Some dogs chase cars. Have you ever wondered what would happen if a dog ever caught one? What would he do with it?
-This sort of thing actually happened. Imagine, if you will, that you’re a racing greyhound. You have spent your entire life being trained to chase an electric bunny that runs around the inside of a race track, always just ahead of the leading dog. Every race it’s the same thing. You and a dozen other dogs run as fast as you possibly can, just at the prospect of one day actually catching that elusive ball of fur.
Then, one day, it happens. There’s some mechanical failure, and that mach 1 jackrabbit comes to a stop. That object of focus that has dominated every racing dog’s thoughts ever since he first hit the racetrack is suddenly within reach. What would you do? I read an account where this actually did happen. What do you suppose they did? To use a highly technical scientific term, the dogs freaked out. Some turned on each other; one stopped in his tracks and howled; another started running in circles. None of them actually tried to grab Thumper’s mechanical counterpart.
When they suddenly gained the freedom they lusted for, they had no idea what to do with it.
Jesus told the story of a wayward son who lusted for freedom. He didn’t want to wait. He didn’t want the constraints of living at home, so he left with his inheritance early and went to a faraway country. Once he was there, freed from all restraint, he couldn’t handle it. After wasting everything he had, he ended up penniless and feeding pigs.
Their story may be our story. Some day you turned 18, or you will. And when you turn 18, you’re free! You move away and you’re free from all the restraints of home.
You’re free to stay up late, to eat what you want, when you want, how you want. You’re free to vote, free to wear what you want, or to not wear what you want. You’re free to throw your dirty laundry on the floor, to not clean the bathroom.
You’re free to provide your own car, to find your own place to live, to get your own meals, to pay for your own utilities. You’re free to pay your own taxes and insurance; free to sign up with selective services should you ever need to be drafted to fight in a war. Yeah, you’re free alright.
How many of us have had this experience in one form or another? We want freedom from something, then when we get there, we’re not sure what to do with it. Ask any former communist living in much of Russia today – freedom is wonderful, but once you’re there it isn’t easy!
This series through Galatians has been about freedom. Jesus sets us free! Amen? But be conscious as you pass into the corridors of freedom: there’s danger ahead.
Some systems of theology try to teach that there’s no danger in faith. Once you’re saved, that’s it. It can’t be undone. Just make that big decision and you’re home free. But as we approach the end of this letter about our freedom in Jesus, I see some pretty clear warning signs. There’s a danger of falling away.
If there’s no danger, then why words like…
V4 - You have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
V7 - You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying…?
V21 - I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
V26 - Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
6:1 - But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
Why this whole letter with all this detail written to people who are already Christians?
The reason is that there are real hazards to being free in Jesus. Our freedom in Jesus a wonderful thing – amen? But that freedom needs to be understood in light of the hazards that go with it.
I see 2 in this text:
1. There are 2 hazards that come with freedom in Jesus:
1. The tendency to return to law (vv1-12)
-Most of this letter has been about this up to this point. We’ve gone over it quite a bit. Paul gets blunt here in v12!
-It’s right to accept Jesus and believe that you have a fresh start in Him – a clean slate. But it’s also easy after a while to start thinking “That’s not enough! I’ll need to make a list of what I have to do and have to not do, just in case.
-Paul says in v11, if I’m still preaching circumcision – that is, if I’m still preaching that you have to keep the OT law as well as being a Christian – then the offense of the cross has been abolished. For some reason, the cross has to bear a certain offensive quality. Paul would later write
(1 Cor 1:18) the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
(1 Cor 1:23) we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
-What is it that makes the cross a point of stumbling for people? Because it was there that God announced “Your effort is worthless! My effort is worth everything! This is the only way to a right relationship with Me. Someone else must pay your way!”
Ill - A few years ago, a friend of mine and I conducted GRACE camp in IN. Imagine a week of camp where we tried to teach 120 7-8th graders the difference between living by law and living by grace. We used a lot of different ways, but one thing we did, during the grace days, was change canteen time. There, lined up to buy their snacks, no one was allowed to buy their own. They had to find someone who was willing to pay for them. We don’t like that yielding of control.
You and I, and everyone else, we have a tendency to try to return to law.
2. The tendency to abuse freedom
-*vv13-15
-You’ve heard the expression: “Give him an inch, and he’ll take a ______”
What does that mean? It means we have a tendency to abuse freedom.
-That sentiment is expressed in a card I received when I graduated from high school: “On this auspicious occasion, I am reminded of a famous quote: “No more classes, no more books! No more teachers’ dirty looks!”
-We all have a tendency to abuse freedom. Try going downstairs some Sunday to oversee one of the kids’ classes and announce at the beginning that there will be no rules. See how long you last!
-Our fleshly side tends to be animal-like. We’re painfully aware of our tendency to be driven by appetite, young or old.
