Yesterday, as we Indians, we celebrated the 74th Independence Day on August 15, 2020. But today, in the history of the Christian church, we will see what is true freedom to all Christian believers.
October 31 is commemorated as Congregation Day. Therefore, in many Protestant churches the last Sunday in October is celebrated as Reformation Sunday. About 500 years ago today, on October 31, 1517, Dr. Martin Luther hung his 95 Thesis (Ninety - Five Thesis) on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg of Germany. The movement that Luther's work gave birth to is known as the Reformation in the history of the world.
At the time, Luther received a doctorate in theology from Wittenberg, teaching at that university with honors, and was also an assistant pastor at the local Castle Church. In the Roman church, "All Sales Day" was celebrated on November 1, that day gather many people in the church house was celebrated. With this in mind, Luther hung his thesis on the door of the church the day before, so that all who came to church the next day would be drawn to it.
In the Middle Ages (500-1500 AD), the Roman Catholic Church was full of false doctrine, superstition, ignorance, and corruption. By this time most Christians were uneducated and had almost no knowledge about the Bible. As a result, they relied entirely on the pastoral community for religious education and management. But those teachers taught various non-biblical teachings, such as purgatory or salvation by action. In this thesis, Luther attacks various erroneous doctrines and doctrines of the Roman church, especially the practice of salvation by work and the practice of selling indulgences. This certificate could have been bought by the people if they wished, in exchange for money from the church, which would have freed them from the sins they had committed and promised them salvation and eternal life. Pope Leo X began selling the certificate in Germany to raise funds for the construction of the St. Peter's Church in Rome and to pay off the debts of the Archbishop of Mainz. Pope declares that whoever buys this certificate will be saved from all his sins. Some members of the parish now in charge of Luther bought the certificate and questioned Luther's legitimacy. Luther was compelled to write his 95 theses and bring them to the attention of all.
Highlighting the Bible's teachings, Luther teaches that salvation is never possible for people by buying certificates, or by doing good deeds, or by performing various acts of pilgrimage or devotion. He further teaches that salvation is the work of God, which He bestows by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. God has already given us salvation through the birth, earthly life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it cannot be achieved by any religious practice or good deeds; It has to be accepted only by faith.
Within weeks, Luther's Latin thesis was translated into German and spread throughout Germany and Europe, courtesy of the printing press. Three years after this incident, Luther was expelled from the Roman Church by the Pope and called a heretic. From this the work of church-reformation began. God called a number of discreet Bible-loving slaves, such as Luther, Philip Melankton, John Calvin, Ulrich Chubingli, and Bullinger. They were led by the sola scriptura, the sola fide, the sola gratia, the solas christus, and the soli deo gloria, the biblical church reform movement. Yes, the Roman church mocked him and called him a Protestant. We take their satire as our name.
Today, as we commemorate the church-reformation of the twentieth century, we are beginning to acknowledge the supreme power of the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, in our faith and practice. So today we are going to realize what true freedom is through Jesus' words at John 8: 30-36.
There are very few people today who realize the true meaning of "freedom." Most people think that it means "doing whatever you want." Hence, after living a life of self-indulgence in the hands of the extravagant youngest son, we too realize that we have been enslaved by him. True freedom means, "being a purposeful person for the purpose for which God created you."
John 8:30, "those who believed in him," verse 31 Jesus said to them, "If you continue to obey my teaching, then you are truly my followers". Again verse 33 we see that they have also stressed the words of Jesus, and verse 37 they have made aims to kill Jesus. From this, we can not say that the which team's sector has been spoken verse 30, they are different from the team's sector of next verse. Instead, we can say that two opposite religious traging or behavior of the same group has been revealed. Because, in the verse 31, Jesus reminded them that he will not accept Jesus as only a messenger in their hearts, but as a release of Satan and sin, he must be accepted as their personal Savior and to surrender to him, then they have been lost their faith in Jesus.
Now “continue to obey in the word of Jesus” means living a life of obedience to Jesus. And this life of obedience to Jesus is the manifestation of true discipleship. Not only that, this obedience gives the disciples a genuine knowledge of the truth, "and you will know that truth" (32a). This is the truth that is the special revelation of God and at the center of which is the work of Christ. And it is this truthful knowledge that gives us freedom, "that truth will set you free" (32b). In the next verse, Christ Himself describes this freedom as a life over which sin does not rule, but the Word of Christ guides in his life and heart (34, 35, 37). So, true freedom means not only wanting to do what you want, but also wanting to be able to do what you want to do.
