Do you know how circus trainers keep a twelve-foot tall, five-ton elephant from running off? They put a chain around its ankle and tie the chain to a steel peg hammered into the ground. Everyone else at the circus knows the elephant could take a single step and pull the stake out of the ground, but he doesn’t. Why? Because from the moment he was born, he was taught to believe something that wasn’t true: that a chain tied around his ankle, staked to the ground, meant he was locked down. To accept the lie, the elephant has to ignore all the urges to pull himself free. He is one step away from freedom, yet lives in a prison with an unlocked door.
Living without purpose is like defining our lives by four walls and a door that shuts us in. What if that door suddenly opened? What if we could walk out free, leaving the prison behind? What would we do with the opportunity to be free?
Acts 12:6 On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me."
If you break this story down and watch it in slow motion, each moment is a step in the direction of freedom. Think of when Peter told this story to Luke who wrote the Book of Acts. I was in a cell chained between two guards. There were guards on the floor beside me and guards at the door. I was locked in tight with no way of escape. When I went to sleep, it was pretty clear I was going to be executed the next day. So, all hope of release was gone. I had reconciled myself to my fate. I was a dead man sleeping.
Then I woke up to something poking me in the side. I heard a voice saying, “Wake up.” I opened my eyes and the room was lit up as if a dozen torches were on fire. I squinted to see someone standing over me saying, “Get up.” As I got up, the chains fastened to my hands fell off. I stood there wondering why the clang didn’t wake up the two guards.
“Get dressed,” the person said. I found my clothes. He said, “Put on your sandals.” I slipped my feet into the straps. Then, he said the most unexpected words of the night, “Follow me.”
Now, later in this story, after they had left the prison, Peter said he thought it was all a dream until they got outside and the angel vanished. At that point he knew he wasn’t dreaming and this had actually happened. He was no longer in the cell but now free: no chains, no guards, no locked door, no appointment with death. But God didn’t set him free to be free. There had to be a purpose for this happening to him.
What was the key moment in this story? It wasn’t wake up, get up or get dressed. Those were merely steps in the process. They key was the last words. “Follow Me.” Follow me meant leaving the cell to go someplace else. First, the chains fell off and then doors were opened. The way out was presented. All that was left was to follow the angel.
Jesus used those same words in calling each disciple to follow Him. Even when correcting Peter for being more concerned about John’s future than his own, Jesus said, “What is that to you, you follow Me.”
“Follow me” was an open-ended opportunity to experience the greatness of God in each of those men’s lives. He gave them no specifics as to what was ahead, only a call for unconditional surrender to the leadership of the Lord who called them.
We saw it in the wilderness, remember. Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt and then they faced confrontation with God’s purpose of becoming the People of God. To follow that purpose, they had to accept the open-ended right of God to rule.
One of our men sent me an email with this: “Consider Israel’s miraculous deliverance from Egypt in the Bible. As God’s people crossed over on dry land, they saw the waves crash down on their enemy behind them. It was a glorious moment, and they held a mighty praise meeting with dancing, singing and thanksgiving. ‘We’re free! God has delivered us from the hand of oppression.’”
But what was that freedom designed to do? Merely release them from an enslaved existence or open the door to a new future? What did that freedom make possible that living in slavery had prevented?
In Spiderman this famous quote was worked into the dialogue: With great power comes great responsibility.
In other words. Why did Spiderman have his power? What was the purpose behind him being so powerful? How was he to use that power?
Freedom comes with the same questions. Why did God set them free? What did that freedom make possible? How would they now live that was not possible before? With great freedom comes great opportunity.
I’m sure Peter wrestled with the same questions. He was set free, but why? For what purpose? To simply be free? What was the opportunity that getting out of the cell now made possible? Freedom comes with opportunity attached. God wasn’t through with him yet.
The end of this story has Peter going to a home where the other disciples were gathered.
Act 12:17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, "Report these things to James and the brethren." Then he left and went to another place.
