Father, sometimes we don't know how to explain your word to ourselves, and sometimes we don't
know how to explain your word to others.
We acknowledge before you, Father, that there's a big part of us that is still worried about
getting too close to you, that if we get too close to you, that in some ways you might
make us too weird or too bound, that there's a part of us, Father, that fears you, not in
a biblical sense, but in a fallen way.
And we also understand, Father, that that is a great fear here in this country of Canada
and around the world.
So we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would bring your word home to us, and that as your
word is brought home to us, that your word will bring healing to our affections and healing
to our mind and healing to our will and healing to our emotions, Father, so that we will be
disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel, living free for your glory.
And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.
Amen.
Please be seated.
So I don't know how much of Ken's Bible text that you remember.
It had a fair thing to say about freedom.
It's going to be Galatians 5.
We're going to look at it in a moment.
In fact, we're going to read the main verse, Galatians 5.
We're going to read it several times because it's a really important verse.
But here's the thing.
I don't know.
Some of you might have been listening to my prayer.
Some of you were checked out.
That's fine.
But here's the thing.
I don't know how many of you have become Christians as adults or even in your late
teens.
But I think for most Canadians, if you knew in most offices where workplaces or neighborhoods,
if they found out that a 30-year-old or a 25-year-old or an 18-year-old was thinking of becoming a Christian,
they'd wonder why on earth you were doing it.
Because we as Canadians value freedom and being free.
And for most Canadians, to move towards Christianity is to move away from freedom, not towards freedom.
So people might wonder.
They might say, well, you know, it's sort of one thing if you're sort of, I'm going to move this over here.
It's sort of one thing if you're brought up in the church.
You know, you don't know any better.
But gosh, you know, if you've just known what it's like just to live and to be free,
why on earth would anybody, knowing that, willingly move away from freedom towards the Christian faith or towards Jesus?
It's a, I think it's just a very, very common assumption.
Moving towards any type of religion, maybe in our country, actually in an ironic way,
especially Christianity, is a move away from freedom.
To move away from religion, especially Christianity, is a move towards freedom.
I think it's a very common view.
And so, you know, basically, who wants this?
And so we have a very, very fundamental problem.
And, you know, if we're honest ourselves, for many of us, there still is a bit of a lingering thing about that,
that if we get too close to Jesus, too close to God,
that won't be like that hymn that would have this sort of type of assurance and peace,
but that it will make us weird and make our lives far more bent and small and limited and bent out of shape.
So turn to the Bible, and we'll see why I'm saying this,
because, you know, there's this Galatians chapter 5, verse 1,
and there's this wonderful, wonderful, wonderful text.
And it sounds very nice when we're all here together,
and I don't know how if we're all, you know, we're all here together,
and for those of us who are Christians, we can sort of say it's nice and it's good,
but there's lots of problems with it.
In fact, here's the text, Galatians 5, verse 1.
For freedom, Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
And that word for that begins it, in this particular case,
it's not following along in the argument.
It's explaining the purpose for what Christ has died for us,
is that Jesus died for us.
Why did he die?
He died for freedom.
He died for our freedom.
For freedom, your freedom and mine, when we put our trust in Jesus Christ,
has set us free.
Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
And this is a great, great verse.
In some ways, it's what the whole book of Galatians is all about.
And if you think about it for a second,
if you took this verse and took out Christ,
most Canadians would like it.
For freedom, we have been set free.
Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
You could say that in the Women's Study Department at Ottawa U.
You could say it in the gender studies.
You could say it in the military.
You could say it in an old folks' home,
in your neighborhood.
And people would say, that's a great, that's true.
For freedom, I am free.
Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
I agree with that 100%.
You know, maybe 98% of Canadians would say that.
But you put the word Christ in it, and it's problematic.
For freedom, Christ has set us free.
I mean, that's how we would read it.
For freedom, Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
This isn't just a Canadian problem.
It's a human problem.
I've been a Christian for a long time now.
I was raised in a Christian home.