I hope, as you have learned about being free in Jesus, that this has been the hazard it makes you aware of: we tend to want to return to Law, and we tend to abuse freedom when we get it.
Up to this point, Paul has gone to great lengths to say, “We’re not under Law.” This worries a lot of people. What’s the buffer? What about behavior? What about the hazards? What about holy living? How do you undo legalism, convince people to not be slaves to law, convince them to extend gracious and forgiving hearts to others, and at the same time provide some way to influence godly choices and living?
Most of us don’t struggle with knowing what we ought to do. If you’ve grown up in the Church, you have access to the knowledge. No, we don’t struggle with knowing. It’s caring about it and doing it that we struggle with. We know what it means to be obedient, but we struggle with obedience. In other words, we tend to fall into the hazards of freedom.
If you’re struggling with obedience, there are 2 real helps for you – 2 helps to help us live free in Jesus.
2. There are 2 helps to assist us in living freely in Jesus:
1. Living by the Spirit (vv16-25)
- Ro 8:4 says we do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Live by the Spirit. What does that mean? I’ve heard a lot of attempts to answer this.
-Some folks think that it means we are just to follow after the inner feelings we have because the HS is inside us. It has to be more than inner impulses – I can tell you that my human self gives me inner impulses sometimes that are definitely not from the HS. That’s the flesh, and following those is what Paul says in vv19-21 will keep a person out of heaven.
-But the fruit of the Spirit is another list of things – love, joy, peace…
-So how are we to be “led by the Spirit”?
One way we could answer that is to just look at the different words that describe our relationship with the Spirit. For instance,
-Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, full of the Spirit, compelled by the Spirit. He said it was by the Spirit that He cast out demons.
-David, as he wrote the Psalms, was “speaking by the Spirit…”
-Simeon was “moved by the Spirit” to go into the temple courts and look for the baby Jesus.
-Paul was “compelled by the Spirit” to go to Jerusalem.
-It is the Spirit who circumcises our hearts, controls our minds, puts to death the misdeeds of the body, washes us, helps us, and by Whom we worship. We are to be controlled by Him, led by Him, live by Him, and keep in step with Him.
One way He does that is through the Bible that He inspired. But the Spirit’s leading is more than just instructive.
Another way we could answer that is to simply compare the two lists here in Galatians 5. Vv19-21 is the outcome of a life without the Spirit. Vv22-23 is the fruit of life that has the Spirit.
Another way would be to study the great chapter on the HS, Ro 8.
-vv5-8 would help us see that life lived by the Spirit involves our mindset. We can’t expect our lives to be controlled by God’s Spirit if we’re always thinking of fleshly things.
Ill – Todd and Machael liked scary movies. A few months after they became Christians, Todd said some weird things were going on at their house at night time. They were both having trouble sleeping. He’d wake up, having terrible nightmares and cold sweats. Was it something supernatural? Demonic oppression? “Todd, try stopping watching all the R-rated horror movies.” 2 weeks later, they were both doing much better.
-Last, consider what “living by the Spirit” is contrasted to: (5:17)
Ro 8:9 – controlled by the flesh
Gal 5:18 – being under the Law
v24 – has crucified the flesh with its passions and desires
You want help with obedience to God? You need His Spirit that He gives to those who accept Jesus, and then you need to be led by that Spirit.
(2. The motivation of God’s love for us)
-The 2nd real help we have to help us live obedient and free in Jesus is actually something that God does and has done for us all along.
-Law brings obedience out of fear. Keep the Law, escape the penalty. But when God pays the penalty for us and offers us His grace as a 2nd chance, it gives us a whole new motive for obedience. It’s the debt of gratitude, the motive of thankfulness for what God has done. Now, we obey Him because we love Him. Is God crazy for trying this, or could His love for us possibly inspire us to live godly lives? Could it work?
-You see, this is the place where “Jesus Sets Us Free” should bring us – life that’s obedient – not under Law, not abusing freedom, but free in Jesus and freed to obey Him because of His great love for us. That’s really what this letter is about: since we live under God’s grace, how should we now live?
Conclusion:
To help illustrate the power of this motive, I want to conclude with a story today that I first heard several years ago. It’s a message for husbands for sure, but I want to look at it in a different light today.
This story comes from a culture that seems far away. It was customary there to bargain for a man’s daughter if you wanted her for a wife. The typical dowry was cattle.
It begins with the narrator telling of his travels to a small island in the Pacific called Kiniwata. During his stay on the island the traveler heard a lot about a young man named Johnny Lingo, who lived on the neighboring island of Nuribandi. The local people in Kiniwata said that Johnny was the best person to talk to, if you wanted a tour of the islands. He could show you where the best fishing was, or where to go to get the best deal on pearls. The islanders seemed to think highly of Johnny Lingo, yet when they spoke of him they smiled, and the smiles were slightly mocking. The voice of the narrator continues the story:
I was talking to Shenkin, the manager of the guest house, and I demanded to know what was going on. "Everybody tells me to get in touch with Johnny Lingo, and then breaks up laughing. Let me in on the joke."
