A Path to Freedom
John 8 (NIV)
31...Jesus said, "If
you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
32 Then you will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free."
33 They answered him,
"We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of
anyone.
How can you say that we
shall be set free?"
34 Jesus replied, "I
tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
35 Now a slave has no
permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.
36 So if the Son sets you
free, you will be free indeed.
Sin results in bondage. True freedom comes through release by
the Son. Jesus Christ is The Truth who sets us free. We really
come to know The Truth as we are living in His teaching.
Discipleship is learning to apply the Word of God to our lives.
That process works change and gives freedom. None of us has
arrived.
We have two phases we want to work through in our discipleship
process.
First, we want tounderstand the principles that lead to
freedom. We will look at the Scriptures in order to expose those
areas where we need to apply them and then we will look for
specific ways to implement the applications.
Second, we want to provide a safe place where each is able to
share where he is at in discipleship. Each person must feel free
to describe the pain, the hurt, the progress, the failure and the
faith that he feels. Honest responses allow each person to process
truth at his own rate.
The Psalmist models an honest expression of feelings that
ranges from anger to peace, from fear to confidence, from
depression to hope. The emotions come tumbling out with no one to
correct or to judge. When an angry David asks the Lord to wipe out
his enemies, it would be easy to say, "You shouldn't say
that, David!" But those feelings have been preserved for us
by the Holy Spirit without censure.
The biblical order demands that confrontation be initiated
privately. "If your brother sins, go and reprove him in
private." [Matt. 18:15]
Jesus demonstrates this in the way he handled people. Only the
self-willed and the self-righteous did he rebuke publicly, i.e.,
the Pharisees, the rich young ruler and Peter. But the seeking
sinner, the desperate person he deals with in private, i.e., the
Samaritan woman and Nicodemus.
We don't have to change people. That is the work of the Holy
Spirit. The Spirit of God transforms us into Christlikeness which
is true liberty [2 Cor. 3:17,18]. He will internalize the biblical
principles and we will see progress. We give an"Amen" to
His process in the life of each other.