But for me, as I was, and I became a Christian in grade 12,
for me, going through my high school years,
I found Christianity and whole church life
extremely, extremely unattractive.
The opposite of what I wanted to be involved in.
And, you know, it's funny,
because for me growing up,
it seemed as if in the world,
like outside of the church,
I could listen to any type of music I wanted.
But in the church that I grew up in,
you could only listen to certain types of music.
And I didn't like that type of music.
Like I would never have willingly bought a record.
I'm old.
He bought records back then.
45.
Some of us remember what a 45 was.
I would never willingly have bought any of that music.
And I had to, you had to dress a certain way.
In the world, you could dress all sorts of different ways.
But in the church, you had to dress certain ways.
And I didn't like dressing that way.
And I could go on and on and on.
And so it seemed to me as if in the world,
there was freedom.
But there wasn't freedom if I got involved in a church
and got involved in the Christian faith.
And so part of my whole conversion
was getting over that particular idea
and seeing that, in fact,
a verse like Galatians 5, verse 1 is true.
For freedom, Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
So what do we do?
Like, like in our own lives,
and if we were trying to explain this
to a lot of people in our culture,
like, like what do we do?
I mean, on one level, there's not much we can do.
Second Corinthians says very wise,
wisely that the God of this age has blinded us.
So we don't see the light of the glory of the gospel.
And for many of us, in fact,
really what we just need to do is pray for our friends
and our families and our co-workers
and our loved ones that God's,
through his Holy Spirit,
would move and work in their hearts.
Like every conversion is a bit of a miracle.
Not a bit of a miracle, a complete miracle.
And often we come to faith
through the most odd and unlikely ways.
I mean, just in my own case,
because this is now in the time
when the counterculture,
when there were hippies and all of that.
I mean, there's certain old,
there's new hippies and old hippies now,
but when it was still a sort of a new and fresh thing.
For me, the turning point in my life
was seeing a man with big beard and big long hair
halfway down his back,
opening a Bible and telling people about Jesus.
And it just completely blew the categories that I had.
that maybe I could be a Christian
and not have to necessarily follow into a certain culture.
Although the actual moment when I gave my life to Christ,
it was just really me finally
giving in to this pressure.
I now know that it was the pressure of Jesus
knocking on the door of my heart,
asking to come in.
And I finally just gave in to that
and opened the door of my heart
because Jesus was knocking to come in
and I let him come in.
But if we're trying to understand this
and what goes on in our hearts
and what's going on in our culture,
like how do we understand texts like this?
Why is it that probably just about every Canadian
would willingly say they agree with,
for freedom we have been set free,
stand firm therefore and do not submit again
to a yoke of slavery.
But by just merely putting the word Christ in there,
it becomes a text that fundamentally
we at times don't agree with
and most of our neighbors would never agree with.
In fact, they would see it as the complete opposite.
So what's going on there?
How can we sort of deal with that?
First of all, we want to say this,
that desiring freedom is a good thing.
Desiring freedom is a good thing.
I mean, that's in a sense what the text is telling us here.
For freedom Christ has set us free.
Stand firm therefore and do not submit again
to a yoke of slavery.
We have problems thinking that Christ will set us free,
but the fact that Canadians generally value freedom,
that's a good thing.
We should applaud it.
In fact, it's a sign that they were,
for Christians, just take a step back for a second
and we take a step back from the pressure of the world
and we just look at it and we realize
the fact that human beings desire to be free
is a sign that the Bible's true,
that the Bible's account of human beings is true.
On Netflix, I'm watching this very interesting,
quirky television series called Fargo.
I know it's been out for a while.
Some of you maybe have watched it a long time ago.
It's very quirky, very odd, understated humor,
but there's a spectacular scene in it.
There's no spoiler in this.
There's a spectacular scene in it
when this one guy who's a hit man
is driving this other fellow
that he's supposed to be protecting
and he says to him,
he said, you know, there are no saints
in the animal world.
There are no saints in the animal world.
