John 8.31-32: True Freedom

INTRODUCTION

When I taught fifth grade—if someone would question something they wanted to do—my little boys liked to say, “This is a free country, isn’t it?”

For them freedom meant doing whatever you like.

Of course no one is really free in that sense.

We would all like to do many things that for us, are impossible.

Many things beyond our control limit our freedom to do whatever we like—our health, our bank account, our age, our intelligence, our education, the rules of society…

As far as doing what he likes is concerned, I suppose that a billionaire who has perfect health, multitudes of friends, and the power over other people might seem to be the freest person in the world.

But the billionaire isn’t really free if he constantly worries about his money—or his health—or whether people like him—or whenever he thinks about the end of his life.

Jesus had a saying about freedom that people like to quote: “You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.”

The saying is sometimes carved on the outside of university libraries. It suggests that freedom comes from knowledge—the kind of knowledge that may be found in the books in a library.

It is true that the more useful knowledge we have the more likely we will be to be able to fulfil many of our desires.

But the knowledge that is found in libraries isn’t what Jesus meant when he said, “You will know the truth and the truth will make you free.”

Let’s look at that saying of Jesus, and see what he really meant.

Here is the passage from the Gospel of John:

Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make your free.”

The people Jesus was speaking to knew about being in bondage.

Some of them were probably slaves. A good proportion of the work in those days was done by slaves. They did the “dirty work”—toiling on the farms and in the mines.

Many of Jesus’s hearers were poor. Simply getting enough food to stay alive was their main concern. Disease and disabilities were much more common than they are among us.

Palestine was part of the Roman Empire. The people were heavily taxed to pay for luxurious palaces in Rome and the armies that occupied their country.

The Jewish leaders who administered the day-to-day affairs of the population under the Romans were often corrupt.

I. But what might Jesus’s words mean to us? We enjoy many luxuries those ancient people couldn’t have imagined—but we are still not free. And Jesus’s words speak to our need, just as forcefully as they did to the needs of the people he was addressing when he first said those words.

A. One of the freedoms Jesus promises is freedom from the guilt and power of sin.

Some of the ways sin expresses itself in our lives are in addictions and prejudices, and especially the things we should do and don’t do.

We are guilty not only for the bad things we have done but also for the good we could have done and didn’t. Jesus made this very clear in his parable of the sheep and the goats, and the parable of the Good Samaritan.

You will remember that the name “Jesus” means Savior. The angel told Joseph to name his son Jesus…”for he will save his people from their sins.”

We quickly see the sins of other people, but we are mostly blind to our own. Psychologists call this our “self-serving bias.” We see other people’s faults but overlook those same faults in ourselves. This is the way we protect our egos.

Have you ever heard someone criticizing someone for a fault and wanted to say, “But you do it too!”?

All of us are blind to most of our faults. That’s why whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer we say, “Forgive us our trespasses…”

It is good to examine our lives and ask God to show us the ways we fall short—and to repent, ask forgiveness, and make plans to become more godly people.

B. Another thing that holds us in bondage is ignorance. Jesus told people that he was the light of the world. He illustrated this point by healing so many blind people.

Without Jesus we are in darkness. We don’t know where we’re going. We feel helpless, surrounded by the evil in the world.

That is why we need our Good Shepherd to lead us and guide us through the dangers of life.

We need to meditate on the Word, and pray, and seek wisdom that only God can give.

C. But as I grow older I see more and more how fear holds us in bondage. Jesus can set us free from our fears.

I use a prayer that originated by an African Christian named Akanu Ibaim, who lived in Nigeria. It goes like this:

O Lord, we beseech thee to deliver us

from the fear of the unknown future,

from fear of failure,

from fear of poverty,

from fear of bereavement,

from fear of loneliness,

from fear of sickness and pain,

from fear of age,

from fear of death.

Help us, O Father, by thy grace, to love and fear thee only.

Fill our hearts with cheerful courage and loving trust in thee,

through our lord and Master Jesus Christ.

(The Oxford Book of Prayer, p126)

Some people are more fearful than others. Maybe it depends on our experiences. But all of us are fearful, because the world is a dangerous place. What if I get a bad diagnosis? What if my money gives out? What if I lose my memory? Am I ready to die?

