They shall go in and out

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9 ESV)

If there is one topic about which my preaching is not shy, it is the topic of sin. Sin is the great reality that informs our lives without Christ, and sin is the great enemy that seeks to destroy or manipulate our relationship to Christ.We must recognize sin because that is the great destroyer of our freedom in Christ.

In this portion of John's gospel, Jesus compares himself to a door, to an entry point. He is the way in to a new way of living. And that new way of living provides three things:
1) Abundance (he will...find pasture). Not in a material sense, but a sense that life in Christ means something greater than life without him.
2) Protection (he will be saved).
3) Freedom (he...will go in and out)

Freedom is the most difficult of these to describe, but for me it is about the release from bondage. And to be sure there is bondage that keeps us in or out. The bondage of fear can lead us to fortify ourselves within the walls of the fold, to rebuild the wall of division that has been broken down by Christ. Bondage can keep us outside, by not allowing us that moment of humility to say that we need to belong to Christ. Bondage can be that little voice in your head that tells you, "You're not good enough" or "You're too good for that." The bondage of arrogance that says in ministry the lost sheep will come to me instead of following Christ's example of going out to find them. The bondage of drugs and alcohol and sexual sin that lead us away from God and back into ourselves.

For each of us there are specific ways that sin tries to get a hold of us. Sometimes by exploiting our greatest weakness or by using our greatest strength, sin can creep into our lives. In my case, I need to be watchful lest my own intellectualism becomes a handicap in my life. As much as I may want, I cannot study my sin out of existence. It takes more. It takes my Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells us here that by going through him, our way in and out is clear. We can be free for him in the church and in the world. The sins come back, but they no longer have the power they once did. They cannot destroy us. The details of our faith journeys are different. But the stories are the same. Summed up in that great Charles Wesley hymn, "And Can it be That I should Gain"

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.