A. Jack Wilson III - "Born to Be Free" (September 13, 1970)
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| (upbeat organ music) | 0:03 | |
| - | If we say that we have no sin, | 2:30 |
| we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, | 2:33 | |
| but if we confess our sins, | 2:38 | |
| God is good, and faithful, and just to forgive us our sins, | 2:40 | |
| and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. | 2:46 | |
| Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God. | 2:50 | |
| Our Heavenly Father, | 2:55 | |
| who by by love has made us, | 2:57 | |
| and through thy love has kept us, | 2:59 | |
| and in thy love would make us perfect, | 3:02 | |
| we humbly confess that we have not loved thee | 3:06 | |
| with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. | 3:09 | |
| And that we have not loved one another | 3:15 | |
| as Christ hath loved us. | 3:17 | |
| Thy life is within our souls, | 3:20 | |
| but our selfishness has hindered thee. | 3:24 | |
| We have not lived by faith, | 3:27 | |
| we have resisted thy spirit, | 3:30 | |
| we have neglected thy inspirations. | 3:33 | |
| Forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, | 3:36 | |
| and in thy spirit direct what we shall be. | 3:42 | |
| That thou mayest come into the full glory of thy creation | 3:46 | |
| in us, and in all men, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 3:50 | |
| And let us hear the words of assurance from the scriptures. | 3:57 | |
| This is the message we have heard from him, | 4:02 | |
| and proclaim to you, that God is light, | 4:05 | |
| and in him is no darkness at all. | 4:09 | |
| If we walk in the light as he is in the light, | 4:13 | |
| we have fellowship one with another, | 4:17 | |
| and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. | 4:20 | |
| Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, | 4:26 | |
| who of his great mercy has promised forgiveness of sins | 4:29 | |
| to all those who turn to him | 4:33 | |
| with true repentance and sincere faith, | 4:35 | |
| have mercy upon us, pardon and deliver us | 4:39 | |
| from all our sins. | 4:43 | |
| Confirm and strengthen us in all goodness, | 4:45 | |
| and bring us to everlasting life | 4:49 | |
| through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 4:52 | |
| Amen. | 4:55 | |
| - | I shall read from Exodus 3:1-6. | 5:05 |
| Now Moses was keeping the flock | 5:09 | |
| of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, | 5:11 | |
| and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness | 5:14 | |
| and came to Horeb, the Mountain of God, | 5:17 | |
| and the angel of the Lord appeared to him | 5:20 | |
| in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. | 5:22 | |
| And he looked, and low the bush was burning, | 5:24 | |
| yet it was not consumed. | 5:28 | |
| And Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this great sight, | 5:30 | |
| "why the bush is not burned." | 5:34 | |
| When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see | 5:37 | |
| God called to him out of the bush. | 5:40 | |
| "Moses, Moses," and he said, "Here am I," | 5:42 | |
| then he said, "Do not come near, | 5:46 | |
| "put off your shoes from your feet, | 5:48 | |
| "for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." | 5:50 | |
| And he said, "I am the God of your father, | 5:54 | |
| "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, | 5:57 | |
| "and the God of Jacob." | 6:01 | |
| And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid | 6:03 | |
| to look at the face of God. | 6:06 | |
| (upbeat organ music) | 6:11 | |
| Our New Testament lesson for this morning | 9:42 | |
| comes from Luke 12:13-21. | 9:47 | |
| "One of the multitudes said to him, " | 9:51 | |
| teacher did my brother divide the inheritance with me?" | 9:53 | |
| "But he said to him, | 9:56 | |
| "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you? | 9:57 | |
| "And he said to them, | 10:01 | |
| "take heed and be aware of all covetousness, | 10:02 | |
| "for a man's life does not consist | 10:05 | |
| "in the abundance of his possessions. | 10:08 | |
| "And he told them a parable saying | 10:10 | |
| "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully, | 10:12 | |
| "and he thought to himself, what shall I do? | 10:16 | |