The manager replied, "Johnny's the brightest, the strongest young man in the islands. And for his age the richest."
"But if he's all you say, what is there to laugh about?"
"Only one thing. Five months ago at the fall festival, Johnny came to Kiniwata and found himself a wife. He paid her father eight cows!"
I knew enough about island customs to be impressed. Two or three cows would buy a fair-to-middling wife, four or five a highly satisfactory one.
"Eight cows!" I said. "She must have beauty that takes your breath away."
"She's not ugly," he conceded and smiled a little. "But the kindest could only call Sarita plain. Sam Karoo, her father, was afraid she'd be left on his hands."
"But then he got eight cows for her? Isn't that extraordinary?
"Never been paid before."
"Yet you call Johnny's wife plain?"
"I said it would be kindness to call her plain. She was skinny. She walked with her shoulders hunched and her head ducked. She was scared of her own shadow."
"Well," I said, "I guess there's just no accounting for love."
"True enough," agreed the man. "And that's why the villagers grin when they talk about Johnny. They get special satisfaction from the fact that the sharpest trader in the islands was bested by dull old Sam Karoo."
"But how?"
"No one knows and everyone wonders. All the cousins were urging Sam to ask for three cows and hold out for two until he was sure Johnny'd pay only one. Then Johnny came to Sam Karoo and said, "Father of Sarita, I offer eight cows for your daughter."
"Eight cows," I murmured. "I'd like to meet this Johnny Lingo."
I wanted fish, I wanted pearls. So the next afternoon I beached my boat at Nurabandi. And I noticed as I asked directions to Johnny's house that his name brought no sly smile to the lips of his fellow Nurabandians. And when I met the slim, serious young man, when he welcomed me with grace to his home, I was glad that from his own people he had respect unmingled with mockery. We sat in his house and talked. Then he asked, "You have come here from Kiniwata?"
"Yes."
"They speak of me on the island?"
"They say there's nothing I might want that you can't help me get.” He smiled gently,
"My wife is from Kiniwata."
"Yes, I know"
"They speak of her?"
"A little."
"What do they say?"
"Why just..." The question caught me off balance. "They told me you were married at festival time."
"Nothing more?" The curve of his eyebrows told me he knew there had to be more.
"They also say the marriage settlement was eight cows." I paused. "They wonder why"
"They ask that?" His eyes lighted with pleasure. "Everyone in Kiniwata knows about the eight cows?"
I nodded.
"And in Nurabandi everyone knows it, too." His chest expanded with satisfaction. "Always and forever, when they speak of marriage settlements, it will be remembered that Johnny Lingo paid eight cows for Sarita."
So that's the answer, I thought, vanity.
And then I saw her. I watched her enter the room to place flowers on the table. She stood still a moment to smile at the young man beside me. Then she went swiftly out again. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The lift of her shoulders, the tilt of her chin, the sparkle of her eyes all spelled a pride to which no one could deny her the right. I turned back to Johnny Lingo and found him looking at me.
"You admire her?" he murmured.
"She...she's glorious. But she's not Sarita from Kiniwata," I said.
"There's only one Sarita. Perhaps she does not look the way they say she looked in Kiniwata."
"She doesn't. I heard she was homely. They all make fun of you because you let yourself be cheated by Sam Karoo."
"You think eight cows were too many?" A smile slid over his lips.
"No. But how can she be so different?"
"Do you ever think," he asked, "what it must mean to a woman to know that her husband has settled on the lowest price for which she can be bought? And then later, when the women talk, they boast of what their husbands paid for them. One says four cows, another maybe six. How does she feel, the woman who was sold for one or two? This could not happen to my Sarita."
"Then you did this just to make your wife happy?"
"I wanted Sarita to be happy, yes. But I wanted more than that. You say she is different. That is true. Many things can change a woman. Things that happen inside, things that happen outside. But the thing that matters most is what she thinks about herself. In Kiniwata, Sarita believed she was worth nothing. Now she knows she is worth more than any other woman in the islands."
"Then you wanted...."
"I wanted to marry Sarita. I loved her and no other woman.
"But....: I was close to understanding.
"But," he finished softly, " I wanted an eight-cow wife."
Guess what God wanted when he paid the greatest price for you and for me…
(Eph 5:25-27) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
What kind of a bride have you been for Jesus? Consider what He paid to make you beautiful, and answer, what kind of bride have you become for Him?
There is no greater motive for you to respond to Him this morning. There’s no greater reason for you to live a beautiful life for Him. Will you?
