Freedom in Community

We felt led of God to do that, to make that aspect of collecting of money be something that is conducive to thoughtful giving rather than the American way of extracting money from people. And so we want to honor the Lord in the fashion in which we collect money at Northway. But we want to see beyond this whole aspect of our life together and realize that there is in this much more than just a simple collection of money or a taxing of us so that we can fund our operation kind of thing. That's not the vision that we have for this area of our life together. I'd like you to look at Second Corinthians 8 for a minute. One of the overriding characteristics of the work of God in the human heart is that he brings about change. He brings about change in the way we think. He brings about change in our habits. He brings about change in our relationships and in our values. And Paul is talking here, and he goes at great length in talking specifically about money in the eighth chapter and in the ninth chapter. I just want to look at a couple of verses in chapter eight and then a few in chapter nine to begin to get a glimpse together of some of the reality that there is for us in this whole area of our money and our giving. He begins his teaching in chapter eight, and we're going to break in at verse seven. Just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge, and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. And this gracious work in this context is the believer's sharing of their substance for the sake of the gospel. I'm not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others, the sincerity of your love also. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, that you, through his poverty, might become rich. And so as Paul begins ministering in the area of money and of giving, he roots that teaching in the work of Jesus, who knew what it was to empty himself of his riches and to give of himself for our behalf. Now he goes on with that teaching, but that's for another time as far as us following it through. But I want you to skip to the last part of chapter nine this morning. And Paul is opening to us a spiritual There's a little ledge there you might trip on. Paul opens to us a spiritual reality about the process of us sharing of our substance that we need to grasp because it is so much more than a taxation. You see, Jay shared the verse, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, there is liberty. And God wants to move us into life and liberty in every aspect of our lives as individuals and as a body together. And this is one of them. Listen to what he says, verse 10 of chapter 9. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in everything for all liberality which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints. You get this. The ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints. We give so that the needs of the saints might be met, whether it be at Northway in terms of salaries for the staff or for the support of this ministry, or meeting needs that happen to be in this body, or whether it be disbursing money to other ministries that we might meet the needs of the saints in their ministry or in their personal lives. But the ministry of this service is not just for that. It's not just so that the needs of the saints might be met, but it is overflowing through many thanksgivings to God because of the proof given by this ministry. They will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. What he's saying is that as our hearts are opened by the Holy Spirit to share and to give to the Lord of our substance, several things happen. The immediate need for for which that was given is met. But Paul says much more happens that happens in the world of the physical need. But in the world of the spiritual reality. There is glory given to God. Where does that glory come from? It comes from the hearts of those who do the receiving. And they abound, he says, in thanksgiving to God for his work in you. And there is a It's like accumulating marvelous spiritual interest in the funding. And God is glorified as we give, not only because that giving demonstrates his heart that cares for the poor or the needy and so on, but he is glorified through the hearts and minds of those people who do the receiving so that their relationship to God is opened up in new ways. And praise and thanksgiving flow from the hearts of people to God, having been triggered by his grace through that financial bridge, you see that there's another thing that happens. He says they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. And the relationship brother to brother and sister to sister and child of God to child of God, is strengthened and given fresh life. And there is a uniting and a knitting of hearts that happens as this, as money, which you see the redemption of God in this. The Word says that the love of money is the root of all evil. It is one of the most powerful forces in our lives today. It is the overriding force in our culture. And God can take money that Scripture calls filthy lucre, and he can redeem it and allow it to be a channel of his blessing and of his grace and to stimulate praise to him and a knitting together of the body of Christ. The extent to which redemption flows as God works out his life among us is incredible. That's why Paul finishes this teaching by saying, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. And he gives us the privilege of entering into this reality. Now, the way, the practical way that we have offerings here at Northway is a little box that sits by the door. We repudiate the American way, which puts pressure on people to extract money from them. We affirm the work of God in the heart of a believer that understands that he has a Savior who gave all that he had that he might be redeemed and who stands in a marvelous lifelong debt of love to his Savior. We affirm that. We affirm the work of God in the heart that moves into every facet of our lives and redeems us where we live. So we don't speak of money this morning because Northway has a need. Our needs have marvelously been met right from the very beginning, and they continue to be. We speak of money this morning that we might begin, just begin coming to an understanding of the realities that are here and the possibility for. For blessing and