I Chose Freedom

 

God is spirit, and those who are worshipping Him must be worshipping in spirit and truth.

John 4: 24, Concordant New Testament 

These days I bristle at the thought of sitting through another boring sermon.  The thought of that raucous worship band makes me run for the exit.  It's not that I'm anti church, I'm anti institutional church.  I am anti mainstream, cookie cutter theology church.  I have sat through enough Sunday morning sermons to know what the message of the local brick and mortar church is.  I've been there.  As I sit here this morning writing, my mind flashes back to the days when it was simply expected that I was to be in church on a Sunday morning.  This is what Christians do.  This is where we listen to the latest notion that the head pulpit pounder has conjured up.  Yet the underlying message is always the same.  God sent Jesus to die for our sins, but be mindful that you also pray for His forgiveness.  If this sounds like a double standard, you're right.  I agree that Jesus died for my sins, but this is where the institutional church lost me.  If Jesus became sin on my behalf {2 Corinthians 5:21}, why do I continue to ask the Father for forgiveness?  If Jesus died to sin once for all {Romans 6:10}, must I continue to seek the Fathers forgiveness?  In the end, I chose the freedom of Christ Jesus over the traditions and rituals of the mainstream church.  For it is in Christ that I have discovered true freedom.  Freedom in knowing that I and the Father are one {John 17:21}.  The freedom in knowing that I now live as Christ Jesus who lives within my flesh body {Galatians 2:20}.  I no longer need to seek the nearest church on Sunday morning in order to feel closer to God.  I chose the freedom of knowing that I am now one with the Father.  Many Christians will spend this Sunday morning on their knees in front of church altars desperately seeking to be closer to the Father.  I suppose that I would somehow be seen as a disgruntled believer if I were to point out to these Christians the freedom which I have found in Jesus.  Perhaps it's no wonder that the mainstream church is losing members at an alarming rate.  Perhaps there are more like me who are seeking the freedom of Christ.  

If ever, then, the Son should be making you free, you will be really free. 

John 8: 36, Concordant New Testament 

Freedom in Jesus means that I am no longer beholden to the man created religious system found in the institutional church.  Those traditions and requirements are behind me.  In fact, I believe that it is these traditions and requirements which Jesus took to the cross with Him {Colossians 2:14}.  It is not by tradition or requirement that someone will come to know Jesus as I have.  It is not through traditions and requirements that one will find the freedom which is in Christ Jesus.  Don't get me wrong, I think that the church is a good starting point for someone looking to know about Jesus.  Yet the freedom of knowing the indwelling Christ will not come from any Sunday sermon preached there.  Knowing Christ within you will only come by the revelation of the Father.  This is how I came to know the Lord within me (of course, ME no longer exists).  The freedom found in Jesus is available to all of the Fathers children.  He allows us the freedom to seek it out for ourselves. 

~Scott~