JESUS, THE TRUE LIBERATOR
Lemah Putro, Sunday, June 14, 2020
By Rev. Paulus Budiono
Shalom,
Let us unite our hearts in binding our promise that we live for Him, our hearts worship Him and our eyes are fixed only on Him even though we still live in this world. Honestly, if we are no longer interested in His Word, the world will trap us into returning to the desires of the flesh.
Eventhough we do our worship or service or godliness in different places via online, we should be thankful that we can still listen to the Word of God to enjoy His love, that keeps us strong and not easily influenced by the world’s tense conditions caused by the COVID-19 virus and also Satan's deception that wants to trap us. We should keep our spirits up after being freed from sin by the blood of Jesus and led by the Holy Spirit into all truth.
This time God's Word wants to strengthen our faith through writing in the Gospel of John 8: 30-36, “As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
The above verses do not seem to have a problem when we glance through it but when we read further it appears to a condition that is both shocking and sad, after Jesus forgave an adulterous woman. Indeed, many people believed in Jesus' words (John 8:30) but ironically, in the end they took stones to throw at Him (v. 59).
Jesus greatly valued those who believed in Him and at that time it was directed at the Jews. What about our faith, the Gentiles, towards the verses in the Bible written by the Jews – the same Bible that we believe as we have faith in the same Jesus? Why did the rejection finally occur so that Jesus disappeared and left the Temple?
Introspection: We are the spiritual Temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). Have we been so careless that the Word of truth left us? However (the Word) God still speaks and He wants in every service – offline or online – our faith grows after hearing and reading the Gospel because we know the Word is God (John 1: 1) and became flesh and has tabernacled among us ( v. 14). Ironically, we (believers) come to worship but after that it seems that we reject the Word by not doing deeds of faith to become His disciples even though God wants an increase in knowing the truth to experience freedom / liberty.
Notice, people who believe in God and value His Word are one case, while those who do the Word and truly live the Word are another.
The Jews refused when they were considered as not independent because as descendants of Abraham they felt they had never been servants/ slaves to anyone. Jesus then expressed their true viewpoint that the Jews were very religious about the Law and the rules. When they were dealing with the adulterous women, they immediately used the law to judge her with the intention of throwing stones at her (John 8: 4-5)? But Jesus saw their dishonesty because they did not present men who committed the adultery. Jesus' right words released the woman but they were displeased.
What kind of slavery did Jesus mean? A person experiences freedom if he is no longer enslaved by sin (still) and Jesus, the Son of God, is able to free him. But until now the Jews did not believe in Jesus and remained to hold on the Law even though the Law did not save and could not wash away sins (Hebrews 10: 1-4).
It must be admitted no one is righteous, everyone has sinned (Romans 3:10, 23); evidently no one – from the oldest to the youngest – threw the first stone at the adulterous woman (John 8: 7-9). The Apostle Paul acknowledged that he and we too were sold, under the power of sin (Romans 7:14); thus he as well as we become slaves to sin. That is why Jesus reminded us to dwell in His Word to know the truth that can set us free from the bondage of sin.
Unfortunately, many people do not understand the truth, including Pilate who asked Jesus “what is the truth?” When Jesus explained about His coming to the world to give testimony about the truth (John 18: 38a). Note that even the world’s great philosophies do not reveal absolute truths, but only in certain areas (e.g. the truth in a country's culture) but Jesus said that He is the truth (John 14: 6); The Holy Spirit is truth (1 John 5: 6) and God is truth (John 17: 3). We need to know the truth of the Triune God, experience it and store it in our lives.
It is proven that truth is not just words, ideas / thoughts or a philosophy but a Person (the Triune God) who persists and accompanies those who know the truth (2 John 1: 1-2). The Apostle John was very happy when he heard the testimony of those who lived in truth (3 John 1: 1-4). Obviously, how can we be free if we reject the Person of God who is the truth, reject the freeing Word and reject the leading of the Holy Spirit into all truth?
Remember, those who sin are slaves of sin and do not stay in the house – they will leave the house at any time – but the son stays in the house, that is, everyone who believes in His name and accepts Him; they are recognized as God's children (John 1:12). Even Ephesians 2:19 confirms that we are no longer strangers and migrants but members of God's family, isn't this an abundant and unstoppable joy in our lives? Jesus also promised that He would go to His Father's house to provide a place for us (John 14: 2) on the condition that we should repent and be free from the slavery of sin.
