“Reformation Freedom” John 8:31-36

St. John’s Lutheran – East Moline 10/29/06

Intro.: Freedom! It is a glorious word, one that has inspired hope and courage in many, and for which many have sacrificed their very lives.

As we celebrate the reformation this weekend I would encourage you to look upon the faithful theologians, brave princes, and committed peasants who have gone before us as true “freedom fighters” from whom we have all received an eternal benefit. Through their study of God’s word they recognized the oppression of the Roman Church with the unscriptural beliefs it imposed on the people and the unspiritual laws with which it bound their consciences. The sale of indulgences and the teaching that a person could buy salvation for themselves or others with money or merit led them to come to the defense of the King of kings, Jesus Christ. Luther posted 95 theses for discussion and debate which Rome rejected, and for which it labeled him an outlaw and eventually pronounced upon him a sentence of death.

The message of the Lutheran Reformation is that by God’s grace, through faith, we are set free from the bondage of the law and the shackles of sin, death, and the power of the devil, and are declared to be members of God’s holy family. Today let us consider Christ’s words to us in our Gospel, announcing to us the reformation freedom we have through our lifelong relationship with Him.

I. Free Indeed!

A. Most people pursue freedom from something. They want freedom from unjust laws or oppressive dictators. They want freedom from emotional pain or psychological torment. They want freedom from crippling debt or financial dependence. What many fail to realize is that all of these are only symptoms of a greater bondage and that freedom from one or all of them does not truly make a person free. Some of the people Jesus spoke to in today’s Gospel falsely believed that if only they could be free from Roman rule life would be good; if only Jesus would be the Messiah who would help them gain political independence then they would be free. Jesus knew that they needed more than that, and that we need more than political, emotional and financial freedom.

B. Jesus reveals to the Jews who had believed in Him that only by clinging to His Word can a person find true freedom. He says: “If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” and “..if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed.” (v.31-32,36) It is not enough that you confessed Jesus and believed in Him once upon a time as the people in our Gospel, or that you believe in Him as a mere instrument of temporal freedom. Before this chapter of John ends the Jews who had believed in Jesus turn away and against our Lord. Jesus emphasis is on the life of freedom which continually and constantly holds onto His teaching to know the truth that will set us free indeed.

II. Free By Grace. (33-36)

A. This freedom, promised by Christ to those who hold to His teaching and come to know the truth, is not something that can be bought with earthly treasures nor earned by our own works. As St. Paul relates in our epistle: “Now we know that whatever the law says it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather through the law we become conscious of sin.” (Rom. 3:19-20)

When Jesus announced the freedom he offered to the Jews their answer was, “What do you mean? We are not enslaved! How dare you say that we shall be or need to be set free.” To prove themselves they hold up their pedigree and protest: “We are descendents of Abraham!” Does that sound familiar? I was baptized and confirmed up at that church! My parents and grandparents belonged to that church! At times their questions and their indignation at seeing the Lord’s finger pointed at them come from our hearts also. “How dare you question my faith or suggest that I am a slave to sin! I try to live a good life; I still pray and believe in God and stuff; and I am certainly not as evil as that person over there. Who are you to tell me about freedom - I don’t need to be set free. God understands the circumstances of my life, even though the Bible doesn’t say so I think He is okay with the way I’m living and the things I’m doing, maybe when my circumstances change then I’ll change. Each excuse and so many others allow us to deny our slavery to sin and believe that our own efforts or religious affiliation have secured our freedom.

But Jesus, the Great Physician, quickly diagnoses the problem. He moves from the symptom, you commit sin, to the condition, everyone who sins is a slave to sin, to the prognosis, as a slave to sin you have no permanent place in God’s family. Too many people, even those who still proclaim “but I’m a member of St. John’s,” are fulfilling that prognosis. As poor, miserable sinners, and slaves to the law of sin and death, we have nothing to offer God to free us and establish us as true members of his family. But thanks be to God he wants us to be free and to be part of his everlasting family. He wants it so badly that He was willing to pay the price for it.

B. The Reformation freedom we celebrate today is the freedom that comes as God’s free gift. As our epistle goes on to declare: “But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known…This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him [for us] as a sacrifice of atonement…” (Rom. 3:21-25a) This is the Good News Christ announces to us, the Heavenly Father has sent His Son to set us free. Just as Jesus invited the Jews, so He invites us to believe that He is the promised Messiah who was promised and has now come to pay the price for our redemption from slavery under the law and sin. He invites us and motivates us by the power of the Holy Spirit to come to Him at the cross, shackles of sin and all, and receive His righteousness and accept the payment He offers for our freedom. Right here, in Baptism, in the Word and in the Sacrament of the Altar He offers a forgiveness that shatters the chains which bind us, and announces that we have been set free to be the children of God.

C. Ours is the freedom of adoption into God’s family. As Jesus told the Jews in our Gospel, “A slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (vv.35-36) You and I are now, no longer slaves, by the truth of God’s love show us in Christ, the truth of His holy life for us, His sacrificial death for us, and His glorious resurrection and ascension for us, we have been set free. Jesus is pleased to call you his brother and sister to share with Him in an everlasting inheritance in the family of His Father. You are free indeed, but shouldn’t true freedom be a freedom that expresses itself in deeds?

III. Free In Deeds. (Rom. 3:28; 6:1-2)

Unfortunately freedom is often perverted to mean only “freedom from” something, rather than “freedom for” something. Such a misunderstanding of freedom has resulted in the moral decay of our nation and the spiritual decay of our Churches. Freedom has been abused and offered as an excuse for every form of immorality, evil and false teaching. The question we need to ask ourselves is not only what are we freed from, but what are we freed for!

In His explanation to the second article of the Apostles’ Creed Luther notes the goal of our redemption and adoption into God’s family is “that [we] may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness…”

A. The freedom we have by clinging to Christ’s Word of truth is above all freedom from slavery to sin, death and the devil. It is a freedom that comes by God’s grace through faith in Christ’s work alone as St. Paul notes in the last verse of our epistle: “We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” (Rom. 3:28) Yet this same apostle who offered this freedom message also went on a few chapters later to write: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Rom. 6:1-2) Contrary to the belief of many, and is evidenced in the lives of many who claim to be Lutheran Christians, we do not consider ourselves to be free to sin nor do we approve of those who use their Gospel freedom as a license for an ungodly life. The reformation freedom we celebrate today is one in which we declare ourselves to be free indeed to live lives which are free in deeds.

B. We are free to live new lives in service to the Lord and others. This was not something we were free to do when we were under the bondage of the law and slaves to sin, but now because Christ lives in us and the Holy Spirit enables us we can and we can and we do. With Luther we understand that by virtue of our forgiveness in Christ we are master of all and slaves of none. Yet we also understand that as Christ came not to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for us all, we are now master of none and willing slave of all. We have been set free to serve not out of obligation, not for reward and not out of fear of punishment. We are set free to serve joyfully and sacrificially even as our Lord has served us.

Concl.: Let us continue to celebrate our reformation freedom, and give thanks to the Lord that we are free, free indeed! Amen.