THE ILLUSION OF FREEDOM
Freedom. If there is a word that we have come become obsessed with in Canadian society, this may well be it. Freedom - individual freedom. I can't tell you what to do. You can't tell me what to do. Each our own person. Free.
So great. So important. So we think.
Ever stop to wonder about that, sometimes? Whether our freedom is all we think it to be?

Even within Canada we are only free so long as we do not contravene any of the laws of the land. We are NOT free to murder our enemies, or steal another's possessions, or park in the handicapped-designated sites without a permit, or smoke in the hospital. We are not free from taxes.
We are not free from susceptibility to the flu, or ageing, or ultimately - death. These forces control us - no matter how many garlic pills we quaff or miles we jog.
Free? Just look outside. We're faced with a bit of an updraft from the Gulf of Mexico which wandered its way northward and wrapped its slick, designed by El Nino, mitts around the throat of Eastern Canada. Whump - millions of people held prisoner.

Those are forces which stare us in the face. But they're not the only ones. They're not even the biggest ones. Far more pervasive - world-wide in scope - are forces that hold within their grip the entire human race. The entire Cosmos, in fact, is under their influence.
No one, nothing is free from their grip.

The forces I speak of are spiritual forces:
living, real, but extending far beyond the boundaries of physical space and time as we experience it. They are the spiritual forces of two empires, two Kingdoms.
One is the Kingdom of the Cosmic Creator; of God, the Master and Maker of Life, life out there, your life, my life.
The other is an impostor Kingdom, a dark Kingdom, the kingdom under the icy grip of one who began as a servant of the Great Divine Creator, but who then rebelled. He is Satan, the Devil, the Prince of Darkness. He has one basic goal in life -
to dump as much destruction and chaos and death into God's good created order as possible. Think of this Satan as the great cosmic vandal. If it can be destroyed he will be there trying to do precisely that.
The bible records the seduction of our first human parents by this Satan. Their affirmative response to his siren song gave him the foothold in Creation that he needed. From that point on his presence has affected and held sway everywhere.
Layer after layer, weighing everything down with his dark, destructive presence just like the layer after layer of ice that weighed this region down -- so Satan keeps upping the pressure, hoping creation will snap.

He laughs when global warming causes natural disasters.
He giggles with glee when drought causes mass human misery.
He smiles when a life buckles under the effects of cancer; or when a marriage begun with great expectation goes dark and collapses into divorce.

His effect is everywhere. No one can escape him. Oh we may try. But eventually he catches up to us. Or waits us out until the moment of the grave. Death. That's his final weapon. That's when his icy paw closes around humanity for the last and ultimate time. When he stands ready to claim men and women, boys and girls.
The Bible uses various terms to describe Satan's hold on creation, but the most common and most powerful are these two --
slavery (Gal 4.3)
bondage. (Heb 2.15)
We could, very honestly, say that all else being equal, Satan has the right to stand before God at the moment of a person's death and hiss, "That one belongs to me."

So much for freedom, fellow Canadians!
Now we can ignore it. We can keep ourselves preoccupied try to look past it, but eventually it'll catch up to us. And then what?

Think back to a little earlier in the service. We stood here and recited the traditional words of the Apostles' Creed. As part of that we said,
"I believe.... in Jesus Christ, His son, our Lord."
As we talk about freedom, more perceived than real, what does this statement mean -- Jesus.... our..... Lord.
 
 

Lord - not a term we're too terribly used to in post-modern Ottawa. Except, perhaps, for that rather archaic vestige of feudalism, Lords and Ladies, as we see it in Great Britain. What the ancient words of the Creed mean by "Lord" is "ultimate authority - Supreme Power - no one greater."
Lord.

In that context I'd ask you to take a hymnbook and read with me a statement of faith, a statement about spiritual reality as the Bible describes it, and as bible students have understood it for hundreds of years.
And as we read it, you may want to flip your bibles open on your laps and keep one eye on the passage I read a little earlier, the one from Philippians 2.

THE FACT OF JESUS' LORDSHIP
Because of the Fall into sin, as we already mentioned, we became slaves to sin, captives of Satan's kingdom. He had, in a real and horrible way, a rightful claim on us.
He, Satan, was our Lord!
Awful, but true.

It was a tight grip that Satan had on humanity. But when Jesus became found in appearance as a man... humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross (as v.8 puts it), he broke that grip of Satan.
And so when, at the point of death, Satan steps forward to lay claim of ownership on the soul of that person; if it is a person who has turned to Jesus and deliberately surrendered their life to Him, declared full allegiance to Him,
then Jesus is there, waiting, also at the point of death.
And Satan is rebuffed.

