Freedom is a wonderful experience. Freedom releases us from the fear of having to protect ourselves. Freedom enables us to serve others. Freedom enables us to live and to love.

At the time of Paul writing this second letter to the Corinthian Church, it is obvious that he was concerned about people misunderstanding the free gift of salvation. Unfortunately there were those who thought that the Christian life was just another form of Judaism that was to be lived out legalistically. Just imagine the difficulty that caused. In a culture that was filled with the impressions there are no rules – no boundaries, and “that anything goes,” the growth of Christianity in Corinth was at best difficult. Paul appealed to them in this chapter in a style that the Corinthians understood, a systematic comparison known to them as “Socratic thought.” He did this by referring to the story of Exodus 34. After Moses had received the Ten Commandments, when Moses came down the mountain, his face glowed with the presence of God. The Israelites were afraid to look at him with this “special glow of the divine” so they asked Moses to put a veil upon his face; they did not want to be reminded of God’s presence.

As a comparison, Paul explained that “to this very day,” when people read the Law of Moses, the true purpose and intent of God are not understood. It is as if a “veil is placed over their minds.” Instead of seeing the Law of God as a means of grace and love, it is seen only as legalism…a bunch of do’s and don’ts. It is this attitude, he implies, is what is causing others to misunderstand Christianity.

However, in verse 16, those who “turn to the Lord, the veil is removed.” One sees that true salvation is not legalism; true salvation is freedom. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is,” Paul writes, “there is freedom” (17). It is the freedom of the Lord’s presence that is what transforms us into this new being…that is what enables us experience what God has intended for us. We are not to live our lives worrying about condemnation – “if we have done it right.” Here is how Paul explains the gift of salvation: [18] And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

In other words, the full meaning of salvation is a process. We don’t get it all at one time as if a magic wand has been waved over us. Instead, it comes to us one degree to another degree.

I love what Thomas Merton, a Trappist Monk, wrote in Thoughts in Solitude: “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.” (p. 83)

That is what salvation is about…it is having the basic heart of giving one’s life to God, with all the uncertainty that we bring, with all the insecurity that surrounds us. But it giving our lives to God, we believe that God takes that and changes our lives one degree at a time.

It was St. Augustine: “Love God and do what you will.” Augustine did not mean that our Christian lives were to be lived with a flippant attitude, no! Instead, he meant that if we love God enough, then our will will conform to what God wants for us…one degree at a time!

The writer of Hebrews, who also sought to explain the difference between law and grace, wrote this: That “he writes his laws into our hearts and minds.” (Hebrews 10:16b)

Once a person experiences the freedom that comes from a Christ-centered life, it will impact the lives of others.

In just a few minutes we are going to join Christians all over the world who will be singing a few of the stanzas of “Amazing Grace.” We are doing this to mark the anniversary of the Bill that was submitted in England by William Wilberforce that abolished slavery. That one act influenced America’s decision to do the same. William Wilberforce had heard the story of John Newton, a ship owner and slave trader turned pastor and hymn writer.

You may know that Newton wrote the hymn, “Amazing Grace,” as a confession to his terrible sin of slave trading. But within the hymn he also declared his forgiveness. All of this was amazing…Amazing Grace, he would write. It was amazing grace that brought him freedom…freedom from shame and guilt, and freedom to live and to love.

That is what freedom in Christ is all about. We change, not because we have to…but because of grace – not law!

My wife, Wanda, teaches the Fellowship Class, a class for older adults. The class wanted to add a printed prayer in their room and they chose Wesley’s Covenant Prayer. This prayer speaks about the freedom that comes when we give our lives to God.

I would like for you to recite this with me…and maybe it could become your prayer and mine:

Wesley’s Covenant Prayer

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,

exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God,

thou art mine, and I am thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

Yes – freedom is a wonderful experience. Real freedom enables us to live and to love. Amen!

1. As told by Tom Long, SEJ Conference for Senior Pastors, January 24, 2007.