And we don’t hear from Peter again until Acts 15 at the Jerusalem Council where the decision was made to allow Gentiles to become Christians without having to become Jews first. It was Peter who shared the insight that settled the issue. We also know he made trips to visit some of the newly-formed churches, and at some point wrote 1st and 2nd Peter.
Meaning, God’s purpose for Peter was greater than just getting him unchained and out of prison. It was so he could continue following. To stay true to the original call Jesus had placed on him when he was still a fisherman in Galilee. All God did was remove the hindrance. Why? The calling remains until the life is over.
Peter could agree with Paul when Paul said: Phil 3:12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become complete [the purpose of my life hasn’t been accomplished yet], but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
These men lived with a purpose driving their lives forward. The determining factor was breath. As long as they had breath, they had a purpose for living. That purpose was even greater than their experiences.
To prove that, Paul took a moment to describe his life to the Corinthians: 2Cor 11:23 Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
You call that freedom? Yes, because even in those tribulations, Paul was still following Jesus. The purpose of God was greater than the experiences they encountered while following.
Their freedom gave them the privilege of doing what God had called them to do. Even prison chains, bars and doors couldn’t shut out the plans God had for them.
But remember, Peter’s freedom came in stages. What stage of deliverance are we in today? Some are chained. To what? Sin. The Bible refers to sin in language of captivity.
Rom 7:23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
2Pet 2:19 By what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state becomes worse for them than the first.
It has to be addressed that there are two groups of people referred to here. Those who have yet to come to the Lord for salvation and sin has created separation from God and those who have but have reverted to a past lifestyle of choices that deny the life of a child of God.
Both are chained to keep them away from God. But both can have those chains broken. How? By confessing what we have allowed to enslave us and receiving God’s forgiveness.
1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we have yet to give our lives to the Lord, we are labeled as unrighteous. If we have let sin dominate our lives again, we are acting unrighteous. Forgiveness cleanses us of that unrighteousness to make us right with God.
But there are also some who are imprisoned by circumstances, or more specifically by their past. Things that happened in the past that still haunting our present.
· Do you have any scars? Scars are reminders of something that happened to us. Maybe we caused it or someone else.
· Scars can also generate painful memories attached to what happened. Some are physical. Some are emotional.
· Satan: look at those nasty scars – I’d be ashamed.
· Jesus says: I’ve got scars, too. And by My scars you can be healed.
o We can’t make our past happy.
o Neither can we go back and fix our past.
o All we can do is repent of having allowed these things from our past become more important to us than our present, and submit our past to God’s healing forgiveness.
o Then, we can forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead,
But, leave the chains in the cell when you walk out. Those chains that can hold us no more, the door can no longer lock us in are to have no power over us anymore. John 8:36 If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
Mark 5:2 When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, 3 and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. 6 Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; 7 and shouting with a loud voice, he said, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!" 8 For He had been saying to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" 9 And He was asking him, "What is your name?" And he said to Him, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 10 And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. 12 The demons implored Him, saying, "Send us into the swine so that we may enter them." 13 Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea. 14 Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the "legion"; and they became frightened. 16 Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. 17 And they began to implore Him to leave their region. 18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. 19 And He did not let him, but He said to him, "Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you." 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.
You’re free from the demons. The chains are gone. The prison doors are open. Now, leave the prison behind and all the things within it that tortured you. Follow Me. Go home and share the great things the Lord has done for you.
That’s our story. We are free so we can follow Him. Freedom gives us our opportunity to live no longer encumbered by the chains that have bound us. We can now share how great our God is. Who am I that the Lord would do this for me? It’s why Jesus came.
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,
But remember, we’re not free to simply be free. We’re free to follow. No chain, no prison can stop that.
Rom 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Condemnation – an adverse sentence, penal servitude, penalty – imprisonment. No jail can hold us that Jesus can’t get us out of. No past, no present, no future.
TAKEAWAYS:
- Discovering that God has set us free must be followed by asking why God has set us free.
- It is so we can be who God wants us to be, doing what God wants us to do, when He wants us doing it, in the way He wants it done.
- When He breaks the chains and unlocks the door, it is our privilege to walk out free.
- Freedom comes with great opportunity to follow Him and make Him known.
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