From the Pastor |
In 5 days we will celebrate our Independence Day… The 4th of July… a time when our thoughts turn to parades, fireworks and cookouts.
Well… most years anyway. This year… if any parades are happening, they are modified… motorcade style events with no marchers… Doesn’t that sound “great”? Most towns have even cancelled their firework plans; not all, but they will be rare this year… I guess that leaves us with cookouts… as long as you limit it to 25 people or less. (SIGH) more glorious traditions demolished by Covid-19. But… you know what? The 4th of July is NOT ABOUT parades… or fireworks… or even cookouts. Those are wonderful traditions that were born out of our celebration of the REAL meaning of Independence Day: FREEDOM! July 4th is the day we remember and celebrate how a group of colonies banded together to declare their independence from the British Empire… When they openly declared their desire… and their willingness to fight for freedom. Freedom is a fabulous thing… it is a concept we, as a nation, rally around… a concept we take great pride in… a concept that we sometimes abuse… and often greatly take for granted. Our Constitution provides for many freedoms… freedom of speech... freedom of the press… freedom of religion… the right to peacefully assembly… the right to bear arms… and the list goes on and on. However, these freedoms and rights do NOT allow us to simply do whatever we want… wherever we want… whenever we want. There are still laws to follow… other people to consider… We have to realize that when we exercise our freedoms… we need to be responsible enough to accept the consequences for our speech and actions. I bring this up because the Nature of Freedom is what Paul is talking about in this section of his letter to the church in Rome. “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” Freedom! Through Christ we are set free from sin… we are no longer slaves to sin and death… WE ARE FREE! But Paul makes sure to remind us that, much like the freedoms we enjoy here in America… the freedom Paul speaks of… IS NOT the freedom to go and do whatever we please. “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!” Absolutely not! In fact… the freedom found in Christ is very different. We are not set free to do whatever we want… we are simply set free to choose a different master. According to Paul… people are never completely “free”… we are always under the power and authority of someone or something. He wrote: “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God… You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” You see… The question is not… whether or not you will follow someone or something… but WHO or WHAT you will follow. Paul wants his readers, and now us, to realize that as believers, we are no longer slaves to sin… our allegiance is no longer to the forces of this world… our allegiance is to the one who loves us enough to die for us…. Christ died so we could be free from sin and death… Christ rose so that we too might find new life… a life devoted to God. We are indeed set free… free to live… free to love… free to become what we were meant to become… Devoted Children of God… righteous and holy. We cannot truly say ‘yes’ to God unless we consciously say ‘no’ to sin. The problem we face in our contemporary society is that too often we view ‘Sin’ as only major transgressions like murder… or as something blatantly evil. Sin is so much more basic than that and none of us… not a one of us are immune to it. Sin is anything that pulls us away from God… anything that damages our relationship with God and with other people. Sin encompasses those big transgressions and obvious evil perversions… but also includes even the small corruptions of what is good and is often centered on our selfishness. Gossiping, losing your temper… failing to love your neighbor… every neighbor! These are sins. The Greek word we translate as sin actually means “missing the mark,” and sin includes all of those things that we do, as well as those things that we have not done, that cause us to “miss the mark” when it comes to living by God’s commands. As Paul tells us… “The wages of sin is death.” The death of justice and peace… the death of human dignity… the death of body and soul. And let’s face it… Sin and death are incredibly strong forces in our world… We see them at work all around us… we see them in our economic, political, and social systems. Sin seems to have dominion over this world… And I’m sorry to say… sin has even permeated many of our churches… and Paul reminds us, even Christians are not immune to the temptations of sin. We are human… we are prone to sin… even Christians do in fact sin… sometimes in small ways… sometimes not so small. So he encourages us: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.” Do NOT let ANY part of yourself be an instrument of evil… not your hands or your feet… not your heart or your mind… not even your tongue… not ANY part of you. Instead… embrace the freedom Christ has provided and allow every part of you… your whole being to become an instrument of God’s righteousness… For it is through God's grace… Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ… that we are set free from the power of sin and death. This is not a grace that merely eases our guilt and makes us feel better about ourselves. This is a grace that seeks us out… offering God's love and God's mercy. Grace that breaks the chains of sin and death and binds us to righteousness instead. We are no longer free to do what sin would have us do… Instead, we are bound to God, and we become active participants in God’s mission in the world. The mission… not simply to “save” souls… but to bring change… to work to bring God’s healing and wholeness, and a glorious renewal of creation… This mission… God's mission… begins now! Friends… when we follow Jesus… when we accept the freely offered gift of eternal life that replaces the consequence of sin that is death… a response is required. So… What will be our response? Will we actively participate in the mission of God? Will we work for justice, freedom and peace? Will we… with all our being… become the instruments of God’s righteousness… of goodness, love, grace and mercy… of justice and peace? Will we loudly and boldly proclaim… through our words and our actions the Gospel of Christ Jesus? Or... Will we continue to allow sin to dictate our lives? Will we settle for the watered down Gospel of personal salvation that misses the mark? Will we turn a blind eye to the poor, and the needy in our own community? Will we ignore the suffering of the millions of people who will die because they lack clean water, adequate food supplies and medicines? Will we speak words of fear and anger… will we allow words of prejudice and hatred to leave our lips? Will we continue to remain silent in the face of injustice, violence and war? Since we are bound to God as slaves of Righteousness… do we really have a choice? Amen.
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Yeon Shin
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