for being a blessing to one another and being a blessing to God through this medium for his glory. - Speaker 2 Norvaire, Colorado is an interesting little town. I don't know if any others saw the same little spot I did on television a while back, but it's a community, a planned community, and it's just outside of Denver. And it falls into the definition of community, because here it is. A community is a network of relationships which are rooted in a common sense of identity, purpose and work in the world. Community is a network of relationships that are rooted in a common identity, purpose and work in the world. Now, Norvaire, Colorado, is a unique community because every family in the community has an airplane. And the basis of their community relationship is that they have an airplane that they park in their house or by their house. I expect every house has a sort of what I guess would consider to be a grand garage or a hangar. And you literally taxi right up to your house, park your airplane, and go in. And all the people. There's something like 72 families in Norvaire community have this one thing in common, their love for airplanes and their ability to join together in a network of relationships around that one interest. - Speaker 2 Now, that's a very unique community. How many of you know that there's all kinds of planned communities in our country? Coming up now, Golf, tennis, you see them all around. People who are finding a common interest and moving together because of it. Incredible. In 1973, a Harris Poll indicated that 32% of the people in our country were interested in the idea of community. In 1980, that same poll indicated that 47% of the population was interested in finding out something more about community. Why do you think that is? Let me suggest a couple reasons. One of them is that our culture today, in every facet, is moving us toward independence and in some cases, even isolation. Women today, I believe it's 46% of the workforce of America. And whereas in days past that some of you remember, women would, by and large, and the great majority, be at home building up relationships in the neighborhood so that the husband would come home with his lunch pail and sit down, and the wife would say, we're going over to the Joneses tonight. And he'd say, oh, not again. And yet he did it. And they built relationships. - Speaker 2 And the neighborhoods were places where families developed a network of community. But today, women work. Today, women, by and large, don't have an opportunity to build those relationships because they're in pursuit of another career. Our living patterns are changing dramatically. If you've ever visited out west, where there's a great deal of new construction, it's amazing how many places where individual homes are being built, which is the exception rather than the rule. Now, every individual house has an individual fence. And in California, you basically never get to know your neighbors unless you're willing to either dig through the fence or go around to see them, you know, and get through the dogs and the bars and everything else. And look at our own part of the country here, more and more, you see townhouses and apartment dwelling and so forth. Economically, it seems to be a necessity. And yet how Many of you live in apartments and recognize that you don't even know the neighbors that are right across the hall from you. And so you see the same thing. You see the isolation being worked out in our culture. It's interesting to me, even in our cars and trucks today, never notice how these people are putting the film over their windows now. - Speaker 2 They say it's to keep the sun out, but I kind of think it's to keep you from seeing in what they're doing. So you see a guy in a black car with his windows blacked out, and there's black things over his headlights, and you figure somebody's going to jump out of there with a big hood over their head or something like that. It's all around us people are isolating, trying to withdraw out of fear, primarily. And people wonder about community, and they're asking questions about it. Another reason why it's happening, I believe, is that the attitude in our culture today has been increasingly in the last years, do your own thing, do your own thing. Find a spot where you can be what you want to be and do it there. And that will ensure you happiness. So the line goes. And so in order to do your own thing, you have to climb wherever you need to go to get there, on whoever you need to climb upon in order to accomplish your own set of goals and tasks. And that do your own thing mindset increasingly causes people to be defensive. You ever notice that people are defensive? - Speaker 2 You go in a shopping mall, and if you go up to a person, just ask them what time it is, they shrink back, and they're afraid that you're going to steal their purse or rip them off somehow. They're afraid. Do your own thing is built on a value system that says money is more important than people. And before you think, well, that's not me, just think how much time we give to our jobs when our families need us desperately. At times, you know, it's a temptation for us all, is what I'm saying. And another thing that I think contributes to this, the surging in people's hearts toward community, is the fact that our culture is pushing people towards being spectators rather than participants. And what's the one obvious thing that has led us toward that more than anything else? Television. Television is making us a spectator society rather than a participating one. But there's other things, too, that are pushing us toward watching people do things but not getting involved. And you've all heard illustrations of how that's worked out. But the end result of all of this kind of Isolationism, all of this driving people to be sufficient unto themselves is an emptiness, a shallowness, and a hollowness that is not fulfilling, and it's causing people to have their ears perk up. - Speaker 2 When you say community, I believe it was the wisdom of God when we, early in January in someone's dining room, prayed before the Lord, what name would you give this little body of believers? The Lord said, northway Christian community. Now, for a while, for some people, that's difficult. When you say, where are you going? To church? And they say, what do