It’s the Fourth of July weekend, a time when many celebrate freedom—freedom from King George, freedom to march, freedom to speak, freedom to fly flags, freedom to kneel before the flag. What does freedom look like and how do you get there? Jesus says in John 8:32 that truth makes you free. If that’s the case, then the opposite is true—lies enslave. Maybe a fifth on the Fourth might be helpful—the fifth of Acts—in our recognition of freedom where the danger of the antithesis of truth is on display.
You have not lied to men, but to God." 5 And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came upon all who heard of it. Acts 5:4b-5
The “You” is Ananias. He promised to give the proceeds of a land sale to the common treasury of the church to help his needy brothers and sisters of the faith. Instead, he held back a portion. Peter called him out on this for what it was—a lie on God through the Holy Spirit. The next we see of Ananias was him being carried out of the church, feet first, struck down by God. His wife, Sapphira, didn’t learn from her husband’s actions, and she too, was rolled out. If lies can have such deadly consequences, then what can we learn from truth to make us free:
Truth—a manifestation of God, the Holy Spirit—frees. Peter told Ananias that his lie was an affront against the Holy Spirit (5:3) who is God. This relationship of truth and God is affirmed by Jesus in John 8:26: “…He who sent me (God the Father) is true.” Jesus continues in John 8 to teach that true disciples of God believe in the Son who seeks to please (29) the One who sent Him. When you know (believe, follow) the Son, you seek to be in accord with Christ’s and his Word taught to him by his Father. This way of life is freeing… from sin.
Lies—sinning against God—is enslavement. Jesus, in John 8:32, teaches that anyone who acts in discord with the Son and His Word, is displeasing to God, commits sin and thus, is enslaved to sin. Withholding benevolence as Ananias did and lying about it, and to be complicit in that lie as his wife did, shackled them to the wages of their sins—death.
Today’s a good day to listen to the Holy Spirit, to examine your life for lies, turn toward truth, and be free. Have a fifth (of Acts) on the Fourth. The choice is as clear as the words of a patriot, “Give me liberty or give me death”. Jesus, put it simpler, “Know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
Hymn of the Week
Worship is joy.[1] So make a joyful noise. Do a sing-along at your next nursing home visit, sick and shut-in home call or neighbor welfare check. Bring your cellphone. You-tube can helpful.[2]
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it
mount of God's redeeming love.
Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee:
prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.
[1] Psalm 100.
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