False Freedom

Truth is not determined by the culture: whether a right-wing dictator or a permissive culture. When we give way to lies, we are opening doors to the rejection of truth, and to a false version of freedom. We don’t have to impose our faith on others, but neither should we allow lies to be imposed on us.  

³⁰ Even as he spoke, many believed in him. 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.  John 8:30–36 (NIV)

Freedom is the prize here. We’re a nation that really prizes our freedom. We have seen freedom as something worth fighting for, worth dying for. Freedom is at the heart of true Christianity. That’s one of the reasons that Christians are such a threat to oppressive systems, we are a threat to any mindset or paradigm that is built upon oppression and lies. We don’t even have to be overtly rebellious to be a threat to systems based on lies. By the simple fact that we live by truth and not lies, we undermine oppression. Christian truth is revolutionary in its opposition to oppression. That’s why Christianity was at the forefront of opposition to slavery, and was the primary catalyst behind the fall of the Soviet empire and its evils. Christian freedom might help bring about political freedom, but Christian freedom is so much more.  

Free Like A Teenager

Unfortunately, our notions of freedom are not so well grounded in Christianity anymore. Our ideas of freedom are more like those of a teenager—probably more along the lines of my personal sense of freedom when I was 16. When I got my driver’s license, freedom meant I could take the car on my own… and drive like a maniac. The very next day after getting my license, my dad let me take the car and go riding around town with a friend of mine. Because I was free, I felt entitled to drive almost 60 miles an hour on a 30-mile-an-hour residential street in a light rain. Because I was so free, I attempted to navigate a 90-degree turn on said residential street at at least 50 miles an hour. While I was quite free to drive that way, I wasn’t free from the laws of physics. I ended up skidding off the road, and going over an embankment about 3 or 4 feet high. I was going so fast that instead of rolling down that embankment, I flew past it and landed about 10-15 feet off the road in a vacant lot. Yes, I was free indeed. I learned a lesson and changed my definition of freedom regarding my car and speed.

Freedom then meant I could have the car keys, go out and drink and smoke weed with my friends. We were so free that one night we drove past a wreck in which two teens in my county had just died in a drunken crash, on our way to get beer for our night of freedom. I continued in that freedom even into my time in the Army, so intoxicated one night that I tried to drive off in a taxi that was waiting outside the bar. Then when I found my car and started driving back to Ft. Clayton, I woke myself up having run off the road. In none of these cases was I really free, was I? 

Maybe being free to drive while drinking is not your definition of freedom. For some of us, the definition of freedom means trying to do life while greedy. We believe that the one who dies with the most toys wins. For some of us, freedom means trying to heal our internal brokenness while driven by success, while indulging in sexual fantasy, or acting on inappropriate sexual desires. Freedom means doing whatever I want to do, however I want to do it, whenever I want to do it.  

Tim Keller talks about two myths the world has regarding freedom:

Myth 1: Freedom Means Having No Master

As Bob Dylan said, “You’ve got to serve somebody.” You have to serve something. Who or what are you going to serve? You’re going to serve some purpose or ideal. You’re going to give your life to something—even if it’s pure self-indulgence. You’re going to serve that. What are you going to give our life to? That’s what you serve.  

Myth 2: Freedom Means Doing What You Desire

Your desires are like cancer cells; your desires multiply like crazy. As soon as you satisfy one desire, another one pops up, invades your thinking, steals your peace, and locks you in its grip.  

Myths don’t lead to freedom. A harsher way of saying that is that lies don’t lead to freedom. Beliefs, ideas, and opinions that do not line up with reality can never lead to freedom, however sincere we might be. All the so called moral freedom we have celebrated since the sexual revolution of the 1960s has been a major part of producing a generation more confused, anxious, and depressed than any generation in the last 100 years. I read an article in the Washington Post this week by a mom who expresses frustration with a culture that would, among other things, assign her baby boy a gender at his birth. Freedom means picking your own gender. Our idolatry of human sexuality is not the only factor in the current confusion, but it’s a significant one. My heart goes out to people who are struggling as a result of all this. Part of the reason they struggle is that we have drifted from our moral anchor. Morality in the area of sexuality is no longer expected of leaders at the highest level, but we are supposedly free. Another name for all these false ways of pursuing freedom: sin.  

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” John 8:34 (NIV)

Sin can feel liberating at first. It can be pleasurable. If it weren’t, then it would hold no attraction for us. It presents to us false promises of fulfillment and meaning. But sin is a trap. It becomes a master and we become its slaves.  

There is one hope for our liberation, and according to Jesus, it’s this: The truth will set you free.

Hear the rest of this message on the podcast at https://edcrenshaw.com/podcast/