Liberated
Who doesn’t love freedom? In our country, we have been blessed with many freedoms that are easy to take for granted…the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, freedom to petition the government for redress.
We recognize that freedom isn’t free. Someone had to pay for it while others fought to maintain it so we could all enjoy it. However, freedom can be fragile, misused, and squandered away without a vigilant determination to protect it. The latest Freedom Report stated that less than 20% of the world’s population gets to experience freedom and that number has continued to shrink over the last 15 years.
But there’s good news! God’s version of freedom is far greater than that of a country. God’s version can never be taken away, but it can be misused and abused. This is why Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians. He wanted the Lord’s church to experience and enjoy the fulness of living out the liberated life. In Galatians 5:13-15, he shared three keys for enjoying our freedom in Christ.
1. Refresh your special calling in Christ. Paul said this: “For you were called to freedom, brethren.…” Freedom is a call by God out of “slavery to sin” (John 8:34) into freedom “from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).
Freedom in Christ is God-generated, not self-generated.
Freedom released us from the penalty of sin (condemnation), the power of sin (free to say no to sin–Romans 6:18-22), and ultimately in heaven, the presence of sin (Romans 8:21).
Freedom means you can do what you want to do. John Piper put it this way: “Freedom is doing what you love to do, if what you love to do is what you ought to do, and transformation is the change of our hearts so that what we love to do is what we ought to do.”
2. Restrain your sinful flesh. (v. 13b: “only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh”)
The sin-craving flesh will always want to exploit your freedom in Christ to serve its own desires through the mind, emotions, will, and body (Galatians 5:17, 1 Peter 2:11, Romans 13:14).
The sin-craving flesh targets your freedom to be the base of its operation (“opportunity”).
The sin-craving flesh corrupts your freedom of speech by motivating defensive words or slanderous words or lying words, and your freedom of pleasure by abusing every form of legal entertainment.
The sin-craving flesh needs some God-given guardrails. Some are vertical (glorify God, imitate Christ, future rewards, avoiding the appearance of evil), horizontal (gospel testimony, unity or division, example, helping others grow, no stumbling blocks), and personal (can’t violate your conscience, lead to an ungodly habit, slow growth, excuse a fleshly desire).
3. Reflect your selfless love (v. 13c-15): Love (seeking the best on behalf of others) motivates our freedom to follow the new law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).
Love will enslave us to others (v. 13c: “through love serve one another”). God uses a slave word (doulos) to describe what we have been set free to do: be enslaved to serve others like Christ did (Philippians 2:6-7).
Love will fulfill the “whole law” (v. 14). God quotes the ultimate law of love (Leviticus 19:18) as proof of the truth that loving others is loving God. If you love others, you won’t steal, slander, gossip, hold a grudge, refuse to forgive, or many other relationship dividers.
Love warns us against relational destruction (v. 15). God uses three words (“bite,” “devour,” and “consumed”) from the animal world to vividly depict the viciousness of not loving others.
These three truths are part of strengthening and safeguarding our freedom in Christ and summarize what Jesus Himself said about this incomparable freedom: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
Take another listen to what this freedom sounds like in the song we sang this past Sunday, "Death Was Arrested."
Let’s “act as free men” (1 Peter 2:16).
Pastor Jeff