A couple had been married for twenty years when they went to a wedding of a close friend’s daughter. During the ring exchange ceremony, the husband started to cry. The wife, surprised by her husband’s emotional outburst, said, "I didn’t realize that you have such deep feelings about your friend’s happiness."
The husband replied, "Twenty years ago, your father threatened that if I don’t marry you, he would put me behind bars for twenty years. And I realize if I had just gone to jail, I would’ve been a free man by now.”
What does freedom mean to you? What mental picture do you have when I say the word freedom? Do you think of Independence Day? Do you think of picnics with family and friends? Do you think of fireworks? Do you think of a man with his face painted blue who is yelling really loud?
Freedom takes on new meaning as we go through different stages in life. For the third grader, freedom is summer vacation away from school. There is no homework, there is nothing to study. It’s just time to have fun.
For the 16 year old, freedom is having that drivers’ license and being able to drive to places on your own. How many of you can still remember that feeling of freedom as you cruised down the road for the first time by yourself?
For the college student, freedom is being able to determine for yourself what time you want to come in and if you want to sleep in and skip class.
For the 29 year old husband whose wife is in Ohio for the weekend visiting her family because they are having a wedding shower for her soon to be sister-in-law, freedom is thinking he’s going to act like he did in college and stay up all night long watching action movies. Going to bed at 4 AM is not a good decision anymore.
Freedom has different meanings for different people. Perhaps the best definition of freedom that I can offer is simply this: freedom is the opportunity to make a choice. We enjoy having choices. Americans have excelled at making choices.
Just this week we have seen the new Apple I-phone sold in stores. The I-phone is not just a phone. It is also an address book to store contacts, a calendar, way to send and check email, a camera and photo album, it allows you to listen to music, and it’s a TV.
We love choices. Freedom is about making choices.
Think about this statement, “Life is the sum total of all our choices.” Every day we make choices. Some choices we make are big; some are small. Some choices have only a limited effect while others may affect the course of our entire lives and the lives of others.
There are important decisions like choosing a career, education, or a spouse. But the most important decision every person will make has to do with their freedom of religion. Life’s greatest choice is freedom of religion.
This is not a choice that began 231 years ago in our nation. Rather, freedom of religion has been in existence since the beginning of time. Adam and Eve had freedom of religion. They had a choice as to whether or not they would choose to worship God or worship themselves. All of human history from that point on has hinged on our choice in freedom of religion.
There is a great example in the Old Testament book of Joshua where the nation of Israel was given the freedom to choose whether or not they would follow God. After Moses passed away it was Joshua who led the people on their conquest of the Promised Land. And nearing the end of his life, the leader Joshua wants to assemble the people and challenge them to always make the choice of worshipping God.
Listen to Joshua 24:1, ““1Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.” So here we see the stage set. Joshua has everyone get together and stand before God.
In his farewell address to the nation, Joshua gives them…
A CHALLENGE TO REMEMBER
In verses 2 - 13 Joshua gives a quick summary of the nations’ history up to that point. “2 Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ’Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
5 " ’Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. 6 When I brought your fathers out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. 7 But they cried to the LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the desert for a long time.
8 " ’I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. 9 When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.
11 " ’Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. 12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. 13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’”
Joshua challenges the people of Israel to remember how God has delivered them to the place they are now. God has blessed them in incredible ways!
I think it is crucial as well that we remember how good God has been to the United States of America. Our nations rise to greatness cannot be attributed to any other reason except God’s blessing.
Our earliest settlers were people who came here primarily looking for religious freedom. The pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 were leaving Europe in order to seek freedom of religion. These early settlers signed their names to the Mayflower Compact document which stated their intent on coming to this new world for “the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.”
Jamestown, which was the first permanent English settlement, was begun as a commercial venture, not a religious one. But, the largest building at the very center of the settlement was the church building. Services were held twice everyday, morning and evening. On Sunday, services lasted five hours. Attendance at the services was mandatory. If you missed a service, that meant you did not receive your food ration for the day and if you had repeated absences, you could be punished by a public whipping.
At our elders meeting tomorrow night we will be talking about these procedures for our new shepherding program!
Later on as the new nation began to take shape, we see that the founding fathers believed freedom was a gift from God. The Declaration of Independence has this famous line, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
We remember the words of Patrick Henry during a speech he made while debating on the Declaration of Independence, “Give me liberty or give me death.” That was the choice Patrick Henry wanted to make.
The first amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America says specifically, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Notice that does not call for the separation of church and state, as many assume it does. The first amendment restricts the activities of the federal government. There was never any desire to restrict religion in our country.
Even the State of Indiana Constitution in the first article, sections 2 and 3 reads, “All people shall be secured in the natural right to worship ALMIGHTY GOD, according to the dictates of their own consciences.” “No law shall, in any case whatever, control the free exercise and enjoyment of religious opinions, or interfere with the rights of conscience.”