| "for I have nowhere to store my crops. | 10:19 | |
| "And he said, I will do this, | 10:21 | |
| "I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, | 10:24 | |
| "and there I will store all my grain and my goods. | 10:28 | |
| "And I will say to my soul, | 10:30 | |
| "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years, | 10:33 | |
| "take your ease, eat, drink, be merry. | 10:36 | |
| "But God said to him, | 10:40 | |
| "Fool, this night your soul is required of you. | 10:42 | |
| "And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? | 10:44 | |
| "So is he who lays up treasures for himself, | 10:48 | |
| "and is not rich toward God." | 10:50 | |
| Thus endeth our new Testament reading. | 10:53 | |
| (upbeat organ music) | 10:56 | |
| - | The Lord be with you, | 14:35 |
| let us pray. | 14:38 | |
| Let us say, together, our union prayer of thanksgiving. | 14:40 | |
| Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, | 14:46 | |
| we bless and magnify thy holy name, | 14:49 | |
| for the gift of thy most dearly beloved son, | 14:53 | |
| Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. | 14:56 | |
| And for all his apostles, prophets, martyrs, | 14:59 | |
| evangelists, teachers, and pastors, | 15:03 | |
| whom he hath sent abroad into the world | 15:07 | |
| for thy holy church universal, | 15:10 | |
| for the ministry of the laity, | 15:13 | |
| and the ministry of the ordained. | 15:15 | |
| We do give thee hearty thanks | 15:17 | |
| for the privilege which each one of us | 15:20 | |
| has a bearing witness to the saving grace of our Lord. | 15:23 | |
| We express our gratitude. | 15:27 | |
| We thank thee for life, for a measure of health, | 15:30 | |
| for friends, for food, for clothing, | 15:34 | |
| and for all the purposes of Christ, | 15:38 | |
| which give meaning to these earthly goods. | 15:40 | |
| We make our prayer of thanks in Jesus name, amen. | 15:43 | |
| Be seated. | 15:50 | |
| Now our prayers for others, and for ourselves, | 15:54 | |
| Father in Heaven look down in mercy | 16:00 | |
| upon our distraught and fevered world. | 16:03 | |
| Forgive the mistaken ambitions, | 16:07 | |
| the selfish passions, and the presumptuous claims of men. | 16:10 | |
| Remove all suspicion and bitterness | 16:15 | |
| from among the nations of the world, | 16:18 | |
| and bring them to peace and concord | 16:21 | |
| by the redeeming love of Christ. | 16:24 | |
| We pray for our beloved land, for our president, | 16:27 | |
| our leaders and governors, | 16:32 | |
| and for all who have part in public service. | 16:35 | |
| Make them pure in motive, | 16:39 | |
| wise in counsel, | 16:41 | |
| and strong in action, | 16:43 | |
| doing right in fear of thy holy name. | 16:46 | |
| Remember, oh Lord, thy church upon Earth. | 16:50 | |
| Deepen her influence, and extend her power for good | 16:53 | |
| until the kingdoms of this world | 16:57 | |
| become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. | 16:59 | |
| And oh Mighty God, we beseech thee | 17:04 | |
| with thy gracious favor | 17:06 | |
| to behold our universities, colleges, and schools, | 17:08 | |
| and especially Duke University, | 17:14 | |
| that knowledge may increase among us | 17:18 | |
| and all good learning flourish and abound. | 17:20 | |
| Bless all who teach, and all who learn, | 17:24 | |
| and grant that in humility of heart | 17:28 | |
| they may ever look unto thee, | 17:31 | |
| who art the fountain of all wisdom. | 17:33 | |
| Have mercy oh Lord upon those | 17:37 | |
| who are passing through sore trial, | 17:39 | |
| the poor, the sick, the anxious, the oppressed. | 17:42 | |
| Those who are in danger from the fury of the elements | 17:48 | |
| or from the violence of men. | 17:51 | |
| Inspire in us, and in our fellow man | 17:54 | |
| the will to help our suffering brethren. | 17:58 | |
| Heal, protect, and strengthen them according to their need. | 18:02 | |
| Comfort those in sorrow with the comfort, | 18:07 | |
| which is in Christ, Jesus, our Lord. | 18:10 | |
| We commend to thy almighty protection thy servants, | 18:15 | |
| the members of the Duke football team, | 18:18 | |
| for whose preservation our prayers are desired. | 18:21 | |
| Guard them, we beseech thee, | 18:25 | |
| from the dangers of the game, from sickness, | 18:27 | |
