Let Freedom Ring

July 5, 2026
Let Freedom Ring
Sermon Audio

CENTRAL TEXT: Luke 4:14-21, 1 Peter 2:13-17

Luke 4:14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
Luke 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke 4:20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
1 Pet. 2:13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH: John 8:31-36; Galatians 5:1, 13-15

LEADER: 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. For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery... 

Gal. 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH:    John 2:1-11

BENEDICTION: Galatians 5:13, 14

LEADER: For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Most treasured 4th of July traditions in your family? Or just a memorable 4th? 
  2. What might most people say when you ask them what’s the good of freedom? 
  3. Refresh your memory: how can what Jesus claims to be the fulfillment of in Luke 4 (citing Isaiah 61) be understood as both spiritual and social liberation? 
  4. What all have we been freed from then? Be precise, be as comprehensive as possible. 
  5. What does that freedom free us for? 
  6. We said in the sermon the freedom we have in Christ inspires us to delight in and deploy our freedom. How do you “frame” your circumstances with the freedom we have in Him as a kind of spiritual exercise to live free? 
  7. Name several ways together the freedom we have in Christ deploys us to use that freedom–in both spiritual and social ways?

QUOTES:

Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency. 
- Federalist #10, James Madison
We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it. 
- Madeleine L’Engle

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