Freedom & Others

Good Morning,

One of the amazing attributes of God is that He offers us a free will. The fact that Adam and Eve had the choice to obey or not to obey is amazing. Throughout life, we see the same choice from God over and over. Evil men may follow their corrupt ideas; and, although there are earthly results for wicked actions, God does not force people to follow Him.

On Mount Carmel, the choice was offered:

1 Kings 18:21 “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.”

Joshua made the same statement as he neared the end of his life:

Joshua 24:15 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Jesus watched as many disciples walked away, but He simply asked his closest twelve what they would do — He did not forcefully compel them to stay.

John 6:67 “Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?”

vs. 68 “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”

Barnabas, speaking to young believers, urged the people to make a wise choice and to cleave to the Lord; but the choice was theirs.

Acts 11:23 “Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.”

Because God offers great liberty to us in marriage, in child-rearing, in church, and in government, we may follow His direction or foolishly choose our own path.

Might I offer some thoughts here regarding choice?

We know Islam is wrong because it offers no freedom, no free will, and no willing worship; it is mandated. Although, remember that their lack of free will is no different than the Reformation churches of the Middle Ages that demanded everyone to submit to the church or to suffer banishment, death, or imprisonment. God never ordained mandatory worship. God desires the heart of willing love and submission.

In government, we may allow civil rulers to demand submission to their whims. Over the centuries, the number of men like Hitler or Saddam Hussein is infinite. Watch any city council, (our own included) and see how quickly they force citizens to follow their agenda. Again, these organizations are far from Divine in their roots, but that is not the point; freedom is the point this morning.

For instance, a church may choose which kind of service to run. The church has the freedom to develop its own programs of soul winning, teaching, and ministering to the community.

In the late 1800s, Dwight Moody saw the churches of his day ministering to families and adults but completely ignoring the countless thousands of children in the community. Like George Mueller, Moody was bothered by the forgotten children and determined to do something about it. He started bringing the rougher children of the town to church who not only would come with uncouth appearances but also would disrupt the service. Moody was told to stop bringing the children. Moody, feeling compelled to do something, rented a room and started a Sunday school for street children.

In our culture, a Sunday school class can be designed in such a way as to minister to children of all walks of life. Because of the benefits of Sunday school, let me say (as God gives us the freedom to have differing opinions) that a church without Sunday school is a selfish church; one that is focused upon itself only and allows the world to go to Hell without regard for the needs of people. Most of the adults in our churches trusted Christ as children. If we remove ministries to children, countless souls will go to Hell. If we remove the buses and Sunday school classes for rougher children, the borders of Hell will need to be enlarged.


Dr. Jack Hyles sat on the lap of his teacher on his first day in a children’s Sunday school. He asked the teacher, “Does God love me as much as He loves the children with shoes?” Yes, Sunday school was the place where the heart and soul of Dr. Jack Hyles were won. Similarly, a Sunday school teacher visited Dwight Moody and led him to Christ.

The insecure pastor who is afraid that his members will learn to teach the Bible to children and adults is doing great harm to all. The pastor who insists on everyone being in HIS services will never reach the souls he could have reached, for many will not sit in church with fussing children all around.

God gives us the freedom to choose.

The church without a bus ministry is not sinful; every church has a choice, but the church is commanded to reach the world. The duty of the church is to find some way to reach that world, but the church also has the freedom to disobey as well.

A revival church is one that has occasional revivals when a good preacher comes and preaches the Gospel and sees many people get saved.

An evangelistic church has folks invite their friends, and the pastor or teachers preach the Gospel to get them saved.


A soul-winning church goes into all the world and preaches the Gospel. It gets people saved and brings them to church.

To me, the third church sounds more like one that fulfills the Great Commissions. How a church’s members get the Gospel to the world is a free choice though.

Sunday school (and bus ministry) also allows members to teach, preach, and visit in the homes of students. Now the teacher is personally involved in the ministry and is reaching many more people for Christ. Our members need a place to serve; for they will “all appear before the judgment seat of Christ…”

Here, at Faith Baptist Church, we have a serving church; our motto is “A Church of Active Faith.” We all have a place to serve if we want one. Service to others is not compulsory, but freely available.

Let me make an observation. (By the way, this is only the view of one pastor in one city for thirty-five years.) I have never seen a couple, who kept their children out of Sunday school and ministry, turn out children for God — NEVER! Those families rarely even stayed in church; but if they did, they were nominal Christians, complacent at best. I CAN show you countless servants of God in all walks of life who, as children, joined in the ministry of Sunday school, bus routes, Vacation Bible School, camps, and other outreach ministries who, today, continue to serve and glorify God through their lives. The ministry does as much for the worker as it does for the student. A selfish ministry to children will develop selfish adults. If we make the church about entertainment, people will expect it forever. Teach children to serve, then mature them into serving teens, then serving adults; this formula will yield a church that serves.

As a family, we can sit around in our comfortable, safe-space lives, or we can pour our lives out on the altar of others. We can offer our children for the service of the Lord as Hannah did. Some people object to anyone outside the family teaching their children, but notice the family from whom the great man, Samuel, came. He had a prayerful mother who freely offered her son to the service of the Lord. Although, from preschool age, Samuel had a teacher, Eli, who was far from a successful father, yet the child was incredibly blessed. (1 Samuel 1-4)

We have a choice, a free choice, like Adam and Eve. We are free to live for others or to be selfish. We are free to offer our bodies on the altar of sacrifice as Romans 12 urges. We are free to bring up our children while sacrificing their own comfort to minister to others, or we can bring up children thinking that the world revolves around them. We, as parents, can offer our families to God; and it may be, as with the great missionary Hudson Taylor, that we will bury our children prematurely. Eternity will be the rewarding time; life on earth is the serving time. 

As a church, we can have our cute little group and glory in our amazing knowledge while we do little for eternity or others, or we can reach out to the world with all our heart.

We have freedom as a family, as a church, and as a government. God allows us to choose our path, but He does not allow us to chose the outcome. The road we travel is our choice; the destination will be set.

John 12:25 “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”

Pastor