Freedom Committed
A Sermon by Rev. Mark R. Thomson
Harundale Presbyterian Church
6th Sunday of Easter
May 25, 2003
Scripture: Acts 16:16 - 26
Text: Acts
16:25 "But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to
God, and the prisoners were listening to them,"
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be
acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.
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reedom.
We value it so much that we are willing do die to
achieve it,
willing to die to keep
it.
willing to
die so that others may have it.
This
weekend is Memorial Day Weekend. Unfortunately
in our culture we associate this three-day weekend more with sales at the mall,
and cookouts than with remembering those who died for Freedom.
There
are competing claims as to what town actually celebrated the first Memorial
Day. Boalsburg, Pennsylvania claims to
be one of the first, but Lyndon Johnson named Waterloo, NY the official site in
1895. But where ever it first began, we
know why it began…out of the pain and sorrow of those who lost loved ones in
the Civil War which claimed over 600,000 Americans in its bloody four
years.
Jesus
once said, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends."[1] It doesn't matter from what belief you come
from to believe this is true. To give
ones live to save another is the most noble act of love there is.
Memorial
Day is a remembrance of those made that most treasured sacrifice in the service
to this country; those who have fallen to protect the freedom we American's
treasure. Flowers are placed on the
graves of veterans and we give thanks for their sacrifice to protect our
freedom.
In
America, Freedom is the value that we hold most high.
Freedom of speech;
Freedom of thought;
Freedom of religion.
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ut
what do we do with that treasured freedom?
Will
Willimon, a preacher at Duke University warns us about our freedom:
We American's have built a society which has given
an unprecedented measure of freedom to its citizens. I am given maximum space to pursue
aggressively what I want - as long as I do not bump into you while you are
getting yours. What we call culture is a
vast super market of desire where citizens are treated as little more than
self-interested consumers. I have
freedom of choice, but now what do I do with my freedom? We are free but also terribly lonely,
terribly driven! The nine-to-five job,
monthly mortgage payments, over-programmed children, dog-eat-dog contest for
[success] - this is our freedom."[2]
Is
this our freedom?
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aul
and Silas were walking to a place of prayer when they were accosted by some
crazy slave girl who kept yelling out, "These men are servants of the Most
High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation." Many times when Jesus
encountered an insane person who was thought to be possessed they would call
out who he was. This woman was
possessed, enslaved by her insanity. She
was also enslaved by a Master, who used this poor woman's calamity to bring him
profit. Because of her condition she was
popular as a fortune teller and her owner used this to his advantage with no
consideration of her own personal mental health. The owner didn't care that she was enslaved
by her condition, he cared about how much money he could make.
Paul, eventually annoyed by this woman, heals her. Just like that. But the owner, instead of rejoicing that she was freed and healed, is outraged that Paul had done this! Paul freed her from her disease, from this spirit, yet all the owner could think about was the money he lost!!!!! She was free even though she was a slave.
The
owner is not pleased. He drags Paul and
Silas before the magistrate, and pulls out all the stops as he makes his
case. First he pulls the racial card. These men are Jews! They are foreigners. They don't look like us; they don't dress like us. The crowd starts
yelling, "Foreigners!" Sounds
all too familiar. Strike one!
Next,
he lies, "They are disturbing the city!" What he really means is they were disturbing
him! But the crowd gasps, "They're
foreigners, and they are disturbing our peaceful little town!" Strike Two!
Then
he takes the, "Our national security is at stake", argument. They advocate customs which it is not lawful
for Romans to accept or practice! Now
the crowd was really into it. Not only
are they foreigners who are disturbing our peaceful town, they also threaten
the very fabric of Roman society which we hold so dear and true! Strike Three!
They
didn't even give Paul and Silas a chance to speak. The Magistrate rips the garments off of Paul
and Silas and orders them to be beaten.
They were hauled off to jail, and, because these were obviously serious
threats to the town, placed them in the inner prison. And if that was not enough for these vicious
criminals, he had their feet clamped in irons.
And
there sat Paul and Silas, imprisoned, their freedom taken away from them.
They
were in chains,
they bemoaned their plight
and cried out to God about
the unfairness…
No,
that's not right.
At midnight
a strange, unfamiliar sound was heard ringing melodiously off the stone walls
of the jail. Was it moaning and
crying? No, it was singing.
Paul
and Silas were singing hymns to God,
locked behind a prison door,
their feet in chains…they
were singing!
And
the other prisoners listened.
How could they be singing?
Then
there was an earthquake and the prison rattled and shook, and the doors flew
open and everyone's chains fell lose.
They were free!
The
jailer awoke in the commotion to see the prison doors opened and the black
seeming emptiness of the prison cell. He
had failed in his task. He was a
disgrace. He drew his sword and was
about to take his own life, when he heard a voice from within the
blackness, "Do not harm yourself,
for we are all here."
