Visitors to a museum in Rome might be struck by four partially finished sculptures. These were figures Michelangelo originally intended to use on the tomb of Pope Julius, but midway through the project he decided not to use them and ceased work on them. There is a hand protruding here, a torso of a man there, a leg, part of a head, but none are finished. Nearly everyone who sees these works senses the turmoil, the struggle embodied in these figures. It is as though they are crying to break free from the prison of the marble to become what they were intended to be. Author Theodore Roder looked on these four figures that Michelangelo called "The Captives" and wrote, " When I looked at those partial figures, they stirred up in me a deep longing to be completed—an ache to be set free from that which distorts and disguises, imprisons and inhibits my humanness, my wholeness. But as with those statues, I cannot liberate myself. For that I need the hand of another. " The message of the gospel tells us that through King Jesus, " the hand of another " has reached in to set us free and shape us for a life of purpose. In Acts chapter 16 we see this lived out as the apostle Paul and his team make their way into Europe on their second missionary journey. On this adventure they encounter three specific individuals looking for freedom, and through the message of the gospel they find it. In this sermon we will discover how we too can be "unshackled" from our burdens and set free to participate in the mission of the Kingdom.
