WEBVTT 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:17.679 Welcome to City Church Dublin Semmon Archives. 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:24.079 Join us this week as we continue to walk through the Book of John in our series, The Gospel of John. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:27.199 Let me add my welcome to Duncan's. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:27.920 My name is Mark. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.239 I'm one of the leaders here at City Church. 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:32.479 Welcome to you if you're new or visiting. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:44.320 Can I invite you to have that passage that Rory read for us open either physically in your Bible or on your phone so you can uh be uh just consulting it with me? 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:48.000 It's John chapter 8, verses 31. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:59.359 We're really not getting down to verse 38, we're really only doing to verse 36 because 38 kind of gets us into the rest of the chapter and we'll deal with all of that stuff about fathers and Abraham and Father Abraham, many sons. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:00.880 Many sons had Father Abraham. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:03.200 Uh, we'll do all that next uh next week. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:04.239 Maybe that's our kids' song. 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:05.359 Who knows? 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:09.359 Um uh answer this question for me if you uh if you would. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:11.200 We're gonna talk about freedom today. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:18.319 Uh, there will be no references uh to uh to Scottish Lords or any movies uh about that, don't worry. 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:20.319 Uh, but we are gonna talk about freedom. 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:22.159 So uh answer this in your own mind. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:24.000 What does it mean to be free? 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:28.319 What does it mean for you to be free? 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:30.000 What is freedom? 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:32.879 Because if we're gonna talk about it, it's worth thinking about. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:34.799 Well, what do you think it is? 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:37.439 When are you at your most free? 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:39.280 What is freedom? 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:48.000 Well, maybe uh some of you here in the quietness of your mind uh answered that in terms of a negative. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:57.439 It's about not being something about not being bound, not being constrained or suppressed or oppressed. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:01:59.920 Uh well done, those of you who answered like that. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:03.680 Uh, you all get a name badge when you go out, and it all says Elsa. 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:06.879 Uh no right, no wrong, no rules for me. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:08.319 I'm free. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:11.759 That's the first of our movie references. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:19.759 It's about having no more boundaries, no more constraints. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:26.879 I imagine that some of you maybe answered in slightly more, perhaps, what you would consider kind of neutral terms. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:31.120 Freedom uh is about being able to choose how you wish to live. 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:41.439 Freedom's about being my own master or mistress, freedom's about self-creation and self-determination. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:50.159 Uh at that point, you perhaps resonate with Brendan Gleason's daughter in the movie Calvary. 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:52.560 If you've seen sorry? 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:57.919 Yeah, no, not his not his real daughter, yeah, doesn't have a daughter. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:11.520 Uh, but in the movie Calvary, uh, if you've seen that, uh she in this scene with her father um says to him, I am my own, I belong to myself. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:14.400 And maybe that's kind of what you think about freedom. 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:18.719 I I am my own, I belong to myself. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:28.400 To think about freedom in those sorts of terms is uh, I would say, quite pervasive in our world. 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:42.400 Freedom is uh an extraordinarily high value, possibly the highest value in the West, something that we aspire to and seek to achieve for us. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:48.719 It governs so much of uh who we are and our decision making. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:59.439 For instance, people want to be free uh to express themselves what they describe as their true inner being. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:29.519 And so part of what freedom means today is to kind of uh analyze and be able to uh to feel who you are and then project that into the world in a way that is uh celebrated and affirmed, that unless you're able to live that out, who you perceive yourself to be internally, then then you'll never be free. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:45.839 And if freedom is about self-determination and autonomy and independence and uh radical self-expression, then Christianity is the enemy of all of that. 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:52.720 Christianity is seen as the enemy of freedom. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:05:03.360 Surely that's what people tend to think about the church, that it is constraining and oppressive and repressive. 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:08.160 That it's the church's that's Christianity's reputation. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:20.000 It's one of stifling freedom, of enslaving people who would otherwise express themselves differently to the values of Christianity. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:21.759 And so there's a problem here, right? 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:27.199 Because we come to this passage, and Jesus is talking about setting you free. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:37.839 He's speaking about freedom, he's offering freedom, not just a little bit of freedom, but he talks about being free indeed. 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:52.079 The idea of being free indeed, when Jesus uses that term, it's about freedom at every level of analysis, holistic freedom at every part of your being. 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:54.480 And that's what Jesus is offering. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:59.279 And yet the reputation of Christianity and the reputation of the church is something quite different. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:02.800 So what's gone on? 