In the animal world,
all there is is breakfast and lunch.
Isn't that a great line?
In the animal world,
all there is is breakfast and lunch.
No saints.
And that's true.
The fact that human beings desire to be free
and have a sense that freedom
is something they should experience
is a sign that we're not merely part of the animal world.
That atheism and secularism and materialism
and their account of how human beings came to be
and what makes human beings,
when they bring in freedom,
they're bringing in something
which contradicts their assumptions.
It's not something that flows from us,
but for us as Christians
who understand that God made human beings,
that we are designed,
that we're made in his image,
we understand that because we are made in his image
and God designed us to be free,
that when human beings desire freedom,
they're desiring something true
and something that goes against
how they tend to talk about
how things came to be
and how the world works.
that they're blessedly,
wonderfully inconsistent
because God, in fact,
has designed us to be free.
And the other things,
the other thing that we have to acknowledge
is that
that Christians
often don't model being very free.
that in our own lives,
it might be that people look at us
and don't say,
there's somebody who's really free.
Churches can be very oppressive places.
Churches can be very, very, very, very demanding
on people's time.
Churches can spend a lot of time
trying to make people feel guilty.
Churches can come up with lots of rules
and it can be,
we can even be thinking
that we're getting rid of the bad old rules
to have a better way of being,
but the new ways of being
are often just as,
I mean, like today,
you know, a lot of times
churches want to get away
from the old rules
around sex, let's say,
and want to have a new way of being
which is far more hip
and far more culturally acceptable
to be hip.
But they're just different rules
that you can't keep.
Like, I can't grow a hipster beard.
I mean, I know I'm closer
to hip replacement than hip,
but even if I wanted to try to fake it,
I just can't grow the right beard.
And you know what?
I have to be more centered
and I have to live a more simple life
and all of these types of things.
And we don't put it as,
you have to, you have to, you have to.
It's put it as a wonderful thing.
We're going to be centered.
We're going to be spiritual.
We're going to be simple.
As if all of us,
we're all like living in Walden Pond.
But I don't live in Walden Pond.
I live in Ottawa.
Like, have you seen rush hour traffic?
Have you had to line up
for OC Transpo buses
and they don't come for 40 minutes
and then six of them come in a row?
I mean, have you lived in Ottawa?
Like, we might think
that we're improving it,
but we're not actually improving it.
They're just different rules.
And so we Christians often don't live
as if we're very, very free.
We're not immune to the problems
that beset just everybody.
But here's the,
let's listen to the text again.
For freedom, Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again
to a yoke of slavery.
For freedom, Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again
to a yoke of slavery.
If you could put up the first point.
One of the reasons that I think
part of us in our flesh
and Canadians in general
have a hard time believing
that coming close to Christ
and trusting him as our Savior and Lord
is actually a step towards freedom
is because we have
a completely false understanding.
Not completely false.
We have,
within our sense of freedom,
we've brought in something
which is not truly
going to lead us to freedom.
To try and live as a God
is to live as a slave
who does not know that he
or she,
if you're a she
and you're making these
as your notes,
is a slave.
To try and live as a God
is to live as a slave
who does not know
that he is a slave.
The fact is
that while we as Canadians
desire freedom,
that's not actually
all of the story
because for many of us
we sense this problem
between something else
which we also value
which is love.
like many,
many marriages
come to an end
because one person
desires more freedom
and they can't have
their freedom
and still be in the love
relationship
that is marriage.
One of the reasons
that people
don't want to commit
to marriage
is they have this sense
that if they actually
fall in love with somebody
and commit to them,
it's going to hinder
their freedom.
that we have this
basic sense
that somehow or another
there's our freedom
which we want,
there's love that we want,
but if we really
give ourselves into love,
it's going to impinge
on our freedom
and if we really
give ourselves to freedom,
it's going to impinge
or hurt
or cause to suffer
our ability
to love people.
like the more
we just want to be
like ourselves,
it ends up often
meaning that the more
we do things
that cause problems
in friendships
and problems
in our relationships
and yet if we
want to try to
actually commit
to the friendship
or the relationship,
it ends up meaning
that we can't just
do what we want
or say what we want
or, you know,
change the way
that we want
and so we get hesitant
about going into it.
