A. Jack Wilson III - "Born to Be Free" (September 13, 1970)

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	(upbeat organ music)	0:03
-	If we say that we have no sin,	2:30
	we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us,	2:33
	but if we confess our sins,	2:38
	God is good, and faithful, and just to forgive us our sins,	2:40
	and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.	2:46
	Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God.	2:50
	Our Heavenly Father,	2:55
	who by by love has made us,	2:57
	and through thy love has kept us,	2:59
	and in thy love would make us perfect,	3:02
	we humbly confess that we have not loved thee	3:06
	with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength.	3:09
	And that we have not loved one another	3:15
	as Christ hath loved us.	3:17
	Thy life is within our souls,	3:20
	but our selfishness has hindered thee.	3:24
	We have not lived by faith,	3:27
	we have resisted thy spirit,	3:30
	we have neglected thy inspirations.	3:33
	Forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are,	3:36
	and in thy spirit direct what we shall be.	3:42
	That thou mayest come into the full glory of thy creation	3:46
	in us, and in all men, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	3:50
	And let us hear the words of assurance from the scriptures.	3:57
	This is the message we have heard from him,	4:02
	and proclaim to you, that God is light,	4:05
	and in him is no darkness at all.	4:09
	If we walk in the light as he is in the light,	4:13
	we have fellowship one with another,	4:17
	and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.	4:20
	Almighty God, our Heavenly Father,	4:26
	who of his great mercy has promised forgiveness of sins	4:29
	to all those who turn to him	4:33
	with true repentance and sincere faith,	4:35
	have mercy upon us, pardon and deliver us	4:39
	from all our sins.	4:43
	Confirm and strengthen us in all goodness,	4:45
	and bring us to everlasting life	4:49
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	4:52
	Amen.	4:55
-	I shall read from Exodus 3:1-6.	5:05
	Now Moses was keeping the flock	5:09
	of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian,	5:11
	and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness	5:14
	and came to Horeb, the Mountain of God,	5:17
	and the angel of the Lord appeared to him	5:20
	in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.	5:22
	And he looked, and low the bush was burning,	5:24
	yet it was not consumed.	5:28
	And Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this great sight,	5:30
	"why the bush is not burned."	5:34
	When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see	5:37
	God called to him out of the bush.	5:40
	"Moses, Moses," and he said, "Here am I,"	5:42
	then he said, "Do not come near,	5:46
	"put off your shoes from your feet,	5:48
	"for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."	5:50
	And he said, "I am the God of your father,	5:54
	"the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,	5:57
	"and the God of Jacob."	6:01
	And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid	6:03
	to look at the face of God.	6:06
	(upbeat organ music)	6:11
	Our New Testament lesson for this morning	9:42
	comes from Luke 12:13-21.	9:47
	"One of the multitudes said to him, "	9:51
	teacher did my brother divide the inheritance with me?"	9:53
	"But he said to him,	9:56
	"Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?	9:57
	"And he said to them,	10:01
	"take heed and be aware of all covetousness,	10:02
	"for a man's life does not consist	10:05
	"in the abundance of his possessions.	10:08
	"And he told them a parable saying	10:10
	"The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully,	10:12
	"and he thought to himself, what shall I do?	10:16
	"for I have nowhere to store my crops.	10:19
	"And he said, I will do this,	10:21
	"I will pull down my barns and build larger ones,	10:24
	"and there I will store all my grain and my goods.	10:28
	"And I will say to my soul,	10:30
	"Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years,	10:33
	"take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.	10:36
	"But God said to him,	10:40
	"Fool, this night your soul is required of you.	10:42
	"And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?	10:44
