John 8:36 says, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
So why aren’t we? Let’s just be honest. There are Christian people walking around knowing that the Word says they are free but they are still bound by some things. They go to church, they are saved but they just aren’t free. I want to talk about how to move what the Word of God says into the realm where we live.
First of all I want to say, it isn’t always our fault. Some are wounded because we have been sinned against. It often isn’t because of something we did. Because of life’s circumstances, we are saved but afraid..angry..beaten down with no confidence. We come to Christ with baggage. How can we get free?
Christ paid the penalty of sin and overcame its power. That does not absolve us of responsibility. He stood in proxy. He died for us. It should have been us but He knew we couldn’t handle it. We have the responsibility of laying the sin down. Christ broke the power of sin not the practice of sin. The cross took care of the state of sin. It broke its stranglehold on us. We still must deal with the practice of sin that is why He gave us the Holy Spirit.
So, how do you move from being theoretically free to indeed free? It is like the children of Israel. God sent them a deliverer and led them out of Egypt. They were secure from the sin in Egypt but not delivered from the Pharoah. Jesus has delivered us from sin. He made a way. Yet still the enemy pursues us just like Pharoah did the children of Israel. Pharoah chased them all the way to the impassable Red Sea. They thought all was lost. Then Moses spoke, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever” (Exodus 14:13). We are free and God will banish our fears and free us from our bonds if we will but stand upon what the Word of God says.
Remember the Passover? The Children of Israel got a lamb and put blood on the lintels and the posts of their door so the death angel would pass over. “When I see the blood I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13, 23). How many things that would have, could have, maybe even should have happened, but it passed over us because of the blood? Did you know the man of the house had to lay hands on the lamb before it was sacrificed? What is happening is often due to what we put our hands on. Is your hands on the lamb or on things you should not be touching? Christ secured our salvation when He died on the cross. The children of Israel were secured because of the lamb but they were still under the bondage of Pharoah.
Moses had to lead them out for them to be truly free. The Church has done a great job getting people saved but we also are responsible for leading them out of their bondage. That comes by teaching them how to be free. If you have a casual attitude about the things of God, you miss out. If we don’t disciple people, Church, many will remain bound in a prison not realizing the prison door is not even locked. We are supposed to be deliverers.
Let’s look at a few scriptures:
James1:19-21 says, “19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: (Listen a whole lot, don’t talk so much, and don’t get angry). 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness (Easy to be naughty, superfluous), and receive with meekness the engrafted word (grafted, the more you are under Word and apply the word the more you will be free), which is able to save your souls. (deliver you from your bondage).”
Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
How important is it to be truly free? If you don’t get truly free then you have more pressure when you get saved to “act” like you are free. But you still are messed up. You have to be real. Don’t let a church talk you into “acting” like something if you aren’t. Get in the altar as much as you want to no matter how long you have been saved. Be honest. Cry out to God for help. Cry out to the church for help. Otherwise you are stuck. Moses led the children of Israel out of bondage and they got stuck in wilderness. An 11 day journey turned into 40 years. Many Christians are stuck. And so many churches institutionalize this. Hypocrisy becomes normal. There are churches that won’t face what is wrong with you because they don’t want to face it because they don’t want to help you. Instead these messed up people become teachers and choir leaders and pastors and start movements. They are saved but they are not free. They are still struggling but they have been taught to deny it. That’s why you have pastors that steal and youth leaders that molest children and it is not dealt with. Leadership sweeps it under the rug very often. Often it is because the church has not created a safe environment for someone to come and admit they are struggling. Suicide hot line workers are taught to always take serious someone who is talking about suicide. If someone comes to you with a need what do you do? Give them the standard “I’ll pray for you”, “Trust God” and then you never pray for them? You never help them? James 2:14-16 is a rebuke to this kind of practice and warns: “ 14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?”
If you can’t help them find someone who can! Don’t leave that person in need hanging. They may approach you sheepishly but it may be a cry of desperation. Learn to discern a cry for help, a cry for desperation. You are sheep but you are also disciples. Sheep begat their own kind, disciples should also begat their own kind. You don’t think you can help or teach someone but you can. You may be the only one who can help that person. God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. Don’t let what you have so painfully went through be for nothing. There is someone going through what you have went through, HELP THEM!
Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
You know what ‘bear’ means? It means to literally pick up the other end of a log someone is carrying. Don’t let someone go through something alone! I appreciate so much when someone comes up to me and cares enough to ask, “Are you alright?” and they give me a hug. They probably didn’t even realize how much I needed that. I heard a story once that told about a farmer that got his tractor stuck in the mud. Well along came a city slicker and said, “Hey, brother. I can’t get you out of the mud but I can sit here in the mud with you.” That might be all we can do sometimes is just sit in the mud with someone in need but don’t underestimate how important that is. I think we need more mud sitters!
Jesus called Lazarus forth from the tomb but He told the disciples to loose him (John 11:42-44 ). The church’s job is not only to lead someone to salvation. Jesus will save them, we must loose them. I didn’t say it was our job to clean them. There is a difference. How do we do our part to loose them? Let’s find out: Let’s look at Lazarus in this story. He represents lots of things we struggle with. Things we are bound by. Would that it were so plain when people went to church they just had signs on them so we could help them. Let’s imagine that they do have signs around their necks. What would be some of the signs and what would they say? In other words what are some of the things that keep people bound and what does the Bible say about each of these things.
Casting Crowns sings a song called Stained Glass Masquerade. It is about all the people in church praising God, Amen-ing the preacher but at the same time hiding the sign around their neck, maybe even turning it around backwards hoping no one sees it. But God wants to help them, he wants to use us to help them. To help them though we have got to be the friend and brother or sister in Christ that as things are revealed that bind them, we are there, not to condemn them but to be there for them. People are bound, stuck, they don’t just need a blessing from a church service, they need someone to set them free! The children of Israel came out of Egypt easier than coming out of the wilderness. Getting saved is easy, winning the battle in your mind is harder than getting saved. How can we set them free? How does God free them? He uses us. Jesus calls them forth. They are free, but God wants to use us to get our brothers and sisters in Christ “free indeed”. They have came forth, we need to loose them. Through ministry, through the Word, through teaching, through sound doctrine, through coming alongside….you might have to become their friend or take them groceries or maybe just sit in the mud with them, whatever….
The church is supposed to be like a hospital but many times we give them first aid and then we let them die. What do you do? You hug them, you let them know you are there for them, you give them your phone number…whatever, but help them and he or she will eventually be free. Some have more things binding them than others so it may take a longer time. Don’t quit. Stick with them. God will reward them and you will be able to glory in God when you know you have had a hand in setting them free. We need one another. Set them free!
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