you mean community? And yet I'll tell you something. If the statistics are right, and my experience is a corroboration of that, people want to know more when they hear community because it's different. It says something to them that they inside know, by and large is absent in their life. The community is something that God is stirring his people into in these days. And the real paradox of it is that it's in community where people discover the freedom to be what they've always been trying to be on their own. It's in community the people are discovering the freedom to be wholly truly themselves what they've been trying to be all along on their own. Now, what I want to do this morning for you is talk a little bit from the Scriptures in terms of community and freedom and why we at Northway are committed to this idea, this concept, biblical concept of community and the freedom that it's to lead us into. - Speaker 2 First thing we need to look at is that the roots of our salvation, the roots of our salvation speak to this matter of freedom. And I want us to get that firm in our hearts. Would you turn with me in your Bible. To Galatians, the fifth chapter? I want you to just read with me verse 13, 1 verse for right now, Galatians 5, 13. For you were called to freedom, brethren only. Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, be servants of one another. Verse 1 of chapter 5. For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand fast, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Jesus said in John chapter 8, he whom the Son has set free is free indeed. Now, the cultural definition of freedom that we have all bought into to some degree or another is the ability to do what you want when you want to do it. Okay? That's what it means to be free, to do what you want when you want to do it. That's why kids drop out of high school at age 16, because they figure no one's going to tell them what to do. - Speaker 2 They'll go get a job, make money, buy a car, be successful. That's why some men and some women give their whole lives to a company. Company tells them what to do for the hope that somewhere along the line they'll rise to a level where they'll be able to determine what they want to do, when they want to do it. The first thing that we need to understand about freedom is that there is an illusion of freedom. And we by and large in this country have bought into that illusion lock, stock and barrel. There's an illusion that comes upon a young person who thinks that they'll be free to experience themselves if they just participate all around sexually, that somehow they'll come into a freedom of what it means to be loving another person. We've bought into this thing, even believers have. But there's an illusion behind it all. Because freedom, you see, is never ever achieved through external things. You'll never be free just because you change your circumstance. You'll never be free no matter how high you climb up the ladder, young people. You'll never be free no matter how far you try to get away from your parents and the other authorities in your life. - Speaker 2 Freedom, the Bible says, is an internal thing. Now there's several places that the Bible is very clear as to why men and women are never free apart from Jesus Christ. The first one is that we are in bondage to sin. Now I'm going to give you a few scriptures. Some cases I'll have you turn there, other cases I won't because of time. You may want to jot them down and look at them yourself. I do want you to turn with me to Romans 3, 9. Here's what the Bible says about the illusion of freedom. What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For I have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin. Do you see that that person, that 35 year old bachelor that you're working beside who seems to have all the freedom in the world is under the power of sin. That young person whose parents give them everything they could ever want, seem to have a car all the time, do whatever they want to do, they're under the power of sin in Romans 6, 17. You don't need to turn there. - Speaker 2 The Bible says that they're slaves to sin, in fact, and this whole thing of being free is an illusion because we are slaves to the power of sin in our life. And then not only that, but we are also slaves to the moral law and those of Us who would try to improve our standing before God by keeping the moral law, would find ourselves deceived by the very thing that we think is going to bring us peace. Because the more you try to keep the law, the more you recognize that you're failing. And that's why Paul said that this was such good news. Because what man could not do on his own, trying to be a good person, trying to please God, trying to make this decision properly, and that decision properly, God had done through Jesus Christ. God had said that we had been declared righteous because of Jesus. So there are those who are in bondage to trying to be good people, and it's not working. But there's an even greater bondage. There's a bondage that every person in the world is under to an outer force. It's a bondage. The Bible says to the father of those who are born under sin before they come to Christ, and that is Satan. - Speaker 2 Now, people don't want to hear when the Bible says that those who are born under sin have as their father Satan. They said God's everybody's father. The Bible doesn't say that God is the father of those who receive his son. Now, beloved, I don't know about you, but there's something in me that really wants to say hallelujah when I recognize that God is my father because of Jesus. And every person who has not come to the Lord, the Bible says they may think they're under freedom, but they are under bondage to a greater power, the power of Satan. And more than that, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. And spiritual death is the ultimate bondage, isn't it? Spiritual death, separation for eternity from the living God that you see is the fruit of the illusion of freedom. And so we need to see first of all, that many people out there, and some people perhaps here this morning, have been laboring under some sort of an idea that you're free because no one's trapped you in some religious system. No one's made you be like they are toward God. Thus you're free. - Speaker 2 But you see, the Bible