	"So is he who lays up treasures for himself,	10:48
	"and is not rich toward God."	10:50
	Thus endeth our new Testament reading.	10:53
	(upbeat organ music)	10:56
-	The Lord be with you,	14:35
	let us pray.	14:38
	Let us say, together, our union prayer of thanksgiving.	14:40
	Almighty God, our Heavenly Father,	14:46
	we bless and magnify thy holy name,	14:49
	for the gift of thy most dearly beloved son,	14:53
	Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.	14:56
	And for all his apostles, prophets, martyrs,	14:59
	evangelists, teachers, and pastors,	15:03
	whom he hath sent abroad into the world	15:07
	for thy holy church universal,	15:10
	for the ministry of the laity,	15:13
	and the ministry of the ordained.	15:15
	We do give thee hearty thanks	15:17
	for the privilege which each one of us	15:20
	has a bearing witness to the saving grace of our Lord.	15:23
	We express our gratitude.	15:27
	We thank thee for life, for a measure of health,	15:30
	for friends, for food, for clothing,	15:34
	and for all the purposes of Christ,	15:38
	which give meaning to these earthly goods.	15:40
	We make our prayer of thanks in Jesus name, amen.	15:43
	Be seated.	15:50
	Now our prayers for others, and for ourselves,	15:54
	Father in Heaven look down in mercy	16:00
	upon our distraught and fevered world.	16:03
	Forgive the mistaken ambitions,	16:07
	the selfish passions, and the presumptuous claims of men.	16:10
	Remove all suspicion and bitterness	16:15
	from among the nations of the world,	16:18
	and bring them to peace and concord	16:21
	by the redeeming love of Christ.	16:24
	We pray for our beloved land, for our president,	16:27
	our leaders and governors,	16:32
	and for all who have part in public service.	16:35
	Make them pure in motive,	16:39
	wise in counsel,	16:41
	and strong in action,	16:43
	doing right in fear of thy holy name.	16:46
	Remember, oh Lord, thy church upon Earth.	16:50
	Deepen her influence, and extend her power for good	16:53
	until the kingdoms of this world	16:57
	become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.	16:59
	And oh Mighty God, we beseech thee	17:04
	with thy gracious favor	17:06
	to behold our universities, colleges, and schools,	17:08
	and especially Duke University,	17:14
	that knowledge may increase among us	17:18
	and all good learning flourish and abound.	17:20
	Bless all who teach, and all who learn,	17:24
	and grant that in humility of heart	17:28
	they may ever look unto thee,	17:31
	who art the fountain of all wisdom.	17:33
	Have mercy oh Lord upon those	17:37
	who are passing through sore trial,	17:39
	the poor, the sick, the anxious, the oppressed.	17:42
	Those who are in danger from the fury of the elements	17:48
	or from the violence of men.	17:51
	Inspire in us, and in our fellow man	17:54
	the will to help our suffering brethren.	17:58
	Heal, protect, and strengthen them according to their need.	18:02
	Comfort those in sorrow with the comfort,	18:07
	which is in Christ, Jesus, our Lord.	18:10
	We commend to thy almighty protection thy servants,	18:15
	the members of the Duke football team,	18:18
	for whose preservation our prayers are desired.	18:21
	Guard them, we beseech thee,	18:25
	from the dangers of the game, from sickness,	18:27
	and from every evil to which they may be exposed.	18:31
	Conduct them in safety through the season,	18:35
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	18:38
	Oh Gracious Father, who through thy mercy	18:42
	has added another day to our lives,	18:45
	we here dedicate both our souls and bodies	18:48
	to thee and thy service.	18:51
	In a sober, righteous, and godly light,	18:53
	in which resolution do thou, oh Merciful God	18:58
	confirm and strengthen us,	19:01
	that as we grow in age, we may grow in grace	19:04
	and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,	19:09
	But oh God, who knoweth the weakness	19:14
	and corruption of our nature,	19:16
	and the manifold temptations which we daily meet with.	19:18
	We humbly beseech thee	19:23
	to have compassion on our infirmities,	19:24
	and to give us the constant assistance of thy Holy Spirit,	19:27
	that we may be effectually restrained from sin,	19:32
	and incited to our duty.	19:36
	Imprint upon our hearts such a dread of thy judgment,	19:39
	and such a grateful sense of thy goodness to us,	19:42