That person, allied to Jesus, has been bought by Jesus --
fought for by Jesus through His life here on earth
died for by Jesus
claimed eternally by Jesus after His resurrection to life.
That person belongs to Jesus.
Not to Satan. He has no right to anyone who sides with Jesus, who claim Jesus as their Lord. No right at all.
Understand that, dear people.
Because in that understanding, and in then acting on that understanding --
- since understanding is not enough -
you will find real freedom,
lasting, eternal freedom,

"I believe in Jesus Christ, God's son, our Lord."
The world was created by God - good, pure, perfect.
Satan's illegitimate entry and erstwhile reign bring terror, destruction, chaos and death.
Jesus came to reclaim creation and those who are in it. To bring life.
He came so that every knee would one day bow in submission,
either willingly
or wrestled down; forced to knuckle under; humbled.

"every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord..."
The final authority. In ultimate control. No greater power than He.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF JESUS' LORDSHIP
All of which has huge implications for those of us here today.
For if you think of Satan's influence as being like all that ice rain we've experienced: weighing our lives down, buckling them, bringing them to the point of collapse --
-- then think of Jesus as the One who is the Sunshine that melts that ice.

If you want to use legal terms, Satan has locked us into cuffs and chains. Jesus, by His greater authority, has the key to set us free. And He will. If you ask Him.
Have you?

Did you hear the words of the Catechism?
He has set us FREE from sin and from the tyranny of the
devil, and has bought us, body and soul, to be his very own.

There's an amazing passage I want to read at this point. Found in the Bible at Galatians 4.4-4.7. Follow along if you want. Otherwise listen. I'm going to read it from a contemporary rendition of these words first penned in the ancient Greek language.

You are Christ's family; Abraham's famous "descendant," heirs according to the covenant promises.... ...When the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent His son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that He might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children, because God sent the Spirit of His Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance. God's son takes us who were slaves to Satan,
sets us free,
picks us up,
and adopts us as His very own precious sons and daughters.
And let me assure you, God takes good care, very good care of his sons and daughters. He never forgets about one or the other of them.

Sometimes when Sharon and I are going in or out of a crowded place, we will often stop for a quick head count because we are afraid that we might have lost one of them in the shuffle. And it could easily happen. Perhaps you remember from the news a few years ago how a poor mother in England who lost her little 2 year old son in the shopping mall by complete accident. He was kidnapped and brutally murdered.
With God, however, that will never happen.

The bible gives these promises as rock solid truth:
The very hairs on your head are numbered.
Neither height nor depth nor anything can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands...
Promises for you because Jesus is Lord.
You value and worth as a person is secure in Him.
Your eternal destiny is assured because of Him.
Your path through life will be determined by Him, controlled by Him.
Satan is cut out of the loop.
And a second difference: If Jesus is Lord, your Lord, and if this Jesus is at the head of an army that is busy pushing back the forces of sin and Satan, busy reclaiming the Cosmos, creation for the One who created it, then you who are His,
royal princes and princesses of the Kingdom of Heaven
you are a part of that army.
You have a part in the mission.
You, with other believers, are called to work towards bringing every dominion, authority, and power into submission under Jesus Christ.

Challenge the influence of Satan wherever you encounter it.
Don't give up on the political scene, throwing up your hands and mumbling that it's all too big and corrupt, anyway, and is no place for a Christian.
Don't say that involvement in the union movement is the stuff of darkness and ought not be a place for us to tread.

Same thing for the part of creation concerning education -- whether through the public school system, or the separate system, or through the alternative model of private Christian schooling.
When you enter the world of recreation, play for Jesus.
When you engage the world of the arts -- theatre, dance, song -- don't turn your back on it as evil, relinquishing it to the impostor Lord. Reclaim it for the rightful Master.

And you that go out in the army of Jesus, sons and daughters of God, look to your Lord, your pacesetter, trailblazer and commander.
That is why Philippians 2 exhorts us:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus...

Our Lord laid down his very life for we unlovable people, giving up any rights or claims to prestige and power in order to do so.
Your attitude should be the same....
How is it with us, brothers and sisters? Is our first concern what can we get, what is our reward, what is the benefit to us, how much do we enjoy it, is it meeting our needs?
Your attitude should be the same...
 

That's all part of standing here and reciting "Jesus is Lord".

And finally this -
Jesus, as Lord, demands absolute loyalty.
No compromising allowed.
No saying, "Yes I know what Jesus wants, but the reality of my situation dictates....."
No - the reality, the final and ultimate reality is that Jesus is Lord, and every knee and every authority and power and dominion are going to have to submit to him -- every area of our life is going to have to submit to him....
even when it feels uncomfortable!

That's the reality we confessed. That's the reality we are called to live out in this coming week. And that the reality that will make life the most beautiful; most liveable; and ultimately the most free.