This past week, we in the United States celebrated our Independence Day (usually known as the Fourth of July), the day in 1776 we declared ourselves to be our own country under our own rule. There are as many ways to celebrate the Fourth as there are families in America. Our family’s celebration included burgers for lunch and going to a water park in the afternoon. (Fortunately for us, our Mexican neighbors’ celebration included cooking out on their grill and bringing us a bunch of their extra food.)
Every year when this holiday comes around, the stores gear up for it in advance. They run sales on steaks and sunscreen, chips and beach towels. Families make plans to attend fireworks displays and spend special time together. And all of it is in celebration of the day our ancestors affirmed themselves to be their own nation, a decision with far-reaching consequences and benefits that reach forward in time to this very day.
As Christians, however, we have an Independence Day to celebrate that observes far more than the day we became a nation. Actually, we have two Independence Days. One of them has already come, and the other is still in the future.
Our first Independence Day came when we accepted Christ and He declared us to be His. No longer were we slaves to sin. We were independent from sin, free to choose Christ. As our rector said in church this morning, there are many ways to be enslaved, and before you and I met Christ, we were slaves to sin. But Christ set us free from sin and its rule over us. No longer do we have to obey it as our master. We are now under different rule, a freely chosen government, which is Christ.
You see, accepting Christ doesn’t just mean that Christ frees us from sin so we can live however we want to live, free from restrictions set by anybody. He sets us free from sin for the purpose of inviting us to come under His rule, a rule which guides us into abundant life.
That was our first Independence Day—when we were freed to choose Christ.
Our second Independence Day has not yet come. That’s because the second Day will come only when we reach heaven. In heaven, there will be no more sin. Yes, we’re free from having to obey it down here, but sometimes, out of pure insanity or perhaps misunderstanding of the fact that it has no hold on us anymore, we still choose to obey sin. In heaven, we will no longer choose sin over obeying God.
Already there is no more slavery. But in heaven, there will be no more sin, either.
I’ve already had my first Independence Day, and I pray you have too. (If you haven’t, contact me, and I’ll be glad to introduce you to the One who can set you free.) But I long for the second Day, too. Don’t you?
Galatians 5:1—For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (ESV)