	as we may make both afraid and ashamed to offend thee.	19:46
	And above all, keep in our minds a lively remembrance	19:52
	of that great day in which we must give a strict account	19:56
	of our thoughts, words, and actions	20:00
	to whom thou hast appointed the judge of quick and dead	20:04
	thy son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.	20:08
	In particular, we implore thy grace and protection	20:13
	for the ensuing day,	20:16
	keep us temperate in all things,	20:18
	and diligent in our several callings.	20:21
	Grant us patience under our afflictions,	20:25
	give us grace to be just and upright in all our dealings,	20:28
	quiet and peaceable, full of compassion,	20:34
	and ready to do good to all men	20:38
	according to our abilities and opportunities.	20:40
	Direct us in all our ways,	20:44
	defend us from all dangers and adversities	20:47
	and be graciously pleased to take us,	20:51
	and all who are dear to us	20:53
	under thy fatherly care and protection.	20:55
	These things and whatever else thou shall see	20:59
	to be necessary and convenient to us	21:02
	we humbly beseech of you,	21:05
	through the merits and mediation of thy son,	21:07
	Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.	21:09
	And now we are bold to say,	21:14
	our Father who art in heaven,	21:16
	hallowed be thy name.	21:19
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done	21:21
	on Earth as it is in heaven.	21:25
	Give us this day our daily bread,	21:28
	and forgive us our trespasses	21:31
	as we forgive those who trespass against us	21:33
	and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil	21:37
	for thine is the kingdom, and the power,	21:42
	and the glory forever and ever, amen.	21:45
	And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ	21:49
	and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost	21:52
	be with us all ever more, amen.	21:55
	(upbeat organ music)	22:00
-	Let the words of my mouth,	24:30
	the meditations of our hearts,	24:33
	be acceptable in thy sight.	24:40
	Oh Lord our strength, and our Redeemer.	24:43
	Amen.	24:49
	Needless to say,	24:58
	it is a privilege for me to be here today,	25:01
	to return to my school.	25:04
	To return to the place where I suffered,	25:09
	to return to the place where I struggled,	25:13
	to return to the place where I celebrated and knew joy,	25:18
	to return to the place where I worshiped.	25:24
	For some of us, it has been a long night.	25:32
	The word I get is that the team got home at 2:00 AM.,	25:38
	and this reminds me of a situation	25:46
	that I was in just about a year ago.	25:49
	I was assigned the task	25:53
	of preaching in the Cadet Chapel at West Point,	25:56
	where I work, on Sunday morning	25:59
	following the Army-Notre Dame football game,	26:03
	which was played the previous afternoon in Yankee Stadium.	26:07
	The team and the whole core of cadets attended.	26:13
	They returned to West Point at 3:00 AM,	26:17
	and the first service was held at 8:00 AM.	26:22
	And I remember thinking that	26:29
	if I really wanted to be relevant,	26:31
	I mean, if I really wanted to preach	26:34
	and to be where they were,	26:37
	I should probably begin my sermon	26:41
	and then somewhere along in the middle of it, fall asleep.	26:44
	I approached that service,	26:50
	I remember, with fear and trembling	26:52
	because I suddenly remembered the story	26:53
	of the guy who dreamed that he was preaching	26:59
	to a thousand people,	27:02
	and when he woke up, he found out that he was.	27:05
	I assure you I will not fall asleep this morning,	27:14
	and I hope that none of you will either,	27:18
	particularly the players.	27:20
	I don't know how many of you	27:27
	have ever been to Yankee Stadium,	27:28
	or how many of you have ever been to New York City,	27:32
	but certainly one of the first impressions	27:34
	that a visitor gets to that city	27:37
	is the fantastic number of people that somehow live there.	27:42
	You ask, where do they come from	27:47
	and where do they go?	27:49
	How do they find room in the night?	27:51
	Of course, the answer is that most of them	27:57
	live in apartments, which are stacked on top of one another	27:59
	and reach high into the sky.	28:02
	The number of people there is part of the problem.	28:07
	Dostoevsky once described	28:12
	the way that men organized themselves.	28:14