At the heart
of most Canadians'
understandings
and our understandings
of what it means
to be free
is this idea
that we can do
what we want,
that we can do
what we want
whenever we want
and the fact
of the matter
is that in the real world
it just doesn't work.
It just doesn't work.
The other thing
that we have,
like when I,
one of the things
about becoming
a Christian
that was problematic
for me
is that I wanted
to be able
to do things
that the Bible
said were wrong
and I didn't
want to submit
to what the Bible
said was wrong
because I wanted
to be able
to behave sexually
in a very,
very different way
than the Bible
said I was going
to have to behave.
And I grew up
in a Christian home
and I knew
that there would
be ties on my money
but the fact
of the matter
is I didn't like
giving my money away
and the fact
of the matter
is I always
wanted more money.
I mean,
I'm just a teenager.
You always want
more money.
I now know
now old
teenage years
were a long,
long,
long time ago
but most Canadians
still want
more money.
In fact,
what happens
for us as Canadians
that we understand
that to become free
what we end up doing
is we end up
giving ourselves
to some pursuit
that will make us free.
That we have something
that we think
that if we just
orient our lives
around some pursuit
or some several pursuits
that those,
as we attain that,
will be more free,
will be more complete,
will be more whole.
And our lives
will be more satisfactory
so that we trust
certain things
and give ourselves
to certain things
to give us meaning,
to give us a type of hope,
to give us a type of structure,
to be something
that will deliver us
from the different things
that we think
are bad things
that we want
to deliver us from.
It's all part of a desire
to be more whole.
And so,
you know,
we give ourselves
maybe to,
you know,
to making more money
or we give ourselves
to being able
to have more power
or we give ourselves
to relationships
because we don't want
to be alone
or we give ourselves
to being in situations
where people need us
because if they need us
and are dependent upon us,
we have some type
of self-worth.
But all of these things
that we give us ourselves to
and we think
in the eyes of the culture
that if we give ourselves
to these things,
it will make us
somehow more free
and more complete,
but they can't possibly
do that
because every single
one of them
will come to an end.
Every single one of them
will come to an end.
We give ourselves
for our kids
because if we have kids,
it will give our lives
meaning
and then the kids
get old
and then they move away
and then they hardly call
or our children die.
I've been a minister
a long time.
I mean,
it's hard
when I've had to do
a funeral for children
and for teenagers.
I think the biggest funeral
I ever did
was for a guy,
this was back
when Ontario
still had grade 13
and a very,
very,
very popular student
in the high school,
he was on
a March break
spring fling
and he started
to act a bit disoriented
and his friends
and the teachers
just thought
he was drunk.
But it was
a medical problem
and he collapsed
and he died.
And
it was devastating
for the parents,
devastating
for the high school kids.
It's the biggest funeral
that I ever did,
I think.
I think the entire
graduating class
came to the funeral
and many of their parents.
But we give ourselves
to things
that will fail.
Why?
Because they come
to an end.
And even if for some reason
you have kids
who all just,
you're able to have kids
and they all live
right by you
and you're able
to make lots of money
and you die
with lots of money,
the fact of the matter
is,
is that one millisecond
after you die,
you lose it all
because you can't be
poorer than dead,
as Flannery O'Connor
so famously said.
the poorest person
that lives in Ottawa
and Bill Gates
have the exact
same net worth
and the exact
same amount
of power
one millisecond
after they die.
So if in fact
they fail,
if in fact
they come to an end,
why is it
that we think
that by giving ourselves
to these things
that they will make us
more free?
Or take another
particular problem,
many people don't
give themselves
for those things,
but even if you do
give themselves
for those things,
those things,
they're completely
and utterly impersonal.
Money is impersonal.