The fear that our founding fathers had was that the federal government might try and establish a national church. A church that you would have to belong to or you would not be able to serve in government, or possibly even own land. The first amendment was designed to ensure religious pluralism, not religious prohibition. (I doubt that this would be taught in many classrooms today.)
We need to remember that it was a foundation based on the choice of worshipping God that has helped make this country great.
John Adams, our second President said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Consider these words from Calvin Coolidge, our 30th president. "The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country."
Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first, which was Harvard University, chartered in 1636. Harvard, like many of the other institutions, was begun primarily as a place for educating ministers. Harvard began as a Bible college!
In the original Harvard Student Handbook, rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the Scriptures: “Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation for our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”
In the early days of our country, the Bible was allowed in the public school system. In 1782, the United States Congress voted this resolution: "The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools."
Over a 10-year period, political-science professors at the University of Houston collected and cataloged 15,000 writings by the founding fathers. Their goal was to determine the primary source of ideas behind the Constitution by identifying the sources quoted most often by them. Guess what that primary source was? It was the Bible. Their conclusion was that 94% of the quotes made by the founders of our nation were based upon the Bible.
I could keep going on and on, but I think you get the idea. Our nation’s history is firmly established with a link to God’s blessing. And just as Joshua challenged the people of Israel to remember how they had been blessed by God, we too need to listen to that challenge and remember.
Joshua did not stop at challenging them to just remember. Joshua gave them…
A CHALLENGE TO CHOOSE
Listen to verse 14, “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.”
Freedom of religion begins with a healthy respect of the Lord. This respect leads us to be authentic in our worship. God knows whether or not our hearts are fully devoted to Him. It’s obvious to Him.
A family was traveling on vacation during the summer. They had packed up the family vehicle and headed out west for a 3 week trip. As they are driving along the dad notices a sign which says “Naturalist Camp.” Well thinking that he is a naturalist that enjoys God’s creation, he’ll just take his family down this road and check out God’s creation. As they enter the naturalist camp area 5 people go by them on bicycles… not wearing any clothing.
The father is thinking about how fast he can get out of there when his young son yells out from the back seat, “Dad!! Did you see that?” He says, “Yes, son, I saw it.” His son said, “None of them were wearing helmets!”
Sometimes we can miss the obvious. But God does not miss the obvious. It is obvious to Him whether or not we are worshipping Him authentically.
That’s why Joshua tells the people they cannot fool God. Throw away your idols. Get rid of them! God is only interested in people who choose to give their entire heart to Him. We are taught to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, body, mind and strength.
Joshua goes on in verse 15 and tells the people, “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.”
Have you ever thought that serving God is undesirable? We do not like that word “serve.” Remember, we want freedom! We don’t want to serve.
But there can be no doubt that serving God is what Joshua is after. The word “serve” is used six times in verses fourteen and fifteen. Joshua was calling for a decision that would result in the people deciding once and for all who they would worship.
Just in case they wondered, Joshua let it be clearly known what he was going to do. Listen to the end of verse 15, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua used his freedom and made a choice to serve the Lord.
Today there are many people concerned about the direction America is heading. I want to make very clear this morning that I consider myself patriotic. I would be willing to step up and defend my country to anyone. But first and foremost my allegiance needs to be to Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.
As we are getting closer to another presidential election, we are already hearing about the potential candidates and their positions. There is a lot of concern about who will be the next president in the White House. But friends, our country is not going to be changed based solely upon who is in the White House. Our country is going to be changed by what happens in your house.
As our families choose to serve the Lord, our communities change. As our communities change our state changes. And as our states change our nation changes. While we need to pray for our country, right now is not the time to focus on the White House, it’s time to focus on my house.
For many years the license plates of New Hampshire had on them the slogan made famous by Revolutionary War general John Stark, "live free or die." The irony is that those great words were printed onto the license plates by inmates in the state prison.
I’m worried that there may be some people here this morning who desire freedom, but they are choosing to serve other gods and instead find themselves in a prison.
Paul told the Galatian church, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” (Galatians 5:1) Jesus said in Matthew 7:13 - 14, “13"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
In our desire for freedom we naturally think we don’t want the narrow gate. We don’t want the difficult road. We like the nice and broad interstate. It’s easier to travel on.
But there is an interesting thing about the path you choose. If you choose the broad path, it becomes narrow the longer you stay on it. Just ask the alcoholic, or the unfaithful spouse, or the dishonest businessman. The longer they remain in their sin, the more narrow and confined their lives become.
However, if you choose the narrow path, it tends to get wider as you submit yourself to the Lordship of Jesus. With Christ there is a freedom that can only come from God. And that freedom releases you to live life abundantly.
Today each of us have been given two challenges. Remember how God has worked in your life by getting you to this point today. Remember that He has given His Son as a sacrifice for your sins.
The second challenge is to choose. Who will you serve?