| and from every evil to which they may be exposed. | 18:31 | |
| Conduct them in safety through the season, | 18:35 | |
| through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 18:38 | |
| Oh Gracious Father, who through thy mercy | 18:42 | |
| has added another day to our lives, | 18:45 | |
| we here dedicate both our souls and bodies | 18:48 | |
| to thee and thy service. | 18:51 | |
| In a sober, righteous, and godly light, | 18:53 | |
| in which resolution do thou, oh Merciful God | 18:58 | |
| confirm and strengthen us, | 19:01 | |
| that as we grow in age, we may grow in grace | 19:04 | |
| and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, | 19:09 | |
| But oh God, who knoweth the weakness | 19:14 | |
| and corruption of our nature, | 19:16 | |
| and the manifold temptations which we daily meet with. | 19:18 | |
| We humbly beseech thee | 19:23 | |
| to have compassion on our infirmities, | 19:24 | |
| and to give us the constant assistance of thy Holy Spirit, | 19:27 | |
| that we may be effectually restrained from sin, | 19:32 | |
| and incited to our duty. | 19:36 | |
| Imprint upon our hearts such a dread of thy judgment, | 19:39 | |
| and such a grateful sense of thy goodness to us, | 19:42 | |
| as we may make both afraid and ashamed to offend thee. | 19:46 | |
| And above all, keep in our minds a lively remembrance | 19:52 | |
| of that great day in which we must give a strict account | 19:56 | |
| of our thoughts, words, and actions | 20:00 | |
| to whom thou hast appointed the judge of quick and dead | 20:04 | |
| thy son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 20:08 | |
| In particular, we implore thy grace and protection | 20:13 | |
| for the ensuing day, | 20:16 | |
| keep us temperate in all things, | 20:18 | |
| and diligent in our several callings. | 20:21 | |
| Grant us patience under our afflictions, | 20:25 | |
| give us grace to be just and upright in all our dealings, | 20:28 | |
| quiet and peaceable, full of compassion, | 20:34 | |
| and ready to do good to all men | 20:38 | |
| according to our abilities and opportunities. | 20:40 | |
| Direct us in all our ways, | 20:44 | |
| defend us from all dangers and adversities | 20:47 | |
| and be graciously pleased to take us, | 20:51 | |
| and all who are dear to us | 20:53 | |
| under thy fatherly care and protection. | 20:55 | |
| These things and whatever else thou shall see | 20:59 | |
| to be necessary and convenient to us | 21:02 | |
| we humbly beseech of you, | 21:05 | |
| through the merits and mediation of thy son, | 21:07 | |
| Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. | 21:09 | |
| And now we are bold to say, | 21:14 | |
| our Father who art in heaven, | 21:16 | |
| hallowed be thy name. | 21:19 | |
| Thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 21:21 | |
| on Earth as it is in heaven. | 21:25 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread, | 21:28 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses | 21:31 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us | 21:33 | |
| and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil | 21:37 | |
| for thine is the kingdom, and the power, | 21:42 | |
| and the glory forever and ever, amen. | 21:45 | |
| And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ | 21:49 | |
| and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost | 21:52 | |
| be with us all ever more, amen. | 21:55 | |
| (upbeat organ music) | 22:00 | |
| - | Let the words of my mouth, | 24:30 |
| the meditations of our hearts, | 24:33 | |
| be acceptable in thy sight. | 24:40 | |
| Oh Lord our strength, and our Redeemer. | 24:43 | |
| Amen. | 24:49 | |
| Needless to say, | 24:58 | |
| it is a privilege for me to be here today, | 25:01 | |
| to return to my school. | 25:04 | |
| To return to the place where I suffered, | 25:09 | |
| to return to the place where I struggled, | 25:13 | |
| to return to the place where I celebrated and knew joy, | 25:18 | |
| to return to the place where I worshiped. | 25:24 | |
| For some of us, it has been a long night. | 25:32 | |
| The word I get is that the team got home at 2:00 AM., | 25:38 | |
| and this reminds me of a situation | 25:46 | |
| that I was in just about a year ago. | 25:49 | |
| I was assigned the task | 25:53 | |
