Galatians 5:1, 13-25
1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
The Works of the Flesh
16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The Fruit of the Spirit
(Cp Col 3.12—13)
22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.
There was a story about a couple of good friends—John and Joe. One day they were talking about the afterlife and wondering what it would be like. John said, “I hope both of us die at the same time, so that we can be in the eternity together.” Joe said, “Why don’t we make a covenant that whoever die first will try his best to communicate with the other.”
Years later, Joe died in an accident. John tried to keep all his senses open all the time to receive any signals from his friend who would be communicating with him from the afterlife. One day when John was in the marketplace, he heard someone calling him from behind. He turn around and saw a pony cart but no sign of any human being, so he turn back and prepared to walk away but he heard someone calling him again, “John!” Realizing that it was Joe’s voice, John turned around and tried to find him. Then he found out that it was the pony in front of the cart talking, “Hey John, it’s me, Joe!”
“Oh dear, you became a horse!” John exclaim. “Shih, yes I am your friend, Joe. I have seen you many times in the marketplace but I couldn’t talk to you because my boss was around. Now he is in the coffee shop as you just passed by, so it’s the right moment to talk.”
“Wow, I am so happy to see you Joe. How’s afterlife?” “It’s tough, as you see. I have to pull this cart everyday to the market carrying a heavy load of coals. I am being treated like a slave and I am sick and tired of it.”
“Wow, but Joe, since you can speak human language, why don’t you tell your boss that you can talk, so that he would give you a better job?” “Forget it John, you don’t know my boss. If my boss knew that I could talk, he would have had me shouting and selling coals, in addition to carrying them here. When you are enslaved, all your gifts and talents are enslaved.”
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The scripture passage today talks about how to live as free people, which fits right for the occasion of the Independence Day. In Galatians, Paul compares the Law to “a yoke of slavery.” Like in a pony cart or bullock cart, a bridle or a yoke is to control the animal so that it will go where the driver wants it to go. The Law has the same function. It is to restrain human beings so that we will do the proper things. But, it is a form of enslavement because it limits our freedom.
Verse 1 said, “For the freedom of Christ as set us free” because Jesus talks about a different kind of yoke, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
That’s the difference between religion and Christianity. Religions put a yoke on us, because religions talk about rules and regulations, and dos and don’ts. But Christianity is about freedom from these dos and don’ts because everything is done by Jesus Christ. So religion can be represented one word, “do,” and Christianity can be represented by one word, “done.”
Each time when I share that with a non-believer they couldn’t quite understand and their question is, “If everything is done, what do we have left to do?” I said, “Nothing.” To my surprised, as great as it may sound, some people are just not comfortable with this freedom. They want some rules and regulations to make them feel secure and restrained.
I have friend back in Burma. He is a devout Christian and his father was a leading elder in the church. He fell in love with a Buddhist woman, and before they got married he had to sort out the religion issue. He was a prominent youth leader at the church and his father was a prominent leader in the Methodist church. So she must become a Christian or this marriage would not happen. To everybody’s surprised, she joined the Roman Catholic Church, instead of Methodist or any protestant churches. At least she became a Christians so they did get married.
But, the question remains. Why Roman Catholic? If she was changing religion, from Buddhism to Christianity, why not her husband’s Methodist church but R. C.? Later I found out that the R. C. church resemble Buddhism and she felt more comfortable in it. You know the R. C. church; it has no shortage of rules and regulations, dos and don’ts. With due respect, she just want a different set of bridle or yoke of slavery because the protestants yoke is too light and made her feel very uncomfortable.
Don’t you think it’s strange? Some human beings just want to be enslaved. For some, it’s more comfortable in slavery than in freedom. Remember when the Israelites were taken out from Egypt? Some of them complained to Moses that they rather go back to Egypt.
It’s no difference today. Many big and strong churches are fundamentalist churches. They live under a set of demanding rules and regulations. The more the church has strict rules and regulations the more attractive they are. After 9/11, there was a surge of Muslims in this country. The demand of Jihad became an attraction to some young people they join the Muslim religion. To some people the yoke of religious slavery is heavy and make them feel good. The main reason is that Jihad gives people a purpose to live and die. One of the reasons “The Purpose Driven Life” book was so popular because Christians are hungry for a purpose.
The apostle Paul and Peter warned the early Christians not to fall back in to that slavery trap. We are free and we must live like free people.
Another question that I often encounter is that “Then does it mean we are freed to do anything? Get drunk, steal, and do business unethically?” “No, of course not!” The difference is that we walk on the right path without the bridles and yokes, which means without rules and regulations from outside, but from inside. This direction from inside is powered by the Holy Spirit. We are like the horses running toward the right direction without a bridle to control us, because we are internally directed by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus described the Holy Spirit as our Parakletos, a Greek word that means “called alongside to assist,” The Holy Spirit does not work instead of us, but in us and through us. This word also means advocate, counselor, encourager, or comforter. I like to call it “empowerer” because it empowers me to do the things I never imagine I could do.
Let us look at what today’s passage teaches us how to live our life in freedom from the yoke of slavery of the Law. This is how we live, Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we...
1 – Live by Love, not by Laws
So to answer the question of if Christians are people above the Law, and we are no longer enslaved by the Law, what would guide us to lead a right living? The answer is love. Verse 13 said, “13For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Years ago when I was in Thailand, a minister told me a story about his visit to the police station to see a prisoner. As he sat down waiting for the permission to go in, he saw a woman sitting next to him weeping. He asked her what happened and she said her son was arrested and she came to bail him out. She said he was innocent and the police just keep arresting him. She was a widow and has pond her last piece of jewelry, her wedding ring, to bail him out.
He curiously as her how many time has his son been arrested, she said this is probably the thirteenth time and she repeated again that her son was innocent.
The pastor was thinking can someone arrested thirteen times be innocent? But obviously for this mother her son is always innocent. Why? Because of her love. Love eliminates the Law and love brings us above the law. When Jesus Christ crucified on the cross he stretched out his hands saying this is how much I love you. He looked up the sky, like this mother, and cried to God, “Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing?”
Forgive them? According to the Law, these people are murderers because they put an innocent man on the cross. But the love of Jesus Christ is above the Law. And this is how we should live?
Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit to empower us to love even when we want to bind people with the Law.
Secondly, empowered by the Holy Spirit we...
2 – Overcome the Flesh
16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
It is not easy to resist the flesh and do the right thing. Paul said that even he was not able to do the thing he wants to do, but he often ends up doing the things that he does not want to do. That’s the life of freedom from the Law that is making us uncomfortable. Doing the right things becomes a free choice, rather than by being bridled. We can use our freedom as a license or love. But our flesh, by its fallen nature, keeps enticing us to do the wrong things.
The secret is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us to do the right thing, to choose love over license. So empowered by the Holy Spirit we live by love not by laws.
Lastly, empowered by the Holy Spirit we..
3 – Bear the Fruit of the Spirit
22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
If we bear the fruit of the Spirit we are not bound by laws. The fruit of the Spirit is love, is there any law against love? No. The fruit of spirit is joy. Is there any law against joy? No. How about peace (this word means peacemaking)? There is no law against it either. All nine fruit of the Spirit is above the law. When you live a life bearing these fruit, you live a life above the law. Here’s the key: without the Holy Spirit, and under the Law, our life is transactional, but living in Holy Spirit, our life is transformational. That’s the difference.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we now live by love not by laws, we overcome our fleshy desires, and we bear the fruit of the Spirit that is above the law. May God bless you all, amen!
