Let Freedom Ring
How do you celebrate July 4th? This year we plan to join family and friends in America’s heartland, Kansas City. We anticipate lots of great conversations, food (including an American flag cake with white icing and red and blue berries), floating on pool noodles in the lake to cool off, and participating in a community boat parade. Our day crescendos with an eye-dazzling, chest-pounding pyrotechnic display.
The freedom we enjoy in America is worth celebrating. The promise of freedom and the hope of a better life has built our nation. Freedom enables us to worship God, move about from place to place, choose a career, start a business, raise a family, and pursue a better life for others and ourselves. Without freedom, our lives would be impoverished and bleak, without joy or hope. Yet political freedom alone is inadequate for experiencing life’s greatest blessings.
The need for something more is expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Our Founding Fathers cited “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as rights granted by God and therefore absolute. The “pursuit of happiness” signals the need for something beyond mere political freedom.
The introduction of Article III of the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution offers excellent insight into the true nature of this third right:
“As the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion and morality; and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community, but by the institution of the public worship of God, and of public instructions in piety, religion and morality….”[1]
Our Founding Fathers’ generation equated the pursuit of happiness with the freedom to develop moral character and the necessary virtues through the worship of God. This alone can produce human flourishing, a life worth living, true happiness.
The greatest benefit of political freedom is unattainable without spiritual freedom. Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) said, “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Yeshua was not speaking of political freedom or the freedom to pursue what makes us momentarily happy. He was prescribing the necessity of freedom from sin’s penalty and power (cf. Romans 8:1ff). This is the freedom Yeshua alone gladly provides to Jewish people and Gentiles alike by grace through faith in His atoning sacrifice
Without spiritual freedom, political freedom is just another state of slavery. Political liberty allows us to pursue the material blessings of a good life. But the very things it enables us to possess can end up possessing us! The more we seek fulfillment in things – relationships, wealth, prestige, the affirmation or respect of others, etc., the more we need. As a fabulously wealthy man once quipped about money, “How much is enough? Just a little bit more than I currently have!” Rather than being free to pursue happiness, our desire for more enslaves us. The pursuit of happiness requires spiritual freedom.
Happily, Messiah Jesus sets us free from this hopeless state. He frees us from the diabolical deception that “more” is the answer: more money, cars, homes, relationships, clothing, toys, etc. He liberates us from the lie that accumulation is the root of happiness. Messiah also frees us to find life.
Yeshua frees us to experience God’s love – our heavenly Father who always has our best interests in mind, even when our circumstances seem to indicate the contrary. He frees us to see we are made in God’s image, have gifts that can benefit others, and that our lives have meaning and value beyond our wildest dreams. In Messiah we are freed to enjoy the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control – all the virtues intrinsic to our thriving.
This July 4th, as we celebrate Independence Day, let’s remember the Life in Messiah staff who are scattered around the world pointing people to Messiah Jesus. Some are sitting in intimate one-on-one conversations poring over the Scriptures. Others are attending pro-Israel rallies reminding the Jewish community that lovers of Jesus love His brethren (the Jewish people). And some are running toward anti-Israel protests to share the message of God’s love for all, including Israel and the Palestinians, and the path to true freedom in Messiah…even to Israel’s enemies.
May this July 4th find us all celebrating both types of freedom to the fullest…for the glory of God and the true happiness of humankind.
Written by Dan, Life in Messiah Board member
Has there been a time when you realized the limits of what political or material freedom can provide?
The Bible tells us that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). How can we avoid the trap of looking to material things for ultimate fulfillment and instead turn to the One in whom we find true meaning and joy?
Take some time to praise God for His incredible gift of freedom in Messiah as you celebrate July 4th this week. Is there someone God is leading you to share the Good News of this gift with?
Endnotes:
[1] The full text of the Massachusetts Constitution is available at https://malegislature.gov/Laws/Constitution.