| of preaching in the Cadet Chapel at West Point, | 25:56 | |
| where I work, on Sunday morning | 25:59 | |
| following the Army-Notre Dame football game, | 26:03 | |
| which was played the previous afternoon in Yankee Stadium. | 26:07 | |
| The team and the whole core of cadets attended. | 26:13 | |
| They returned to West Point at 3:00 AM, | 26:17 | |
| and the first service was held at 8:00 AM. | 26:22 | |
| And I remember thinking that | 26:29 | |
| if I really wanted to be relevant, | 26:31 | |
| I mean, if I really wanted to preach | 26:34 | |
| and to be where they were, | 26:37 | |
| I should probably begin my sermon | 26:41 | |
| and then somewhere along in the middle of it, fall asleep. | 26:44 | |
| I approached that service, | 26:50 | |
| I remember, with fear and trembling | 26:52 | |
| because I suddenly remembered the story | 26:53 | |
| of the guy who dreamed that he was preaching | 26:59 | |
| to a thousand people, | 27:02 | |
| and when he woke up, he found out that he was. | 27:05 | |
| I assure you I will not fall asleep this morning, | 27:14 | |
| and I hope that none of you will either, | 27:18 | |
| particularly the players. | 27:20 | |
| I don't know how many of you | 27:27 | |
| have ever been to Yankee Stadium, | 27:28 | |
| or how many of you have ever been to New York City, | 27:32 | |
| but certainly one of the first impressions | 27:34 | |
| that a visitor gets to that city | 27:37 | |
| is the fantastic number of people that somehow live there. | 27:42 | |
| You ask, where do they come from | 27:47 | |
| and where do they go? | 27:49 | |
| How do they find room in the night? | 27:51 | |
| Of course, the answer is that most of them | 27:57 | |
| live in apartments, which are stacked on top of one another | 27:59 | |
| and reach high into the sky. | 28:02 | |
| The number of people there is part of the problem. | 28:07 | |
| Dostoevsky once described | 28:12 | |
| the way that men organized themselves. | 28:14 | |
| He used three symbols, he used the anthill, | 28:17 | |
| the chicken coop, and the Crystal Palace. | 28:19 | |
| There actually was a building called the Crystal Palace. | 28:25 | |
| It was constructed of glass and steel, | 28:32 | |
| and had been put together for the exposition in London. | 28:34 | |
| It represented the very latest in man's achievement. | 28:38 | |
| It was the symbol of perfection and attainment, | 28:42 | |
| and Dostoevsky was writing against | 28:44 | |
| the creeping socialism of his time, | 28:47 | |
| which said the Crystal Palace is a symbol | 28:49 | |
| of all that man needs. | 28:54 | |
| Dostoevsky was saying it is really nothing | 29:00 | |
| but an oversized anthill, | 29:02 | |
| a more imposing chicken coop. | 29:05 | |
| He was saying that you can take care | 29:09 | |
| of some of your needs, and that is necessary, | 29:10 | |
| but if that's it, | 29:15 | |
| then forget it. | 29:19 | |
| Because life has got to have more than that. | 29:22 | |
| Forget it! | 29:28 | |
| That's what Dustin Hoffman was saying | 29:32 | |
| to a great extent in the movie, "The Graduate." | 29:34 | |
| As you know, those of you that have seen that movie, | 29:40 | |
| his parents threw the big homecoming party | 29:42 | |
| for their pride and joy who had graduated from college. | 29:46 | |
| Everyone kept coming up to him | 29:53 | |
| and saying how proud they were | 29:55 | |
| of all of his accomplishments off at college. | 29:58 | |
| Finally, one man came over and said to him, "Plastics. | 30:04 | |
| "Plastics, you have to go into plastics. | 30:10 | |
| "The future is in plastics." | 30:15 | |
| And a great portion of the remainder of that film | 30:21 | |
| has do with Dustin Hoffman telling all of them | 30:23 | |
| to forget it. | 30:28 | |
| To forget it. | 30:32 | |
| A year ago, Peggy Lee had a hit record. | 30:36 | |
| And in that song she remembers a fire | 30:40 | |
| in which her home burned to the ground, | 30:42 | |
| she was a child. | 30:46 | |
| She remembers going to a circus | 30:50 | |
| with all of its gaudiness and shining tinsel. | 30:51 | |
| She remembers a broken love affair. | 30:57 | |
| Finally reflects on death itself, | 31:01 | |
| and after each memory, she comes back to the chorus. | 31:03 | |
| If that's all there is, | 31:10 | |