	He used three symbols, he used the anthill,	28:17
	the chicken coop, and the Crystal Palace.	28:19
	There actually was a building called the Crystal Palace.	28:25
	It was constructed of glass and steel,	28:32
	and had been put together for the exposition in London.	28:34
	It represented the very latest in man's achievement.	28:38
	It was the symbol of perfection and attainment,	28:42
	and Dostoevsky was writing against	28:44
	the creeping socialism of his time,	28:47
	which said the Crystal Palace is a symbol	28:49
	of all that man needs.	28:54
	Dostoevsky was saying it is really nothing	29:00
	but an oversized anthill,	29:02
	a more imposing chicken coop.	29:05
	He was saying that you can take care	29:09
	of some of your needs, and that is necessary,	29:10
	but if that's it,	29:15
	then forget it.	29:19
	Because life has got to have more than that.	29:22
	Forget it!	29:28
	That's what Dustin Hoffman was saying	29:32
	to a great extent in the movie, "The Graduate."	29:34
	As you know, those of you that have seen that movie,	29:40
	his parents threw the big homecoming party	29:42
	for their pride and joy who had graduated from college.	29:46
	Everyone kept coming up to him	29:53
	and saying how proud they were	29:55
	of all of his accomplishments off at college.	29:58
	Finally, one man came over and said to him, "Plastics.	30:04
	"Plastics, you have to go into plastics.	30:10
	"The future is in plastics."	30:15
	And a great portion of the remainder of that film	30:21
	has do with Dustin Hoffman telling all of them	30:23
	to forget it.	30:28
	To forget it.	30:32
	A year ago, Peggy Lee had a hit record.	30:36
	And in that song she remembers a fire	30:40
	in which her home burned to the ground,	30:42
	she was a child.	30:46
	She remembers going to a circus	30:50
	with all of its gaudiness and shining tinsel.	30:51
	She remembers a broken love affair.	30:57
	Finally reflects on death itself,	31:01
	and after each memory, she comes back to the chorus.	31:03
	If that's all there is,	31:10
	if that's all there is, my friends,	31:14
	then let's keep dancing,	31:18
	let's break out the booze and have a ball.	31:22
	If that's all there is.	31:27
	If that's all there is,	31:32
	forget it.	31:35
	Jesus told a parable which was read	31:40
	as the New Testament reading for the morning.	31:43
	He told a parable about the man who grew all the crops,	31:47
	and then built the huge store houses to keep them in.	31:51
	He thought that he would be a lucky man.	31:55
	He could take life easy and drink, and enjoy himself.	31:58
	And in the parable, what is he called?	32:01
	He's called a fool.	32:06
	A fool.	32:10
	He is a fool because yes, he would be able to quit work	32:14
	and to eat and to drink	32:21
	until he was almost perhaps too obese	32:23
	to move himself from beside the swimming pool.	32:26
	But as to whether he would really enjoy life,	32:32
	and have a hold on this thing that people yearn for	32:35
	the fulfillment of life,	32:40
	that is a different question.	32:43
	In fact, the point of the parable was that he was a fool	32:48
	to think that these things	32:50
	would give him fulfillment and joyful living.	32:53
	If that's all there is	33:00
	then forget it.	33:04
	There must be more to life than Crystal Palaces	33:10
	and circus parades,	33:13
	and a future in plastics,	33:16
	and barns filled with grain,	33:18
	and a capacity crowd in Yankee Stadium,	33:20
	and Honda 350s,	33:28
	and a midnight high.	33:31
	If that's all there is,	33:36
	then forget it.	33:39
	For these things will not give what they promise,	33:43
	for in so many situations they promise fulfillment,	33:48
	and joyful living.	33:54
	They promise to fill the void	33:58
	that you yearn to have filled.	34:03
	They are like ant hills.	34:09
	So the question that many of us ask,	34:14
	certainly any student,	34:18
	what is it that really gives us life?	34:23
	What does it mean to be alive,	34:29
	to really live, what does it mean?	34:33
	Not to prepare to live, but to live,	34:37
	when do you begin living?	34:42
	Is it after final exams?	34:47
	Is it after next Saturday?	34:50
	Is it after graduation?	34:53
	Is it after the first job?	34:54
	Is it after you're married?	34:58
	Is it after children?	34:59
	Is it after you have enough time	35:02
	to live life more leisurely?	35:05
