It’s been 73 years now , since we as a nation have received independence and we all are aware of the sacrifices of our freedom fighters. It did not come free, lives have been lost. What is freedom? In our neighbourhood, we have a house where they have pet birds . At times, I take Abisha to show these birds . The birds look beautiful but they are in a cage . They get to eat , they are cleaned and they are taken proper care.
But they can’t do what they desire , they have been taken care, but they don’t have freedom.
What is freedom? Free will, No restrictions, I can do whatever I want.
Today we are going to look on the aspect of Physical Freedom , Spiritual freedom and What does it mean to have Freedom in Christ?
Let us look from the scripture, the freedom struggle. The freedom struggle to reach the promise Land.
- Physical Freedom
The Israelites were slaves
A seven-year famine was responsible for God’s chosen people ending up in Egypt. Initially, they flourished under the leadership of Joseph, number two in charge of the country after Pharaoh. “Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt” (Exodus 1:8), and soon, “the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites” (Exodus 1:12). For the next several centuries the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians who “worked them ruthlessly” (Exodus 1:13).
In Exodus 12:40
40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt[b] was 430 years.
For 400+ years they are living in a land which was not theirs. What made them live there so long? What was stopping them from freedom?
- Comfort – They were too comfortable to move on
- Power – They Egyptians may be too powerful for them
- Unity – No Unity , Different people , different opinion
Let us look into our lives , What stops us being free from our Sins / Sickness / Bondages.
Our Comfort with our Sin / Wrong doings. We are so used to it, that we don’t feel anything wrong about our actions or ours Sins any more. We feel that there is nothing wrong in it.
The Power of Sin is too much , we try but we have failed to overcome.
Different opinions from different people and we compromise on our wrong doings.
God showcased his power and initiated the process of freedom
We see that God supernaturally initiates the process of freedom for his people.
- River turned to blood.
- God caused frogs to come up out of the Nile River.
- The gnats were the third plague on the land of Egypt.
- Big flies that swarmed into the houses of all the Egyptians.
- Many of the cattle and sheep and goats of the Egyptians died.
- Next, Moses and Aaron took some ashes and threw them into the air. They caused bad sores on the people and the animals. This was the sixth plague.
- Moses raised his hand toward the sky, and Jehovah sent thunder and hail. It was the worst hailstorm that Egypt ever had.
- Large swarm of locusts. Never before that time or since have there been so many locusts. They ate everything that the hail had not destroyed.
- For three days thick darkness covered the land, but the Israelites had light where they were living.
- God told his people to sprinkle the blood of a young goat or a young sheep on their doorposts. Then God’s angel passed over Egypt. When the angel saw the blood, he did not kill anyone in that house. But in all the houses where there was no blood on the doorposts, God’s angel killed the firstborn ones of both man and animals. This was the 10th plague.
After this last plague, Pharaoh told the Israelites to leave. God’s people were all ready to go, and that very night they started their march out of Egypt.
What do we get from all these plagues? That God is the freedom fighter for us. He can showcase this to the entire world, only for you and me. He fights our battles .
But during this process of freedom , there were so many doubts , questions . Why it took 40 years for them to reach the Promise Land, when actually it was a 11 day journey.
Are we postponing our journey with God ? Freedom can be achieved instantly when we make a decision to follow Christ and live a life for Christ . God can demonstrate that for us as well. God fights for our freedom.
This freedom is a physical freedom from relational break down , financial crisis , sickness, Job etc. He fights the battle for us if we believe and acknowledge him in our lives. We can face any challenges because its God who provides for all our physical needs.
- Jesus Came to proclaim Spiritual Freedom
Let us read Luke 4 : 18
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[f]
Freedom from the prison of Sin, Death, Unbelief. And give us sight where we can see and believe in things which he has promised. He gave that freedom to us on the cross. He died for us so that we can have access to God. We didn’t have access because of our sins , but Jesus died for all our sins . And gave us freedom to worship our God, Speak to him face to face. This spiritual freedom is all about redeeming us from all our sins, bondages & curses. If we believe in him and his power , he can release that freedom to us and set us free from the chains.
- Now we are going to look at “What does it mean to have Freedom in Christ”
Now again , let us look at the definition which we saw earlier
What is freedom ? Free will , No restrictions, I can do whatever I want.
Let us look at this scenario of Shepherd & Sheep.
A Shepherd grazing the sheep guides them on path which all of them have to follow . He does not allow the sheep to go anywhere they desire.
Let us take ourselves as sheep. Is it freedom ? Yes , It may NOT the be the freedom the world talks about , our friends talk about. It is freedom in Christ.
Freedom in Christ – the ability to obey God and choose His will for our lives.
When we talk about freedom , when we are in Christ we have restrictions. Sometimes to let go of our own desires and plans. Say no to the worldly patterns.
God has set us free, so that we can obey HIS will over OUR will.
Paul referenced this freedom in 1 Corinthians 10:23 when he acknowledged, ” ‘Everything is permissible’ — but not everything is beneficial.”
Our Decisions will be challenged by others but we can live in freedom because his plan holds our lives. In John 8:36
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
This Morning can we acknowledge God for all our physical needs . He has showed and he will demonstrate it to us even now that he can give us a breakthrough for our physical needs.
Can we acknowledge God for all our Spiritual needs. God sent his only begotten son for you and me so that we don’t perish but live eternal life. Can we trust him that he will set us free from all our sins / bondage?
Can we live a life of freedom in Christ ? acknowledging HIS will over OUR will in our lives? And we can celebrate the real freedom in Christ !!.
Virjil Selvan is Pastoring the New Hope Community. The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue.
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