Now Jesus' this words meaning his followers, is not spiritually free, yet slaves. Then all Jews heard these, and those who believed in him, they are became angry. They protested with the words of Jesus, saying, "We are the slaves of Abraham, and never slaves others" (33 a). Now when they say this, we must be understood that they are not saying their political situation. Because they can not forget their history so easily, that they witnessed Egypt, Azariah, Babylon, Mishi-Persia, Serrous slavery; And during the time of Jesus, their Rome's slavery is running. Again, they do not even induce their social system, because there were many Jews in them. Those who answer the words of Jesus they knew their hearts and religions well. So, they are talking about their independence in front of God here. In religious background, they boast of the descendants of Abraham, God, who did the agreement with Abraham (Gen. 17:17). So, as a nation on this earth, they are honored with a unique honor before God. All they need to know about themselves is the chosen nation, the royal priesthood, and God's own people (Exodus 19: 6; Deuteronomy 7: 6; 10:15; 1 Peter 2: 9). They remember God's promise, "you are the only family I chose to know in a special way" (Amos 3: 2a). But they have forgotten the last part of that verse, "so I will punish you for all your sins" (Amos 3: 2b). As Abraham's physical heirs, they consider themselves independent. In their thinking, the Gentiles are in a life of slavery by idolatry or polytheism. But they, as descendants of Abraham, have the exclusive right to worship the true God, they are independent. At birth they are God's subjects and outward religious conduct is their excuse.
This same problem today prevents many people from becoming disciples of Jesus. They are more optimistic about their own moral life than others; So by believing in Jesus, they simply try to improve their moral standards. They do not acknowledge the bondage of real sin in their lives, but consider themselves independent enough (e.g., the description of Calcutta in the travel book).
Jesus then told them plainly, "Anyone who commits sin is a slave to sin" (34b). When his listeners sought to separate themselves as Jews, Jesus, in his answer, immediately removed the positional distinction between Jews and Gentiles before God and His holy law. He said, "Anyone ..." The tense used in Greek for "sinfulness" means "one who continues to sin, or one who lives in sin." 1 John 3:6 says, " So the person who lives in Christ doesn't continue to sin, If a person continue to sin, He has never really understood Christ and has never known Christ"; This means is not to say that man is capable of living a sinless life, because before John clearly said this,“If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”(1John 1: 8). Here, the sinner is pointed out, who is gradually, continually distracted from the glory of God (Judges 20:16) but continues to rejoice in it.
Jesus here calls such a person a slave to sin (Romans 6:16; 11:32; 2 Peter 2:19). He is a slave, because sin has conquered him, sin is holding him captive, he cannot free himself from that bondage. Thus, when we go against God's Word and think or act against it; We are slaves to sin. Gradually we become so controlled by that sin that we cannot free ourselves from it (e.g. cigarettes).
In verse 35, Jesus reveals another truth about his listeners' bondage to sin. The slave may enjoy the comforts of his master's house for a while (Hebrews 11:25a), but not forever. He could be fired or sold at any moment. In the same way, Jesus tells the Jews who are proud to be Abraham's physical descendants to remember this truth. Even if Abraham's real children were to benefit forever in his house, Abraham's slaves (as can be thought of in Hagar, Gala 4: 21-31) would be expelled. Jesus says to them, “You think that you are Abraham's seed, so you are in his house. But you are in his house, not as his children, but as slaves. Therefore, be careful ".
But the son deserves to live forever in his father's house. Therefore, "If the Son sets them free, they will be truly free" (verse 36). That is, only the Son of Man can give them real freedom. This freedom is real, because, (1) this freedom is freedom from the bondage of sin, not from the various symptoms of sin, and (2) He not only frees them from the bondage of sin, but also adopts them as His own children. When we believe in Jesus and obey Him, He makes us according to His will. He makes us sons and daughters, who live forever in his Father's house. Are you running out of real freedom in your life as His child?
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