	Is it after you retire?	35:09
	When do we stop preparing to live	35:12
	and start living?	35:16
	What causes us to say	35:22
	that life is so fine?	35:26
	What causes us to celebrate life?	35:29
	Most of us know	35:40
	that the possession of material things is not the answer.	35:44
	And we are painfully learning	35:48
	that organization and systems	35:53
	are not the answer.	35:57
	But that they must constantly	36:00
	have to be restructured	36:02
	and reborn.	36:06
	Most of us know that it's not computers,	36:10
	as indispensable as we have made them.	36:14
	What is it?	36:17
	Well, if we open our eyes and our ears	36:21
	and let them see,	36:23
	and let them hear,	36:28
	and look at the contemporary world in which we live,	36:30
	We see everyone yearning and struggling,	36:36
	and reaching out for an answer.	36:38
	They're reaching out for the answer.	36:43
	What is it?	36:47
	It's freedom.	36:51
	Freedom.	36:57
	We are in the midst	36:59
	of a freedom revolution.	37:03
	From Asia, to Africa, to Czechoslovakia, to Berlin,	37:06
	to the United States of America,	37:10
	there is an emerging consensus that life,	37:13
	in order to be worthwhile,	37:18
	has got to have freedom.	37:21
	A man must be free.	37:24
	The consensus is that the living	37:30
	will only bring deep joy	37:32
	if we are personally liberated.	37:33
	If you're able to assert yourself,	37:39
	and who you are,	37:42
	not as others expect you to be.	37:45
	They try to manipulate you into being.	37:49
	That's what it means to live,	37:57
	that's what it means to be human.	38:00
	We are born to be free.	38:04
	Born to be free.	38:13
	And in the parable the problem	38:17
	with the rich farmer is that he was not free,	38:20
	he was a slave.	38:25
	He was a captive to an illusion,	38:29
	a false hope, he was a captive to a myth.	38:32
	Speaking in today's terms,	38:38
	he believed the commercial swindlers of his time	38:39
	who told him that real liberation	38:45
	would come to him through their product,	38:49
	through their warehouses,	38:51
	through their airline flight,	38:54
	behind their neon sign,	38:57
	within their ant hill, or Crystal Palace.	39:01
	He was a fool to believe it,	39:06
	because he was tied, and gagged, and bound personally.	39:09
	He was not free.	39:17
	He was trying to meet a problem of the human spirit	39:21
	through ways and means that would not fulfill.	39:29
	How often we fall into that trap,	39:36
	our pleasure is in buying, our hope is in owning,	39:37
	our hopes are in making a name for ourselves.	39:43
	Always preparing to live,	39:49
	never living.	39:53
	Always bound and constantly struggling for release,	39:57
	but never quite free.	40:00
	Freedom is always just one more purchase,	40:04
	it's one more accomplishment,	40:08
	it's one more game,	40:09
	it's one more year away.	40:11
	We are like the rich farmer.	40:19
	We need to be set free.	40:26
	What does that mean?	40:30
	The term personal liberation is used so much	40:34
	it has become a cliche.	40:37
	What does that mean?	40:41
	Some of us still think that real freedom	40:46
	means lack of constraint, and lack of all inhibitions.	40:49
	Some of us still think that true freedom	40:54
	means acting out everything that you feel.	40:56
	Some of us still believe that we can get free	41:03
	from any and everything.	41:05
	Freedom is to get as high as you can,	41:10
	and then drop until you dance, dance until you drop.	41:12
	I'm getting high.	41:16
	Dance until you drop.	41:20
	But one is never totally liberated from any and everything,	41:28
	for every time you talk about	41:34
	being liberated from something,	41:35
	we're talking about being liberated to something.	41:37
	There is the great story, you know,	41:44
	that is told about the football team	41:48
	that was out in the Big 10.	41:51
	They had never been there before,	41:54
	in fact the Big 10 had scheduled them as a warm-up game.	41:57
	And the players were pretty well overawed.	42:03
	I mean this was a massive stadium,	42:08
	these were strange surroundings.	42:11
	The locker room was in the field house,	42:16
	Which was connected to the stadium by a tunnel.	42:21
	They got into the game, and into the first half	42:26
	the score was 17 to nothing.	42:29
	This team had been so overawed	42:33
	that they just could not function.	42:36
	Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes.	42:40
	And so the coach came in at halftime	42:44
	and he really let them have it.	42:48
	And he said, we've got a great game plan,	42:53
	we've got good material,	42:56
	but the problem is you're all uptight.	42:57
	You're overawed.	43:03
	I know this is a strange place,	43:06
	I know we've never been here before,	43:07
	but you've gotta loosen up.	43:10
	You gotta start thinking, moving.	43:13
	So he began to conclude, it's time to go back out.	43:18
	He said, "I know this is a strange place.	43:23
	"We've never been here, we've never been on that field,	43:24
	"we've never been in this locker room.	43:26
	"But when I count to three I'm gonna say go.	43:30
	"When I say go I want to hear 44 pairs of cleats	43:34
	"hit this floor, and I want to hear them clack clack,	43:36
	"and I wanna see you go through that door."	43:39
	He pointed to the door.	43:42
	They were charged up.	43:45
	"1, 2, 3, go."	43:47
	44 pairs of cleats hit the floor,	43:49
	clack, clack, clack across the floor,	43:52
	they broke down the door.	43:54
	It was the wrong door.	43:57
	Six fell into the swimming pool.	44:04
	(congregation laughing)	44:06
	They were liberated from the locker room,	44:12
	but they were liberated	44:18
	to the wrong sport.	44:21
	They were liberated to the pool.	44:26
	The coach probably was fired,	44:31
	or thrown in himself.	44:36
	The wise man considers the consequences of his liberation.	44:40
	We are always liberated from something,	44:46
	but then it's being liberated to something.	44:48
	What do we need to be liberated from?	44:54
	The parable of the Prodigal Son,	45:02
	I think, is a great story to answer that question.	45:04
	The familiar story of the younger son	45:08
	who desperately wanted freedom.	45:11
	Freedom from his home, freedom from his parents,	45:15
	freedom from his brother, that older brother.	45:20
	Freedom from his work.	45:25
	Freedom from the drudgery of day to day existence.	45:27
	So he packed up all of his possessions,	45:30
	took all in his inheritance, and moved out,	45:32
	changed his environment.	45:38
	Whereupon he spent all of his money,	45:43
	and lost all of his possessions.	45:46
	But you know, he returned home	45:49
	and his father ran down the road to meet him,	45:50
	embraced him and called for a great celebration.	45:54
	Those great words his father said	45:58
	"He was dead and is alive again.	46:00
	"He was lost, and now he's found."	46:03
	You see the younger son thought that what he needed	46:09
	was freedom from home, and perhaps that was a valid need.	46:12
	To get away, to change the environment.	46:19
	What he also needed was freedom from himself.	46:23
	He was miserable at home, he changed his environment,	46:31
	he had the money to spend, and he blew it.	46:33
	He blew the whole deal.	46:39
	Cause he was not freed from himself as well.	46:46
	To be truly free,	46:52
	you must be free from yourself.	46:55
	Freedom from yourself.	47:02
	That is what the Christian gospel	47:06
	is about.	47:12
	It's about setting people free.	47:17
	That's why it is often referred to, I think,	47:23
	as the Good News.	47:25
	The Good News is that God's grace,	47:29
	that God's love is available,	47:31
	and that once a man has accepted that love,	47:36
	he is set free.	47:43
	Set free from his faults,	47:49
	and deceiving allegiance to himself,	47:50
	he may still bear the marks	47:54
	and the consequences of his sin,	47:55
	but the burden of guilt,	48:00
	the shackles of defensiveness,	48:03
	and the driving need to prove himself,	48:06
	or to prove herself to the world,	48:08
	is gone.	48:14
	Not removed by self will, and not removed by achievement,	48:17
	but because of a new order, a new spirit,	48:24
	a new life	48:28
	given as a gift.	48:31
	Paul,	48:38
	new freedom.	48:40
	Once he wrote	48:44
	"Christ has made us	48:46
	"completely free	48:51
	"stand fast then and do not again	48:55
	"be hampered with the yoke of slavery.	48:57
	"Through the spirit of Christ we are freed from ourselves."	49:04
	Listen, once again,	49:10
	to the words that were spoken	49:15
	by Martin Luther King, immediately, before he was killed,	49:19
	"I am free.	49:25
	"I am free.	49:28
	"Thank God Almighty,	49:31
	"I am free at last."	49:35
	Through Christ	49:45
	we are freed from ourselves.	49:48
