Set free to be Free

It's amazing how many people consider 'true freedom' to be measured by 'freedom of speech', 'freedom of choice', 'freedom of religion', 'freedom of movement' or 'freedom of expression'. Consequently, many barriers and restraints have been removed and today's modern society has awarded an unprecedented quota of freedom to its citizens.  We are given maximum space and complete license to aggressively pursue our own agendas. What we loosely call 'western culture' is merely a vast supermarket of self-centred desires, crudely exhibited and flaunted by the world's media for the self-gratification of millions of self-interested customers. We have all this very same freedom, and now we do not know what to do with it!  We are free, yet we are also terribly frightened, terribly lonely, terribly complicated and terribly bewildered.

Yet, there is freedom and liberty, and then there is freedom and liberty! One of our problems concerning this matter of freedom is that we may not even know what true freedom is.  Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" [John 8:31, 32].  The Greek word translated “knows" implies recognition of the truth which is attained through personal experience'.  Therefore, the truth that sets me free is the truth that I have recognised, perceived or understood, but also which has been attained through personal experience. Quite simply, the truth that I walk in and 'know' will set me free, however, it will not set you free!  You too must walk in the truth which you have attained.

Truth that you have acquired by personally experiencing God's Word; then, and only then, this personalised and experiential truth will make you free - and you'll be free indeed! 

Galatians 5:1 declares, “With freedom did Christ set us free!" This statement announces that Christ legally liberated us from the slavery in which we were born, not to bring us into another form of bondage, but in order to make us completely and utterly free.  Therefore, no one has the right to enslave us again.  We are now God's property – paid for in full!

Acts 16:11-40 tells three separate stories about people in Philippi who were in bondage, but were all set free [liberated].  

So let's read verses 13 to 15…

Here we meet Lydia, a rich businesswoman, and the first European convert of Paul.  Notice, God opens her heart to the Gospel and she immediately demonstrates the Christian trait of hospitality, gladly opening up her home. Now the conversion of Lydia is interesting for a number of reasons.  Firstly, the narrator makes it clear that her conversion is due to 'the work of God', and not Paul's skill.  It's surprising how many people are quick to take the credit for 'the work of God' when someone comes to Christ.  God finds us, God opens our hearts, and God saves us!  We can take no credit for this.

Second, Lydia is a woman, and many would be startled to find Paul and Silas [two East-Mediterranean males] ministering to her and other women in public.  When compared to conventional Jewish and Greco-Roman ideas about women, the early church must have seemed quite radical.  Paul welcomed women and featured them as valued members of this movement.  For instance, some women [like Lydia] were given key leadership roles and were even allowed to join the church without their husband's permission.

Thirdly, Lydia was very rich, with notable business acumen.  Not only is Paul found ministering to a woman in public - but this woman is a rich at that!  Many religious people were under the misconception that it was impossible for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.  Again, Paul goes against tradition to illustrate that much good can be done through the right use of wealth.  In the early church, the wealthier members were encouraged to give to those in need [Acts 2:44, 45; 4:32-35], and Cornelius, the first gentile convert, is depicted as a philanthropist [Acts 10:2].  

Here, a rich businesswoman named Lydia demonstrates her wonderful conversion through genuine hospitality.  But note, verse 15 tells us that she and her whole household were baptised [saved], subsequently she was 'set free' from her traditions and was able to persuaded Paul and Silas to come and stay in her house.  Lydia was 'set free' to exercise her gift of hospitality, and Paul was 'set free' to welcome her as a sister in Christ.

Let's quickly move on to the next story in Acts 16 - verses 16 to 19....

Paul and Silas were going to the place of prayer and were accosted by a slave girl.  Because this girl could tell people's fortunes she made money for her owners, who must have hired her out to read palms and provide entertainment.  She was demon possessed, and therefore, probably mentally unbalanced.  She had taken to following Paul and Silas around, shouting and saying things about them.  This girl is a picture enslavement – the demon was holding her in total bondage. But suddenly, Paul has enough of this young woman's raving and in the Name of Jesus he casts out the demon.  She is free!  

The chains which bound her all her life to this demon possession are broken, yet there is no rejoicing. Religion has some how got mixed up with economics here, and so her owners do what commercial people always do when their vested interests are threatened.  They find a reason to get rid of these foreigners quickly!     

Notice, the girl was a slave, someone who should not be treated as a person but a piece of property.  "When her owners saw that their hope of financial gain was lost" they shrewdly drum up public opinion and get Paul and Silas flogged, shackled and put in prison. The liberators are now the imprisoned.  Jesus has set a pitiful young woman free, only to have his men jailed in the process!

Wasn't this the same Jesus who said? "You will know the truth and the truth shall make you free."  But don't be alarmed, Paul and Silas may be in prison, however, they are not languishing there!  These men are not some limp, timid creatures who feel bound by their circumstances.  They have the truth alive in them!  Truth which they can recognise and perceive because it was attained through personal experience. As far as their God is concerned, they had seen it, done it, and bought the tee-shirt!  They were therefore truly free, and this freedom [total liberty] soon manifests, even in such chronic circumstances. 

"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners listened intently."  Wait, these men who were just flogged and are now in chains, legs locked in shackles, are joyfully singing and praying in their prison cell.  Some freedom – don’t you think?

Now see what happens… The earth heaves, the prison shakes, the doors fly open and everyone's chains fall off.  The jailer wakens to find the prison doors open and he is horrified. Knowing what happens to jailers who allow their prisoners to escape, he thinks of taking his own life.  Paul quickly shouts out, "Don't do it, we're all still here.  We were just singing!" Having the key to someone's prison cell does not make you free. Nor do iron bars make a prison. True freedom and liberty comes from knowing the truth.

Suddenly this man realises that it is he who needs to be set free and not these prisoners.  So he brings Paul and Silas out from the cell and asks, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" – “What must I do to be set free?"

So what is true freedom?  By the end of this story, all who appeared to be free – the girl's owners, the judges, and the jailer – are in fact slaves.  And everyone who first appeared to be enslaved – the girl, Paul and Silas – are free!   Remember, Jesus Himself said, "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” [John 8:36]. 

When you find Jesus you are set free to be free!