John 8:31-36 NIV
31 To the Jews who had
believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my
teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you
will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are
Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you
say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “Very
truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a
slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the
Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Truth
Does Truth shake belief?
What is real?
What is false?
Is salvation given in relationship with Abraham, or only available
through Jesus?
Just in a few short verses, and a question from Jews that believed in
Jesus, many more questions arise, AND, Jesus teaches His followers Truth.
And here in these few words, I find, that when it is God that opens my
eyes; He finds me! Sounds a little reversed doesn’t it. You would think that
when God opens your eyes, you would see God and find Him. But, no! When God opens
your eyes, sure, you see, but what you see, is that He found you.
Likewise, the believing Jews, of this passage, weren’t concerned that
they needed freedom. As Abraham’s relatives they assumed they were free. Yet,
when Jesus opens their eyes to Truth, they discover that God has found them
through Jesus, not that they found God through Abraham.
The Truth we see of God in Jesus, does not bind or enslave any people. The
Truth Jesus shows us sets us free. Truth that frees us, comes from God in
Jesus.
How’s that?
The sadness of it all, today and in the past, is when people enter God’s
Kingdom, or even enter God’s church, and settle in, BUT, don’t grow, yet remain
crude underdeveloped children, you have made the Kingdom about yourself and won’t
grow.
And again, “How’s that?”
I think of it this way…
Life with Jesus and growing as His disciple is like a hike in the Smoky
Mountains. You travel from one peak to the next. You walk through unending peaks
and valleys of growth, grace, understanding, and life lessons, following Jesus,
IN, His Truth. You travel through life in the Church, and in the Kingdom of God,
on a journey that sets you free, with Jesus, of one glorious view after another.
As we see, in this passage, Jesus moves to the outside.
And again, “How’s that?”
The believing Jews had an interpretation of family and loyalty to Abraham,
their father in family. Yet, to show the believing Jews, AND us, that the REAL
Truth exists in Jesus, not in a man, not even in a good man. Truth is God in
Jesus, alone. Sure, Abraham was a good faithful man, a wonderful leader, yet
still a sinner and a man, Abraham was not God. And Jesus was both man and God.
But you may say, just as the believing Jews said, “I am not a slave!”
Yes, you are! Open your eyes also to your sin with eyes wide open. See
your sins of lust, power prestige, control, and all of the various idols you
have formed in your life that you have made or trusted in, that replace God.
Yep! You ARE a slave!
Everyone who sins are a slave to sin, stuck in their own sinful messes.
All of us, are stuck in the stench of our own sins. Yes, we are humiliated
and carried away by our sin. Just witness so many of the Old Testament patriarchs,
including Abraham. Delve into the lives of people past and present and you will
smell the stench of sin. Then, open your nostrils to your own life and smell
that stench! Don’t deny it and try to pretend, all is okay, it was just what I
couldn’t help myself to avoid!
And then, once you smell that sin, you can’t help yourself but to hate it
and to resist it!
But… You can’t free yourself like you want to. That smell just hangs on
and you go back to it!
Yet…
There’s another side of your sin.
If… Jesus frees you… You ARE free!
Hear and see the words of Paul to the Corinthians…
2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV
17 Now the Lord is the
Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus alone, both God and man,
makes you free from the power and death of sin.
Yes! Jesus takes us stinky, sinful, children and fashions
us, reforms us, peak and valley by peak and valley, that we may stand free from
the power and death of sin to LOOK God in the eyes and fall into the arms of
Jesus, God in Jesus, makes you free from the power of sin and death. AND, if we
stay in God’s Word, following and “Pointing to Jesus,” Jesus’ Truth will make
us free.
You see, the slave does not continue in the House forever.
What House?
God’s House. Huh?
Why am I, as a sinner in God’s House, God’s Church, God’s
Kingdom?
Well, I’m a descendant of sin. In God’s House, in God’s Church,
in God’s Kingdom, I can’t rely on MY self, MY faith, even MY belief.
NO!
Rather, I am in God’s House, Church, Kingdom, to be freed
from MY sin in the Truth that ONLY Jesus can set me free, from MY sin and
deserved death, TO, live in God’s House, Church, and Kingdom forever.
Now that’s an amazing lifetime of Reformation, for me and
you… today… tomorrow… and forever.
So, as a Lutheran layman, sure, I celebrate Reformation
Sunday, but in my own personal reformation, I hear an eternal Gospel message,
that causes me to still myself, and open my eyes to know God, the Great I AM,
who finds me in my sin, to save me, to give me faith, to follow Jesus and to “Point
to Jesus.” Not by anything that I could
do or ever do with works of my own, but by what God has already done, since the
beginning of time through Jesus.
Thanks be to God.
How could I NOT leave you with this YouTube music video of Martin
Luther’s
A Mighty Fortress… Enjoy
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