Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 30th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
As we approach July 4th the notion of freedom looms large. The Declaration of Independence declares; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights – that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Throughout the book of Galatians Paul speaks of how it is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that truly sets people free. Teachers had come into the midst of the Galatian Church and attempted to introduce legalistic practices into their lives. They suggested that if they didn't observe certain rituals, then they weren't really true Christians. Paul combats their teaching by speaking of how in Jesus Christ a new age had dawned, the old religion of 'Do's and Don'ts' had been superseded by a relationship with God; characterized by acts of service in response to the love God revealed through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
In the Message Bible the first verse of our passage reads, “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.” When Paul writes of 'Freedom', he has a particular notion of freedom in mind.
1. Freedom is not doing whatever we want to do.
2. Freedom is an invitation to service.
3. Freedom is found through following the leading of God's Holy Spirit.
1. Freedom is not doing whatever we want to do.
The spirit of our age could be described as “Do whatever suits you”. Tired clichés such as “It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere” and “It doesn't matter what you do as long as you don't hurt anybody” continue to color peoples views of freedom.
In the United States, some people even see freedom as being related to the ownership of weapons that daily inflict tremendous tragedy. How do we create boundaries around the notion of freedom, without actually imposing restrictions upon what people are freely allowed to do? Paul warns us (again from the Message Bible) “If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? ”
For Paul it is as simple as the second commandment. The determining principle he suggests is “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. He allows no room for behavior that is either self-destructive or community destroying. Staying with the Message Bible; verses 19 – 21.
“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.”
Paul was well aware that his theology could be dangerous. By putting such a strong emphasis on grace it could be possible for somebody to say, “I can do what I like, all restraints are lifted, I can follow my inclinations wherever they lead me. Law is gone, and if I mess up, forgiveness is freely given.' Paul would say 'No way'. Your freedom came at a price. Do not treat so lightly the death of Christ. He did not die so you can do as you please. He died to make it possible for you to live in a way that pleases God, a way that flows from gratitude and responds from a heart overwhelmed by love.
2. Freedom is an invitation to service.
Verse 13 “It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows.”
When we respond to the Grace of God through mission and service of others then our lives begin to be changed. Christ sets us free, but not free to do we as we please, but free to serve. I’ve had people say to me, not only here, but in other churches, “You know, I don’t know what it is, but I just don’t feel as connected to the church as I used to be .” If I were given the opportunity, the question I would like to ask them would be; 'How is your serve?'
Not, 'What have you been getting out of services', or 'How much have you been putting in the offering plate', or 'How many services or meetings have you been to lately', but 'How’s Your Serve?' Are you about serving God and serving those you share membership in your church with, or... what’s going on?
Yes we are Free! Praise God, Jesus Christ died upon the Cross of Calvary to set us free. By His blood we are forgiven, by His stripes we are healed! But unless we allow that freedom we are given to be translated into service and mission, than that freedom soon becomes taken for granted and we become disconnected and worship becomes less than it could be and our commitment a lot less than it should be.
The 20th century religious thinker Reinhold Niebuhr put it this way: "Basically love means … being responsible, responsible to our family, (and it is fair to say the word family applies to both our physical relations and our church family), responsible toward our civilization, and now by the pressures of history, responsible toward the universe of humankind."
Paul's definition of freedom implies liberation from the prison of 'me, myself, and I'. To be truly free is to be able to move beyond the self and to take the risk of love and give oneself to the demand of service. To be free is to be free for responsibility, not from responsibility. As Paul wrote to the Philippians church, Jesus had everything in the world going for Himself, power, status and safety, yet He freely chose to empty Himself and take on the form of a servant for the sake of the world.
Freedom grows, not through individual pursuit, but through our efforts to create loving community. Only as we acknowledge that each person has a place in the Kingdom of God, and work towards offering to others the freedoms we ourselves enjoy, does Paul's great vision of there being in Christ neither 'Jew nor Greek, nor slave or free, nor male or female', approach reality. (Galatians 3:28).
But, of course, humanly speaking that's hard. Some days it feels impossible! Where do we find the strength to live that sort of way? Even though we know it's right, even though we recognize servant-hood as permeating the life of Jesus, how do we make those sort of changes in our own lives?
3. Freedom is found through following the leading of God's Holy Spirit.
By speaking so much about the danger of law-dominated religion, Paul has created a dilemma for the Galatians. If religion wasn't about staying within the guidelines and not about 'doing this and not doing that', then how on earth were they supposed to live? If religion was about being free, yet as they looked at their own lives they realized they were not free, but driven by all sorts of compulsions and desires and prone to sin as broadly and freely as their neighbors, then where were they to turn?
There are those who view religion as being a balancing act. If you chalk up enough good points, enough merits, if you achieve enough positives in your life, then maybe they will outweigh the bad points, the de-merits and the negative actions of our lives. At the end of the day, God will add them up and say, 'Hey, you didn't do so bad, c'mon and enjoy everlasting bliss!'
That, Paul would claim, is the religion of the law, and it will never set anybody free. What sets us free is accepting Jesus Christ as the One who died for our sins, putting our trust, not in what we can do, but on what He did for us on the Cross, putting our hope, not in our own capacity to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, but in the glory of His Resurrection and Ascension.
The way that becomes actualized in our lives is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised He would send to His disciples, the Holy Spirit that on the Day of Pentecost changed a room full of terrified disciples into a dynamic band of gospel proclaimers who literally were prepared to face anything for the glory of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Three times in this section Paul counsels the Galatians 'Walk by the Spirit' (16) be 'led by the Spirit' (18) 'Live by the Spirit' (25). “I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
The Message Bible comments this way on a life lived, not under the law, but under the direction of the Spirit (22-23) “But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”
Maybe we are more familiar with the translation that speaks of nine fruits of the Spirit as being 'Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control'. Now... please notice that Paul does not describe these characteristics as 'virtues' but 'fruits'. These are not qualities we are invited to work towards making a feature of our life, but gifts that emerge within a deepening relationship with Jesus Christ, a relationship nurtured, directed and guided by the Holy Spirit.
God does not call us to impossible living but to experience a life that is filled with possibility because it is open to God's love, a life of gratitude that recognizes the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as being central to God's purposes, a life that is empowered, not by human striving alone, but that is being recreated, remoulded and renewed by the inner presence and working of God's Holy Spirit.
“Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.” (Verse 25: The Message)
July 4th sees the nation celebrating it's freedoms. Paul suggests to the Galatians that Christian freedom is not found through independence from God, but through nurturing a relationship dependent on the love of Jesus Christ and the empowering of God's Holy Spirit. He challenges us. "Since the power of the Holy Spirit has set you free, then why not trust the power of the Holy Spirit to direct you to a life of genuine freedom?"
Galatians chapter 5 offers a particular view of Faith and Freedom.
- Freedom is not doing whatever we want to do.
- Freedom is an invitation to service.
- Freedom is found through following the leading of God's Holy Spirit.
May God help us to allow the freedom of Jesus Christ free reign in our lives. May we understand that law-dominated religion leads us away from grace, and may we experience gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit that enable us to be faithful servants living, moving and having their being in the Kingdom of God. And to God's name be all honor, praise and glory. Amen!
Rev. Adrian J Pratt B.D.
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