Power is at the end
of the day
just something
that you have
in an org chart
or the ability
to boss people around
but it's still
in a sense
something impersonal.
People also
give themselves
to ideas
or to ideologies
or they give themselves
to a political party
or they give themselves
to a nation
or they become
consumed
with issues
around race
or issues
around gender
or issues
around sex
and they give
that we give
ourselves
to these types
of things
but these things
are all ultimately
impersonal things.
Well, we think
these things
are going to give us
freedom
but just think
about it for a second.
If you're in a relationship
with another person
and the relationship
becomes more
and more impersonal,
we always see
that as a bad thing.
So if it's a bad thing
to become more impersonal,
why is it that we think
that if we give ourselves
to impersonal things,
it will make us
more free?
If we find out
that somebody's
working in some
faceless office
and some faceless bureaucracy
and they're just
some cubicle rat,
some cubicle minion,
putting things
from one file
to another
and just living
and working
in this impersonal thing
and going back
to an impersonal apartment
and we see all of that
and we say
their entire life
is impersonal,
it's not very good
but the fact of the matter
is that money
is impersonal,
power is impersonal,
the nation is impersonal,
the institution
is impersonal,
ideology is impersonal,
why is it that we think
that if we give ourselves,
when we see somebody
who's trapped
in something impersonal,
we see it as something
which is not good
and yet the things
that we think
will bring us freedom
are in fact impersonal
and why is it
that we don't realize
that that's what we're doing?
Why is it that we
don't realize
that we're giving ourselves
to things
that will just fail
or that even
if they don't fail,
if we're successful
in giving ourselves
to them,
they're impersonal,
they're less than us,
why is it that
we don't recognize that?
Why is it that
we will choose
everything other than God?
And we do.
For freedom,
Christ has set us free.
Stand firm therefore
and do not submit again
to a yoke of slavery.
To try and live
as a God
is to live as a slave
who does not know
that he is a slave.
What the Bible describes
in Genesis chapter 3,
you see,
the Bible describes
why this is the case.
I don't think,
in fact,
I know there is no other book,
there is no other
religion or teaching
that more perfectly
captures human experience
and makes it plain.
God made us for himself.
He makes us as creatures
in his image
and he makes us free.
He makes us
to walk in the garden
with him,
naked and unashamed,
knowing him
and being known by him.
and he makes us
to walk in the garden
with others,
knowing them
and being known by them,
loving them
and being loved by them,
being naked
and unashamed.
And where there is
no conflict
between knowing God
and knowing another person,
that we can be
completely and utterly
transparent
and enjoy
walking with God
in the cool of the day,
in a place of beauty,
given a role
to tend the garden,
to be creative
and innovative
and to explore
this entire created order
that God has made us
to live in
and that is how God
designed human beings
to be.
And then human beings
in Adam and Eve,
we decide
that that is not enough.
That we want
to be like God.
We want
to be like God.
And the terrible
irony is,
if you go back
and look at the story,
is that
Adam says,
I want to be like God.
And Eve says,
I want to be like God.
And maybe it's not revealed
in the Bible
and their consciousness
this was something
that we would be like God.
But if you know anything
about mythologies
that have many gods,
what happens
in every single mythology
that has more than one God?
They fight.
Every mythology
that has more than one God,
they fight.
And Adam
wants to be like God.
And Eve wants
to be like God.
And the terrible
tragedy is
that when they
turn their back
on God
and desire
and try to now
be as if they are God
by willfully
doing what God
has said
they should not do
and turning their back
on that blessing,
that what in fact
happens to human beings
is that now
Adam cannot
be naked
in front of Eve
without shame.
and Adam
cannot be naked
in front of God
without shame.
And now Adam
hides from God
even when God
is not condemning him
but God only wants
to walk in the garden
with him
in the cool of the day
and Adam
can no longer
do that.
