FREEDOM
Gal. 5:1-13
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. Sometimes we take our freedoms too far. Like evry other president, William Howard Taft had to endure his share of abuse. One night at the dinner table, his youngest son made a disrespectful remark to him. There was a sudden hush.
2. “Well,” said Mrs. Taft, “aren’t you going to punish him?”
3. With tongue in cheek, the president replied, “If the remark was addressed to me as his father, he certainly will be punished. However, if he addressed it to the President of the United States, that is his constitutional privilege!”
B. WHAT IS FREEDOM?
1. In our country, the concepts of freedom of speech, the freedom to bear arms, and the free exercise of religion have endured constant scrutiny and been redefined.
2. But the term “freedom,” as defined by scripture, has a much different meaning. Paul, in Galatians 5, defines our freedom in two forms. The first form is negative and suggests we are free FROM something. The second form is positive and suggests we are free FOR something.
C. TEXT & TITLE
1. 5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. 13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” Gal. 5:1-6,13.
2. The title of this message is “Freedom.”
I. CHRISTIAN FREEDOM: FREEDOM FROM...
A. LEGALISTIC BONDAGE
1. Context of Gal. 5 – the struggle over keeping the Mosaic Law. Jews argued that Gentiles must become Jews before they could become Christians.
2. This type of practice still happens today. In some circles Christians impose outward standards when deducing whether people are Christians or not.
3. EXAMPLES: how they cut their hair; dress codes; worship practices; use of tattoos, piercings, etc. We need to be communicating, “You don’t have to live up to other people’s expectations to earn God’s favor or to be a Christian.”
4. Does that mean that we do away with the rule of modesty? No! Do we do away with godly living? God forbid! But we accept people where they are and give them time to grow up.
5. The early church’s decision was, “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God” Acts 15:19. The Holy Spirit gave them the judgment not to throw stumbling blocks in the way of people coming to Christ. Paul acknowledged that they came from every conceivable sinful background (1 Cor. 6:9-11) but the Holy Spirit knew just how to transform each of them into the image of Christ!
B. FREEDOM FROM SLAVERY TO SIN
1. Some have gone the opposite direction and have accepted the world’s pattern of lawless freedom. “With one accord they have broken off the yoke” Jer. 5:5. Some have exchanged one bondage for another.
2. After the Civil War, freed slaves were given the choice to continue to sharecrop for their former owners. The pay for all their work would be a place to live and a small amount of money to feed and clothe their families. However, the cost of things was kept so high that, though these people were free, they remained in abject poverty. They might feel good about being “free,” but they found themselves economically and socially controlled by another type of bondage.
3. FALSE FREEDOMS:
a. Those who throw off the restraints of Christianity think they have greater freedom. They speak of free love & life, but they are slaves to their own appetites.
b. Then there’s Bondage to Peer Pressure. They claim they’re “dressing like a unique individual.” The question is, why are there so many unique individuals who all look the same?
c. Addiction Vs. Bondage. Isn’t addiction a polite way of saying that I am enslaved? Today free speech has been twisted to become unbridled profanity.
d. People argue for “Reproductive Rights” or “A Woman’s Right to Choose” but it’s not the freedom of choice that people want so much, but rather a license to sin!
4. REAL FREEDOM. Freedom doesn’t mean the absence of constraints or moral absolutes. Suppose a skydiver at 10,000 feet announces to his fellow jumpers, “I’m not using a parachute this time; I want freedom.” The truth is that all skydivers are constrained by a greater law – the law of gravity. But when the skydiver chooses the restraint of the parachute, she is free to enjoy the exhilaration. God’s moral laws act the same way. They restrain but they’re absolutely necessary to enjoy the exhilaration of real freedom!
II. CHRISTIAN FREEDOM – FREEDOM TO...
A. TRUE FREEDOM
1. True freedom is the opposite of what the world calls freedom (which is really bondage to sin). True freedom is living in the Spirit.