| if that's all there is, my friends, | 31:14 | |
| then let's keep dancing, | 31:18 | |
| let's break out the booze and have a ball. | 31:22 | |
| If that's all there is. | 31:27 | |
| If that's all there is, | 31:32 | |
| forget it. | 31:35 | |
| Jesus told a parable which was read | 31:40 | |
| as the New Testament reading for the morning. | 31:43 | |
| He told a parable about the man who grew all the crops, | 31:47 | |
| and then built the huge store houses to keep them in. | 31:51 | |
| He thought that he would be a lucky man. | 31:55 | |
| He could take life easy and drink, and enjoy himself. | 31:58 | |
| And in the parable, what is he called? | 32:01 | |
| He's called a fool. | 32:06 | |
| A fool. | 32:10 | |
| He is a fool because yes, he would be able to quit work | 32:14 | |
| and to eat and to drink | 32:21 | |
| until he was almost perhaps too obese | 32:23 | |
| to move himself from beside the swimming pool. | 32:26 | |
| But as to whether he would really enjoy life, | 32:32 | |
| and have a hold on this thing that people yearn for | 32:35 | |
| the fulfillment of life, | 32:40 | |
| that is a different question. | 32:43 | |
| In fact, the point of the parable was that he was a fool | 32:48 | |
| to think that these things | 32:50 | |
| would give him fulfillment and joyful living. | 32:53 | |
| If that's all there is | 33:00 | |
| then forget it. | 33:04 | |
| There must be more to life than Crystal Palaces | 33:10 | |
| and circus parades, | 33:13 | |
| and a future in plastics, | 33:16 | |
| and barns filled with grain, | 33:18 | |
| and a capacity crowd in Yankee Stadium, | 33:20 | |
| and Honda 350s, | 33:28 | |
| and a midnight high. | 33:31 | |
| If that's all there is, | 33:36 | |
| then forget it. | 33:39 | |
| For these things will not give what they promise, | 33:43 | |
| for in so many situations they promise fulfillment, | 33:48 | |
| and joyful living. | 33:54 | |
| They promise to fill the void | 33:58 | |
| that you yearn to have filled. | 34:03 | |
| They are like ant hills. | 34:09 | |
| So the question that many of us ask, | 34:14 | |
| certainly any student, | 34:18 | |
| what is it that really gives us life? | 34:23 | |
| What does it mean to be alive, | 34:29 | |
| to really live, what does it mean? | 34:33 | |
| Not to prepare to live, but to live, | 34:37 | |
| when do you begin living? | 34:42 | |
| Is it after final exams? | 34:47 | |
| Is it after next Saturday? | 34:50 | |
| Is it after graduation? | 34:53 | |
| Is it after the first job? | 34:54 | |
| Is it after you're married? | 34:58 | |
| Is it after children? | 34:59 | |
| Is it after you have enough time | 35:02 | |
| to live life more leisurely? | 35:05 | |
| Is it after you retire? | 35:09 | |
| When do we stop preparing to live | 35:12 | |
| and start living? | 35:16 | |
| What causes us to say | 35:22 | |
| that life is so fine? | 35:26 | |
| What causes us to celebrate life? | 35:29 | |
| Most of us know | 35:40 | |
| that the possession of material things is not the answer. | 35:44 | |
| And we are painfully learning | 35:48 | |
| that organization and systems | 35:53 | |
| are not the answer. | 35:57 | |
| But that they must constantly | 36:00 | |
| have to be restructured | 36:02 | |
| and reborn. | 36:06 | |
| Most of us know that it's not computers, | 36:10 | |
| as indispensable as we have made them. | 36:14 | |
| What is it? | 36:17 | |
| Well, if we open our eyes and our ears | 36:21 | |
| and let them see, | 36:23 | |
| and let them hear, | 36:28 | |
| and look at the contemporary world in which we live, | 36:30 | |
| We see everyone yearning and struggling, | 36:36 | |
| and reaching out for an answer. | 36:38 | |
| They're reaching out for the answer. | 36:43 | |
| What is it? | 36:47 | |
| It's freedom. | 36:51 | |
| Freedom. | 36:57 | |
| We are in the midst | 36:59 | |
| of a freedom revolution. | 37:03 | |
| From Asia, to Africa, to Czechoslovakia, to Berlin, | 37:06 | |
| to the United States of America, | 37:10 | |
| there is an emerging consensus that life, | 37:13 | |
| in order to be worthwhile, | 37:18 | |
| has got to have freedom. | 37:21 | |
| A man must be free. | 37:24 | |
| The consensus is that the living | 37:30 | |
| will only bring deep joy | 37:32 | |
| if we are personally liberated. | 37:33 | |
