that showed up to every meeting and the person inside completely changed because I realized there's a God who makes everything beautiful in its time, and I can't rush it.

Some of you are trying to hurry your spiritual growth, some of you are trying to hurry your kids to grow up, some of you want to hurry your company growing, some of you want to hurry everything all the time, like activity, activity, activity.

And God would say, there's a rhythm, there's a rhythm of grace in life.

Walk in that rhythm.

He makes everything appropriate or literally beautiful in its time.

And so I begin to just start thinking these thoughts on the plane, is when it started.

You know what?

I don't have to control.

I kept saying it to myself, I don't have to control.

It was like, wow.

I I I don't have to control when that meeting starts.

I don't have to control whether that group says yes or no in that other country we're working in.

And I don't have to hurry.

And it's amazing.

You should try this.

I started to just tell myself that.

I mean, throughout the day.

And this freedom, this sense of wow.

I guess unconsciously, even when I wasn't thinking about it, I felt like I had to control, or I was always being pushed to, well, I gotta get that done, and somehow I need to hurry rather than.

There's plenty of time, right?

There's plenty of time to do all God wants you to do, all He wants me to do.

The third act of freedom, I begin to say to this, I don't have to fear.

You know, we're we're living in a world where a lot of people are afraid, right?

Afraid of COVID, afraid maybe we'll get it, or worse that we would give it to someone else that we love.

We're afraid of the future.

We're afraid of what's gonna happen in the economy.

What about our jobs?

What about our kids?

Some of us that think futuristically are thinking about what the impact of all that's happening right now for my grandchildren.

And you can live in fear.

Ready for your verse?

2 Timothy 1.7.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and self-discipline.

On the more devotional level, I remember many years ago uh with my navigator topical memory system, Isaiah 41.10, it says, Fear not, for I'm with you.

Be not dismayed, for I'm your God.

I will strengthen you, I will uphold you, I will be with you with my righteous right hand.

And just to realize, I don't I don't have to fear.

I mean, we can start fearing and just but just say that in your mind.

I don't have to be afraid.

I'm a follower of Jesus.

Could I get COVID?

Yes.

Could I die of COVID?

Yes.

Then what would happen?

I would be immediately ushered into the presence of Christ.

You know, you know, sometimes you know Jesus' big message was he came to crush the works of the devil.

He freed us from sin, he freed us from death, and he freed us from Satan.

Uh I don't have to be afraid.

I don't have to be afraid of the future because an almighty, all-knowing, sovereign God holds the future that has my best in mind.

And that's why he could say, even a time in of captivity and difficulty to Jeremiah when the whole world was falling apart.

Behold, he says, I know the plans that I have for you, Jeremiah, even though it looks kind of bad.

They're plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Can you imagine what can begin to happen in your life and your heart?

Okay, I I don't I don't have to control, I don't have to hurry, and I don't have to fear.

I don't have to fear what other people think of me.

I don't have to fear what people say or post about me.

In fact, it leads me to the fourth statement of freedom.

I don't have to impress.

I like that one.

I don't have to impress.

I don't have to prove I'm something.

I don't have to look a certain way.

I don't have to have the approval of people.

Do I want it?

Of course I do.

We all do.

I don't have to impress.

My value, your value has nothing to do with the number of likes or the number of followers, how people respond to your convictions or your beliefs, whether they be theological or biblical or political.

I don't have to impress.

I don't have to look a certain way.

I don't have to weigh a certain thing.

I don't have to have a certain kind of watch or bag.

I don't have to be in a certain zip code.

I don't have to impress anyone.

And here's your verse, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10.

1 Corinthians 15:10

The apostle Paul would say, I am what I am by the grace of God.

Think of that.

I mean, he had all this learning, all this knowledge, had been beat up, was an apostle, he'd been through all kinds of things, and a lot of the people were giving him a hard time, like, hey man, your letters, you come off like really some strong dude, but in person, you're not all that.

He goes, I am what I am by the grace of God.

And his grace did not prove vain toward me, but I labored more than all of them, yet not I, but Christ in me.

And this is a big one.

This is a really big one.

Do you understand how much energy we spend?

How much time, how how much our emotions just get twisted and pretzels?

I mean, the research about time on social media, especially for um teenagers, young adults, uh, the research says that actually uh older adults are still watching an awful lot of television.

But you know, God says this is who you are.

You're wanted, valuable, redeemed.

You're my son, you're my daughter, you're you're a chosen person, you're a royal priesthood, you're my special possession.

Now, you gotta do a lot of thinking, and you gotta ask yourself, where am I gonna get my value and what do I allow to go in my mind?

