One of the cries of every human heart is for freedom! People make tremendous sacrifices and have even gone to war in order to obtain or maintain freedom. Freedom is at the heart of the gospel as John 8:36 says, Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. Freedom is an essential element of the kingdom of God, but here’s the interesting twist. Biblical freedom isn’t the ability to do whatever we want. It’s the ability to do that which is right.
You may be thinking, “Brian, that’s kind of restrictive. That doesn’t sound very free. I think you are being legalistic.” I appreciate the feedback and am glad you brought all that up. Let’s look at Jesus’s thoughts on the subject out of John 8:
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
In this passage, Jesus said disciples who know the truth are free. The word disciple is the root word for discipline. It is the discipled learners and followers of Jesus who are made free. A lack of discipline leads to a lack of freedom. Discipline isn’t a sexy word, particularly in grace circles, but there is a lot of power released when we live a disciplined life. Discipline is the key to walking in freedom.
Recently, one of my boys was frustrated about all of his homework and said, “I just want to do what I want to do. I don’t want to do all this work. I want freedom.” I listened for a while and then shared with him that if he was disciplined now and worked hard in school, he would give himself more options later in life. Discipline would give him more freedom when it comes to choosing the career he wants and would empower him to make more money, which would give even more freedom. I told him you, “If you’ll learn to do what you don’t want to do now, you’ll empower yourself to do whatever you want to do forever.”
We all hate sacrifice, but the one thing we all have in common is we all sacrifice. When we are short term focused, we sacrifice our future. When we don’t stay focused on the promises of God, we sacrifice our freedom. On the other hand, when we discipline ourselves to live in His presence, study His word, and obey the things He tells us to do, we walk in His blessings which bring freedom.
So how do we learn to discipline ourselves? There are two main things I’ve learned over the years that have helped me::
- Spend time in the word. Psalm 19:8 says The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. When we abide in Jesus’s word, something happens that causes our soul to be transformed to its original condition (before the fall). Yeah, I know that sounds too good to be true, but that’s the idea Psalm 19:8 is getting at if you study it in the Hebrew. It’s important to note Jesus’s words from John 8:31 where He says to abide. This isn’t just visiting the word. It’s living there. As you abide in the word, freedom comes. Don’t be discouraged if the freedom you are believing for doesn’t happen immediately. The kingdom operates off the principle of seed, time, and harvest and not seed – harvest. Just stay in the word!
- Prayer. Do you know what Jesus did when He was tempted to not go the cross in the Garden of Gethsemane? He prayed. I love this story recorded in Matthew 26 because it is the only time in the Bible where you see Jesus’s will be different from the Father’s. Interestingly, Jesus had to pray the same prayer three times so He could be more controlled by the spirit than His flesh. He tried to get disciples to pray, but they fell asleep. When the Romas soldiers showed up, the disciples fled and Jesus stayed. Why? He prayed. When He prayed the spirit took control and we know from 2 Corinthians 3:17 that where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom! Inviting the power of the Holy Spirit through prayer empowered Jesus to obey.
Even though it was challenging, I hope this article encouraged you. I want to see you walk in freedom and more importantly Jesus wants you to walk in freedom. I’m praying the Lord will help you discipline yourself to stay in the word and prayer so you can be free to obey! If you’d like to learn more about discipleship, check out this message I recently taught at Grace Life Church.
