The Great Declaration

March 20, 1960

3rd Sunday in Lent

California

John 8: 31 – 44

There have been many great declarations and proclamations in history. Pharaoh made a great declaration when he set the people of Israel free. Constantine made a great declaration when he made the Christian religion legal in the Roman Empire. The Magna

was an outstanding declaration of Independence was, we believe, one of the greatest declarations of political and social freedom in the history of mankind.

Today also, men are struggling for freedom. The Negros of Africa are tired of colonial rule and exploitation by white powers. The East is experiencing a great wave of nationalism with the casting out of the colonial powers.

There is suspicion and hate in the world today. Men are getting tired of being pushed around and saying “Yes, Bwana.” There are race riots in the Belgium, Congo, Algeria, and places like Little Rock, USA. Countries like Cuba, Ghana, and the Dutch Indies are desperately struggling to find the political system they want.

But there is a declaration which far transcends the Magna Charta, the Declaration of Independence, or the Emancipation Proclamation. This declaration is found in the words of our text for today. “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Now it is interesting that Christ made the promise of freedom to men who had little chance of political freedom. The Jews were under the Roman rule, and yet Christ promised them freedom even though they might be subjugated politically. Christ even promises men freedom right now though they might be in Hungary, Poland, Korea, or Cuba.

Certainly, if Christ promises freedom to men politically subjugated, Christ was not speaking of political freedom here in our text. Rather, Christ was speaking of spiritual freedom.

It may seem strange that Christ did not spend more time talking about political or social issues. We may wonder why Christ did not devise some sort of plan to give the Jews political freedom. Or why didn’t Christ spend time talking about world affairs and how the Jews would fit into the world picture. Or why didn’t Christ institute some types of relief agencies or hospital systems in His day.

Instead, Christ spent most of His time talking about sin, about love to one’s brother, and about being Christian witnesses and other religious maters. Christ did not talk much about what we might call the concrete things of life. And this is the distressing things about religion. It is not concrete. We as men can understand a good thick T bone smothered with mushrooms; we can understand a sleek shiny new car; we can understand tax reductions; we can understand beautiful new homes with the best of modern conveniences. We can understand political freedom. But it’s hard to understand grace, sin, conversation, being born again, faith and the types of freedom Christ is talking about in our text.

Religion often seems so hazy. We can go to church; we partake of the liturgy; we hear a sermon; the plate is passed around and we give good cold hard understandable cash and then we go home and wonder what it is all really about.

But I am certain Christ we all know that Christ knew what he was doing. You see, Christ talked about these hazy, intangible things so much because He knew that if they are not right, nothing else in life will be right. Christ proclaimed that our real needs as men is the need for spiritual freedom. And what is involved in the spiritual freedom that Christ gives us?

Our text mentions one of these, freedom from being a slave to sin. How many of you remember the definition of Catechism gives of a big word, sanctification? Many of your confirmands could give you a definition of sanctification. Sanctification is daily growing in the image of Christ. You see, God is out to do something with us as men. We have all heard of hybrid crops, and scientific improvement of animals by selective breeding and other methods. Recently, I heard an advertisement on the radio about how today’s turkey has so much more white meat than the turkey of 20 years ago.

God wants to improve us as individuals, and families, and nations. God wants to make us more loving; God wants to make us the type of men who will not fight with fellow next door, or gossip about the lady down the street, or chase off with some other mate the first chance we get. God wants to make us the type of men who will pay fair wages and provide good working conditions.

It is a wonderful thing to make turkeys with a lot of white meat or lean pigs or special breeds of corn. But what God is doing with us as Christians is far greater. He is daily working sanctifications in us as we let Him. He wants to. He is daily trying to make us more like Christ. He gives us freedom. Freedom from being a slave to sin.

There is another freedom which Christ also gives us. We may not even think of this as freedom. This is the freedom to serve and work for the cause of Christ.

