This week we celebrate the 4th of July. It’s been 231 years since this document was signed. This is a copy of the Declaration of Independence that was signed on the 4th of July 1776. It has wonderful language and phrases especially in the preamble. But the main substance of this document is made up of the list of grievances, the list of things the king of England had done against the colonies. This list that is ‘submitted to a candid world’ as the document says, gives the reason to declare their freedom from allegiance to the British crown and the political ties to the state of Great Britain.
In the conclusion to the declaration there are some important things said… and some important things not said. What is said that is important is “as free and independent states, they (the united states) have the full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce and to do all the other acts and things which independent States may of right do.” Those are the things that are stated. This is a declaration of what these independent United States have the power and right to do. And this documents very last line also says, that we have a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence for our national independence.
But now notice what is not said. This declaration does not say that these United States will now do nothing. It doesn’t say that they have declared independence and that is all from Britain and that is the end of it. This is not a declaration of independence from responsible action as a member state among the nations of the world. This isn’t a declaration of self indulgence… this is a declaration of freedom…, of independence from tyranny. That’s not the same as being free from responsibility.
This country’s independence was not declared so that we could be a self indulgent group of people. We’re not chartered to be reclusive, isolated or irresponsible. We have declared our independence from tyranny… but not from the society of the world. We have not stated that we wish no responsibility or claim some mythical right to lawlessness. No what we have declared is… our independence and freedom from unjust rule and despotism.
In the epistle lesson today from Galatians we’re told that we’re given freedom. That, “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free,” that’s what verse 1 says. And this freedom in Christ, unlike the freedom we have in this country, is not self declared, but rather it is declared to us. It is Christ that has set us free.
Read verse 13 with me please, "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." We have been called to freedom. In Christ and by Christ freedom has been given to us. And this is not freedom from political tyranny, but its freedom from the ultimate tyranny, the tyranny of sin, death and the devil.
But also look at what this freedom in Christ is not. It’s not freedom to self indulge. If that’s what you want, if you want to indulge in yourself, then Christianity is not for you. Christ died to set you free from sin, not to give you license to sin.
A Chinese proverb says: "For some people, the center of their universe is their navel." In our very self-centered world, people often view themselves as the most important thing in the universe. This self-centered focus is where we get the term “navel gazing” from. That isn’t what Christ has called us to. He didn’t die so we’d be free to sin. Rather we are, as it says in the second half of verse 13, we are free to serve one another in love.
Our freedom in Christ has not been declared to us for our own self-centered purposes. We are free to serve one another in love. In the love that’s ours through the cross of Christ. That cross shows us the cost of our freedom paid by God through the death of His Son so that we might know just how deep the Father’s love for us is.
That love declares to us the Power that’s ours to live in. To live in the Spirit, to serve one another in love as the Holy Spirit guides and leads us, that’s what this declaration in Galatians tells us. God loved us and God served us. He put His love into our hearts and our only way of showing that love is to serve one another from our heart. Self-indulgence has no place when we serve one another, with one heart.
One heart in Christ is what’s ours now in the freedom declared to us in Christ. With one heart we live and serve together. We’re not, as verse 26 says, to become conceited, provoking and envying each other. So with this freedom from sin and this freedom to serve one another how then do we act? What does our life, with one heart, look like?
In the months ahead we will be looking at that as we move into the strategic ministry planning that was approved at the voters meeting last week. That plan will be helpful and useful in our service to each other and in the society in which we live. But we do not wait for that plan before we start, as verse 14 says, loving our neighbor as ourselves. We don’t need to wait for a plan to not bite and devour one another, as verse 15 says.
We as Christians don’t focus on self, even though our society has moved very much in that direction as one comic on cable tv pointed when he said: "Once upon a time we all subscribed to LIFE magazine, but that became too wide a circle of concern, so we narrowed it down to PEOPLE magazine. But that was still too much for us, so we shrunk it down further to US magazine. And now the final and inevitable step: SELF magazine."
Yes our culture wants us to indulge the self. That didn’t come from our founding documents as a nation. And that doesn’t come from what Christ has done for us on the cross. We are to love one another and to show that love by serving one another.
It is with one heart, a heart of freedom and love that we serve one another. And with that one heart we declare that freedom and love from God to others. People can only have this freedom as it is declared to them, it comes no other way. They must have it told to them for them to receive it. We must be willing to take this message and declare to them as others before us have declared it to us.
Our own Declaration of Independence is a statement that tells the world who we are as a nation. It declares that political abuses and usurpations of power will not be tolerated. So also what Christ has set us free from need not be tolerated by us any longer. We are free of the tyranny of sin, as we’ve said, not by any self declared right, but by the right of Jesus Christ to set us free by the power of His blood.
How will your freedom in Christ, your freedom to serve one another, be played out? Last week we had 20 people in this congregation here serving the needs of the over 30 kids who came to VBS. If you notice in the bulletin we had everybody from jr highers to retired people here serving. What a great testimony of God's love expressed in a real life way by His people in this place.
You know when it comes to not indulging in our own sin, but living in the freedom that God's love has won for us we all have daily choices to make. What helps you in those daily moments? Is it doing devotions in the morning that will assist you to resist temptation? What about changing your home page on your computer? Maybe having your home page be the LC-MS . org web site. If you do that near the top of that page is a daily devotional that you simply click on and it takes just a moment to read. So when you set down to your computer the first thing that opens is that devotional page and that can be a help to be reminded of the freedom from sin that’s yours in Christ.
When it comes to being reminded of your freedom from sin; this week provides us a unique opportunity. When you watch the fireworks that are set off in celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, be reminded that in that document its conclusion declares that we have a “firm reliance on Divine Providence.” Let that be your firm reliance also. Rely on what God's divine providence has provided you. His declaration is that you are free from sin, death and devil. As the verse in Galatians we read earlier said, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. In His name, amen.