But just to say, I don't I don't need to impress.

I'd like people to like me, I don't need them to like me, and neither do you.

And so those were sort of the first four things that I began to think about when I was uh thinking that I'm free.

And uh I I shared that with uh our staff a couple weeks ago, and then I got thinking a little bit more about it, and a fifth one came to my mind.

And uh this one is I don't have to complain.

No, you know, you know, I think with with all that we've been through in this year, and I mean all the problems and issues, and I mean whether it's racism or whether it's COVID or whether it's government or whether it's political issues, or or whether it's uh the rules aren't fair, or this isn't open, or this is closed, or what about that.

I think we've given ourselves permission as followers of Jesus to sort of just whine and complain to one another, or sometimes on social media.

And I want to read a verse that was very liberating.

It's uh Philippians chapter two.

And Philippians chapter two, verse fourteen says, Do all things, wonder what all things includes.

Hmm, all things.

Do all things without grumbling or complaining, so that you can prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among you among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of God.

Do all things without grumbling or complaining.

Philippians chapter 2, verses 14 through 16.

Philippians 2:14–16

And I began to just realize I've kind of given myself permission, you know, privately, mostly with Teresa or, you know, with a close friend or with a sarcastic remark.

And you know what?

It's not helpful.

It's not helpful for my soul.

When it's posted on Facebook and it's obvious you're a Christian because of a number of other things on your Facebook page, and you whine and you complain and you grumble, it's not attractive.

It's not godly.

But he but here's the thing somehow we feel like I've got to complain, I've got to express my opinion, I've got to share my rights because this is the way it is.

And God would say, No, you don't, you really don't.

You don't have to complain.

Now, at this point you might think, okay, Chip, this is kind of helpful.

Is this sort of like um the Chip Ingram little bit of Bible self help?

Just tell yourself over and over, I don't have to control, I don't have to hurry, I don't have to fear, um, I don't have to complain, and I don't have to impress.

Um, well, there's probably some value there.

But it's beyond that because, see, freedom.

Is not the same as independence.

See, what happened in the garden was they were completely free to eat of everything because there was a good God who provided for them.

Independence came when they rebelled against God.

Freedom biblically is freedom from some things, but it's freedom to enjoy and have.

And so with freedom always comes a corresponding responsibility.

And it's in saying, yes, I'm free from that, and saying, yes, I'm free to this.

This is where you enjoy.

All through Scripture, we experience our freedom by the Holy Spirit.

It's the Spirit of God working in your life.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty or there is freedom.

And so what I learned, remember, you've got a sheet of paper.

On the one side, it says, I am free.

On this side, I am responsible.

And so let me, I've given you what I don't have to do.

Are you ready for this?

I don't have to control, but here's the corresponding responsibility.

I have to submit.

Romans 12, 1.

This is what God expects of every single believer.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's great mercy, his kindness, his love, all that he's done for us, that you offer your body as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God.

That's your spiritual service of worship.

In other words, I'm responsible.

If I'm going to be free, I need to live under the authority.

I need to submit to God.

I need to submit to his word.

And that's a point in time.

And then he goes on in verse two and says, do not be conformed any longer to this world, the idea of this world's values, but be transformed.

In other words, here's where you experience the freedom.

How?

By the renewing of your mind that your life, your actual lifestyle, would prove or test or demonstrate what God's will is the good, the acceptable, the perfect will of God.

And so, see, I'm free.

I don't have to control.

But I have to submit because it's only under the guidance and the umbrella of God's protection and submission and the renewing of my mind and submission to his word that I experience the freedom that I have in Christ.

Second, I uh I don't have to hurry, but I have to listen.

Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

There's multiple verses there where he says in verse 2 of Romans chapter 8 that we're not under obligation to the law anymore, but we're obligation to the Spirit.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

He says we have a spirit now that cries, Abba Father.

He says, the Spirit has set you free.

There's a spirit, not that the world has received, but that we have received.

And if we have it, then we're no longer slaves, we're sons.

And if we're sons and daughters, then we're heirs.

And he basically says, keep in step with the spirit.

Paul, over and over, James 5, verse 16, will see those who keep in step with the Spirit are the sons or the children of God.

James 5:16

And so I don't have to hurry, but what I need to do is look, I need to listen.

Walk in the way.

Lord, what do you want me to do in this conversation?

How do I respond to this person who said those hurtful things to me?

Lord, I feel like that is such a terrible, that's wrong, that's injust.

I want to do something about it.

What do you want me to do?

How do you want me to do it?

Lord, I'm I'm not sure about the economy, but I'm not sure about my job, and I'm not sure about our future.