What?
Why are you still here?
Why didn't you run
away?
You were prisoners.
Your fetters are loosed,
the door is open.
You
could be free.
We
were already free in Christ.
If this
were an action movie, they probably would have killed the jailor and the crowd
would have cheered at the revenge. Then
they would go out and get that evil slave owner. But it’s not.
Violence and revenge are not their first thoughts.
The
jailer fell before Paul and Silas and helped them up. He was truly astounded. It didn't make sense. In prison, yet free.
Who
was more free, the owner of the slave more concerned about money,
or the slave girl that Paul healed?
Who
was more free, the jailer on the outside,
or Paul and Silas the prisoners singing hymns to
God?
"What
must I do to be saved?" the jailer asked Paul. What must I do to have the kind of freedom
that you have!
"Believe
in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
And
they told him about Christ;
they told him how in Christ we are freed from the
fear of death
because he rose from the
dead.
We are freed to risk our lives in God's service and
serve our neighbor
because Christ loves us and
promises eternal life.
They
told him how in Christ we are freed from the powers that oppress us and try to
enslave us, because he is Lord of all.
The system doesn't rule us, God does.
They
told him how in Christ we are freed from the barriers of race, gender, and
money. We are all one in Christ.
He
believed.
The
jailer took water and he washed the lashes and bruises the system had inflicted
upon his prisoners. A small token of
sorrow and repentance. Then Paul and
Silas took the water and baptized him. He
would no longer be the same. He was
truly free now.
We
Americans prize freedom. But there is
freedom, and then there is freedom
committed to Christ.
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ouglas
John Hall wrestles with what it means to be Christian in America today. He offers that Freedom…is precisely for the
sake of commitment; and a freedom that has not found that to which it can
commit itself profoundly is a restless sort of thing.[3]
It
seems counter-intuitive? We are most
free when we are committed? Freedom is
to do what I want, not commit myself to something. Commitment narrows my choices.
But
look at those who are most free in our culture to do whatever they want. The super rich, the stars who walk those red
carpets and take trips to exotic places we can only dream of. They have all the choices in the world. Are they the most content? Are their lives really better being so
free? Drugs, failed marriages, and
loneliness seem to plague a lot of our stars.
Look
also at all those super rich who have taken their super freedom and committed
to working hard for various noteworthy causes.
I think of Bono from the Rock Group U2 who has dedicated himself to debt
relief for the world’s poorest countries.
He’s rich enough to do what he wants, why does he spend so much energy
and time committed to this cause?
Because
freedom without commitment is restless and aimless; it doesn’t know what to do
with itself. What is my purpose?
If
you find yourself enjoying your freedom, but feeling empty inside then you are
looking for what Paul and Silas found.
As much as I despise pop-psychology, Dr. Phil once said, “You can’t fix
an internal problem with an external solution.”
What he is saying is that buying more stuff, or getting a new wife or
husband, moving to a new place, taking a new job, won’t fix this internal
restlessness.
We
Americans have so much freedom, but a lot of it is spent in self-medicating
ourselves from our internal restlessness by escaping. We have a million ways to escape: movies, shopping, drugs, alcohol can all
serve the same purpose to try and escape our internal emptiness. The problem is they are only temporary, and
often they end up enslaving us.
What
Paul and Silas found was commitment.
They committed themselves to Christ, and in Christ they knew their
purpose and their emptiness was filled.
They had confidence enough to sit in jail and sing hymns. Isn’t that the kind of freedom we all want?
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reedom
defined as the ability to pursue anything I want, isn't really freedom. Freedom committed to Christ brings a sense
of purpose and direction to the aimlessness of uncommitted freedom.
Freedom
committed to Christ is a life lived in the most satisfying and meaningful way
possible:
To love God.
To love the gift of
Life.
To love everyone I meet, standing
for justice and peace.
It
isn’t the easiest way. Look at Paul and
Silas. They were thrown in prison. But it didn’t take away their freedom
committed to Christ.
America
is a free country: freedom of thought,
freedom of religion, freedom of speech.
This are important values, values worth dying for. Values worth remembering those who died to
protect them this Memorial Day.
In
Christ it doesn't matter what in life tries to enslaves you: fear, money, power, popularity…In Christ you
will truly be free from all those.
Commitment
to Christ quells the restlessness and fills the emptiness.
Free
to live in the world, to live in the system, but not be of it.
Free from loneliness as you live in the community of
faith.
Free to joyously love God
and love your neighbor as yourself.
There
is freedom and then there is freedom
committed.
To him who
loves us
and has freed us from our sins by
his blood
and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and
Father,
to him be
glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Amen.[4]