FREE INDEED
What does it mean to be free?
As with all concepts, freedom means different things in different contexts. Children will submit to their parents’ rules and orders when they are young, but then they reach the age of teenage angst and ask “why” or say “no.” My sister has often shared that she got married at barely 18 to be “free” from mom and dad. She felt that they unfairly heaped responsibilities on her.
Freedom meant something else to Esther when I visited her ten days ago. After years of battling cancer and chemo treatments that left her depleted, she said she was ready to be free of this body of death. Esther was confident of the Lord’s forgiveness, and she was ready to be set “free” from this life.
When we idealize the idea of freedom as human beings, there tends to be a misconception attached to our hope. People living in China may long to live in a free-market system; those living in Iran dream of freedom from the tyranny of a theocratically oppressive regime. Teenagers want to be free of curfews and chores. But in each situation, freedom from something means becoming responsible.
After a long argument against adding the requirements of the law to the grace of Jesus, Paul now begins to talk about freedom in Galatians 5. For Paul, “being free” is personal and existential: To be set free means becoming what God wants us to be and to do what God wants us to do. It’s a paradox: Freedom from is at the same time to be free for and liberation to. Answer this: You want to be free from ________ (self-consciousness; fear; debt; etc. Does that mean you can do whatever you want? No! To be free is to become responsible.
Paul’s thesis grows out of Jesus’ words: “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So, if the Son sets you free, you are truly free,”(John 8:34-36). What is this freedom Jesus speaks of?
For Freedom Christ has set us Free… (5:1)
Many Bible teachers agree that this little phrase is the essence of the letter to the Galatian churches, “For freedom Christ has set us free…” (1a). Paul is hyper-emphatic. He uses a noun and a verb to drive home his point. In Greek it literally reads, “Freedom – you – Christ – set free.”
There are two parts to what he says here. First, being set free is only realized in connection to Christ. Through faith in Christ, we are set free from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, from the law as a system of being made right with God. You are free from superstition, from all that enslaves you, and from the curse of the law. You are even set free from the guilt of the addiction you are wrestling with.
Second, being set free is a result of the death of Jesus Christ. Only Christ’s death redeems us from our captivity to sin and the law.
The timing of this message is uncanny. Yesterday, our nation observed Remembrance Day and honored the war dead. It is often stated that these soldiers fought and died for our freedom. I will not disparage their sacrifice. But it needs to be said that while they fought and killed for our political freedom, Christ died for our spiritual deliverance. We often say that they died for the freedoms we enjoy, freedom to worship how we want. Yes, I am not denying that. But that freedom can be lost when a political or military power chooses to take it from us. However, the freedom that Christ Jesus purchased for us on the cross with his blood can never be lost or taken away from you. No dictator and no power on earth can take away your freedom from the curse of sin and death.
Paul urges then, that the Galatians not give in to pressure to add to Christ’s work. “…stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery,” (1b). The yoke of slavery is anything we think we must do to be made right with God aside from faith in Jesus Christ. Let no one say, “Christ is not enough.” There is nothing good we can add to our faith to make God love us more, and there’s nothing bad we can do to make him love us less. It doesn’t matter how well we perform or how bad we mess up. Jesus loves you to the maximum degree. For freedom like this, Christ has set us free.
Reviewing Paul’s argument for Freedom (5:2-12)
We have been working our way through the first four chapters of this letter and have talked a lot about the problem of trying to find acceptance with God through the law. In short: it doesn’t work. Paul reviews the problem in verses 2-12 again, this time through the specific example of circumcision.
Rather than labor through the argument again in detail, I want to summarize his points under two categories:
a) How the Law steals your freedom (2-6). In these verses, Paul warns that trying to keep the law through the ritual of circumcision devalues your faith in Christ. He says:
§ Circumcision cancels out faith in Christ (2).
§ To require one law (circumcision) obligates a person to keep the whole law (3).
§ Trying to keep the law cuts you off from the grace of Christ (4).
§ Only by depending on the Holy Spirit can we find hope (5).
§ And only faith working through love counts for anything (6).
b) How False Teachers try to steal your freedom (7-12). We know there were teachers who came after Paul had been to the area and were trying to add law to gospel. They may have been well intentioned. They may have spoken with confidence and eloquence. Paul has this to say about them:
§ It only takes a few people preaching a false gospel to mess up the church (7-10). Using a running metaphor, Paul asks, “Who cut in and tripped you up?” These people are meddlers (7); they are not from God (8); and they are contaminating the gospel (leaven) (9).