Introspection: We have to admit that we still make a lot of mistakes. To what extent is our repentance continue to know Him and experience freedom? Are we still playing with sin to get more grace? If we really died for sin, were baptized in Christ and our old life was buried in His death, we are free from the slavery of sin to live for God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6: 1-2,6-11 , 15-17) and become servants of righteousness / servants of God that bring us to sanctification and eternal life (vv. 18-23).
It is unfortunate that the Jews rejected Jesus and His truth; in contrast to a Jew named Paul who repented and his writings became a blessing to the Gentiles (including us) who became believers and knew God.
Why did Jesus talk about "The Son makes you free"? He wanted to show that He is the true Liberator who is able to liberate those who initially believed in Him but intended to reject Him; in fact they wanted to kill Him even though they were still in the Temple. Ironically, they rejected the words of Jesus (the Word of truth) but claimed to have never been a servant of sin. They believed in Jesus as a first step but did not continue to keep His words. Jesus considered that they did not understand the meaning of freedom leading to eternal life but only practiced religious worship. They wanted to kill Jesus because their hearts could not accommodate His Word (John 8:37). Obviously, they did not want to experience the renewal of life.
Jesus further rebuked them loudly and said, that it was Satan who became their father because Satan did not live in truth and he was the father of all lies. They did not listen to Jesus' words because they were not from God (John 8: 44-47). Beware of those whose hearts do not want to contain the Word of truth!
Introspection: Are we from God? Do we believe the Word of truth as a whole and are willing to be led by the Holy Spirit into all truth? Don't make it into a habit to believe in one verse and then ignore another verse as many people who believe in Jesus but they refuse Him when Jesus wanted to purify their hearts.
Honestly speaking, we often don't practice the Word we believe in to be released from the bondage of sin. Be assured that Jesus has removed the power of Satan who enslaved mankind when He was crucified.
Besides Jesus, the Apostle Paul also experienced the rejection of preaching the Word of truth. At first, the Galatians welcomed Paul as enthusiastically as he welcomed an angel (Galatians 4: 12-15) but when speaking the truth, he became their enemy (v. 16). Why did they become hostile to Paul? Because they turned and followed other gospels that confused and even distorted the Gospel of Christ (Galatians 1: 6-9). We must hold fast to the gospel of truth which is tried to be blocked by false brothers who infiltrate to serve us with rules and liturgy (Galatians 2: 4-5).
Note, the Gospel of Truth must not be shifted or twisted into the equivalent of the Gospel of Healing or the Gospel of Prosperity. Apostle Paul openly opposed the hypocritical attitude of the Apostle Peter in defending the truth of the gospel (Galatians 4: 11-14) because the beginning of the gospel was Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1: 1). Did the Apostle Paul and the other apostles know that they were martyred as the consequences of becoming an example in declaring the truth?
We, the Gentiles, who did not know God before, were given the right to be His children when we believed in Jesus. We must accept the whole truth and Jesus knows that there are still many things that cannot be covered; that is why He sent the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth (John 16: 12- 13).
Application: we should trust the Bible completely, do not doubt, reject, let alone kill / hate it. If the truth is dead in our lives, we become slaves to sin that is leading to death.
The Apostle Paul reminded us that Christ had freed the Galatians (and us); therefore we do not want to be the subject to a yoke of bondage (Galatians 5: 1). In the past, they (us too) competed well, who hindered them (us too) from obeying the truth (v. 7)?
Beware if we are no longer diligent (competing) to do the truth but begin to be lazy to read the Word of God also reluctant to worship and serve; a little yeast leavens the whole lump (v. 9). Instead, we must make maximum use of freedom to serve one another by love instead of biting and devouring one another (vv. 13-15).
God's truth is whole, eternal and never changes. Jesus – the Word – is the truth that remains the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13: 8). If we want to be free from the bondage of sin, we must study the Word more and be willing to be led by the Holy Spirit, then we become servants of truth that leads us to eternal life with Him. Amen.
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