"Give Us Free"

(Romans 6:12-23)

Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn

INTRODUCTION:

Steven Speilberg's critically acclaimed movie "Amistad" is the story of the cry of every human spirit for freedom. It's the true story of a slave revolt aboard the Spanish ship, Amistad, in 1839 and the struggle of the slaves to return home. However, the ship is seized and the slaves wind up mired in the U. S. court system. Four groups vie for control of their destiny. The U. S. Government who wants to keep peace with Queen Isabella of Spain by returning them to Spanish control. Two US Naval officers claim them as salvage from the seized ship. The two remaining crewmen from the Amistad claim them. And the lawyer who defends them, claims they are not property but free individuals wrongly enslaved. In the clip I'm about to show, you see Cinque, the leader of the slaves, and the other slaves watching court proceedings they don't understand.

(Show clip from the court room scene - "Give us free.")

This story of a man seeking freedom for his enslaved people is the story of our Savior. And that pleading cry of Cinque: "Give us, us free!" is the cry of every human spirit and every human soul that is caught and enslaved by sin.

I. CAUGHT:

A. We've been caught. I read about a little girl who decided to cut her own hair while her Mother was gone. Well, you can imagine the terrible mess she made. When Mom got home she was horrified. The little girl had ruined her hair. It would take months to grow out. The little girl couldn't understand it and said, "But Mommy, how did you know? I hid all the hair very carefully in the wastebasket." (1)

The evidence was staring Mommy right in the face. Just as surely as that little girl got caught. So have we. We don't like it. But then neither does God. You see, that's one of the truths of this passage from Paul to the church in Rome. Paul says we were "once slaves to sin." (Rom 6:17) Earlier in this letter he says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23 NRSV)

We certainly don't like to admit it. Sometimes we deny it. And other times we try to hide the evidence. But the evidence is in. And the verdict is that we are sinners.

B. There's Chris Rice song that I absolutely love entitled "Clumsy." In the first verse he starts out by saying:

"You think I'd have it down by now; Been practicin' for thirty years. I should have walked a thousand miles; So what am I still doing here. Reachin' out for that same old piece of forbidden fruit; I slip and fall and I knock my halo loose. Somebody tell me what's a boy supposed to do?

In this song, Chris Rice points to the very thing that Paul is talking about. We HAVE "all sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We've been caught and enslaved by sin and just like Cinque our spirits are crying to be free.

II. BOUGHT:

A. This passage is right. We've been caught but we've also been bought. In the rest of his song Chris Rice sings:

I'm gonna get it right this time; I'll be strong and I'll make You proud. I've prayed that prayer a thousands times; But the rooster crows and my tears roll down (again). Then You remind me You made from the dust; And I can never, no never be good enough. And You're not gonna let that come between us

Then the chorus picks up and says, "I get so clumsy, And I get so foolish. I can get so stupid, And then I feel so useless. But You're sayin' You love me; And You're still gonna hold me. And that You wanna be near me. "Cause You're makin' me holy; You're still makin' me Holy.

And he ends with, "From where I stand Your holiness is up so high I can never reach it. My only hope is to fall on Jesus." And then the chorus. (Repeat Chorus) (2)

Chris Rice gets right to the essence of this passage. Yes, we were once slaves to sin but through Christ we can be set free.

B. There's a story that has been floating around in various forms for the last couple of years. I received a copy recently from Barbara Parker via the Internet entitled "A Day in God's Court."

It's seems that after a fairly "decent" life a man found himself sitting on a bench in the waiting room of what looked like a court house. The doors opened and he was instructed to enter and have a seat at the defense table. As he looked around, he saw the "prosecutor", a villainous, evil looking man who snarled at him.

He looked at his lawyer, a kind and gentle looking man whose appearance seemed very familiar. But before he could figure out why, the corner door flew open and the judge entered. He took his seat behind the bench and said "Let's begin."

The prosecutor rose and said, "My name is Satan and I am here to show you why this man belongs with me." He proceeded to tell all the horrible things that were once in this man's life. The more Satan spoke, the lower in his seat the defendant sank.

The defense attorney said nothing. Made not one objection, and offered no form of defense. He didn't even offer any of the good things in the man's life in an attempt to balance out the good and the bad. Satan finished, "This man belongs to me! He is guilty as charged and no one can prove otherwise."

The defense lawyer stood and asked to approach the bench. The judge allowed it over the strong objection of Satan. He walked to the bench and said softly to the judge, "Hi Dad," and then turned to address the court. "Satan was correct in saying that this man has sinned. Everyone of the allegations is true. He deserves punishment. However, I died on the cross so that he might have eternal life. He has accepted me as his Savior, so he's Mine. Satan still doesn't understand the power of the cross, or mercy and grace. There is nothing else that needs to be done. I've done it all"

The Judge lifted his hand, brought the gavel down and said, "This man is free. CASE DISMISSED! This man's penalty has already been PAID IN FULL."

