The Ultimate Freedom
This year is a big one.
Two hundred and fifty years. On July 4, 1776, a group of men signed their names to a document that declared a new nation free. A quarter of a millennium later, here we are, still celebrating that freedom with fireworks and flags and family cookouts in the backyard.
I love it. I love the burgers on the grill, the kids running around with sparklers, the booms lighting up the night sky. I love living in a country where I am free to vote, free to speak out, and free to gather with God's people and worship Jesus out in the open without fear.
And I am deeply grateful. Grateful for the men and women who gave their lives so that freedom could be declared, defended, and handed down to us 250 years later. That is no small thing, and it is worth honoring.
So, let's celebrate. Let's celebrate well.
But as we mark 250 years of American freedom this July 4, I want to point you to a freedom that is older still. A freedom that no document declared and no army secured. A freedom that will outlast every nation that has ever flown a flag.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. (Galatians 5:1)
A FREEDOM OLDER THAN 1776
Sometimes, we might be tempted to think of freedom as something that began with the founding of this country. And in one sense, our American freedom did.
But the freedom Jesus offers didn't begin in 1776. It didn't begin in Philadelphia. It was purchased two thousand years ago on a hill outside Jerusalem.
Long before there was a Declaration of Independence, there was a cross.
And on that cross, Jesus secured a freedom for you that no founding father could sign into existence. He set you free from the things that no nation has ever been able to free a single soul from.
Sin. Death. The Law. Condemnation.
That's the kind of freedom we're talking about. Not the freedom to govern ourselves, as good as that is, but the freedom to be reconciled to the God who made us.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF FREEDOM
Here's something worth sitting with this July 4.
The freedom we celebrate as Americans is mostly an external freedom. It's freedom from tyranny. Freedom from being ruled by a king across the ocean. Freedom to speak, to gather, to vote, to worship.
And those freedoms are a gift, and we should be so grateful.
But notice what they can't do.
Political freedom can free your body, but it can't free your heart. It can remove a tyrant from a throne, but it can't remove the sin that sits on the throne of your soul. It can give you the right to pursue happiness, but it can't actually give you the abundant life your heart was made for.
You can live in the freest nation on earth and still be a slave.
A slave to sin. A slave to shame. A slave to the endless treadmill of trying to earn your worth, prove yourself, and measure up.
That's the bondage Jesus came to break.
When Jesus sets you free, the chains that fall off aren't the kind a government can put on you. They're the chains that have been wrapped around your heart since the day you were born into Adam.
He frees you from the penalty of sin, so there is now no condemnation for you (Romans 8:1).
He frees you from the power of sin, so it no longer has to be your master (Romans 6:14).
He frees you from the crushing weight of the Law, so you're no longer striving to be accepted but living from an acceptance you already have (Gal. 5:1).
That is a freedom America never declared. It's a freedom only Jesus can give.
A FREEDOM THAT CAN'T BE TAKEN AWAY
No one can repeal the freedom you have if you are in Christ. No one can vote it away. No election, no enemy, no failure of yours, and no power in all creation can undo what Jesus did for you.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
Your circumstances can change. But your standing in Christ is settled forever. You were raised with Him, seated with Him, hidden with Him in God (Colossians 3:1-3). That's not a freedom you're working to keep. It's a freedom you've already been given and can never lose.
WHAT DOES THIS FREEDOM MEAN FOR YOU TODAY?
This isn't just theology for a holiday. This is the most practical thing in the world.
So, what does the ultimate freedom in Christ actually mean for you today? Your difficult marriage? Your anxiety? Your past?
It means you can stop performing.
You don't have to earn God's approval, because in Christ you already have it. The pressure is off. You can quit trying to be enough and rest in the One who already is.
It means you can stop hiding.
Because your sin has been dealt with at the cross, you don't have to wear a mask anymore. You can be honest about your struggles and walk in the light.
It means you can stop being afraid.
Whatever the headlines say, whatever the future holds, you belong to a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. God is sovereign, and nothing can separate you from His love.
It means you can finally be free to love.
When all your needs are already met in Christ, you no longer have to use people to fill the holes in your heart. You're free to serve, free to give, free to lay yourself down for others the way Jesus did for you.
That's not freedom to do whatever you want. That's freedom to live out who you already are in Christ.
THE INVITATION
Maybe you're reading this and you've never experienced that kind of freedom. You know the freedom of being an American, but you've never known the freedom of being a child of God.
Well, the good news is that freedom is available to you right now, and it isn't earned. It's received.
It doesn't come by trying harder, cleaning yourself up, or signing your name to anything. It comes by grace, through faith, in Jesus alone. He did all the work on the cross. He's simply inviting you to receive it.
The Son is offering to set you free. And if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
CONCLUSION
So this July 4, as we celebrate 250 years of American freedom, let's celebrate with everything we've got. Let's thank God for this country, for those who secured these freedoms, and for the privilege of living where we live.
But let's not stop there.
Let's lift our eyes to a freedom older than 1776, deeper than any declaration, and more secure than any nation. A freedom bought not with the blood of soldiers but with the blood of the Lamb.
The ultimate freedom.
The freedom that is ours, today and forever, in Christ.
