Well, I want to read for you John 8, 31 through 38.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, "You will become free'?"
Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father and you do what you have heard from your father."
These words of Jesus come at the end of his declaring himself to be "The Light of the World," "The Son of the Father;" "The Son of Man," who would be lifted up. And remember, there's a divided crowd; those who believe and those who do not believe in him.
And Jesus turns to speak to those who have placed their faith in him. His words here are meant to deepen and strengthen their faith. And there are four significant things that Jesus talks about here. Here's the first one, "That true disciples, his true disciples abide in his Word." What he's not talking about here is having your daily Bible reading time-it means much more than that. "Abiding in his Word" means living in light of his Word. You can have your daily devotions and not be abiding in his Word. Abiding is not something you do with your mind, but rather how you live your life. And the way you live, you never walk away from God's Word-that's in all those mundane places where you live every day.
Second thing he talks about is the fact that sin is enslaving. When I was studying this, I immediately thought of Romans 7, where Paul says that "sin is a law," like gravity, it's inescapable! Sin is a war-a battle in your heart. Sin is a prison-something that captures you. We have to be very careful that we do not minimize the presence and power of sin. And as Psalm 51 reminds us, since we are born in sin, we're never free, except for when we are liberated by the power of God's grace.
Third thing Jesus says, "It's the truth that sets us free;" the truth about who God is and what he has done for us; the truth of the gravity of our need; the truth that freedom from the guilt of sin only comes by his grace.
And then he says, he has come to set us free from our bondage to sin. The reason for the incarnation, the life, the suffering, the death, the resurrection, the ascension of Jesus is to purchase what we could not purchase for ourselves, freedom-freedom from the horrible weight of guilt and shame and regret; freedom from the condemnation of the law because the law indicts us because we're unable to perfectly keep the law; freedom from the paralyzing power of sin that has been broken. "If the Son sets you free, you're free indeed."
And so that means, today, you don't have to live like a slave. You don't have to live like you have no power to say, "No!" to sin, to say, "No!" to the evil lies of the enemy, to say "No!" to temptation, to say "No!" to those wrong habits, to say "No!" to secret sins that nobody knows about. You have the power to say "No!" because you have been set free by the power of the grace of Jesus.
Don't live like a slave, giving way to what Jesus has defeated on your behalf. This is amazing grace!
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion
1. What is it like for you to abide in God's Word everyday? Is your life, in all those mundane places where you live every day, a reflection of abiding in God's Word? Practically, how are you living your life?
2. In what ways has sin been like gravity in your life? Like a war? Like a prison? In the past, how have you minimized the presence and power of sin to your own detriment? To the detriment of others? How has God's grace liberated you from the negative and destructive effects of sin?
3. Because of God's grace in your life, how has the truth of the gospel set you free from the guilt you've experienced because of your sin? How have you come to realize the gravity of your need for God's grace?
4. Take a moment to intentionally think about the freedom you experience in the gospel. Now pause and pray, thanking God for the purchase he made for us. Thank him for the freedom you experience over the paralyzing power of sin. Thank him for breaking the bondage that sin had over you, and remember the work that Christ has done on your behalf.
5. In what ways are you still living like a slave to sin even though you have the power to say "no" to it because of Christ's incarnation, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension? If the power of sin is defeated for you, how can you then intentionally live in the freedom you already have as a way to worship Jesus with your day-to-day life?
Conversation Prompts to Use with Children
For Younger Children:
• If the power of something has been broken, what does that mean? How has the power of sin been broken by the power of Jesus?
• If the power of sin has been broken for us because of the grace of God through Jesus, do we have to obey sin's power? Do we have to submit to the power of sinful temptation in our lives? Why or why not?
For Older Children:
• If the strength of sin's power in our lives has been broken because of Christ's work on our behalf, what does that mean for our daily decision making?
• What do you think it means to be "a slave to sin"? What does it mean when Scripture says, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed"?
• How are you and I still living like slaves even though we don't have to because we are free in Christ?
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