Community Church Sermons

Fourth Sunday After Pentecost, Year C – July 1, 2001

"From Bondage To Freedom”

Galatians 5:1; 13-25

We’ve all seen the photograph.

Six ordinary kids lifting high a symbol of a most extraordinary gift.

One of them is Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian born on a cotton farm on the Gila River reservation in Arizona. Another, Rene Gagnon from Manchester, New Hampshire. There is Franklin Sousley, a redheaded, freckle-faced kid raised on a tobacco farm just up the road in Kentucky. And John Bradley, a Navy Corpsman from Wisconsin who, he said, “just jumped in to lend a hand.” That’s how Bradley came to be in this photo we’ve all seen.

Harlon Block is there, too – an outgoing Texas boy born into a pacifist Seventh Day Adventist family. Harlon was quite an athlete. And Mike Strank is in the back row of the picture – an immigrant from Czechoslovakia who played the French horn and once slugged a baseball clear out of Points Stadium in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Sadly, Strank would lose his life a short while after the famous picture was snapped. So would Harlon Block. And Franklin Sousley.

You see, even as these six ordinary kids raised the American flag over Mt. Surabachi on the tiny island of Iwo Jima, the war in the South Pacific raged on, taking its toll of young lives. 6,285 American soldiers died on Iwo Jima, including three of the six in that picture that captured the heart of America in 1945.

Today, at Arlington National Cemetery, a 78-foot tall bronze statue designed by sculptor Felix DeWeldon, and crafted by hundreds of artisans over a period of 8-years, freezes that poignant moment in time – captured by that famous photograph - of those six young men raising up one of the world’s great symbols of freedom.

This is a week to celebrate freedom. And as we join the national holiday on July 4^th, it becomes a time to not only celebrate, but to examine the meaning of freedom, especially in the context of our Christian faith.

Today’s Scripture lesson begins with a joyful declaration that, “For freedom, Christ has set us free!” The purpose of the Cross, the purpose of the Resurrection, the purpose of the gift of the Holy Spirit is to set us free! But as soon as Paul makes this declaration about what Jesus has accomplished for us, he adds a warning: “Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

I believe the Christian Faith has something to teach all who stand under the banner of freedom. It is not enough to simply raise flags over Iwo Jima or some other place, or to shoot fireworks into the night sky on the Fourth of July, unless we are willing to take up the daily challenge of standing firm in freedom!

So I wonder if you’ll come and explore three important dimensions of freedom found in today’s text from Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

The first point Paul makes is that freedom is far more difficult than slavery.

His caution about not submitting again to a yoke of slavery is a reference to the great fiasco that occurred after God miraculously led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt. You’ll remember how they were bitterly enslaved, forced into hard labor, routinely beaten and arbitrarily killed. You’ll remember the words of God through Moses, telling Pharoah to “let my people go!” You’ll remember the plagues, and the Passover, and the flight out of Egypt to the Red Sea. And you’ll remember how Moses – pretending to be Charlton Heston – spread out his arms and parted the sea so the people could escape to freedom.

And there they were – on the other side of the sea – free at last, free at last, thanking God Almighty they were free at last.

But do you remember what happened next? Life in the desert was tough. Food was not all that plentiful. The living conditions were not all that good.

So they decided they wanted to go back - to Egypt! To bondage! To slavery!

Back to where they could depend on three square meals a day. Back to where they were sheltered from the elements. Back to where someone else would make their decisions for them. Back to where life was simple and dependable.

You see, sometimes freedom is not all that easy. And bondage has its advantages.

I have a friend who found it easier to remain with a physically and mentally abusive husband than to be free. Without him, it was hard to get by – to pay the bills, to raise the kids by herself, to find self-confidence to face the future. It’s hard being a single mother who’s not been allowed to develop marketable skills, and whose life has been completely provided for by a domineering partner. And so every time she made an attempt to become free, it lasted only a short while. He promised her he would change, and that things would be better. And so she went back, over and over again – to Egypt.

Freedom is not all that easy. And bondage has its advantages.

Some of us know first hand that it is easier to live under the bondage of alcoholism or drug abuse than to take up the challenge of recovery. Some of us find that it is easier to accept bad behavior in ourselves than it is to engage those character flaws and to take up the challenge of change. Some of us have learned it is easier to hold on to deep bitterness and resentment toward others because it seems too risky to take up the challenge of reconciliation.

Freedom is not all that easy. And bondage has its advantages.

