This 4th of July I am personally celebrating my own freedom from law and religion, when a few years ago I woke up to a greater revelation of God’s unfathomable grace… Before this, I was enslaved to this constant pressure to have be fasting, praying, evangelizing, etc. in order to win God’s favor and bring His Kingdom to earth. Now I have come to joyful realization that His Kingdom has already come through the work of Christ, and we are to simply to rest in that Truth and enjoy the life He’s given us. Knowing His love and grace in life brings forth a greater measure of fruit and empowers us to do what the Law could never accomplish. Being a “world-changer” and a “revolutionary” Christian (and all the other Christian conference buzzwords) is now the effortless overflow of a life enjoying the love and grace of God.

I am also celebrating an exodus from having to constantly “crucify my flesh,” having realized that my sinful nature was already done away with at the cross. The constant slavery to guilt and condemnation and sin-focus (and the accompanying plethora of clean-yourself-up formulas, running never-ending repentance circles, and charismatic voodoo) is eclipsed in the simplicity of a message that needs to be re-told and re-presented…The finished work of Jesus. I am so thankful for this understanding and for those who are holding to its beauty and power, even in the face of contradiction and religious argument.

Finally, I am also celebrating the revelation of God’s love towards all of humanity in the redemption of Christ. Namely, that He is not the High Priest of the church, but the High Priest of Humanity and He represents us all. God is no longer counting men’s sins against them because of the finished work of the One Man, the Last Adam, to Whom is all dominion and glory and power. This revelation breeds such love and joy concerning my fellow man and the world around me, and it has set me free from the subtle poison of so-called “righteous” judgment, suspicion, and depressing angst over the state of the world. The world is no longer seen as the place hanging the balance of God’s wrath, but rather a place that has yet to realize the full love of the Father. I get to be a New Covenant messenger of Hope, not an old covenant prophet of law and judgment. Yes, sin still naturally produces horrible consequences on national and global scales, but God the Father is our Friend and Jesus is our Advocate, and everything is really going to be all right. He is in far more control than I’ve ever realized…and the government is on His shoulders, not mine! The consequences of Adam’s one sin are exceedingly eclipsed by Christ’s one act of righteousness. He knew what He was doing from the very beginning and things are going to turn out very well in the end (and thus He will get glory for it all, not us!).

Though people still misunderstand all of this as apathy, a license to sin, “hyper-grace”, and other strange and baseless accusations against the message of freedom…I am celebrating today! Jesus is alive, He really did finish the Job, and the Gospel is not potential good news for those who do and believe all the right things… It is once-and-for-all GOOD NEWS for all humanity and all people…and there is a rest for our souls that is unlike anything religion can muster up.

Thank you Jesus!