And I could hurry, hurry, hurry, scurry, scurry, scurry, but I want to listen.

Would you guide me?

Would you lead me?

Will you direct me?

And here's what God says: I love you.

I will.

I don't control, but I do submit.

I don't hurry, but I do listen.

I don't fear, but I have to love.

First John chapter 4, verse 18.

1 John 4:18

It says, perfect love casts out fear.

The Apostle Paul would write that you could speak in the tongues of angels, you could know all prophecy, all mysteries, all knowledge, but if we do not have love, we have nothing.

You can be right politically, you can be right about racism, you can be right about the most important theological issues in our day, but if you do it without love, you are nothing and you have nothing and you accomplish nothing.

We don't have to be afraid.

We don't have to be afraid of what people think, we don't have to be afraid of the future, we don't have to be afraid of anything or anyone except we fear God.

It's the beginning of wisdom.

We have to love.

And what I can tell you is when you're tempted to fear, if you can get your focus off of you and off of what might happen, and off of the future that you can't control, and in the present, fear is almost always about what might happen someday, some way to you from someone.

And love is always about what are you going to do with the person right next to you in real time and care about them in a sacrificial way that costs you something, that improves their life, that blesses them, that points them upward, that meets a need.

And as you begin to do that, fear dissipates.

The fourth thing we talked about was I don't have to impress, but I do have to serve.

Paul said, I am what I am by the grace of God.

But then he said, Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, consider others more important than yourself.

Have this attitude which was also in Christ Jesus, although existed in the form of God, he didn't regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, revealed his attributes, taking on the form of a servant.

Paul would open his letters, a bond servant of Christ.

You see, I don't have to impress anyone, but I have to serve.

The Son of Man, Jesus came not to serve, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many.

And that's freedom.

There's incredible freedom when you love, there's incredible freedom when you consider other people's issues when you drive, more important than yours.

Other people's need for toilet paper, possibly in the past, more than yours.

Other people's fears and needs and struggles.

Are you ready?

Other people's needs more?

If you have extra money, you helping them.

Serving, caring, listening.

How about rather than bashing people or arguing with people, what would it look like to listen to someone that you really disagree with?

What would it look like to build a bridge and serve someone who has a different color of skin than you?

What would it look like instead of just posting things or protesting things or saying people shouldn't be protesting things?

You actually acted.

And not someday, some way out there, but in your relational network, in your community, your neighborhood.

I mean, just start serving.

In fact, let's do it with our roommate, with our wife, with our husband.

And finally, we uh don't have to complain, but we do have to be thankful.

1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18 says, Rejoice always, even during COVID.

Pray without ceasing.

So, yeah, you have some time in the morning when you pray, and maybe hit your knees before you go to bed, but practice the presence of God, pray, be offering up, thinking all the time.

And then he says, Give thanks always, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

Gratitude is one of the most powerful emotional shapers, mind shapers of all the things we can do.

Not complaining will put us in bondage.

Giving thanks will set us free.

God, I don't like this right now.

I can be honest, this is a struggle right now, but I thank you you're with me.

I thank you, you are in control.

God, I'm really struggling with this, but I thank you that you promise that somehow, somehow, you're going to use this to make me more like your son.

I thank you that you'll never leave me and you'll never forsake me.

And then you pause at some of the things that really bug you.

And I would suggest you step back and say, What do I have?

Boy, in my case, I've got a wife who loves me.

I've got four grown kids that I'm so proud of and I love.

I'm so grateful for these grandkids.

I'm glad that the health that I do have, I'm glad for the you start thanking God for what you do have and not focusing on what you don't have.

And I will tell you what, your emotions, your freedom, your joy.

See, Jesus came to bring freedom.

It's freedom from things that bind us, and it's freedom to that which gives us peace and life and joy, intimacy with him, and impact for him.

Why don't you this week do a little mantra and just begin in your mind?

Have you got him?

I don't have to control, hurry, fear, impress, or complain.

I do have to submit, listen, love, serve, and give thanks.

Lord, if there's ever a need for us to fill our world with love and freedom and joy, it's now.

I'd ask that you would have the freedom right now to speak.

Lord, to point out in every person's heart where you want to poke a little bit and say, I want you to be free.

Lord, would you bring one of these things to the top of the list that this week we would say, Lord, I'm not gonna hurry, or I'm not gonna fear, or I just refuse to impress.

Lord, we tell you we can't do this apart from you.

Everywhere in Scripture, the freedom you've given, the freedom you promised, it becomes actionable by your spirit.

So, Holy Spirit, empower us, give us grace, set us free in Jesus' name.