Free!

“Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.”  Moshe Dayan

  Will you bear with me as I share an absurd idea? Last Sunday, we celebrated Easter, can you imagine though for a moment, that after His glorious resurrection, Jesus returned to the tomb and made that tomb His new home? We’re big on Easter and we should be! God the Father raised Jesus from the dead, putting an exclamation mark on the life of His Son. We celebrate, “The Lord is risen! He is risen, indeed!” What we forget though is that as New Testament believers, we are the People of the Resurrection!

  The resurrection was not just about Jesus; it’s about us, too. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:23-24). The resurrection is about God giving us power over sin and death.  

  From the start then, the bodily resurrection of Jesus was seen by his followers as much more than just what happens to us after we die. It was, in a sense, a second creation. In raising Jesus from the dead, God demonstrated His intent to fix His creation, to re-set the world, to do for the entirety of creation what He had done for His Son.

  This is why the Gospel of John begins with the words “in the beginning,” a clear reference back to Genesis 1, and then prefaces its account of the resurrection with, “now on the first day of the week.” John wasn’t just saying that our Lord rose on a Sunday (although He did)—John was emphasizing that the new creation had begun. That resurrection begins in us. That’s why we call it “new life in Christ.”

  Recently, I read a rather unbelievable incident where a young married man forgot that he was married. After returning from their honeymoon, the husband was three hours late getting home from work one evening because he absentmindedly had gone back to his mother’s house instead of going home to his new bride. Just a small tip for young husbands: Don’t forget that you are married! Yet, while that sort of thing is rare in the realm of marriage, it’s  very common among those who are “married” to Christ. We’re joined to Him as His bride so that we are now members of His body. We’re now identified with Him in His death and resurrection.

  The power of sin has been broken. So why do we live like dead people? Why do we choose to live like those who are still shackled and imprisoned? It doesn’t make any sense. Little wonder that those who are still spiritually dead ignore us when we talk about their need for new life in Christ, when we act as decaying and decomposing as they are.

  The resurrection means that we are FREE! We’ve been emancipated, yet so many of us live like we’re still imprisoned. That’s both sad and stupid.

  This morning we’re starting a new study, FREE. Jesus died and rose again to set us free. He promised, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Too many of us fail to live in the freedom that is ours. We neglect this wonderful truth every time that we fall into sin, every time we move back into the tomb of our past life.

  We are free and by the power of His resurrection, we’re to live as free people. That means that we are to have an active role in the new creation. What we do with our life and body in the present matters, whether it’s our vocation, our hobbies, or our worship. Our new freedom should make a difference in our marriage, our care for our children, or just loving our neighbor as ourselves, or even caring for the needy.

  As someone has insightfully said, “It’s all part of colonizing earth with the life of heaven.” This new creation, this divine project was first initiated at the resurrection of Jesus. It’s what it means to be free! God has called us to be part of His divine project of restoration. We’re to be the peacemakers, sharing and bringing peace to a broken world through works of grace, acts of justice, and His word of truth.

  Yet, it’s so easy—too easy, in fact—to identify and decry all the ways that the world is broken. To moan and groan about the stench of death and fail to live in our freedom or share it with those who are still enslaved. We’re to live free and then devote ourselves to freeing, repairing and restoring what sin has broken by offering the freedom that is available in Christ.

  God did not send His Son to the cross and raise Him from the dead for our private benefit. He did it to make those of us who say “The Lord is Risen!,” the light of the world. The Mishnah, the early 3^rd-century compilation of Jewish tradition, uses the phrase “tikkun olam,” which means “repairing the world.” That’s what it means to be resurrection people, especially since in raising Jesus from the dead, God has guaranteed that our efforts won’t be in vain. Our freedom is to be shared and used to set others free.

  The angels who were present at Jesus’ ascension asked an important question: “Why are you looking toward heaven?” (Acts 1:11) It’s a question worth considering. Frequently, we’re more concerned with heaven than with our freedom in the Kingdom of God now. Jesus’ breathtaking sacrifice at Calvary purchased our forgiveness for our sins and our hope of heaven. Yet, resurrection power is not just future, it’s for the present!

  Too many followers of Jesus have limited His work and message to heaven and heaven only. God wants us to be free now! It’s not just tomorrow, it’s for today!

  So are you free? Plan to join us for these next few weeks as we work through what God’s Word says about being FREE and the freedom that Jesus bought for us and empowers us with. It’s time to throw open the prison door and pitch the shackles. We are free!