2. SERVING GOD = FREEDOM. A bird is free in the air; but put it under water and it has lost its freedom. A fish is free in the water; but put him up on the sand and he perishes. A Christian is free when he does the will of God & obeys the Spirit. This is the natural environment for the child of God, just as water is to a fish or air is to a bird. [Henrietta Mears]
3. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” Gal. 5:22-25.
4. Living in the Spirit is the correct environment for the born-again child of God. This is the only realm where we find true, liberating freedom. 2 Cor. 3:17 says, “...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Isa. 61:1 says, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to...proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Psalm 119:45 says, “I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.”
B. TO SERVE ONE ANOTHER
1. How can serving others be freedom? Jesus was the freest person who ever lived. He said, “I have not come to be served, but to serve, and to give My life as a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:28; Mk. 10:45). The closest you’ll ever get to freedom is when you pour yourself into others.
2. Karl Menninger, an acclaimed psychologist, determined a decade ago that the treatment of patients with clinical depression which was showing the greatest level of results was having the patient find someone who was worse off than them who they could serve. Patient after patient would return with reports of reduced levels of depression.
3. God made it so that it’s better, more blessed, to give than to receive. If we sow into others, we will reap a blessing from God.
C. SHARE EACH OTHER’S STRUGGLES
1. “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves” Gal. 6:1-3.
2. We’re not to just “put up” with other’s faults, but to encourage them to keep going and to do the right thing and live for God. We’re to lift the fallen, to teach the immature, to give hope to the hopeless, and correct a brother or sister in sin.
3. Jawanza Kunjufu, in his book, “Restoring the Village,” writes, “When I was a 14-year-old high school freshman, school was dismissed early one day for a teacher’s meeting. I conveniently neglected to tell my parents and arranged to bring my girlfriend over to my house. We weren’t planning to study.
4. As we were going up the steps, my neighbor, Mrs. Nolan, poked her head out of a window and said, “You’re home awfully early, Jerome.” “Yes, Ma’am,” I said, improvising a lame story about how we planned to review algebra problems. “Does your mother know you’re home this early?” Mrs. Nolan persisted, “and do you want me to call her?”
5. I gave up. “No, ma’am. I’ll go inside and call her while Kathy sits on the porch.” He finished the story with this assessment: “Mrs. Nolan saved our careers that day. If Kathy had gotten pregnant, she might not have become the doctor she is today. And my father had warned me that if I made a baby, the mutual fund he set up for me to go to college or start a business would have gone to the child. I’m glad that Mrs. Nolan was at her window, looking out for me.”
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: BEING A STUMBLING BLOCK TO OTHERS
1. Do you remember Bubba Smith? He retired from professional football a few years ago. Then, after he retired from playing football, Bubba Smith started making beer commercials. He was the guy who tore the top off of beer cans, & engaged in the argument about whether it is less filling or tastes great. You remember him now, don’t you?
2. In a magazine article about him, Bubba Smith said that he has never, ever drunk beer. Drinking any kind of alcoholic beverage just isn’t a part of his life. But he advertised it & felt good about his job. It was an easy job. It was an enjoyable job, & it paid a good salary.
3. Until one day when he went back to Michigan State, his alma mater, as the Grand Marshal of the Homecoming Parade. As he was riding in the limousine at the head of the parade, he heard the throngs of people on both sides of the parade route shouting. And what were they shouting? "Hail to Michigan State?" No! One side was shouting, "Tastes great!" & the other side was shouting, "Less filling!"
4. Bubba Smith suddenly realized that he & the beer commercials that he made had had a tremendous impact on the students at Michigan State. And the message that they had gotten was that "It is all right to drink light beer." Later, Bubba was in Ft. Lauderdale during Spring Break, & he saw drunken college kids up & down the beaches, shouting "Tastes great! Less filling!"
5. And when it came time to renew his contract, he refused to sign because he said that he didn’t want his life to count for something like that. He said that there was a still, small voice in his mind that kept saying, "Stop, Bubba. Stop.”
B. THE CALL
1. Real freedom is to surrender to Christ. Only he can set you free. Do you have some bondages in your life?
2. If you’d like prayer, come to the front and we’ll pray for you. Prayer for salvation and deliverance.