	But what are we freed to?	49:55
	What does it cost?	50:01
	Where does it send us?	50:05
	What are we freed to?	50:10
	We are freed to discipleship.	50:11
	That's a word that has lost a lot of meaning.	50:14
	What does it mean?	50:21
	It means freed to follow,	50:22
	freed to give,	50:25
	freed to work,	50:26
	freed to love,	50:28
	freed to suffer,	50:31
	and to be used as a vessel of healing and reconciliation,	50:34
	no matter where you are,	50:37
	within what kind of structure you exist.	50:41
	Freed to others.	50:48
	Freed to your neighbor,	50:53
	that's what you're freed to.	50:57
	The rich farmer was a fool because he believed a false hope.	51:04
	He also as a fool because he was an isolationist.	51:07
	Christian discipleship means being freed	51:15
	from individualism to humanitarianism.	51:18
	There's that great cartoon in Peanuts,	51:24
	Charlie Brown is deciding that he's going to be a doctor,	51:29
	and Lucy of course	51:34
	would not allow any thoughts like that.	51:36
	So she says to him, "You could never be a doctor."	51:40
	Charlie Brown says, "Oh yes, I wanna be a doctor."	51:44
	She said, "You know why you could never be a doctor?	51:48
	"You don't love mankind."	51:52
	Charlie Brown says, "Oh yes I do, I love mankind."	51:55
	She said, "No you don't."	51:58
	"Yes I do," and he begins to get very angry.	52:00
	And finally he says, "I love mankind!	52:02
	"It's just people that I can't stand."	52:06
	You are freed to people.	52:12
	Freed to bear with another the joys and the burdens of life.	52:18
	Free to risk ourselves,	52:23
	to identify with the triumphs and the tragedies	52:28
	of those around us.	52:30
	Freed to care,	52:31
	as an act of love, and that can cost.	52:35
	It can bring all kinds of repercussions,	52:39
	and increasingly it does,	52:45
	as we become more polarized in our own society.	52:48
	It can cost you,	52:54
	but as one man said,	52:59
	you will never be a whole person until you have risked	53:01
	standing alongside a neighbor	53:04
	in his need.	53:08
	The heart of the Christian discipleship is to care,	53:12
	through caring to come to know the reality of God.	53:17
	Someone said, "God has two faces."	53:20
	"God has two faces,	53:25
	your face	53:30
	and my face."	53:33
	God is revealed to us.	53:39
	We share each other's lives.	53:43
	So in conclusion,	53:54
	Crystal Palaces,	53:59
	future in plastics,	54:03
	barns filled with grain,	54:04
	a capacity crowd in Yankee Stadium,	54:05
	life has got to have more than that.	54:10
	The parable of the rich farmer is old,	54:15
	and as simple as it may be,	54:19
	is still relevant.	54:23
	It causes us to examine our living,	54:26
	our values,	54:31
	our goals.	54:33
	It causes us to ask seriously what it means to truly live.	54:36
	What is it that gives us life?	54:43
	Its freedom.	54:47
	Freedom is a problem of the human spirit.	54:51
	This is what Jesus the Christ came to effect	54:56
	to set us free.	55:02
	Free from ourselves.	55:06
	Free to each other.	55:12
	The gift is there,	55:17
	the question is who will accept it?	55:21
	Who is willing to be set free?	55:25
	Free from himself,	55:30
	free to his neighbor.	55:34
	Let us pray.	55:42
	Eternal God, our Father,	55:52
	unto thee we lift our prayers of adoration.	55:57
	All glory and honor be to thee.	56:03
	We give thee thanks for thy son	56:10
	who came to us	56:15
	as one of us	56:18
	in order that we might know thy love	56:23
	for us,	56:27
	in the name of Christ,	56:31
	who gave his life	56:35
	to prove that love.	56:38
	Grant us meaningful lives.	56:44
	Grant us	56:49
	celebration of life.	56:52
	Grant us	56:56
	freedom.	56:58
	We pray this in the name of Christ, our Lord.	57:03
	Amen.	57:10
	(upbeat organ music)	57:14

Item Info

Title:

A. Jack Wilson III - "Born to Be Free" (September 13, 1970)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4f47mv6p

Date:

September 13, 1970

Speaker:

Wilson, A. Jack III

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0537
ref6277_hys
uachapelsermaud
duke:628060
dcrau002526
ark:/87924/r4f47mv6p
5461a991-a21a-40ae-8db9-240afdd40626

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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A. Jack Wilson III - "Born to Be Free" (September 13, 1970)

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