Freedom

 

Text: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:1

Focus: Freedom in Christ

Function: to help people be free from the constraints of the judgment that comes with religion

¹²Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, ¹³not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. ¹⁴But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. ¹⁵Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; ¹⁶but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

4:¹Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.

Today we are looking at what it means for us to be free in Christ.

In Christ, we are free from judgment, from the law and its curses, from the constraints of religion and we are now made alive together with Christ Jesus in His Spirit forever.

Verse 17b has been significant to me from the beginning of my ministry. It reads thus: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

I actually find it king of strange for me because that quote from this verse has been on my personal/pastoral business card since I first had cards printed in 1988.

I prayed about it and settled on that verse. There are a lot of verses for a pastor to choose on his or her business card. John 3:16 comes to mind. It might appear to be a more evangelical, or outreach centered verse.

But I knew for the most part, that when I dropped off my card, it would be at the house of a believer and I hoped that they would read that verse and wonder why I would choose that as the verse that represented my ministry.

Especially since when I was called into the ministry, the Lord spoke Luke 4:18, into my mind, which reads like this:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free,

It is Jesus reading the verse that is His life’s calling. God has called Him, away from religion, to bring the good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and to let the oppressed go free.

Jesus makes it clear that His mission is to bring justice to an unjust society.

And that first line really sunk in to me, He has sent me to bring good news to the poor.

The poor and the marginalized have always been a passion of mine and as you noticed last week as I shared my own spiritual journey against racism and called you to experience your own in a new and loving way, the social justice mission that Jesus died for has been my passion as well.

So, why would I choose this verse as the first line of contact with believers and unbelievers alike?

I hoped when unbelievers read the verse they too would wonder what I meant by freedom when I am speaking in the context of religion?

Jesus has called us into a loving relationship with Him that transforms our hearts by the power of His Spirit inside of us.

And sadly, in order to try to make that happen, we might have invented constraints in religion that have nothing to do with loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Jesus pointed out that kind of hypocrisy all the time with the religions leaders.

I hope that people will find freedom to love, freedom to forgive and freedom to serve Christ in their new lives living with the Holy Spirit inside of them.

I found it important to emphasize because in my experience, many people are outside of the church because they have been harmed by religion.

I was excited about seeing the movie The Passion of the Christ in an early release for the preachers in town. I was telling a fellow Christian, who was a waitress at the restaurant I are breakfast at every morning as part of my outreach to the community.

Another waitress, Kat, was her name, over heard our conversation about religion and like a wounded puppy, she slowly approached me to see of I was safe to talk to.

Kat was short of Katherine, but she meant it like a bobcat because she was ferocious. She was hard cut and you could tell she was the product of a very hard life. Premature wrinkles on a young face gave it away and a vacant look of disassociation emanated from her eyes.

She said, my Grandpa was a preacher. And then she walked away. Then she she said, My uncle was a preacher. So I responded to her that she had an interesting family and I asked her what it was like growing up with preachers in the family.

She told me she was 16 and pregnant all of a sudden and the church kicked her out for being a bad influence.

She started to cry.

I looked her in the eye and said to her: “on behalf of the church of Jesus Christ, as a representative of the Lord, I sincerely apologize for that behavior and ask for your forgiveness.”

She was shocked.

I reminded her that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

That was the beginning of a friendship that eventually lead to me performing her marriage where she called upon the name of the Lord.

Did you get that part in the passage about the veil and the old covenant and the lack of understanding of those who rely on religion instead of faith in Christ to save them?

You have to be pretty familiar with the OT to get it.

It is always odd the coincidence of these verse with my morning devotions. But I am currently going through Exodus and it recounts that Moses when he went in to the tent to visit God, and God came down in a pillar of fire to show the Israelites that God was there, came out of the tent with his face shining with the Shekaina glory of God.

So, as it faded, he veiled his face so the people wouldn’t know the glory was fading.

I don’t understand why the subterfuge, but maybe it exposes the dark underbelly of religion versus faith in Christ.

I think Jesus was speaking of this when we read the prophecy about Him bringing the blind out of their darkness.

Paul also speaks of spiritual blindness when people rely on mere ritual instead of living faith.

But, I don’t know how to tell the difference.

That verse is a mystery. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

I find freedom to love and to forgive knowing that God, the judge of the earth, will judge the evil in this world with the same love and care that He has for me.

I rest in God and know that the punishment for sins of the entire world was was completed when Christ gave His life for us on the cross.

I found the freed to welcome Kat back into the family of God so that she could begin anew her journey with Christ.

The Spirit of the Lord sets of free to follow Christ no matter who we are.