| If you're able to assert yourself, | 37:39 | |
| and who you are, | 37:42 | |
| not as others expect you to be. | 37:45 | |
| They try to manipulate you into being. | 37:49 | |
| That's what it means to live, | 37:57 | |
| that's what it means to be human. | 38:00 | |
| We are born to be free. | 38:04 | |
| Born to be free. | 38:13 | |
| And in the parable the problem | 38:17 | |
| with the rich farmer is that he was not free, | 38:20 | |
| he was a slave. | 38:25 | |
| He was a captive to an illusion, | 38:29 | |
| a false hope, he was a captive to a myth. | 38:32 | |
| Speaking in today's terms, | 38:38 | |
| he believed the commercial swindlers of his time | 38:39 | |
| who told him that real liberation | 38:45 | |
| would come to him through their product, | 38:49 | |
| through their warehouses, | 38:51 | |
| through their airline flight, | 38:54 | |
| behind their neon sign, | 38:57 | |
| within their ant hill, or Crystal Palace. | 39:01 | |
| He was a fool to believe it, | 39:06 | |
| because he was tied, and gagged, and bound personally. | 39:09 | |
| He was not free. | 39:17 | |
| He was trying to meet a problem of the human spirit | 39:21 | |
| through ways and means that would not fulfill. | 39:29 | |
| How often we fall into that trap, | 39:36 | |
| our pleasure is in buying, our hope is in owning, | 39:37 | |
| our hopes are in making a name for ourselves. | 39:43 | |
| Always preparing to live, | 39:49 | |
| never living. | 39:53 | |
| Always bound and constantly struggling for release, | 39:57 | |
| but never quite free. | 40:00 | |
| Freedom is always just one more purchase, | 40:04 | |
| it's one more accomplishment, | 40:08 | |
| it's one more game, | 40:09 | |
| it's one more year away. | 40:11 | |
| We are like the rich farmer. | 40:19 | |
| We need to be set free. | 40:26 | |
| What does that mean? | 40:30 | |
| The term personal liberation is used so much | 40:34 | |
| it has become a cliche. | 40:37 | |
| What does that mean? | 40:41 | |
| Some of us still think that real freedom | 40:46 | |
| means lack of constraint, and lack of all inhibitions. | 40:49 | |
| Some of us still think that true freedom | 40:54 | |
| means acting out everything that you feel. | 40:56 | |
| Some of us still believe that we can get free | 41:03 | |
| from any and everything. | 41:05 | |
| Freedom is to get as high as you can, | 41:10 | |
| and then drop until you dance, dance until you drop. | 41:12 | |
| I'm getting high. | 41:16 | |
| Dance until you drop. | 41:20 | |
| But one is never totally liberated from any and everything, | 41:28 | |
| for every time you talk about | 41:34 | |
| being liberated from something, | 41:35 | |
| we're talking about being liberated to something. | 41:37 | |
| There is the great story, you know, | 41:44 | |
| that is told about the football team | 41:48 | |
| that was out in the Big 10. | 41:51 | |
| They had never been there before, | 41:54 | |
| in fact the Big 10 had scheduled them as a warm-up game. | 41:57 | |
| And the players were pretty well overawed. | 42:03 | |
| I mean this was a massive stadium, | 42:08 | |
| these were strange surroundings. | 42:11 | |
| The locker room was in the field house, | 42:16 | |
| Which was connected to the stadium by a tunnel. | 42:21 | |
| They got into the game, and into the first half | 42:26 | |
| the score was 17 to nothing. | 42:29 | |
| This team had been so overawed | 42:33 | |
| that they just could not function. | 42:36 | |
| Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. | 42:40 | |
| And so the coach came in at halftime | 42:44 | |
| and he really let them have it. | 42:48 | |
| And he said, we've got a great game plan, | 42:53 | |
| we've got good material, | 42:56 | |
| but the problem is you're all uptight. | 42:57 | |
| You're overawed. | 43:03 | |
| I know this is a strange place, | 43:06 | |
| I know we've never been here before, | 43:07 | |
| but you've gotta loosen up. | 43:10 | |
| You gotta start thinking, moving. | 43:13 | |
| So he began to conclude, it's time to go back out. | 43:18 | |
| He said, "I know this is a strange place. | 43:23 | |
| "We've never been here, we've never been on that field, | 43:24 | |
| "we've never been in this locker room. | 43:26 | |
| "But when I count to three I'm gonna say go. | 43:30 | |
| "When I say go I want to hear 44 pairs of cleats | 43:34 | |