He
loathes
being naked
and he is ashamed
and he can no longer
even have a conversation
with his wife
and his wife
can no longer
have a conversation
with their husband
without passing
the buck
and putting on
blame
and distance
and trying to put
the other one down
so that they will be
a little bit higher
and that
ancient
break
in human nature
with all of the
complexities
of what it means
continues to this day.
The book of Romans
puts it so wonderfully
seeking to be wise
they became fools
and exchanged
the glory of God
for the glory
of created
for created things
that we would not
bow to God
to serve him
in heaven
and yet the way
that God
designed us
is that as we
bow to God
we grow bigger.
As we bow
to God
naked
and unashamed
we become
more full of life
and more whole.
So instead
seeking to be wise
we bow
to the nation
something that
will pass away.
We bow
to race
we bow
to sex
we bow
to power
we bow
to money
we bow
to things
that are
often far
beneath us
and then
we wonder
why we have
become
so much
smaller
and so
cramped
and so
bent out
of shape.
Seeking
to be wise
we have
become
fools.
And in the
midst of such
a world
God sends
his son
to do
what we
cannot do
ourselves.
God
could you
put up
the next
point
please?
I am
free
as a
creature
not
as a
God
and to
the extent
that I
continue
to pursue
a project
of being
like a
God
to that
extent
I will
never be
free.
you know
one of the
things
that's very
common now
when people
talk about
marriage
or whatever
an equivalent
to marriage
is that
people are
looking for
their soul
mates.
Louise is
not my
soul mate
and I
am not
her soul
mate
and to
say that
in many
Canadian
contexts
it would
be
you
just
insulted
your
wife
to
say that
she is
not my
soul
mate.
Here's
the problem
with
soul
mate.
The
whole
language
and
desire
for a
soul
mate
is all
part of
the
God
project.
That
what we
desire
is that
we desire
to pursue
the
blossoming
of
ourselves
the
blossoming
of our
careers
the
blossoming
of our
freedom
the
blossoming
of our
wholeness
and we
seek to
have the
blossoming
of all
of these
things
on our
terms
at our
rate of
change
in our
particular
way.
And so
what we're
looking for
is we're
looking for
a soul
mate.
We're
looking for
someone
who also
will
blossom
in the
same
ways
at the
same
time
at the
same
rate.
And so
we look
for one
exactly
like that.
And basically
what it is
is I'm
desiring
my God
project
to continue
but I
think and
I hope
that I can
find someone
else who
will share
my God
project
with me
and we
want to be
nice and
we want to
be kind
and we
want to
be
Canadian
so we
hope that
they have
their God
project and
I have
my God
project and
the both
of us will
have our
God projects
at the
same time
but it
never
works.
Every
marriage comes
face to face
with the fact
that you have
married a
sinner.
When I
married Louise
I married
a sinner.
when she
married George
she married
a sinner.
And we
need
successful
marriages
aren't ones
where the
two people
can pursue
their God
projects
together
as soul
mates.
but
successful
marriages
are ones
and marriages
that have
lasted a long
time and
look good
they might
not wear
their scars
in public
but underneath
their clothing
there are
lots of
scars
because
true
successful
marriages
work in
dealing with
the fact
that you
are both
sinners
through
acts of
forgiveness
and service
and love.
acts
of just
unadulterated
forgiveness
and of
turning the
other cheek
and of
patience
and of
serving the
other despite
their sin
and despite
the fact
that I
myself am
a sinner
as well.
So
if I
desire to
continue
my God
project
I will
never be
free.
I am
free as
a creature
but not
as a
God.
Next
point.
I
cannot be
free as
a creature
until I
am
reconciled
and restored
to my
creator
who made
me to
be free.
You
see
if in
fact
God's
plan and
design for
me was
to walk
in the
garden
with him
in the
cool of
the day
naked
and
unashamed
and
not do
that just
by myself
as a
lonely
man
but to
do that
with
others
naked
and
unashamed
knowing
and being
known
loving
and being
loved
then until
that
fundamental
wound
is dealt
with and I
am reconciled
and restored
to my
creator
who made
me to be
free
I cannot
be free.
