FOUR GREAT FREEDOMS IN CHRIST SERMON IV: FREEDOM FROM WANT
If I had to pick one of the many adages that I grew up with - the one that stands out more than the rest - I suppose it would be the admonition from my mother: “Nobody ever gets everything they want.”
It seems that all of us were born into this world with the innate desire to get anything we want. This was the case even before we learned how to combine syllables into words; for example, “dit-um” - for my nephew - meant water. A “grunt” meant we wanted whatever it was that we were pointing to – and if that didn’t work, we pitched a “temper-tantrum!”
Mama told me one time that I needed to get my “w-a-n-t-e-r” fixed. Like most of you, I did not know the meaning of the word “no”. Its meaning became apparent after mama whacked me a few times on the “behind”; and, if that did not work, the “hickory stick” did! Were you ever told to go outside, break off your own “switch” and bring it to mama or daddy?
Where in the name of heaven was the Department of Family and Children’s Services when we needed them? Just kidding, of course!
Today, shamefully, we must have DFACS to protect children from the kind of abuse we never dreamed of when we old timers were growing up; this is not to say that abusive situations did not exist back then; they did. It is to say, sadly, that the flaunting of x-rated stuff on television, the movie screen and magazine racks has thrown society into the gutter of immorality, while “minors” have become victims of twisted minds.
Depraved individuals must never be given the freedom to prey upon the innocent victims of their distorted thinking and damnable “wants”!
God save America from destructive forces that would have us go along with the notion that “if it feels good, do it” or “if I want it, give it to me” – and, “if I don’t get it, I will take it.”
In Christ, we have been set free to flee the selfish desires of evil folks who would use and abuse us for their own personal satisfaction. In America, we are blessed with freedom from the unhealthy “wants” of that element of society that would use and abuse people to satisfy their greed. We must exercise our freedom – in polling booths, courts of law, and prayer closets – in order to combat abuse of any kind.
Now, there is a higher level of “freedom from want” that we have been blessed with. In Christ, we have been set free from selfish desires so that we might become the person God wants us to be, and enjoy the life Christ wants us to live.
God our Father wants us to enjoy freedom from want about basic needs. Christ our Lord wants us to experience freedom from want about anyone who would deprive us of our needs.
King David gave us “a motto to live by” as he began composing the 23rd Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
In America, for the most part, David’s “motto to live by” has become a reality during the decades following FDR’s mention of the four freedoms that would make America great.
In parts of America and throughout the world, there remains a lot of work to be done to overcome the injustices of poverty that force orphans and widows to scrounge through garbage dumps to find scraps of food.
How can poverty-stricken folks ever arrive at the place where freedom from want applies to them too? When he made his famous Four Freedoms speech in the early 1930s, President Roosevelt ended each of those four freedoms he envisioned for America by adding an all-important phrase: “and everywhere in the world!”
One way for Christians and non-Christians alike to enjoy the blessing of freedom from want is for the “haves” of the world to share with those who “have-not” – not only in America, but, everywhere in the world.
Missionaries tell about “relief” efforts by numerous church and community agencies that are doing all they can to provide the necessities of life in places where the needs are greatest – but there is so much more that can be done - which means that Christians must give what they can and go where they can - according to their ability - to help meet those needs.
As for you and me, limited as we are by our circumstances, we can help just a little - but remember the old saying: “Every little bit helps.”
Paul the apostle wrote what I consider to be the greatest line he ever wrote along the line of “met needs” - when he declared to the Philippians,
“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” Folks, this is a line that I have lived by for over half a century.
Some “experts” in human behavior would call it “complacency” - but I know better; in my way of thinking, it is called “contentment” – for I am content with whom I am, with what I have, and with what I do - for no reason other than the fact that I accept God as my Father and God’s Son as my Lord and Savior. “With God on our side, how can we lose?”
Paul’s testimony to the Philippians is a “bit much” for some folks to comprehend. All I can say is this: If you have “been there, done that”, then you understand what Paul was talking about. Listen to the broader context in which he declared his contentment – his freedom from want – as we focus our attention on the reading of Philippians 4:10-13 . . .
Here Paul shared with us is his “secret” of wanting nothing more than the basics . . .. His state of mind had been conditioned to desire nothing more than that which was essential for living.
None of you in your “golden years” must be reminded by me that contentment was never found by possessing a whole lot in the way of material things, or by living in the “lap of luxury” – something most of us never had to worry about anyway, although I would not have minded giving it a try for awhile.
The Stoics of generations past got it right about at least one ideal by which they lived; they said, “If you want to make a man happy, add not to his possessions, but take away from his desires.” Another way to say it is just like mama said: If you want to be happy, fix your “w-a-n-t-e-r!”
Granted, the Stoics carried their ideal of happiness way too far by trying to eliminate ALL desires, even those that are God-given. If I could not eat five times a day, I would be very unhappy - and hard to live with. I love my snacks along with a good, hot cup or two – or three – of coffee. Yet, I watch my diet and do what the doctor tells me to do to stay as healthy as possible – and so should you.
Paul got it right when he declared that it was not of him self that he could be so content. He really had plenty to eat, even if at times he had no choice but to depend on others to feed him. He, too, most likely would have been unhappy if he were hungry or thirsty and had no way to satisfy his appetite and his thirst.
What Paul was telling us is that, freedom from want has nothing to do with self-sufficiency; it has everything to do with God-sufficiency. For Paul, his claim - “I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me” – was a reality, not fantasy.
Folks, the apostle Paul could face any situation or circumstance in life - the good and the bad - and still be content; he could have nothing - or he could have everything; it made no difference to him, because, in any and every situation, he had his faith in Jesus Christ to lean on. Even if he were dying of hunger and thirst, he would be praying to God and thanking Him for his salvation through Jesus Christ His Lord.
There may come a time in my life when I am unable to satisfy my hunger or thirst, or any other human desire, in a way that I used to or want to; even so, there will never be a time in my life when I do not have Christ my Lord and Savior to lean on. My awareness of His presence and promises gives me hope to carry on - until God calls me home.
As you “walk and talk” with the Lord – as you stay in touch with Him – you have hope and you can cope with life’s situations! Amen.