| "hit this floor, and I want to hear them clack clack, | 43:36 | |
| "and I wanna see you go through that door." | 43:39 | |
| He pointed to the door. | 43:42 | |
| They were charged up. | 43:45 | |
| "1, 2, 3, go." | 43:47 | |
| 44 pairs of cleats hit the floor, | 43:49 | |
| clack, clack, clack across the floor, | 43:52 | |
| they broke down the door. | 43:54 | |
| It was the wrong door. | 43:57 | |
| Six fell into the swimming pool. | 44:04 | |
| (congregation laughing) | 44:06 | |
| They were liberated from the locker room, | 44:12 | |
| but they were liberated | 44:18 | |
| to the wrong sport. | 44:21 | |
| They were liberated to the pool. | 44:26 | |
| The coach probably was fired, | 44:31 | |
| or thrown in himself. | 44:36 | |
| The wise man considers the consequences of his liberation. | 44:40 | |
| We are always liberated from something, | 44:46 | |
| but then it's being liberated to something. | 44:48 | |
| What do we need to be liberated from? | 44:54 | |
| The parable of the Prodigal Son, | 45:02 | |
| I think, is a great story to answer that question. | 45:04 | |
| The familiar story of the younger son | 45:08 | |
| who desperately wanted freedom. | 45:11 | |
| Freedom from his home, freedom from his parents, | 45:15 | |
| freedom from his brother, that older brother. | 45:20 | |
| Freedom from his work. | 45:25 | |
| Freedom from the drudgery of day to day existence. | 45:27 | |
| So he packed up all of his possessions, | 45:30 | |
| took all in his inheritance, and moved out, | 45:32 | |
| changed his environment. | 45:38 | |
| Whereupon he spent all of his money, | 45:43 | |
| and lost all of his possessions. | 45:46 | |
| But you know, he returned home | 45:49 | |
| and his father ran down the road to meet him, | 45:50 | |
| embraced him and called for a great celebration. | 45:54 | |
| Those great words his father said | 45:58 | |
| "He was dead and is alive again. | 46:00 | |
| "He was lost, and now he's found." | 46:03 | |
| You see the younger son thought that what he needed | 46:09 | |
| was freedom from home, and perhaps that was a valid need. | 46:12 | |
| To get away, to change the environment. | 46:19 | |
| What he also needed was freedom from himself. | 46:23 | |
| He was miserable at home, he changed his environment, | 46:31 | |
| he had the money to spend, and he blew it. | 46:33 | |
| He blew the whole deal. | 46:39 | |
| Cause he was not freed from himself as well. | 46:46 | |
| To be truly free, | 46:52 | |
| you must be free from yourself. | 46:55 | |
| Freedom from yourself. | 47:02 | |
| That is what the Christian gospel | 47:06 | |
| is about. | 47:12 | |
| It's about setting people free. | 47:17 | |
| That's why it is often referred to, I think, | 47:23 | |
| as the Good News. | 47:25 | |
| The Good News is that God's grace, | 47:29 | |
| that God's love is available, | 47:31 | |
| and that once a man has accepted that love, | 47:36 | |
| he is set free. | 47:43 | |
| Set free from his faults, | 47:49 | |
| and deceiving allegiance to himself, | 47:50 | |
| he may still bear the marks | 47:54 | |
| and the consequences of his sin, | 47:55 | |
| but the burden of guilt, | 48:00 | |
| the shackles of defensiveness, | 48:03 | |
| and the driving need to prove himself, | 48:06 | |
| or to prove herself to the world, | 48:08 | |
| is gone. | 48:14 | |
| Not removed by self will, and not removed by achievement, | 48:17 | |
| but because of a new order, a new spirit, | 48:24 | |
| a new life | 48:28 | |
| given as a gift. | 48:31 | |
| Paul, | 48:38 | |
| new freedom. | 48:40 | |
| Once he wrote | 48:44 | |
| "Christ has made us | 48:46 | |
| "completely free | 48:51 | |
| "stand fast then and do not again | 48:55 | |
| "be hampered with the yoke of slavery. | 48:57 | |
| "Through the spirit of Christ we are freed from ourselves." | 49:04 | |
| Listen, once again, | 49:10 | |
| to the words that were spoken | 49:15 | |
| by Martin Luther King, immediately, before he was killed, | 49:19 | |
| "I am free. | 49:25 | |
| "I am free. | 49:28 | |
| "Thank God Almighty, | 49:31 | |
| "I am free at last." | 49:35 | |
| Through Christ | 49:45 | |
| we are freed from ourselves. | 49:48 | |
| But what are we freed to? | 49:55 | |
| What does it cost? | 50:01 | |
| Where does it send us? | 50:05 | |