§ The cross is offensive to anyone who teaches that righteousness is earned by works of the law (11-12). These teachers were misrepresenting Paul, it seems, and inferring that he taught circumcision too.
Knowing Paul’s teaching, we know that adding to Christ’s work empties it of the power of grace. It’s like the man who had a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth. Realizing that the baseball could be valuable, he decided to sell it. Only problem, after some time the signature had faded. He took a pen and carefully traced over the letters to make “Babe Ruth” stand out. But by trying to add to what Ruth had done, he destroyed what Ruth had done. What was once valuable now became worthless.
Christ alone! Nothing else. Otherwise, the grace of Christ is robbed of its power to free you.
What it means to be Free (5:13-15)
If we are no longer obligated to keep the law, we can do whatever we want. Right? We are under grace, right?
Paul anticipated this thinking. He knew that some would misunderstand the freedom we have in Christ and abuse Christian liberty (without law we have chaos, anarchy). He returns to the theme of verse 1, “For you were called to freedom (brothers and sisters). Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh…” (13ab).
If we don’t have to obey the law to be accepted by God, does that mean we can live any way we want? No, of course not. When Paul speaks of the flesh here, he is talking about the sinful nature. If we think that freedom means the removal of all restraints, we miss the point. It’s not about giving in to human desires and whims. If we do that then we make ourselves slaves again to our desires. We can become enslaved to something by emphasizing our freedom to do it.
Grace is not a license to sin. Far from it. Paul wrote to Titus saying, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age…” (Titus 2:11-12 NIV).
True Christian freedom is not about indulging our desires. When the Spirit indwells you, you are transformed into someone who doesn’t have to obey the law but wants to. What is God’s law now? It is not hanging over the Christian – it is under the Christian. Some people hold God’s law like a rod of terror over us and threaten us to live by their interpretation of what a Christian should and shouldn’t do. The law is no longer a rod of terror. No, the law is under you for you to walk on, to be your guide, to show you the way.
If we live by the flesh (our desires), that’s what rules us. We are ruled by the self. And that’s where we run into conflict with each other. “…if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another,” (15), Paul says. Being ruled by “my way” or the “I” versus “we” and “us” turns us into wild animals in Paul’s imagery. The church cannot be a witness of Christ if we are "hacking on each other" behind each other's backs.
Martin Luther King Jr. warned civil rights advocates in the 1960s that freedom was not permission to seek revenge on those who had denied them their rights as US citizens. He said, “In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” King preached that if the African American would gain freedom from racial discrimination, they must not ignore the law, but in essence, be better than the law. To be better than the law is to meet hatred with love. He said, “we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.” His dream of freedom was a vision that joined black and white people in harmony.
King was echoing the words of Paul, “…but through love, serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (13c-14). True freedom liberates believers from their selfish will so that they find joy in serving others. Freedom manifests itself as love, as a desire to help others. You can see the contrast between the flesh (serving self) and loving your neighbor (serving God/others). This is true freedom.
Here is freedom…
Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light,” (Matt. 11:28-30 NLT).
At the beginning of chapter 5, Paul told the Galatians not to submit again to a yoke of slavery. Jesus invites us to come and take on ourselves his yoke. What’s happening here?
We are trading yokes. The yoke of the law was hitched to a load we could not pull. The burden was heavy with a “Do not…” and a “You must not…” Jesus offers us a yoke of freedom. I have often heard teachers say that Jesus is in the yoke with us. I’m not sure if that’s what he meant, but it makes a cool picture. If anyone could take the yoke of the law and pull the burden of righteousness, it would be Jesus. So, why not? Jesus in the yoke beside you, doing the heavy lifting, giving you the freedom to pull as you are able.
Are you tired of trying to live up to a high moral standard? Do you feel the burden of being a great Christian example? Jesus offers you rest. That sounds like freedom. Not a release from responsibility, but a new yoke, a better yoke. We are invited to partner with Jesus, to learn from him the rhythms of grace, to serve God because it’s a joy, not a “must.”
His yoke is easy; his burden is light. It’s love. Someone said, the Pharisees loved to teach the Law while Jesus taught the law of love.
Jesus said, “If you remain faithful to my teachings…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,”(John 8:31-32). And you will be free indeed.
AMEN
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