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:04.800 What's gone wrong? 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:16.800 What's happened that the guy who here in this passage offers you freedom is now perceived by many as being the archenemy of freedom. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:24.079 In the movie Calvary, come back to me with Brendan Gleason and his fictitious daughter. 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:27.199 They're actors, they're pretending, Andrew. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:28.000 Yeah, okay. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:38.079 She says, I am my own, I belong to no one else, or I belong to myself. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:41.759 And Brendan Gleason responds and says, True. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:44.879 False. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:59.199 He's saying that the idea of expressive individualism that I am my own is true to a certain extent, but ultimately false. 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:08.079 And in the same way, this idea that Christianity limits your freedom is true to a certain extent, but it's ultimately false. 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:09.439 Let me show you how. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:13.279 What is freedom? 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:16.399 What does it mean to be free? 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:32.800 Well, the problem with this definition of freedom as no right, no wrong, no rules for me, as uh self-assertion and independence and autonomy, no constraints. 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:39.279 The problem with defining freedom in that sort of way is that it's unworkable. 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:42.399 It's impossible. 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:46.959 It is not possible to live that way. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:08:02.720 Imagine for a second, uh an old uh an old man, a grandfather, and he has uh two deep desires. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:11.759 One of his deep desires, and this is basically me me projecting into time, is that he loves to eat. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:18.800 You you know some people some people are food food is fuel, some people are food is pleasure, food is pleasure, right? 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:20.000 Yeah. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:21.600 Can I get an amen? 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:22.800 Uh yeah, amen. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:23.600 There you go. 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:26.399 Food is fuel, people, just out of interest, give me a whoop. 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:28.480 Uh, whatever. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:30.160 Right. 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:31.759 Food is pleasure, people. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:32.320 I'm talking to you. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:33.279 Feel is fuel. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:35.120 You can uh you can get a different example later on. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:36.559 We're gonna talk about skydiving later. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:37.759 We'll bring you back, right? 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.480 Uh food is fuel or food is pleasure people. 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:43.919 You know, one of the deep desires that he has is he loves to he loves to eat. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:50.879 You know, he's going through the Instagram stories, seeing all of the different recipes and seeing those greasy cheeseburgers. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:58.559 He loves food, he loves the pleasure of social company and and and eating whatever he likes. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:04.559 The other deep desire that that that grandfather has is he loves to spend time with his grandkids. 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:10.960 He derives great joy and pleasure from being with them. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:15.360 And they make him feel young again. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:42.799 He goes for his uh his annual physical for his annual checkup, and the doctor takes his blood pressure and uh and measures his cholesterol and uh and says, Mark, uh if you don't take drastic action to limit the quantity and type of foods that you eat, you're going to develop heart disease and die. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:50.320 You need to take drastic action now, and so the man's left with a dilemma. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:10:03.440 Does he indulge his desire to eat whatever he wants, or does he indulge his desire to spend as much time as possible watching his grandchildren grow up? 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:10.399 Here's the thing he desires both, but he's not free to do both. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:17.120 He has to constrain himself to one of those desires. 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:21.039 He's not free in respect to both. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:30.320 And so freedom for that man is not being free to do whatever he wants, the absence of constraint, no right, no wrong, no rules for me. 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:45.200 No, freedom for that grandfather is the strategic loss of certain freedoms in order to gain a greater, more joy-giving freedom. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:46.639 Do you see? 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:55.919 You know this if you are a student or if you have been a student, this idea of strategic loss. 00:10:56.159 --> 00:11:03.039 Say you want to do really well, get a first when you finish. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:10.320 What you're going to do now is you're going to voluntarily give up some freedoms. 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:13.679 You're not going to go out and party every night. 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:17.039 Because people who do that don't generally get firsts. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:20.559 If you're one of those people, we all hate you. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:28.240 Because generally speaking, you have to constrain yourself. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:33.120 You say, no, I'm not going to go out to Coppers for the fourth night in a row. 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:37.279 Because I need to study. 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:38.639 What are you doing? 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:44.639 You might have the desire to go out, but you're constraining yourself voluntarily. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:45.200 What? 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:55.360 For the joy of achieving the degree classification that opens up the job prospects, that opens up the future that you're aiming for. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:56.159 Do you see? 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:58.240 So you constrain yourself now. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:01.919 Freedom is not no right, no wrong, no rules for me. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:03.759 It's not the absence of constraint. 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:10.879 It's strategically limiting yourself for certain greater, deeper joys. 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:13.600 I think that's a better definition of freedom. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:14.559 Do you see? 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:19.600 You might say, well, that's fair enough. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:22.000 But I'm still choosing. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:26.080 I'm still choosing not to eat the cheeseburger. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:29.120 I'm still choosing not to go out. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:36.879 It's still my agency, it's still my autonomy that's saying, no, I'm I'm turning aside from that. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:39.440 That's not really what's going on. 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:40.559 Not really. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:51.279 Because woven into the fabric of reality are these truths that if you just eat junk food your entire life, you're going to get heart disease and die. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:55.759 Or if you just party all the time, you're not going to get a first. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:02.559 That's kind of, it's not so much that you choose that to be true, it's that you conform your life to the shape of reality anyway. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:04.000 Do you see? 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:08.960 Now, those are kind of physical examples. 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:13.279 Maybe kind of slit silly examples about food or about study. 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:16.879 What about something like love? 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:21.840 What about something less tangible, more metaphysical? 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:23.279 Like love? 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:31.679 Can you take the definition of no right, no wrong, no rules for me, I'm free into a love relationship? 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:35.200 Or is there constraint in a love relationship? 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:45.279 Imagine you start going out with someone, you're falling in love with that person, but your approach to your life is I am my own. 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:46.960 I belong to no one else. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:48.480 I am my own master. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:51.440 I'm the captain of my own ship. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:14:02.000 And your partner, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your spouse says, could you help me take the bins out? 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:06.720 And you respond by saying, I belong to no one else. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:10.000 I follow my own desires, and so no. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:18.720 Or they say to you, uh, this is a completely fictitious example, it doesn't come from my life at all. 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:30.639 Um, your partner may hypothetically say something like, uh, could you stop leaving your underwear on the floor and put it in the wash basket? 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:36.559 To which you respond, no right, no wrong, no rules for me, I'm free. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:46.000 A few days later, your boyfriend or your girlfriend look at you and say, I think we might be breaking up. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:48.159 Why? 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:54.240 Because in a love relationship, you undergo the strategic loss of freedoms. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:05.120 You set aside certain freedoms, the freedom to date other people, the freedom to have sex with other people, the freedom to marry other people. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:06.000 Why? 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:09.360 Because you're now a prisoner? 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:12.720 No, because you love the person. 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:18.879 You voluntarily, joyfully, you don't even think about it as the loss of freedom. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:22.000 Because you love the person. 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:27.279 And what's more is you go even further than that. 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:33.840 You deliberately constrain yourself to the things that make them happy. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:43.120 You do things that bring them joy because in them finding happiness, you get happy too. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:54.000 To do something that makes your partner, the person that you're in love with, smile or brim with delight, it brings you joy. 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:56.799 I hate fish pie. 00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:59.279 Fish pie sucks. 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:07.600 But my wife loves it, like has a kind of slightly weird obsessive relationship with it. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:14.720 I would never voluntarily for myself cook fish pie. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:26.480 But when we were dating, and she was living in England, and I was living in Dublin, any time that she would fly over, there would be a fish pie in the oven when I would go and get her from the airport. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:27.039 Why? 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:36.399 And did I put it in the oven and think, oh, I'm so I'm so bound and constrained by this woman who is suppressing and repressing my desire to eat steak. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:39.360 No, of course not. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:45.840 Like, I'm putting that in the oven because I love the woman who's coming to eat it. 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:55.200 And to see her derive pleasure from it, particularly because she's a food as fuel person, brings me joy. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:08.720 So freedom, whether in the physical realm or in the metaphysical, in the example of love, it's not simply about the absence of constraint. 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:11.039 That's not how freedom works. 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:18.160 It's about the strategic limiting of certain freedoms in order to maximize freedom and joy. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:25.839 So the question then is what freedoms should you constrain yourself to? 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:36.079 Well, in the same way that there is a kind of order to the physical realm, so to the metaphysical realm. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:40.640 Jesus here talks about offering us freedom. 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:43.200 How is he able to do that? 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:46.079 How is he able to set you free? 