One Small Seed Newsletter – Edition #279, July 2024
Greetings and blessings in the name of our Savior Jesus the Christ,
The one small seed this month is about liberty. Since there is more than one definition, I’ll break it down and go from verse to verse to get the final point. 1. The first definition is: Relax the bond! An example is in Acts 24:23, “And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and let him have liberty… but in verse 27b it says: and Felix, willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound. Now the question is, does he have liberty or not? My answer is NO! How can we have liberty if we are bound to someone or something? Of course this lesson is about the dislike of Paul by the Jewish religious society, and their interpretations of what was under the law of Moses. This same interpretation was still on display in Jerusalem in the last days of Paul’s ministries. Paul was never freed from the tribulations, persecutions, dungeons, and the influence of God’s enemy, the devil.
2. The next scripture is Luke 4:18-19, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” The first definition was to relax the bonds and the second definition was to give forgiveness or release.
3. The third definition is in John 8:36, “if the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed”. The admonition to these verses is in Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free”. Then in 1 Corinthians 8:9 Paul gives us a warning: “But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling block to them that are.” So this liberty comes with the other definitions; that is, with authority or a righteousness, but not as a stumbling block.
No liberty is real liberty if it allows one to take advantage, mistreat or in any way show hate or despise to someone else. There should be no law to grant permission to anyone to do this, neither should there be a lack of laws to allow this conduct without proper penal retribution. Liberty should never be associated with the negative side of anything. A good example of this is what is happening in the U.S. today.
The Constitution gives us the right to speak and publish in a positive way, but those who teach the opposite side (or the negative side) have broadened the definition to incorporate the word “expression“, which can be negative when it is interpreted for evil or ungodly purposes. The forefathers, when writing the Constitution, took this into consideration. The words “speak” or “speech” deals with the ability to express oneself through spoken or printed words. All other expressing of the humankind deals with the word expression, which can be negative or positive. Example: the negative approach to a “protest” is called an uncontrolled riot, where property is destroyed, people are hurt or killed, traffic is “held up” and where the freedoms of the innocent are taken away. Compare this with a well organized crowd that seeks attention for a cause and doesn’t destroy the society or environment.
When liberty is taken away, or allowed on the negative side, it should be changed or dissolved. True liberty can only be appreciated when God’s love is present and it can only be appreciated to it’s fullest by someone who realizes they have been or are in bondage. The knowledge of truth brings out the essence of appreciation. The knowledge of truth also makes us free as Jesus said in John’s Gospel. Truth is the building stones and knowledge is the key that unlocks the mysteries of how, when, where, what, and who which gives us our liberty.
Liberty isn’t getting released from one state of bondage to be placed into another state of bondage. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty where with Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Jesus encouraged his people that followed Him in Matthew 11:29-30, with “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”. To the Jews their bondage was to the rituals and traditions of the religions order, under the Mosaic Law. The Truth, that they couldn’t understand, was that under Christ’s yoke there are no rituals. The fundamentals of Christ’s teaching was etched in stone and that was the ten commandments that God etched in stone and gave to Moses. If Israel had obeyed these commandments, they were considered righteous, but all it took was the transgression of one of those commandments and they were guilty and judged by the Whole Law.
The word salvation incorporates the presence of truth and grace. To take Christ’s yoke upon us means, He is beside us in the yoke. He is there because he made a promise to us that he would not leave us or forsake us. God is not a way out in space, He is sitting on the throne that He has placed in our souls and hearts and minds. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”. In time of need that we can access help, with only a piece of faith the size of a grain of mustard seed. Then we can say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:6).
The value of Liberty is expressed through appreciation. The U.S. was liberated from England in 1776, but we were only made free by the work of our forefathers when the Constitution was ratified, adopted, and signed. Jesus liberated us from death and the power of evil that Adam brought upon us, but God’s Holy Spirit made us free through God’s will, the work of His love, mercy, and truth and the infilling of the Spirit of Truth and Grace. God Bless.
Your friend in Christ,
Rodney Roberts