One obstacle that many people find in becoming saved is that they are afraid God will ask something of them. People may talk to us and say, “Yes, I should change; I should turn to Christ. I should work in the church. But then what about liquor? I like to have a few rounds with the boys. Or what about swearing? You have to curse once in awhile to show you are manly. Or what about giving time to church? What about business practices? You see, most people realize that it takes change to be a Christian, a saved person. Christ does demand sacrifice and service of us as Christians. Christ said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” But this work, this service, this duty in the church is really freedom. It is freedom to serve Christ. Our text states that the man that is not free is the man without Christ. The words that Christ uses are: “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” In other words, Christ is bringing out what he says later in the text, men without Christ are slaves to the devil. He says to people who are not saved, “You are of your Father the devil.” Christ gives us freedom from the devil so that we can freely and willingly serve God.

St. James had much to say about the freedom we have to serve God. He said, “Faith apart from works is dead.” Martin Luther also had a very important phrase called “Faith active in Love.” What Luther meant by “Faith active in Love” is that the man who has truly accepted Christ as Savior will demonstrate his faith in works of love such as teaching Sunday School, singing in the choir, witnessing in daily life, and other Christian activities.

"Dr. Rogness", the President of our Seminary has wrote that, “An analysis of any congregation will probably disclose that 2/3 of its members attend church service irregularly." He also states that only a small percentage of the average congregation is really active in the church. Elton Trueblood and other religious writers have said much the same thing.

Now I don’t know the state of your congregation. Perhaps most of the people in this congregation are active and attend regularly. I am simply talking about what is supposed to be an average congregation and typical excuses hear in an average congregation are; I’m too busy, I have a large family, I get too tired on the job – it can’t be my duty to teach S.S., sing in the choir, help in brotherhood or guild or witness on the job.

I think God would say it cannot be our duty to do what we do not have time to do. It cannot be our duty to give more than we can afford. It cannot be our duty to do what is beyond our strength or reach. It cannot be our duty to neglect our families. But I think that God would say it is our duty to witness, to work in our local congregation, to sacrifice, and sweat for the cause of Christ. Romans 12:1 says, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto Christ, which is your reasonable service.”

I ran across an article on “How to Be Unhappy.” The general ideas of the article were to be unhappy sit back, relax, think just about yourself. Think about every ache and pain. Think about every unkind word someone has said o you. Think of all the unjust deeds done to you. Think about how bad business or work is. The conclusion is that the unhappy man is the man occupied with self. Christ same to make us happy. Christ came to give us something other than self to be occupied with. He came that we might be occupied with His work. He came that we might have freedom. Freedom to willingly serve Him in His cause.

I have mentioned 2 freedoms that Christ gives – freedom from being a slave to sin and freedom to serve him. I would like to mention a third freedom. Freedom from anxiety. We know that the world is in turmoil. Nations are in flux. Communism is a great menace. Added to this is constant job insecurity, health and beauty, or there is family insecurity for many people because of unhappy marriages. We are afraid that at any moment an atomic bomb will fall, and World War 3 will come. We do not know the shape of the future. Possibly communism is soon to be defeated and there will be a period of peace in the world. Those who know something about economy and production hold that the next ten years will bring the greatest material prosperity this nation has ever seen. We do not know the shape of the future. But prosperity or hardships, trouble, or relative ease. Christ has promised us freedom from anxiety. Christ offers freedom from anxiety to the prisoners in a Siberian salt mine, or an African in the bush, or as an American on the highway. Prosperity or hardships does not answer all of man’s problems. It is only Christ that can give inner peace and inner freedom from anxiety.

On Western ranches cattlemen put their brand on steers. At times a strange steer will come into a cattleman’s corral with another brand and the cattleman returns it. Well, we often put our brands on mental steers that do not belong in our souls. And one of these is anxiety.

Christ alone can give freedom from anxiety and worry and stress. The past, the present, the future lies in the hands of God and that is where we should let them lie. Concentrate on the work of the day. Serve Christ today. Work for justice and peace and equality, and love today, and leave the future and the anxieties of tomorrow and years from now in the hands of God.

Political proclamations are being made. The backward countries are coming into their own. But the supreme giver of freedom is Jesus Christ. He gives freedom from being a slave to sin, freedom to serve him, freedom from anxiety, and a thousand other freedoms. The greatest declaration of freedom in all of history is the Declaration of freedom that Christ offers us and all men. It is the freedom that christian's alone can have. It is the freedom that only saved people can have, people who accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.