We have all lost loved ones, and we know that soon our time will come. I ask myself, “Is my faith strong enough to make my exit with grace?”

II. Now I want to go back to the beginning of the saying and put into context.

A. First of all, we note that Jesus said these words “to the Jews who believed in him.” Faith comes first.

Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples.”

The promise Jesus made is for those who continue in his word.

That means obedience. That means living totally for God. That means seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.

It means loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

It means loving my neighbor as myself

It means loving my enemies, doing good to those who hate me, blessing those who curse me, and praying for those who despitefully use me.

It means reminding myself ever day that I am a poor guilty sinner—that I am nothing without the grace of God.

It means thanking God every day for sending Jesus to die for my sins.

To “continue in Jesus’s word” and to be truly a follower of Jesus means to be generous—with my money, my forgiveness, my sympathy. It means to reach out to help and encourage fellow sufferers in whatever ways are open to me.

B. But what does truth have to do with it? Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

This truth is not found in books. It is not found in our own hearts. It is only found in Jesus, who told us that he is “the way, the truth, and the life.

To know the truth is to see things as God sees them. If I can see death and eternity as God sees them, they will lose their terror.

To see things as God sees them, in the light of God’s love, in the light of eternity, I must become an obedient disciple of Jesus, to walk with him, to converse with him daily, to feel his presence in my life, to bear witness to other people of what he has done for me, and to live my life obediently, lovingly, faithfully, and hopefully.

The way to know the Truth is to live the Truth. And to live the Truth is to live always with Jesus as my constant Companion.

It seems that every message I give you ends up on this same note. Sometimes I wonder why you still come because I’m forever telling you the same things. I’m sorry, but these are the things that are important to me.

Maybe you’re like me. It’s the simplest truths that are hardest to live out in our lives.

CONCLUSION

The story is told that one day a naturalist was passing by a chicken yard and noticed an eagle living in the chicken yard, scratching and pecking along with the chickens. He asked the farmer.

The farmer said, “I found this eagle as a chick and have given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken. It has never learned to fly. It behaves as chickens behave, so it is no longer an eagle.”

“Still,” insisted the naturalist, “it has the heart of an eagle and can surely be taught to fly.”

After talking it over, the two men agreed to find out whether they could teach this eagle to act like an eagle.

Gently the naturalist took the eagle in his arms and said, “You belong to the sky and to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly.”

The eagle was confused; she did not know who she was. Seeing the chickens eating their food, she jumped down to scratch and peck with them again.

Undismayed, the naturalist took the eagle on the following day up on the roof of the house and urged her again saying, “You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly.” But the eagle was afraid and jumped down once more for the chicken food.

On the third day the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. There he held noble bird high above him and encouraged her again, saying, “You are an eagle. You belong to the sky as well as the earth. Stretch forth your wings now and fly.”

Then the eagle began to tremble; slowly she stretched her wings. At last, with a triumphant cry, she soared into the heavens.

It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia; it may even be that she occasionally revisits the barnyard. But she has never returned to live the life of a chicken.

Let’s apply this little story to ourselves.

We have met Jesus. We have trusted Jesus. We desire to live for Jesus. He promises us that if we continue in his Word, then we are truly his disciples and we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. But are we free?

When the eagle learned to truth about who she was and what her destiny was, she stretched out his wings and launched herself into the air.

Let us venture out on faith and obedience and become whole-hearted disciples, lovers of Jesus, venturing out on the truth of his word—living in obedience to Jesus who promised, “I will never leave you or forsake you.

The reason so many of us Christians live fearfully, lacking assurance about our destiny, is because we are afraid to venture—to take God at his word—to give ourselves totally to Jesus and fulfill the conditions of discipleship.

I can tell myself: “Don’t be anxious!” “Don’t be afraid!” “Relax and rest in God!” But I can never make those things happen in my life until I fulfil the conditions of discipleship.

The Old Testament prophet Amos challenged his people: “Prepare to meet your God!” (Amos 4:12).

Someone has said, “The only way to prepare to meet your God is to live with your God, so that to meet him shall be nothing strange” (Bishop Phillips Brooks, 1835-1893).