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:49.599 How is he able to make you free indeed? 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:57.920 He's able to do that because Christians believe that Jesus is our maker. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:02.000 He is the one who designed us. 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:05.839 He knows what makes human beings flourish. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:17.440 And so freedom for a human being, like freedom for all of life, is about living the way you were made to live. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:25.680 Imagine for a second a fish that decides by its own independence and autonomy that it desires to live in a tree. 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:28.799 You might think, well, no right, no wrong, no rules for it. 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:29.759 It's free. 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:38.960 But a fish that lives in a tree is dying because it is not living the way that it was made to live. 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:41.839 It is not living according to its nature. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:44.000 It's living contrary to nature. 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:48.240 Freedom for fish is found when it's in water. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:55.119 And so, in order to know for us what freedom is, we need to ask, well, what am I made for? 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:59.119 Or to put it more precisely, who am I made for? 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:03.039 Where am I designed to flourish the most? 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:22.240 And the answer to that actually comes in verse 31, when Jesus says, Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, if you abide in my word, not just give intellectual assent to some of the tenets and precepts of Christianity, not just kind of say, Yeah, yeah, no, no, absolutely. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:23.440 Moving on. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:24.559 Abide. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:31.359 What is the environment that maximizes human freedom and flourishing? 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:33.599 It's Jesus. 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:47.599 Jesus is the environment that you were made for, in which you enjoy full, holistic freedom at every level of analysis. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:49.680 So what's freedom? 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:51.920 It's not the absence of constraint. 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:53.359 It's not workable. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:59.440 It is the strategic loss of certain freedoms in order to gain greater joy. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:07.839 And if freedom and joy is maximized, it is maximized when we live according to how we are made. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:24.079 Your most life-giving, freedom-giving identity is not one that you create for yourself, but one which you discover and then live out of. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:36.720 So what are they, what do they mean when they say we've never been enslaved to anyone? 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:37.680 Are they morons? 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:41.119 Well, no, let's give them a little bit more credit than that. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:51.759 I think perhaps what they are saying is something like that they have never had to constrain or curtail their Jewish identity. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:54.960 That wherever they were, they were able to express that. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:58.880 They were still able to freely express their religion. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:02.480 In that sense, the Nobody has made them a slave. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:06.640 But Jesus pushes them. 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:11.039 So that their slavery is not geopolitical. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:14.319 It's not even religious. 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:17.759 So much as that it's spiritual. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:21.200 That there is actually something that is taking them captive. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:22.720 Verse 34. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:30.240 Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:34.799 The slave does not remain in the house forever, but the son remains forever. 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:39.759 So if the sun sets you free, you will be free indeed. 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:47.839 So here we must turn our attention from the issue of what it means to be free to what it means to be a slave. 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:52.559 What is a slave? 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:56.559 And what does it mean to be a slave of sin? 00:22:57.519 --> 00:22:59.839 How does sin lead to slavery? 00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:11.039 The answer to all of this is contained in the contrast that Jesus offers between a slave and a son. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:18.240 Verse 35 the slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:23.839 The answer to what it means for us to be a slave is in this contrast. 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:25.279 Let me explain it to you. 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:28.000 Everybody's familiar with Downton Abbey, right? 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:30.880 Slightly dated reference, forgive me. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:34.880 Um but we got we understand the concept, even if you've never seen it. 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:39.440 Uh a large stately home, uh turn of the 20th century. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:41.519 And what have you, what's part of the drama there? 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:42.400 What have you got there? 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:47.119 Well, you've got the family who own the estate and live in the house. 00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:55.759 Uh, and then you've got the uh you've got the servants, you've got those who live below stairs, and they all live in the same physical building. 00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:58.000 And in one sense, you say, well, there's an equality there. 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:03.359 But actually, if you watch Downton Abbey or wherever, there's there's there's anything but equality going on. 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:09.039 There is a difference between those who live below stairs and those who live above stairs. 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:12.559 There's a difference between the servant and the son. 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:18.480 I know again, Andrew, that there was no sons there. 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:20.319 Three three daughters. 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:22.640 Stay with me, don't like to get to fix it. 