Freedom
“FREEDOM”
By Donna Hazzard
As Americans we are supposed to be free and feel free. But times have
changed and we may not have a truly free feeling.
I remember as a child I felt very free – didn’t think a thing about fearing
people – I don’t think my kids did either. We were outside with friends all the
time. Went to each others houses, played games, roller skated, rode bikes. Had
good times. My grandkids on the other hand today sit on machines wherever they
are or go and its inside, cause there was a scare of being snatched up by some
stranger.
Our Bible reading today from Romans 6:12-23 talks about being free from
sin and the law to its slavery. We still have laws to obey they are the Ten
Commandments of God. But if we believe that God is loving he forgives our sins,
so we try not to do them again and again. It is these laws that give us a better life
if we follow them and our sins are forgiven. As you grow in all you come to know
God better.
God sacrificed a lot when he gave his only Son for our sins. Jesus gave his
life for us sinners. He suffered an agonizing storm on the cross and rose again to
be with us. To be an invisible anchor of our souls. None of us can avoid storms
and struggles in our lives but we can know God is trustworthy in all situations and
will be there for us. Without God my steps slip and days can become a struggle
but we are not doomed to the wrong path forever. God makes a way for us to
return to the path that leads us where God would have us go. He gives us a true
gift. A gift you say? Yes, a true gift, the gift of “Grace.” Grace is God treating you
infinitely better than you deserve to be treated. Grace is God’s love poured out
for you even though you did not request it or were not even aware of it and will
never merit it and cannot earn it. Grace is God’s sacrificial, voluntary, self-giving
of God’s self to you simply because you are and because of God’s perfect love for
you.
When you think back on your life to this point you can pull out all the things
that God has had a hand in your everyday. His Grace has always been with you so
you can know he walks beside you everyday in everything that happens. You have
freedom in him. Christ – won freedom from sin figures prominently in your life
freedom from fear and worry. Freedom to think outside the box. Freedom to
honor what we don’t like. Freedom to be led by the Spirit. Freedom to not be
motivated by money, title, or what people think.
If you accept the Gift of God’s Grace you will by the simple acts of faith
belief, and trust recognize that God loves you so much. You will by faith embrace
the Grace that God gives you as a gift and know life abundant and life everlasting
that God provides. To do so is to trust in God’s promises. To do so is to be saved.
Freedom in Christ is the greatest freedom we can have. Amen.
Children’s message: Matthew 10:40-42
40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
Matthew 10:40–42 closes out Jesus' instructions to the apostles, as He sends them first to the people of Israel. He says any who receive the apostles, believing their message about Jesus, will also be receiving Him and the One who sent Him. They will share in the apostles' reward, as those who receive a prophet or righteous person share in their rewards. Those who give a cup of cold water to one of "these little ones," in this case meaning the apostles, will not lose their reward of eternity in the kingdom of heaven. (1)
Few people will ever be willing to receive Jesus’ presence into their lives if they are not willing to receive those who represent that same Jesus. (2)
Adult message:
Our Freedom is in God, it’s the greatest gift. It is a gift, not something we learn or deserve, because we exist and are lived by God!
Roman’s 6:12-6:13
After the “therefore”, Paul warns the Roman Christians against returning to their old sinful ways. The statement “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts” (verse 12), implies that it is still possible for a Christian to live sinfully and obediently toward their selfish desires.
Be careful, Paul is saying, not to live as if you were still dead, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead. Having been spiritually given a resurrected life in Christ, Christians are called to live as living people, rather than living the life of death sin brings. Paul presents two distinct choices: live as a dead person whose body is a slave to its own lusts, ruled by sin, or present yourself to God as a living person, and your body as instruments of righteousness.
This looks like us living in harmony with the way God made us, and other people, and the world. To live justly we walk in faith by the power of the Spirit. Paul discusses walking in the Spirit at length in Chapter 8. (3)
Citations:
(1) https://www.bibleref.com/Matthew/10/Matthew-10-40.html#:~:text=Those%20who%20give%20a%20cup,in%20the%20kingdom%20of%20heaven.
(2) https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2020-06-22/matthew-1040-42-2/#:~:text=Few%20people%20will%20ever%20be,who%20represent%20that%20same%20Jesus.
(3) https://thebiblesays.com/commentary/rom/rom-6/romans-612-14/#:~:text=Be%20careful%2C%20Paul%20is%20saying,life%20of%20death%20sin%20brings.