Jesus turned to the man and said: "Everyone that has ever come to me and asked me to represent them has received the same verdict as you, PAID IN FULL."

III. OUGHT:

A. Yes, we've been caught. Yes, we once were slaves to sin. But the Good News is that, through the power of the cross; through the power of Christ's death and resurrection, we've been bought and set free. And that changes everything. Let me sort of sum up what Paul has to say in this passage in a humorous sort of way.

Through the years we've become taut and overwrought with distraught and fraught with fear at the thought of getting caught for what we've wrought. But it all comes to naught because we were sought and we've been caught. But we've been bought through the grace that was brought. So, now we ought to give some thought to living like we're taught.

B. Or to sum it up simply. We've been set free, so live free. Don't go back to the former life. Sometimes, that's hard, I know. Sometimes the old life and the ways and customs of the old life are so ingrained in us that they are hard to break.

When I was in Coast Guard boot camp as a Seaman Recruit, we were on the lowest end of the totem pole. No, we were the mud at the base of the totem pole. They made sure that we knew that, too. And there were two rules. First: everything and everyone had a higher rank than we did, even the base cats and dogs and should be addressed as "Sir." Second: "If it moves, salute it." So, we did.

Those rules were there to teach us discipline, respect, and the chain of command. After boot camp, I came back to the base before I was shipped overseas. It was sort of intimidating at first. And on the second night there, a bunch of us went down to the Enlisted Men's Club to shoot pool. On the way back to the barracks, we met one of the chiefs who had been a drill instructor and everybody automatically popped a salute. We instantly knew we had made a mistake, especially when this old salt of a chief growled: "What are you girls doing? You're real Coasties now. You don't have to salute me! Didn't we teach you nothing?"

Sometimes, old habits are hard to break. They cling and hold on. Sometimes we hold on because they are more familiar than the freedom Christ offers. And in their familiarity they seem to be so much more comfortable or so much more comforting.

But Paul reminds us of the Good News and challenges us to let go of the shackles and chains of our past that keep us enslaved to sin. In verses 17-18 he writes: "Thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness."

Yes, we were caught. We were and are sinners. But we've been bought and we're forgiven. As a consequence we're called to live a life of grace. A life that reflects the forgiveness we've received. A life that reflects Christ. We have been caught and bought. Now it's time to live as we ought.

CONCLUSION:

As a boy he studied in his fathers carpenter's shop. There he learned to rough shape wood into useful objects such as tools and doors, tables and chairs. He learned how to repair the broken and to mend the cast off. He learned how to take the broken and cast off pieces and create something new that was shaped with his own heart and hand. He learned that the strongest wood was that which survived the storm. The roots of those trees went deep and the wood was denser, stronger. The carpenter I'm talking about is Jesus.

One of the curious habits of carpenters in those days was the signal or signature that the job was finished. Imagine, Jesus, plying his trade as a carpenter. It's a hot afternoon in Galilee. He has completed what he has been working on for several days. He takes a long drink from the leather water bottle he carries with him.

Then standing, he pours water over his arms and hands and splashes water on his face, to wash before heading home. With a towel he dries his face and arms. Then, following carpenter tradition, he takes the towel, folds it neatly in half, then in half again. He sets it on the work he has just completed and walks away. Whoever arrives to inspect the work will see the towel and understand its simple message. The work is finished.

The disciples knew this carpenter's tradition. On the very first Easter, when the broken hearted disciples entered the tomb, one of the first things they saw were the linens left behind by the risen Christ. One of them was the towel that had covered Jesus' face. It was folded and by itself, remember. Folded in half and then in half again. That cloth echoed the words Jesus had spoken from the cross. "It is finished." (3)

We've been caught but we've bought. Our debt has been paid in full and we have been set free. Now we're called simply to live a life befitting that freedom. "It is finished."

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.

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Bibliography

1. The Pastor's Story File (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), May 1985

2. Chris Rice, Rocketown Records, LLC, Word Entertainment, Inc., 1997.

3. adapted from a quote from Sigmund Brouwer's "The Carpenter's Cloth" in Christian Reader, July/August 1998. (Christianity Today, Inc.) p. 89.

Other References Consulted

-SermonWriter for 4th Sunday after Pentecost (June 27). Copyright, Richard Niell Donovan, 1999

-LectionAid (Software Version) for June 27, 1999

-Sermon Mall - June 27, 1999, www.SermonMall.com

-William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, the Gospel of Matthew Vol. 1. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975)