Liberty part 1
"Give me liberty or give me death!" These words, spoken by Patrick Henry in 1775, really encapsulate what this Rant series is going to be all about. Because what we don't seem to understand is that we WERE dead before the cross. God told Adam, "But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest therof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17). And as soon as Adam ate of that tree--the tree of death--he made all of humanity the walking dead. We were slaves to sin. We weren't free. I don't why there's this idea that grace is freedom TO sin, when really grace is freedom FROM sin. I think it stems from the idea that Jesus came to make "bad" people "good." As if to say, "evil" or "sin" is our default setting, and Jesus came to change us into something different. But here's why that idea is big trouble: A huge part of my ministry is trying to help people be who they are. So if you think you're bad--if you think you have a "sin nature"--then being yourself isn't going to work. But if you understand your true identity in Christ--Christ in you the hope of glory--then you can stop trying to be someone you're not and you can rest and just be yourself! I'm telling you right now, Jesus didn't come to make "bad" people "good." He came to make dead people alive. Ephesians 2:1 says it like this, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." See, we think, "I've sinned so I'm going to die." But in truth, we sinned BECAUSE we were dead. Sin is unbelief, and before the cross we didn't have anything, or anyone to believe in. We tried to do the best we could with what we had... but when you bang your head against the wall all you get is a headache. So, at the appointed time, Jesus came to take away the sin of the world. And He took away the sin (unbelief) of the world by giving us something--someONE, Himself, Love--to believe in. He brought us out of death and into life by giving us His Spirit--the love receptor--so that we could know and believe the love of Christ! Remember, God always has and always will love us. That's not just what He does, that's who He is. But we couldn't receive that love. It seemed too good to be true. The only thing that made sense to our carnal mind was trying to earn that love and acceptance. Eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil... get enough knowledge so that we could do good and be rewarded, and stop doing evil and avoid punishment. But that's not what God wanted for us. He wanted us to eat from the Tree of Life. Because the Fruit of the Spirit is love. He wanted us to experience His love, and in that way experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life! So. Real life--Jesus' life in and through and as us--is knowing and believing the Father's love for us. And we know and believe this love through the Spirit. "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!" (2 Corinthians 3:17). Love isn't a ball and chain we have to drag around. Love is what freed us from the bondage of sin and death!