Christ and Culture - What is Freedom?
What is freedom? One definition of freedom given by the American Heritage Dictionary is "Liberty of the person from slavery, detention, or oppression." This provides good insight into how we typically view freedom, but are we all really free? I'm not owned by anyone, so I don't fit the description of slave. I'm not in jail, so I'm free of detention. I'm of the firm belief that nobody can oppress you unless you allow them to, so that doesn't fit me either. What is true freedom?
In the book "Finding Serenity
", there is an article titled "Serenity and Bobby McGee: Freedom and the Illusion of Freedom in Joss Whedon's Firefly". The author, Mercedes Lackey, talks about how while we can assume we are free, many times we are simply choosing not to view the bars that contain us. What she says is quite true in today's modern age. While we in the United States say that we have freedom of speech, we aren't truly free to say whatever we want. Many times we cage ourselves from saying something because it could hurt another's feelings, or it would be inappropriate in some manner. Our personal freedom is held in check by the various unwritten societal rules that are commonly accepted. Some of those rules are good, some are not so good.
As Christians, are we free? God allows us free will to choose Him or reject him, none of us are forced into belief. The redemption that we receive through Christ's death on the cross is a free gift, but how many of us feel that we have to work for it? So often, the various Christian denominations say that we have a free gift, but then hold to the legalism that reduces their congregations to self-loathing piles of mush. We can't have it both ways. Are we actually free to be who God wants us to be or are the rules imposed on us by our Christian societal norms the like the bars of that cage?
A few years ago (12, to be exact) I was attending a Bible college in north central Texas. I was taking a class about the letters Paul wrote while in prison and one day, a discussion of grace began. One student asked the professor a hypothetical question. What if there was a man who had never sinned in his life, but at the time of the second coming of Christ, this man was engaged in extramarital sex? What would happen to the man? The professor and a couple of the students chimed in and said that since he was sinning, he would not be raptured. (FYI - this discussion is about freedom and not about pre-, post-, or mid-tribulation, so keep that in mind) I asked why wouldn't he be, and was told that he was currently in sin. Thinking this was crazy, I replied back by asking what good was grace if it didn't cover us at our worst possible moments?
We have freedom from the depth of our depravity through the divine love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus. No longer are we bound to the material things of our society and our world, but we are given over to the spiritual freedom only Christ can give. 2 Corinthians 3:16-17 says "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." God removes the bars of our cage and sets us free. Our only job is to refrain from taking advantage of that freedom and doing things that God has specifically spoken against.
Which takes us to the other extreme of freedom, those who feel like they can do absolutely anything because God has covered us with grace. Galatians 5:13 says "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." God specifically commands us to live by the Spirit, but not to give ourselves to our flesh. Since we are born of the Spirit we are no longer under the old law, but instead are covered by the forgiving grace of God.
So, what is freedom? Freedom is knowing that whatever happens in this life, we move on to the next one because of the sacrifice Christ made on that hill nearly 2,000 years ago. Freedom is understanding that we are no longer slaves to our past, but have been given a glorious hope for our future. Freedom is becoming like Paul who said in I Corinthians 9:19, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible." Freedom is allowing God to bend back the bars of our cage and letting us out into the open fields.