SUMMER IN THE SPIRIT: SPIRIT OF LIBERTY

Happy Independence Day!  We hope you are looking forward to celebrating the birth of our nation. It is hard to imagine that we are 249 years old.  We were founded on the idea of liberty and justice for all.  We can certainly look back and see how we have failed our national creed.  The problem with freedom and liberty is we all have different perspectives of what it means to be “free.” We often fail to admit that my “freedom” conflicts with the rights of another person, or even the common good of our community and nation!  We struggle a lot over these dividing lines. Our series, Summer in the Spirit, would be meaningful or complete without looking at the Spirit of Liberty.  This is the title of this week’s sermon, but it is also one of the functions of the Spirit in our world, but also in our lives.  We turn to 2 Corinthians 3:6-18 to learn about this liberation for our lives.  The freedom of our nation is a grand and beautiful force, but it is only a poor and pitiful reflection of the freedom that God wants to instill in our hearts and lives.  In these words, Paul reminds us that “now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” This is a liberty that breaks the chains of sin, releases us from the burden of brokenness, and fights the forces that would terrorize our hearts and lives! Paul’s purpose is not just informational but inspirational. Our freedom may never be absolute, but through the power of the Spirit, it can grow throughout our lives!  We pray that you experience the liberation of God’s Spirit as you read 2 Corinthians 3:6-18.

2 Corinthians 3:6-18: He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant– not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! 12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (NIV)