| What are we freed to? | 50:10 | |
| We are freed to discipleship. | 50:11 | |
| That's a word that has lost a lot of meaning. | 50:14 | |
| What does it mean? | 50:21 | |
| It means freed to follow, | 50:22 | |
| freed to give, | 50:25 | |
| freed to work, | 50:26 | |
| freed to love, | 50:28 | |
| freed to suffer, | 50:31 | |
| and to be used as a vessel of healing and reconciliation, | 50:34 | |
| no matter where you are, | 50:37 | |
| within what kind of structure you exist. | 50:41 | |
| Freed to others. | 50:48 | |
| Freed to your neighbor, | 50:53 | |
| that's what you're freed to. | 50:57 | |
| The rich farmer was a fool because he believed a false hope. | 51:04 | |
| He also as a fool because he was an isolationist. | 51:07 | |
| Christian discipleship means being freed | 51:15 | |
| from individualism to humanitarianism. | 51:18 | |
| There's that great cartoon in Peanuts, | 51:24 | |
| Charlie Brown is deciding that he's going to be a doctor, | 51:29 | |
| and Lucy of course | 51:34 | |
| would not allow any thoughts like that. | 51:36 | |
| So she says to him, "You could never be a doctor." | 51:40 | |
| Charlie Brown says, "Oh yes, I wanna be a doctor." | 51:44 | |
| She said, "You know why you could never be a doctor? | 51:48 | |
| "You don't love mankind." | 51:52 | |
| Charlie Brown says, "Oh yes I do, I love mankind." | 51:55 | |
| She said, "No you don't." | 51:58 | |
| "Yes I do," and he begins to get very angry. | 52:00 | |
| And finally he says, "I love mankind! | 52:02 | |
| "It's just people that I can't stand." | 52:06 | |
| You are freed to people. | 52:12 | |
| Freed to bear with another the joys and the burdens of life. | 52:18 | |
| Free to risk ourselves, | 52:23 | |
| to identify with the triumphs and the tragedies | 52:28 | |
| of those around us. | 52:30 | |
| Freed to care, | 52:31 | |
| as an act of love, and that can cost. | 52:35 | |
| It can bring all kinds of repercussions, | 52:39 | |
| and increasingly it does, | 52:45 | |
| as we become more polarized in our own society. | 52:48 | |
| It can cost you, | 52:54 | |
| but as one man said, | 52:59 | |
| you will never be a whole person until you have risked | 53:01 | |
| standing alongside a neighbor | 53:04 | |
| in his need. | 53:08 | |
| The heart of the Christian discipleship is to care, | 53:12 | |
| through caring to come to know the reality of God. | 53:17 | |
| Someone said, "God has two faces." | 53:20 | |
| "God has two faces, | 53:25 | |
| your face | 53:30 | |
| and my face." | 53:33 | |
| God is revealed to us. | 53:39 | |
| We share each other's lives. | 53:43 | |
| So in conclusion, | 53:54 | |
| Crystal Palaces, | 53:59 | |
| future in plastics, | 54:03 | |
| barns filled with grain, | 54:04 | |
| a capacity crowd in Yankee Stadium, | 54:05 | |
| life has got to have more than that. | 54:10 | |
| The parable of the rich farmer is old, | 54:15 | |
| and as simple as it may be, | 54:19 | |
| is still relevant. | 54:23 | |
| It causes us to examine our living, | 54:26 | |
| our values, | 54:31 | |
| our goals. | 54:33 | |
| It causes us to ask seriously what it means to truly live. | 54:36 | |
| What is it that gives us life? | 54:43 | |
| Its freedom. | 54:47 | |
| Freedom is a problem of the human spirit. | 54:51 | |
| This is what Jesus the Christ came to effect | 54:56 | |
| to set us free. | 55:02 | |
| Free from ourselves. | 55:06 | |
| Free to each other. | 55:12 | |
| The gift is there, | 55:17 | |
| the question is who will accept it? | 55:21 | |
| Who is willing to be set free? | 55:25 | |
| Free from himself, | 55:30 | |
| free to his neighbor. | 55:34 | |
| Let us pray. | 55:42 | |
| Eternal God, our Father, | 55:52 | |
| unto thee we lift our prayers of adoration. | 55:57 | |
| All glory and honor be to thee. | 56:03 | |
| We give thee thanks for thy son | 56:10 | |
| who came to us | 56:15 | |
| as one of us | 56:18 | |
| in order that we might know thy love | 56:23 | |
| for us, | 56:27 | |
| in the name of Christ, | 56:31 | |
| who gave his life | 56:35 | |
| to prove that love. | 56:38 | |
| Grant us meaningful lives. | 56:44 | |
| Grant us | 56:49 | |
| celebration of life. | 56:52 | |
| Grant us | 56:56 | |
| freedom. | 56:58 | |
| We pray this in the name of Christ, our Lord. | 57:03 | |
| Amen. | 57:10 | |
| (upbeat organ music) | 57:14 |