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:23.519 Yeah, good. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:28.480 There's a difference between the servants and the son. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:34.079 Very different relationships with the master. 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:35.839 How are they different? 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:36.799 They're different in four ways. 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:42.960 They're different at the level of desire, different at the level of ability, different at the level of opportunity, different at the level of destiny. 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:44.559 Those four things are going to be important. 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:45.759 Let me say them again. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:49.200 Desire, ability, opportunity, destiny. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:51.839 Desire, ability, opportunity, destiny. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:53.200 Let me explain what I mean. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:55.200 They have different desires. 00:24:55.440 --> 00:25:01.599 The servant's desire, perhaps, is to see that his master is pleased. 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:07.920 Or his desire might be to get out of the house as soon as possible and move on somewhere else. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:16.720 But the son's desire is to learn from and emulate and to please his father and then take on that mantle. 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:21.839 Different at the level of desire, different at the level of ability. 00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:28.799 The servant cannot walk into the dining hall and plonk himself down beside Maggie Smith. 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:36.160 The servant doesn't have access to every part of the house, but the son does. 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:38.480 The sun goes where he pleases. 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:41.839 He can be upstairs or he can travel downstairs. 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:44.400 Different at the level of ability. 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:47.440 Different also at the level of opportunity. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:51.440 The servant does not climb the social hierarchy. 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:59.440 He remains a servant, but the son will one day manage the estate and inherit the titles of his father. 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:02.960 And they have different destinies. 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:08.960 The servant, no matter how long or how beloved, isn't it, doesn't matter if they're Carson. 00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:11.759 Carson still left the house. 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:13.839 He's still retired. 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:19.200 But a son remains and inherits. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:29.279 Being a slave to sin is about being a servant and not a son. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:33.279 You can be a religious person and still be a slave to sin. 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:34.160 Do you know that? 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:44.960 You can be a religious person and still be a slave to sin if you view God as a boss to be appeased, as a master to be placated. 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:56.799 If you view him as a master and not a father, that your religious duty is seen as services rendered. 00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:01.279 That you're trying to please God in order to get something from him. 00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:09.759 You're still a slave. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:19.599 If you are performing morally in order to win his favor, you are a servant and not a son. 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:22.960 See, you're religious. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:27.920 You're even sitting in church, but you're still a slave. 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:40.400 Non-religious people, maybe even anti-religious people, are also enslaved. 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:41.279 Why? 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:44.799 Because we all serve something. 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:48.480 We're all pursuing something. 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:52.480 We're all pouring ourselves out for something. 00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:56.160 We're hardwired to do that. 00:27:56.240 --> 00:28:00.400 We're hardwired to pour ourselves out for something or someone. 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:05.359 And if it's not God, then it's something that's enslaving us. 00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:15.519 It's something that takes us captive at those four levels: desire, ability, opportunity, and destiny. 00:28:16.400 --> 00:28:17.759 Let me show you how. 00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:23.440 Imagine three things that might take you captive. 00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:26.160 Sex, money, success. 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:29.440 Sex, money, success. 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:31.599 How do they take you captive? 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:34.720 They take you captive at the level of desire. 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:41.759 If those things are your ultimate, then you want more. 00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:43.359 More sex. 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:45.279 More money. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:47.920 Greater success. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:52.400 They take you captive at the level of ability. 00:28:53.039 --> 00:29:03.119 If you are captivated by sex, you ironically will struggle to be ever truly intimate, vulnerable, and self-giving with anyone. 00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:10.720 If you're captivated by money, you will find it nearly impossible to be generous. 00:29:12.559 --> 00:29:21.519 If you are captivated by the desire to succeed, you will find it utterly debilitating to fail. 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:29.839 You are constrained and enslaved at the level of ability. 00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:34.960 Those things will also blind you to opportunity. 00:29:35.359 --> 00:29:48.960 If you worship sex, you will lose sight of the joy of lasting intimacy and vulnerability with someone in a love relationship. 00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:57.359 If you worship money, then you will miss the chance to be a blessing to others with the resources that you have. 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:06.720 If you worship success, you will struggle to see and regard those who you deem to be lesser than you. 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:11.519 You are enslaved at the level of opportunity. 00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:19.119 And in the end, you will discover that you are enslaved at the level of destiny. