A. Jack Wilson III - "Born to Be Free" (September 13, 1970)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(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 |