The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2015Sample

'Now I'm Free'

Sam Morris, aged twenty-three, was a militant atheist. He associated himself with the teachings of Richard Dawkins and other fervent opponents of faith and religion. One evening, he went online and discovered that Alpha was about to start within easy access of his home. He turned up to our church thinking, ‘I’m going to take down a few irrational Christians here.’

But his encounter with the teachings and person of Jesus Christ was not what he expected.

On his questionnaire at the end of the course, he wrote, ‘I found the draw of Jesus irresistible and have gone from [being] someone with no faith to someone with an immense hope. To live in a state of non-truth to living in truth is, to me, the difference between being bound to complete freedom.’

Three months later, he was baptised. He told me, ‘I’m free of my previous life. I was a slave to a lot of things. I was a slave to society, a slave to my peers ... But now I’m free to live my life. I’m excited to see what God’s got in store for me.’ Salvation means freedom. Sam had an experience of how Jesus Christ sets us free.

Psalm 34:11-22

1. Live a life of freedom

Are you facing major challenges in your life – perhaps to do with your finances, relationships, health, family or some other area of your life? This psalm is full of guidance and wonderful promises to those who face ‘many troubles’ (v.19).

Your life should reflect your new freedom as a child of God. Peter quotes this psalm in one of his letters as evidence of the kind of life we should lead. He introduces David’s call to righteous living with the explanation that it is ‘to this you were called’ (1 Peter 3:9). ‘Whoever among you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears attentive to their cry; the face of the Lord is against those who do evil’ (vv.12–16a; 1 Peter 3:10–12).

‘The Lord … saves’ (Psalm 34:18). We cannot save ourselves. It is the Lord who sets us free.

Our God rescues us. He watches over us, waiting to hear our prayer: ‘His ears are attentive to their cry’ (v.15b). When we do cry out, ‘the Lord hears’ (v.17a), and delivers us from all our troubles. I like to write down each year in my Bible the particular ‘troubles’ (v.17b) of the time. It is amazing to look back over the years and see how God has delivered me. It encourages me to cry out again.

God does not say that there won’t be any troubles (v.19a), but he does promise to deliver us from them all (v.19b). He is especially close in the tough times, ‘The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit’ (v.18). When you are going through a difficult time you may not necessarily feel God is close, but he is: ‘God is there every time’ (v.19, MSG).

‘God pays for each slave’s freedom’ (v.22a, MSG). He promises that there is no condemnation for those who take ‘refuge in him’ (v.22b, see Romans 8:1). We have a righteousness from God through Christ, hence we can include ourselves in the category of ‘the righteous’ (Psalm 34:17,19,21).

Lord, thank you for the many times I have cried out to you and you have heard me and set me free. You deliver me from all my troubles. Thank you that you are close to the broken-hearted and save those who are crushed in spirit. Thank you that I can take refuge in you and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Help me today to keep my tongue from evil, to do good and to seek peace. Help me to live in harmony with others: to be sympathetic, to love my brothers and sisters, to be compassionate and humble, not to repay anyone evil with evil or insult with insult but rather with blessing. Thank you that it is for a life of freedom that Christ has set me free.

Luke 1:57-80

2. Think about the greatness of your freedom

God’s people at this time were suffering from the oppression of Roman rule. They felt surrounded by darkness and death. They longed for a liberator to set them free from the pain and the sorrow. They were looking for someone who would come and put things right. They had waited for a long time.

Zechariah was John the Baptist’s father. His nine months of silence may be symbolic of the longer period of prophetic silence that was about to come to an end. As Zechariah’s ‘mouth was opened and his tongue set free’ (v.64), he ‘was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied’ (v.67).

The birth of John the Baptist was an occasion of great celebration, joy and expectation (vv.57–66). When Zechariah (unable to speak) wrote, ‘ “His name is to be John” ... that took everybody by surprise. Surprise followed surprise – Zechariah’s mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God!’ (vv.63–64, MSG).

Even John’s name was an expression of God’s blessings – it means ‘the Lord is a gracious giver’.

It was said of John the Baptist, ‘The Lord’s hand was with him’ (v.66). That is a good prayer to pray for yourself, your family and your community, that the Lord’s hand will be with you.

Zechariah was filled with the Spirit and prophesied that salvation was coming. He said, ‘He set the power of salvation in the centre of our lives’ (v.69, MSG). John the Baptist was to ‘present the offer of salvation to his people, the forgiveness of their sins’ (v.77, MSG). 

Zechariah sees that God is coming to bring salvation to his people. But his prophecy goes well beyond political salvation. Something far deeper and wider is about to happen, fulfilling the great promises of the Old Testament. It will involve ‘redemption’ (v.68b), rescue from enemies (v.74a) and forgiveness of sins (v.77b). Salvation is the ‘path of peace’ (v.79). Zechariah, in this description of salvation, summed up so many of the freedoms that Jesus was going to bring to us:

• Freedom from fear (v.74b)
• Freedom to serve God (v.74b)
• Freedom to be holy (v.75)
• Freedom to be righteous (v.75)
• Freedom from death (v.79b).

Praise you, Lord, that you have rescued me from all my enemies. Thank you that you have shown me mercy. Thank you for forgiving my sins. Thank you that you give me freedom from death and fear. Thank you that you set me free to serve you. Help me today to serve you without fear, in holiness and righteousness, and guide my feet into the path of peace.

Numbers 4:1-5:10

3. Never take your freedom for granted

Are you serving in some way in your local church? Are you a contributor or merely a consumer? God has a role and responsibility for you.

We see in this Old Testament passage an anticipation and foreshadowing of the church, with each member having a different part to play (Ephesians 4:7,11–13). As we read of the Kohathites, Gershonites and Merarites, aged between thirty and fifty years old, who came ‘to serve’, we see that God assigned each individual specific tasks (Numbers 4:3–4,24–25,31–32), just as today God has assigned to us specific work to do in the church.

For the Israelites, ministry was centred on the Tent of Meeting – the place of God’s presence. Now God’s presence is among his people in the body of Christ. The work and ministry to which we are called is to build up the body of Christ. This is one of the ways that we will experience the presence of God today. God’s presence is not confined to a particular place, but rather is experienced wherever his people are.

In this passage we see that we cannot take our freedom for granted. We are reminded of the holiness of God and the fact that it required something amazing to allow us to have the kind of relationship with God that we are now able to enjoy. 

God reminds Moses that any kind of sin is actually an act of unfaithfulness to God: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord is guilty’ (5:6). The guilty person is required to confess their sin, make restitution for it, and offer a sacrifice of atonement (vv.6–8).

We cannot make atonement for ourselves. Atonement has to be made for us. That is what Jesus did on the cross. A simplified definition of atonement is ‘at-one-ment’ – in other words God enabled us to be at one with him. The barrier of sin was removed through Jesus, ‘Now I’m free’.

Thank you, Lord, for setting me free to live a life of freedom. May I never take that freedom for granted. Help me to use my freedom to serve you and to serve others. Help me to fulfil my responsibilities in a way that pleases you.

Pippa Adds

Psalm 34:18

‘The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.’ 

I have seen, many times, the Lord’s love sustaining those going through great difficulties, in remarkable ways: ‘The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all’ (Psalm 34:19). I would rather it said that the righteous ‘won’t’ have many troubles, but it does say ‘may’ have many troubles. I think if we didn’t go through the difficult times then we wouldn’t know that God is a deliverer and that we can trust him in those times. 

Notes:
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.