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:22.400 Those things will destroy you. 00:30:23.119 --> 00:30:24.799 They will never be enough. 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:27.039 They were never designed to be enough. 00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:29.599 Those three things aren't wrong in themselves. 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:31.200 They're gifts. 00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:39.920 But if you're worshiping them, pursuing them as ultimate, they will enslave you and they will destroy you. 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:42.240 They will never be enough. 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:46.960 Success will go to your head, failure will go to your heart. 00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:49.920 Taken together. 00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:53.200 This is the anatomy of slavery. 00:30:55.519 --> 00:31:06.000 In order to be truly free, free indeed, as Jesus says, you need to be set free at each of these levels. 00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:14.880 You need to be set free at the level of desire, ability, opportunity, and destiny. 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:18.799 So imagine you're skydiving. 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:19.279 There you go. 00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:21.519 If you're a food as fuel people, come back. 00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:25.200 Imagine for a second that you're skydiving. 00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:30.079 Here's what it means to be free at all of those levels. 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:35.200 You get there to the field, field, airstrip. 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:36.319 Yeah, let's go with that. 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:44.079 You get to the airstrip, you see the the plane there, you have a look at it, and all of the desire drains out of your body. 00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:46.240 You're like, no, I'm fine. 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:48.319 Yeah, I think I'll stay here. 00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:49.119 Thank you very much. 00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:50.400 All of the desires gone. 00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:51.440 Are you free indeed? 00:31:51.599 --> 00:31:52.559 No, you're not. 00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:56.319 Because you're not free with respect to your desires. 00:31:56.559 --> 00:32:00.319 You're now constrained to stay on terra firma. 00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:06.319 Or you get there and you realize that you didn't listen to any of the lessons. 00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:08.640 You haven't listened to the instructor. 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:13.279 You have no idea what a ripcord is or where it is. 00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:15.200 Are you free indeed? 00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:17.680 No, you're not free at the level of ability. 00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:21.359 You don't have the ability to go skydiving. 00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:23.519 You are not free indeed. 00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:30.799 Or you get there and the clouds have rolled in and the pilot says the plane is grinded. 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:31.920 Are you free indeed? 00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:33.039 No, you're not. 00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:35.759 You're not free at the level of opportunity. 00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:39.519 You do not have the opportunity to go skydiving today. 00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:41.599 You are not free indeed. 00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:46.720 Or you get up there and the plane is soaring, and it is a beautifully clear day. 00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:50.559 You're pumped, you listen during the lessons, you know where the ripcord is. 00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:54.160 The guy says, three, two, one, out you go. 00:32:54.240 --> 00:32:57.119 You're soaring down, and it's exhilarating. 00:32:57.359 --> 00:33:00.559 And you pull the ripcord, nothing. 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:07.359 You pull it again, it's just moth. 00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:11.519 Are you free indeed? 00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:14.240 Maybe for a minute. 00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:20.640 You are not free with respect to your destiny. 00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:24.799 Gravity has now enslaved you. 00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:28.240 You are not free indeed. 00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:39.359 Everyone here this morning who is living however they want, you say, I feel pretty free. 00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:42.000 I'm doing what I want when I want. 00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:43.359 I'm not harming anybody. 00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:44.960 I'm discovering my identity. 00:33:45.039 --> 00:33:49.200 I'm living that, or I'm creating my identity and I'm living that out. 00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:57.279 I'm pursuing, I'm pursuing sex and career and money, and it feels exhilarating and wonderful. 00:33:57.839 --> 00:33:59.680 I feel free. 00:34:02.079 --> 00:34:03.759 It's freeful sex. 00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:06.400 It's freeful greed. 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:08.719 It's freeful power. 00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:11.519 It's freeful self-creation. 00:34:11.760 --> 00:34:15.519 You're not free at the level of destiny. 00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:20.000 Why? 00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:25.840 Because you're not a son, you're still a slave. 00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:33.599 So, how does the son set you free? 00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:35.920 That's what Jesus promises. 00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:39.199 That's the desire that we all have. 00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:43.039 We all understand at some level that there are things that are constraining us. 00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:48.800 We understand at some level that there is a freedom to be achieved, that there's a freedom that we are pursuing. 00:34:48.960 --> 00:34:52.880 And Jesus is here, he's offering, he says, Come and be free in me. 00:34:54.320 --> 00:34:55.039 So hi. 00:34:56.079 --> 00:34:58.079 How does Jesus make you free? 00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:02.079 How does the Son set you free so that you would be free indeed? 00:35:02.320 --> 00:35:07.440 Free at the level of desire, ability, opportunity, and destiny. 00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:17.440 Earlier on, we noted that in our love relationship we constrain ourselves to the other person. 00:35:18.559 --> 00:35:22.239 Because in doing so, we find freedom and joy. 00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:33.440