This weekend I will be preaching on Luke 4:14-30. This is the passage the Luke uses as his thesis statement for the whole gospel. It is “Jesus in a nutshell.” The key word is “Freedom.” Jesus’ ministry is to set the captive free. The question for us 21st century, suburbanites is this, “free from what?”
Can you complete one or both of these sentences? “Jesus set me free from…” and/or “Jesus set me free to be…”
Here is the intro I wrote for Grace at a Glance:
“Give me liberty, or give me death!” That was the battle cry proclaimed by Patrick Henry that won the hearts of the American colonists and swung the tide to ignite the American Revolution. Liberty, freedom, justice for all. These are deepset American ideals.
These ideals were not born with the United States, though. Centuries before our uprising another revolutionary leader stood before his people and declared a vision of liberty and justice for all. Jesus, in Luke 4:16-19, launched his ministry by declaring to his hometown synagogue that he was anointed by God to “bring good news to the poor, proclaim LIBERTY to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to LIBERATE the oppressed.”
Liberty. Freedom. Deliverance, Forgiveness. These are all the same word that Jesus preached that day. Freedom. To be free implies that at one time you were in bondage to something.
The big question for us this weekend is two-fold: From what has Jesus set you/us free, and from what do you still need Jesus to set you/us free? Join us this weekend as we launch this series and catch the vision of Jesus’ unexpected Kingdom.
Deep within this darkened world of mine, I wait for the light to come and set me free.
Fearful to close my eyes…for within this darkness do my fears and pains and memories come to life.
Abandonment and abuse, isolation and panic…I beg and I plead…needing something…someone to free me from this darkness.
I sit and I wait…I fight the tiredness of life which presses so heavily upon my soul.
I sit and I wait…I fight to stay awake…I fight for any amount of light to enter in.
When will the end come…for years I have fought this darkness…alone…mine to overcome. Tired and weary…no longer can I endure…the shame…the burden…the heaviness of life…no longer can I carry on.
I beg of you…I scream out for you…Father almighty, allow me to see the light to which my eyes have been blinded from…allow me to feel the warmth of your presence.
I beg of you…I scream out for you…Father almighty, free me from the pain…the guilt…the self punishment…the past…
I beg of you…I scream out for you…Father almighty, free me from MYSELF. Set me free from these chains…knock me down and kill me Father…fill me with YOUR spirit…make me whole…let the light shine in and take over the darkness…allow me freedom from myself so that I may be the child you’ve created me to be.
Tangled up in all my sin….like in maze, or deep inside a briar patch, or
something too complicated to solve, like tangled Christmas lights, or shoelaces that have been knotted too tight…..freedom is more than a
out…it’s a way through….through the darkness.
BIG DADDY WEAVE – SET ME FREE LYRICS
Locked inside this cell of flesh
I sat awaiting an eminent death
The fruitful labor of my sin
Had brought me to what I knew would be my end
Well I had a debt I couldn’t pay
You paid a debt You didn’t owe
You gave Your life for me that day
So freedom I could know
Set me free
From the chains that bound me to my sin
Set me free
From this life that I’ve been living
Set me free
There has never been a time
When Your mercy did not find me
I’m tangled up in all my sin
And then so faithfully unwind me
But just before I slipped away
You heard me when I called your name
There’ll never be a day
When You don’t come and
Set me free
From the chains that bound me to my sin
Set me free
From this life that I’ve been living
Set me free
‘Cause You are the author and the finisher
Of the faith in me
I know I can trust in You to come
And set me free
From the chains that bound me to my sin
Set me free
From this life that I’ve been living
Set me free
Oh won’t you come and set me free?
Oh won’t you set me free?
Oh won’t you come and set me free?
Oh won’t you set me free?