June/July 2009

"ENJOY YOUR FREEDOM "

Standing on Liberty Island in New York Harbor is the Stature of Liberty, a monument symbolizing liberty and freedom. Its proper name is "Liberty Enlightening the World." The familiar part of the poem written by Emma Lazarus and inscribed on Lady Liberty reads:

".cries she
With silent lips, 'Give me your tired, your poor,
Your Huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

That "liberty" stands as the hallmark of the American freedom we celebrate on Independence Day. This can serve to remind the Christian of the deeper liberating freedom with which we have been gifted by Jesus Chris. The apostle Paul wrote to the Galatian Christians: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Gal. 5:1). What is the yoke of slavery from which Christ has freed us? It is the burden of trying to keep the Law of God as the way to win His favor. That is a burden no one can bear, so Christ bore it for us. Jesus won God's favor for us by dying and rising again. We do nothing. It is a pure gift of God's grace. Jesus, then, has freed us to be the people of God.

Jesus, who is the "Light of the world," ever stands before us with the invitation:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
And I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from me,
For I am gentle and humble in heart, And you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)

For us Jesus stands at the threshold of the door to eternal life, not as a symbol but as the Savior through whom we do not earn freedom, but live in it by the grace of God. For the people of God every day is Independence Day.

Enjoy your freedom while you serve the Lord and serve others in Christian love.

Pastor John

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