Next
point
please
Jesus
Christ
died
a
slave's
death
so that
we who
would
otherwise
live
and die
as
slaves
can
live
free
today
and into
eternity.
This
fundamental
text that
we spent
so long
on
for freedom
Christ
has set
us
free
stand
firm
therefore
and do
not
submit
again
to a
yoke
of
slavery
this
text
in the
word
set
us
free
in the
original
language
it's a
particular
text
that says
that something
has happened
in the
past
that is
a final
and its
effect
continues
into the
day.
That
Jesus
dies
a
slave's
death
so that
we who
would
otherwise
live
and die
as slaves
can live
free
today
and into
eternity
when we
put our
faith
and our
trust
in him.
I had
the honor
to be
able to
speak
on
Parliament
Hill
on
Friday
at
lunch
to
people
who
work
as
staff
workers
in the
Senate
and
for
the
MPs
Parliament
Hill
Christian
Fellowship
and I
gave an
earlier
version
of this
talk
to
them
and
one
of
the
things
I
said
to
them
is
that
they
all
know
how
the
world
works
in
some
ways
if
you
work
on
Parliament
Hill
you
live
in a
bubble
separate
from
the
world
but
in
other
ways
you
actually
know
how
the
world
works
in a
very
powerful
way
I
gave
them
this
example
I
don't
think
anybody
would
have
disagreed
with
it
that
in
the
way
it
works
is
that
if
the
MP
screws
up
if
at
all
possible
it
is
an
underling
who
falls
on
the
sword
if
Andrew
Scheer
or
Justin
Trudeau
they
do
something
or
allow
something
to
happen
that
shouldn't
have
happened
the
very
first
thing
that
will
go
through
most
people's
minds
is
how
low
in the
hierarchy
in the
office
can we
go
to
find
someone
who
will
fall
on
their
sword
and
take
the
responsibility
of it
because
in the
real
world
it's
the
minions
who
die
for
the
masters
that's
how
the
world
works
the
little
guys
die
the
little
gals
die
for
the
powerful
in
fact
if
you
think
about
it
this
is
really
partially
the
entire
a
huge
part
of the
entire
system
of what
we
know
of
as
Islam
who
find
it
completely
and
utterly
incomprehensible
that
Jesus
could
die
on
the
cross
why
because
it's
the
weak
who
die
for
the
strong
it's
the
small
who
die
for
the
big
it's
the
ones
down
here
who
die
but
the
more
power
you
have
you
don't
die
for
the
weak
if
we
were
to
read
that
Andrew
Scheer
or
Justin
Trudeau
that
the
young
girl
or
guy
who
files
the
mail
and
is
the
lowest
in
the
office
that
they
made
a
mistake
for
which
they
should
be
fired
and
we
were
to
hear
that
Justin
Trudeau
would
take
the
blame
and
be
fired
instead
we
would
not
believe
it
the
same
Bible
the
same
gospel
that
reveals
that
we
are
slaves
reveals
that
we
are
slaves
in
the
context
of
the
powerful
dying
for
the
weak
of
the
master
dying
for
the
lowly
one
for
the
prime
minister
dying
for
the
one
who
works
in
the
mail
room
and
that's
why
there
is
no
contradiction
between
a text
like this
for
freedom
Christ
to
set
us
free
stand
firm
therefore
and
do
not
submit
again
to
a
yoke
of
slavery
there
is
no
contradiction
between
this
text
and
what
Jesus
says
when
he
says
come
to
me
all
who
labor
and
are
heavy
laden
and
I
will
give
you
rest
take
my
yoke
upon
you
and
learn
from
me
for
I
am
gentle
and
lowly
of
heart
and
you
will
find
rest
for
your
souls
for
my
yoke
is
easy
and
my
burden
is
light
why
is
there
no
contradiction
between
for
freedom
Christ
has
set
us
free
stand