says that you're not free. You're under the power of sin. You're finding yourself deceived by the works of your own flesh, and you're under the power of Satan and ultimately death. You know, it's interesting too. People say, well, that's not everybody. But you know, it's true of even little kids. If you ever had a little baby, you marvel at their innate ability to be selfish. Don't You. I don't like to use my children as an illustration too much, and especially not a negative one. But, boy. - Speaker 2 There are times when my kids at different stages, one of them particularly has a penchant for accumulating things to himself. And so it's not uncommon for this. Well, I'll say him. It's still one out of two in the morning to come down the steps with both arms and hands full of things. And the minute one of the other ones wants to say, hey, this is boom, you know, he grabs back. I know there's psychological reasons and all that, but the real reason is that at the root of every person is a selfishness to which we are all in bondage. And if we're honest with ourselves, everything that we do in life, ultimately, maybe not in some initial steps, but ultimately is because for us, it is a good thing. Now, the place where the illusion becomes a danger in people is the place where God has allowed us to have some victory over this thing. For example, our government in this country. In Romans 13, we are told to be submitted to our government. We are told to do what our government says. In Romans chapter 13, God in His wisdom has established government to rule over man. - Speaker 2 And God has said that it would be good because it would bring peace and allow the gospel to go forth. And yet the government is far from being wholly redeemed, no matter what you think politically. And mankind is that way too. You know, people who are good people, I sit sometimes and I marvel at how good some people are apart from God. And the tragedy is that they, because they have some shred of victory in their life over some moral temptation or whatever, that they feel like that they really are the captain of their own destiny. And I'm not saying that people everywhere you go are rotten people. That's not true. In fact, where we are, people are pretty nice people overall. You just need to go where sin abounds to really see what is at the heart of man. If it would happen. Recently, David Wilkerson has taken a new turn in his ministry, and he is now ministering in the major cities of the United States. And remember, he's the guy that wrote the cross and the switchblade and spoke at north park about three years ago. But David Wilkerson went out to New York City and put himself down in what's the big. - Speaker 2 The big park. Yeah, that's it. Central Park. And do you know that he said he has been absolutely flabbergasted by the degree to which sin has gone in the 10 or 12 years that he's been out of the city ministries. He said there's only one word for it to. To quote him, and that is it's demonic. You see, sin, when it has its way, will ultimately lead a person right down in. And the illusion of freedom says that somehow you're working your way toward being good, when all along, the end thereof is death. And that, beloved, is an important thing to remember. Because no matter how good a person seems to you, how nice they seem apart from Jesus, they're in a bondage that leads to death. I was thinking of an illustration of that. You know, that a person can be a prisoner behind bars, and we could say that that person doesn't have freedom. Well, let's just imagine that that person, through good behavior and hard work, is given responsibility, and that he is then allowed to have more liberty in the yard and so forth and more time outside and more time doing work out of his cell. - Speaker 2 But let's say ultimately that person decides that, wait a minute, this isn't working. I'm still not free. I'm getting out of here. And so one night, they jump that fence and they flee. How many of you know that that person, even though they're out of the bars, are still in bondage? Because wherever they go, they know that there's someone tracking them down, looking for them. And I'd have to say that that kind of bondage maybe worse than the bars. And so it is with many people. They'll do all kinds of things to change their external circumstances, but the freedom that they yearn for can only come through an internal change. And that's the second point. There's an illusion of freedom, but then there is a point where there's always, by God's grace to those who open up an entry of freedom. An entry of freedom. Turn to Romans 6. Just keep your Bible right in your lap there, because we're going to be turning there about three or four more times. And I want you to see this for yourself. The entry of freedom, Romans 6, Verse 17. But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin. - Speaker 2 There's that verse. Have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed. And having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. I'm going to talk about that phrase in a minute. You've been set free from sin through Jesus Christ. Remember, the three things I said held you in bondage was the power of sin, the moral obligation to the law, or the works of the flesh, whatever you want to call it, and the external forces. God, by his spirit and the love of Jesus, deals with all three of those things. He sets you free from the power of sin. He then goes on to say that he fulfills the command of the law in your heart through the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus character in you fulfills that law. You. And praise God. Your father is no longer Satan, as John 8:44 says. Your father is God, and you're no longer in bondage to death, but you've passed from death to life. The Bible says, hallelujah. You see, God does it. And the illusion of freedom for the believer in Jesus becomes the reality of freedom. - Speaker 2 The reality of freedom. Now, I need to say that don't be fooled to think that once you have committed your heart to Jesus Christ, you've repented of your sins, you've turned from your ways, and you've opened your heart to Christ, that everything is going to be great, because it isn't. And in reality, many people are disillusioned when they become believers and find that they still struggle. And I find that