Pastor Tom Johnson, October 30, 2022
Those who continue in Jesus’ Word and teaching are true disciples. They will know the truth. And the truth will make them free. This is a positive message. But God’s people would not receive it. “We are descendants of Abraham. We have never been slaves to anyone.” “What does Jesus mean that we will be made free? We are free and have always been free,” they say. “The descendants of Abraham have never been slaves to anyone”? Even Abraham’s wife was taken as a concubine. Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt by his own brothers.
For over 400 years, the descendants of Abraham—the Hebrew people—were slaves in Egypt. Generations later, the descendants of Abraham were slaves in Babylon—for seventy years. At the time Jesus said he will make us free, God’s people were under the brutal control and dictatorship of the Roman Emperor. It’s hilarious. “We have never been slaves to anyone,” they say. But Jesus doesn’t even go there. He does not give them a crash course on the history of human trafficking of the descendants of Abraham in the Bible. No, he talks about slavery at a much deeper level—slavery of all people, in all places, and at all times—the universal slavery of all humanity—slavery to sin.
Jesus by the Holy Spirit opens up our minds to understand that sin is not just the things we do or say that bring harm to others and ourselves. It’s far worse. Sin is a tyrannical master. Sin wants us to its bidding. Sin wants to enslave you and me. The unsettling truth is that we are all born into this system of control and exploitation whether we are daughters and sons of Abraham or daughters and sons of Pharaoh, the King of Babylon, or the Emperor of Rome. We are all victims of spiritual slavery. Even the perpetrators of slavery are victims themselves. It is a disturbing thought—that we do harm to others and ourselves—that we withhold love and doing good to our neighbor—because we cannot help it. We are not the captains of our souls. We are carrying out the evil and sin our master. We don’t need coaching. We need liberation.
500 years ago, a German Monk named Martin Luther wrote a paper tract dedicated to the Pope called, “On the Freedom of the Christian.” This paper is about how vast and complete our freedom is in Christ. Luther says two radical things. First, “the Christian is subject to no one.” As believers, we are not slaves to anyone or anything. We have been set free indeed. Second, Luther says, “Christians are subject to all.” We have now been set free to serve God and our neighbor out of love, free from fear, and free from obligation. This idea that God’s truth sets us free ignited reformation of the church. The idea that no one is the property of another person changed the world. Knowing the truth of the Gospel liberates us.
We are spiritually free. In Christ, we are free from condemnation. He liberates us from sin’s death grip. He frees us from death itself. He purchased a place for us in heaven not with gold or silver but with his precious blood on the Cross of Calvary. The truth sets us free intellectually. We have been delivered from the false and misleading dream that we have to earn God’s love. We are free from the idea that we have to get God’s attention by doing good works. We are saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone. We are free to give thanks that salvation itself is free. The truth sets us free socially. The truth is that we are free in the eyes of God. So why should a Christian accept living under systems of manipulation, control, and abuse? In God’s eyes, we are free. So the Reformation gave many princes and ordinary people in Germany boldness to respectfully put the authority of Scripture above the authority of King Charles. The truth set them free to envision a life where every human soul has value.
In 1934, a black Baptist preacher named Michael King went to Germany. It was one year into Adolph Hitler taking power. After visiting the church where Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses on the church door, he was inspired by Luther’s boldness and to imagine a world set free by the truth of the Gospel. Pastor Michael King came back to the United States and signed a statement which condemned “all racial animosity, and every form of oppression or unfair discrimination toward the Jews, toward coloured people, or toward subject races in any part of the world.” It was after that life-changing trip to Germany to learn about the Reformation that Michael changed his name to Martin Luther King. He also changed the name of his son Michael King, Jr. to Martin Luther King, Jr.
A lie will not live forever. It is a lie that some people are inferior to another. It is a lie that we receive eternal life by purchasing indulgences or by our good behavior. It is a lie that we can save ourselves from our captivity to sin and death. You will know the truth. And the truth will set you free. Jesus sets us free from the inside out. He sets us free by the truth of how much God loves us and all people—the truth of how wide, how deep, and how high God’s grace and mercy are. He sets us free by how freely he loves us—by showing us that he gave his life freely and takes it up again freely and out of joy. He sets us free by the gift of our salvation. He liberates us from thinking in a way that leads to living as slaves to our own sinful appetites. He sets us free from masters that have no right to impose and abuse their power over us. He sets us free by the truth of the Gospel because he is the Way, the Truth, and Life. We come to the Father through Christ alone—by grace alone—through faith alone—to God alone be the glory.
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