firm
therefore
and
do
not
submit
again
to
a
yoke
of
slavery
who
better
to
trust
to
form
your
life
into
deeper
freedom
than
the
one
who
took
the
sword
for
you
who
better
to
trust
than
the
one
who
took
the
sword
for
you
and
the
fact
of
the
matter
is
the
same
hands
that
took
the
nails
as
he
was
hung
upon
the
cross
are
the
hands
that
we
want
to
have
touch
us
to
heal
us
and
to
shape
us
because
the
fact
is
that
we
come
to
Christ
we
come
to
him
like
this
in
fact
far
more
twisted
than
that
I'm
not
very
flexible
if I
do
more
than
that
you
might
have
to
pick
me
up
and
take
me
to
the
hospital
but
the
fact
the
matter
is
that
we're
all
bent
and
disfigured
and
disformed
and
Christ
sets
us
free
and
we
are
free
indeed
and
we
need
the
loving
hands
the
nail
scarred
hands
of
Jesus
the
one
who
died
for
us
and
has
made
us
free
forever
we
need
those
same
hands
guided
by
his
heart
and
his
mind
and
his
great
love
and
compassion
for
us
knowing
how
we
were
created
knowing
how
we
have
bent
ourselves
into
a
pretzel
shape
trying
to flee
from
how
we
were
created
doing
crazy
things
and
foolish
things
and
he
knows
how
bent
and
warped
we
are
and
he's
made
us
free
and
he'll
never
let
us
go
and
so
now
we
need
to
submit
to
his
touch
and
submit
to
his
word
and
submit
to
his
heart
and
submit
to
his
wisdom
as
he
takes
me
who's
all
bent
like
this
and
starts
to
work
a
work
of
healing
and
direction
so
that
I
can
stand
free
before
him
forever
and
the
hands
that
take
me
when
I
call
out
to
him
to
be
my
savior
those
will
never
let
me
go
I
am
secure
in
his
blood
his
sacrifice
for
me
and
as
I
press
more
into
Christ
he
died
for
me
to
be
free
and
at
the
end
of
the
day
I
will
be
know
that
freedom
and
its
fullness
and
its
beauty
and
its
glory
and
its
spectacularness
and
in
between
the
moment
my
conversion
and
when
I
die
and
I
peer
before
him
face
to
face
and
I
know
that
freedom
in
all
of
its
fullness
where
I
cry
out
free
at
last
free
at
last
thank
God
almighty
I
am
free
at
last
and
in
between
that
I
submit
to
his
touch
and
his
yoke
knowing
that
as
I
draw
close
to
Christ
he
will
only
make
me
more
free
from
idols
free
from
sin
free
from
slavery
free
from
lies
free
from
self
deception
his
hands
his
yoke
those
nail
pierced
hands
will
only
make
me
more
free
as
I
push
into
him
and
allow
him
to
draw
me
into
him
his
yoke
is
easy
and
his
burden
is
ultimately
and
eternally
light
please
stand
just
bow
our
heads
in
prayer
actually
Andrew
could
you
put
up
the
ninth
point
please
I'm
going to
invite
you
to
say
a
prayer
with
me
I'm
just
going
to
read
it
out
to
you
so
you
know
what
you're
praying
oh
God
creator
and
sustainer
of
all
things
to
be
known
by
you
and
to
know
you
as
perfect
freedom
thank
you
that
despite
my
slavery
and
my
sin
your
son
came
to
live
and
die
that
I
may
be
free
to
know
and
be
known
free
to
love
and
be
loved
please
pour
the
Holy
Spirit
deep
within
me
that
I
may
be
gripped
by
the
gospel
and
grow
in
hope
as
I
live
free
for
your
glory
in
Jesus
name
I
invite
you
to
pray
that
prayer
with
me
let
us
pray
oh
God
creator
and
sustainer
of
all
things
to
be
known
by
you
and
to
know
you
is
perfect
freedom
thank
you
that
despite
my
slavery
and
my
sin
your
son
came
to
live
and
die
that
I
may
be
free
to
know
and
be
known
free
to
love
and
be