you need to see this in many respects, that the freedom that God brings you into here is sin and death and all that goes along with it. And the power of the cross brings you into the capacity here to choose obedience, life. Now, I'll tell you something. Many of you here this morning find this to be a tremendously difficult situation to be in. Because everywhere you turn, you're drawn into the sin, into the illusion of freedom. And yet there's that inner voice. Once you've opened up to Christ, there's that thing inside of you that says, wait a minute. You've all seen the caricature of. Of the devil on the one side and the angel on the other side. And don't do this and don't do that, do this. - Speaker 2 Well, don't let that fool you. Because sometimes in those little caricatures, the harsh reality of the thing is suppressed. And it's true. There's a battle. You ever hear of someone talk about the overcoming life? Anyone ever heard that term, the victorious life? No one else? Yeah, okay. That's. The victorious life is the life that's continually hearkening to the call to live in obedience. What you have been set free to do, brothers and sisters, is you are free to choose. Because when you found yourself here, you were not free to choose. You constantly were in bondage to serving yourself through the blood of the cross of Jesus Christ. You are now in a position that you can choose to follow God. Oh, I tell you what. When I think of the possibility that God has put in me the capacity to please him, I just get excited. Because, you see, I realized that I was one who was in bondage to sin and death. But I, like you, find it a struggle sometimes. There is the pool. Oh, just try this. Or don't bother doing that. And as you grow in your Christian life, how many of you, by putting up your hand, would say that as you grow in the Word and in fellowship, in worship and prayer, you find yourself increasingly able to say yes to the things of God? - Speaker 2 Okay, Be encouraged by that. Those of you who haven't found that to be true yet, because it is a reality and it will happen to you. You are free from these things, and you are free to choose the other. To choose obedience, to choose to love, to choose life. I use this as an illustration. Maybe it will help you. Being in this position of being free to choose is like finding yourself awake at night in a burning house. And you recognize that when you're a sinner, the ultimate place, your resting place, the Bible says, is a place that burns hot. So let's just say that's a burning house. And you wake up at night and you realize the flames are all around you. But somewhere, somehow, someone puts a fire extinguisher in your hand. Now you have a choice to make that fire extinguisher. You can hang onto it and burn to death, or you can turn it on and fight your way out of the house. And what God has done in Jesus. Forgive the analogy and its rough points, but I think it's true in principle, he's put in us the capacity to fight our way out of that house. - Speaker 2 But if you don't listen to the admonition in Galatians 5:1. And stand fast, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. You see, for every Christian, there's the possibility that you can find yourself submitting again to some of the yoke. All of Galatians 5:2,12 is a digression to those who were trying to then please God by their religious acts again, circumcision and keeping the law. And Paul says, you're going back under the illusion of freedom. Now, what does all this have to do with community? So important that you see the personal dimension here. But what does it all have to do with community? Paul says to us that verse 13, you were called to freedom. There it is. You were called by Jesus Christ to live in freedom. Now you have a choice. Beloved, Everyone here to use that freedom to indulge the flesh or to obey God. You do. I've had young people in years past who, because they've made a decision for Christ, kind of assumed that they could just manipulate and handle other parts of their lives because they know ultimately God was going to take them in. Don't be deceived by that. - Speaker 2 Community speaks to this very thing in Paul's theology. You see, up here in the area of freedom, let's assume that this cross represents your life. When you come to Jesus, what do you find all around you? That God has put you in the midst of people who have likewise come into a freedom. Turn with me to Ephesians 2, just about three pages over from Galatians 5, Ephesians 2, 19. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God. God is making in 1 Peter 2, 9A people. To make the illustration more accurate, the house that you find yourself in is full of people, and they all have fire extinguishers. And some of them are using them and some of them aren't. And some of you, some of us follow the ones that are, but we're kind of afraid to ourselves. The community that God puts us in is a community of people who have come into the redemption of Jesus. And we find ourselves having been set free from sin and death to love one another. Now, here's where freedom fleshes itself out, if you will. - Speaker 2 You are now in a position here to be free to love other people if you're honest with yourself. When you were in sin and death, you may have even been married and said you loved your wife and all that kind of stuff. But do you know that, if anything, that love is just a reflection, just sort of a shadow of the love, the true love of God. You're never really free to love somebody until you're free in Jesus. And I have had people, and there's a couple here today. I won't mention their names, but they said, in fact, they asked if they could be remarried because they were never really able to love each other and until they both gave their hearts to Christ. And that's true, you see, in the world, down in here, in the world's way, that's why there's defensiveness. That's why the people tape over their car windows and put bars over their houses because they're afraid they're in bondage. When you're here, you're now free to choose to Love people. And God, knowing our inhibitions, not only says, you're free to choose, but I'm going to put you where you have to. - Speaker 2 And here you are. Here you are at Northway Christian Community, where you are now free because of Jesus, to love the people th