The Responsibilities of Freedom
Galatians 5:13
As a nation we celebrate our independence on July 4th. Freedom never comes free and is never without bounds or responsibility. On the 4th we reflect upon our nation’s freedom, its price, its limits and bounds, and the responsibility it carries. Every Lord’s Day, Christians need to reflect on their freedom through Christ, its price, bounds, and responsibilities.
I. Freedom should be valued
A. We have of all nations been highly blessed by God.
B. We all too often take our freedom for granted. Here we sit today, praying, singing, fellowshipping, worshipping God together, reading and studying His Word…with no fear of reprisal, intimidation, persecution or government interference.
C. But this freedom did not come free. It’s bought with a price.
D. The freedom we enjoy as Americans came at a very high price. Untold thousands have died to procure our liberties. We need to thank God for those that were willing to sacrifice and paid the price of our freedom.
E. But one can live in this land and still not be free. For without the freedom that Christ gives one is in bondage though he be a freeman – in bondage to sin and its penalty. And though a man be imprisoned with chains, if Christ be his Lord he is free.
F. John 8:36: "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
G. There is no greater freedom in the world than the freedom that Christ gives. This should be valued above all else for it did not come cheaply.
H. 1 Peter 1:18-20 “...you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”
II. Freedom requires restraint
A. True freedom isn't doing anything or everything our hearts desire.
B. "A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes." - Thomas Huxley, “Address on University Education,” 1902, III, 236.
C. Freedom is not the absence of restraint. Freedom without restraint is anarchy.
D. Our society requires law and respect for the law, or chaos and confusion result. Respect for the rule of law and the rights of our fellow man must be observed in order for freedom and liberty to prevail. Civil society cannot exist without the law. Without the rule of law our highways would be treacherous, the airways fraught with danger, and our food and water could be deadly—just to name a few. – copied GLCG
E. When Paul said, “Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature,” he was instructing us that Freedom is not License. To be free does not mean that you and I have a license to do or say or act any way we want.
F. Freedom isn’t license. Unfortunately for many people, the idea of freedom is associated with the license to do whatever you want.
G. 1 Corinthians 6:12 “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
H. Peter Marshal, when Chaplain of the United States Senate, prayed before our senators, “Lord Jesus, thou who art the way, the truth, and the life; hear us as we pray for the truth that shall make all free. Teach us that liberty is not only to be loved but also to be lived. Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books. It costs too much to be hoarded. Help us see that our liberty is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to please to do what is right.
I. Christian freedom, unlike the political freedom we celebrate this week, is not freedom established by and under law. Christian freedom, in a sense, is freedom FROM the law so that we can do more than the law requires. -copied
J. Romans 6:1-4, 22 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life… But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”
K. Christian freedom is not freedom FROM as much as it is freedom FOR living by the spirit. - copied
L. Galatians 5:13 “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.”
III. Freedom carries responsibility
A. Far too many of us mistakenly think that freedom carries no responsibility
B. Someone has said, “Freedom walks hand in hand with responsibility.” Our freedoms as citizens come with a number of responsibilities and if we forget or ignore them there are consequences. Likewise as believers who have been set free by Christ we have responsibilities that should we never forget or ignore.
C. True freedom comes when we all accept our individual responsibility to live in a manner pleasing to God - copied
D. Responsibility to be obey God
1. Romans 6:6-7, 18 “…our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin… Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”
2. Romans 6:16 “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
3. 1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
4. We must choose to obey God in faith. ““We obey God, not out of duty or fear or compulsion, but because we love him and trust him that he knows what is best for us. We want to follow Christ out of gratitude for all he has done for us, and the closer we follow him, the deeper our friendship becomes … Because we have been forgiven and set free, we obey out of love.” – copied
5. There are three motives for us to obey God:
a. A powerful motivation for living the Christian life is gratitude to God for saving us by His grace (Rom. 12:1,2; 2 Cor. 5:14,15; Gal. 2:20).
b. Believers should also be motivated by the knowledge that their heavenly Father both blesses obedience and disciplines disobedience in His children (Heb. 12:3-11; Lev. 26:1-45).
c. Finally, every Christian must stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, not to determine his destiny in heaven or hell, but to assess the quality of his Christian life on earth (2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 22:12). Anticipating either reward or loss of reward at the Judgment Seat should also motivate believers to perseverance and to faithfulness to God’s revealed will (I Cor. 3:10-17, 9:24-27; Jas. 5:8,9; 1 John 2:28). – from Grace Evangelical Society Affirmation of Belief.
E. Responsibility to be holy
1. All of us are born with an inherited sinful nature. However, God commands his people to become holy. Since God commands us to be holy, it must be possible to live holy if we are for it. This is borne out in 1 Peter 1:13-16…
2. 1 Peter 1:13-16 “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
3. It is said that in the diamond mines of South Africa they often find a substance that is half charcoal and half diamond. It was intended to be a diamond, but somewhere nature's chemical processes were interrupted, and left it partly a cinder and partly a jewel. It stopped short and will never get into the king's crown. Let us go all the way, so that when Christ makes up His jewels we will be so completely in His perfect will that He will be delighted with us. - copied
F. Responsibility to be considerate of and to serve others
1. 1 Corinthians 9:19 “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.”
2. 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.”
3. True freedom True freedom will always lead to loving and serving others, rather than indulging the selfish desires of the flesh.
4. 1 Corinthians 7:22 “…he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave.”