And here in America – where freedom rings - we are increasingly tempted to simply accept as normal parts of our life that cannot be tolerated if we are to be truly free. Things like racism. Is there freedom for any American if some are discriminated against? America is not free unless all are free. And poverty. Is there true freedom in a society that pays sports stars forty or fifty million dollars to play a game while at the same time fighting tooth and nail against providing a livable minimum wage to those who work much harder, doing more important things? America is not free unless all are free. Is there true freedom in a land that so celebrates violence as a part of its culture that the most vulnerable of our children end up bringing their own tragic versions of that violence into their schools and their neighborhoods, and their homes? America is not free unless all are free.

And yet, it is so tempting to turn our backs and tolerate the places in our national life where freedom does not yet truly ring for some.

You see, Paul is right. True freedom turns out to be more difficult than slavery. Freedom imposes new responsibilities upon us as individuals and as a society.

So Paul warns us. Freedom may seem to be very attractive at first because we think it will make things easier, and demand less of us. But, in fact, freedom makes greater demands on us than we are sometimes willing to accept. One of the great ironies of life is that freedom requires greater effort than slavery.

So Paul tells us to be resolute! To stand firm – for freedom! That’s the first point.

And then Paul tells us how this can be done. In verses 13 through 15 of Galatians 5, the apostle gives us a wonderful description of freedom. And it’s probably not the definition of freedom most of us are used to hearing. Paul writes:

“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment – ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Isn’t that a wonderful description of freedom? Let me sum it up this way: freedom is the relentless pursuit of the well being of your neighbors!

It was John Bradley, the young medic from Wisconsin who helped raise the flag over Iwo Jima, who reacted years later to someone’s comment that he was a hero. Bradley said, “I want you to remember that the real heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who did NOT come back.”

The true heroes of freedom are always those who spend their lives for others.

So, you see, freedom is practiced by loving your neighbor!

This is the core principle of the Christian faith! This is the ball Jesus told us to keep our eye on. If you see someone in need, you try to meet that need. If someone needs a friend, you become that friend. If someone is sick, you visit them. If someone is being picked on or treated unfairly, you advocate for them.

Paul Harvey tells a funny story of a man who loved his wife, and a wife who loved her husband in a rather unique way. It was a terrible winter in Chicago. Many of the rooftops were overloaded with snow. Robert McGrath watched his wife go out into the backyard garage to fetch some boxes. Seconds later he heard a crash. Looking out, he saw that the roof of the garage had caved in.

Without even stopping for his hat or coat, Mr. McGrath ran from the house, grabbed a snow shovel and called out for his neighbors to come and help. Yelling and digging with his sweat freezing on his face, frantically throwing snow and pulling away boards, he dug at the rubble until he was nearly exhausted. Then, finally, he heard his wife’s voice. Minutes later, he saw her hand. He kept working until his wife was safely in his arms and asked if she was all right. She was.

Now, as you know there is always more to the stories that Paul Harvey tells. Now for the rest of the story.

It seems that a neighbor witnessed the whole event and told everyone later what really happened. Apparently Mrs. McGrath had gone into the garage through one door, and left through another! She was safely back in the house when she looked out and saw what had happened. There, by the collapsed garage was her husband – furiously digging and shouting orders and throwing lumber as he desperately tried to rescue her. He was the picture of love poured out! In that moment, she decided that she could not let that loving man down. So, she put on her coat, went out into the garage by way of the back door and crawled under some boards. Then, she let her husband Bob find her. Paul Harvey finishes the story by saying that sometimes, the most loving thing you can do is to let someone else be your hero!

Freedom is the relentless pursuit of the well-being of others. Would you take hold of that definition and live it?

And then comes Paul’s third point about freedom. He describes the spiritual tools the Holy Spirit makes available to us as we pursue the well-being of our neighbors. These are skills we need to hone and become expert in if Christ’s freedom is to win the day. Here they are – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

These are the tools of freedom!

So as we stand firm in the freedom of Jesus today, and refuse to fall back into slavery, and dedicate ourselves to the relentless pursuit of the well-being of our neighbors, I want to ask you to do three simple things:

First, when you go home, take out your Bible and underline Galatians 5:22 and 23 where the tools of freedom are listed. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Second, take a moment to look at this list of tools at the start of every morning.

And third, ask the Lord to give you the strength go out and do them.

For as you do, freedom will ring – for you – and for others!!