Freedom to serve

The journey to Freedom

Poatina morning tea devotion given today

I have been enjoying listening to Podcasts called “The God Journey”.  A couple of blokes who have been chatting for the last 2 years; they have a conversation each week, wrestling with what faith is, and isn’t.   It’s good to hear them poking fun and they are quick to admit they don’t have all the answers.

I do think though, as I listen to them, that there is a danger as you discover Jesus loves you as you are, and as you discover grace, which is just wonderful…

It’s very hard to lead a church fully from a point of view of Grace but as you discover the Father Heart of God, it can lead to a kind of individualistic faith, where you discover you are ok and discover a freedom in Christ.

I think the pendulum can swing too far and freedom can become a little dangerous, a little self centred.  It can become everything about my God, my faith, my journey.

Bruce pointed out a few months ago that Jesus teaches us to pray not My father, but Our Father.  We are called to be absolutely free, but for us, freedom means freedom to do what I feel like doing;  to go away from the things I don’t want to do; to make choice in this moment.

I’ve been reflecting about that.  At one level, that is really true.

How do you feel when you feel your choices are taken away from you?  “Not happy”  “Hopeless”  “Powerless’  “controlled”, “Violated”,  “Angry”.

Leadership is very difficult because you have to work out how you help people take effective action and still let them have choice. When you feel like your choices are taken away from you, it’s dehumanising. You’re not being seen as a person but as a function.

Yet at the same time, how do you do something productive if everybody’s got to have a choice?

In a village like Poatina,  how do we have a humanising place and still run a garage, and a chalet. Young people don’t always choose the most convenient times to need help.

With my children’s arrival I discovered the nature of my choices had changed.  I used to be able to go on holiday and sleep in.  There is no longer an oasis in my life where I can be self centred.

I have been thinking about freedom and commitment. If I make a commitment, I necessarily give up some of my freedoms. If I make a commitment to be a parent I am giving up some of my freedoms to make space for kids.

This is why the interview you have when you come to Poatina is so important. You need to know what it means to come to this village. As you come, you give up some of your freedoms and the reason you do that is for the sake of the young people here and the dream of what the village is about.

There are times when the commitment of being a parent feels very big.  I have two emotions which seem to be on a polarity. One is frustration and the other is guilt.  Frustration things aren’t happening the way I want them to and guilt that I am not being the parent I want to be.

The freedom I have in Christ is precious.   I’ve been doing a bit of a Word study and realised my picture of freedom isn’t what the Bible talks about.  In Proverbs 12:24 it says, “The diligent find freedom in their work. The lazy are oppressed by work.”

Gal 5: 13 – 15.  It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life.  Just make sure you don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows.  For everything we know about God’s word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out – in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then.”

And in 1 Peter, “Make the master proud of you by being good citizens…Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family, revere God. Respect the government.”

There’s a journey I’m on – I love that Jesus loves me and calls me into freedom. But that freedom is to serve and actually to submit my needs and desires for the sake of others.   As I live in Poatina there are freedoms I choose to give up: like having a day off last Saturday to be part of a working bee.  As I come it is because of our dream, our aspirational dream to build a model of a village where young people are cared for.

The only way I can stay sane and live in Poatina is to remember the “why”, otherwise it is dehumanising. If I forget why I am here,  I just experience rosters and working bees and they are dehumanising.  But freedom in Christ is freedom to serve, to follow Jesus , not to follow my feelings.