Freedom In Christ
Dismiss God KIDZ
OKAY – let’s do this!
NOW – I want to start off this morning with two passages of Scripture that will be the foundation for this morning’s conversation.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. – John 8:31-36
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. – Galatians 5:1
Prayer
QUESTION…
What does freedom mean?
For a baby, I guess, freedom is when you’re able to get out of the crib and you can crawl around on the living room carpet.
If you are a third grader, freedom is the last day of school and you know you have summer vacation ahead of you.
For the sixteen-year-old it’s getting that driver’s license.
For a young adult it’s leaving home and being on your own with no one to tell you what time to be in or what to do.
Freedom for a young couple might be an evening when a baby-sitter watches the kids and they’re able to go out on a date.
For some, retirement from the job is freedom.
I guess for some, when we reach the age in time when life holds nothing but pain and troubles, and you’re no longer able to care for yourself, freedom is going home to be with the Lord.
UNDERSTAND - our concepts of freedom are quite different depending upon where we are in our life and exactly what is taking place.
NOW – today July the 4th 2021 all across our nation people will be celebrating FREEDOM...
I MEAN LIKE – there will be countless cook outs, flags waving and fireworks going off nearly everywhere.
AS WE - celebrate the day that 56 men in Philadelphia standing a building that we know as Independence Hall, signed a document declaring their freedom that began with these words…
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,
and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…
That was on July 4, 1776 (the birth and founding of our nation)
AND MGCC – here we are today, enjoying the freedom that those 56 men and thousands and thousands of others have fought and given their lives for during the last 245 years.
NOW – I am not going to be preaching a sermon about America today… But I am extremely thankful to live in this country.
IN FACT - whenever I have found myself returning from other nations, like - Mexico, China, the DR or Bangladesh…
The moment the wheels of the plane touched down and I was back home in the good US of A! I always felt this wave joy, excitement and peace wash over me.
MGCC - I am thankful to live in such a great, free and prosperous country.
I feel totally safe and secure
the electricity always works
the grocery shelves are full
the food is okay to eat, the water safe to drink
flush the toilet paper
worship freely
YES – today our nation celebrates her freedom.
AND MAPLE GROVE – every day, we as Jesus followers, should celebrate the freedom that we have in Christ.
AMEN?!
IN LUKE CHAPTER 4 - Jesus had just recently been baptized and returned from the wilderness, after being tempted for 40 days by Satan.
AND NOW JESUS - returns to the place where he grew up, Nazareth, he walks into the Synagogue, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And Jesus unrolled the scroll and read,
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” – Luke 4:18,19
UNDERSTAND MGCC - The Gospel is a message of freedom.
AND LISTEN…
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. – Galatians 5:1
NOW - that phrase ‘For freedom’ is an interesting phrase
UNDERSTAND - in the Roman world nearly ½ to 2/3 of the people were living in slavery…SO – slavery wasn’t just an ugly stain from the past, or something that was going on somewhere else in the world, instead, it was all around Paul.
And one of the ways a slave could become free was to save and save up and save up enough money to give to their slave owner… but they wouldn’t just give it to their slave owner the practice was (And this is what is interesting)
The practice was that they would take it to the temple where they were worshipping… to whatever God they worshipped.
They would give it to the priest.
AND SO - there’s Steve Malone the slave and let’s say Joe Smith the slave owner…
AND - the priest would take the money from me and give it to Joe… AND SAY - “Okay, here is the money to purchase Steve Malone from you. AND THEN - they would write on the wall of the temple There was this area where they would do this… And they would write… “For freedom Steve Malone was set free, and now he belongs to the god Artemis.”
MGCC - It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
He paid the price
We belong to Him
UNDERSTAND - Jesus saved us (not just so that we would go to heaven when we die) He saved us for freedom.
He saved us so that we could live as free man and woman.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
And then Paul continues, and remember he is writing these words to Christians, to those who He had redeemed, saved and set free…
Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. – Galatians 5:1
MGCC – Jesus did not die on a cross, shed His blood, and set you free so that you would let yourself be burdened again but a yoke of slavery.
IN OTHER WORDS - Jesus did not set you free for you to remain a slave…
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. – Galatians 5:1
YES MGCC – it is true, that when the Son sets us free we are free indeed…
BUT IT IS ALSO TRUE - that if we are not careful, that if we do not stand firm… we could find ourselves burdened again buy a yoke of slavery.
AND LISTEN – when that happens, the way to break those chains is to know and hold to the truth that sets us free.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
- John 8:31,32
OKAY – so are you tracking with me?
• It is for freedom, that Christ has set you free
• If you do not stand firm, you could find yourself burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
• Knowing and holding on to the truth, will set you free
NOW – to be honest, I have at times, let myself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery…
AND – do you know what, I am pretty confident that I am not alone in this.
QUESTION – has it ever happened to you?
MGCC
It is for freedom (It for living our lives as free men and women) that Christ has set us free!
OKAY – here is what I want to do in our time remaining…
Talk about some of the things, some of the yokes of slavery that tend to steal our freedom
AND ABOUT – His truths that will set us free.
Okay, let’s do this
Jesus died to bring us…
I. Freedom From The Law ("Do to Be")
Freedom from trying to measure up and be good enough on our own.
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.
Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? - Galatians 5:1-7
LIKE…
WHO - told you that it’s what you do that makes you right with God.
WHY - would you enslave yourself to measuring up and trying to be good enough by your won effort.
QUESTION – have you ever done that as a Jesus follower?
Let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery to trying to measure up?
Understand the is a crazy thing for Jesus follower to do.
And I am pretty sure that we all have done it at times, maybe, some of you are even doing it at this very moment.
Now I have always loved this powerful picture that Paul paints as to how insane doing this is in Romans chapter 7…
Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives?
For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.
So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. – Romans 7:1-6
NOW PAUL - in these verses is teaching the Christians in Rome and us, a very important lesson.
OKAY SO – what was going on in the church in Rome is that he Jewish background Christians were still keeping the law, AND THAT - was not necessary bad - it was just that they were acting as though, by keeping the law that they were more righteous then the gentiles Christians who didn’t..
AND SO PAUL - tells them,
"Hey, do you know what you are acting like, you are acting like a woman whose first husband is dead - is now remarried, but lives as though her first husband is still alive..."
UNDERSTAND PAUL - in these verses is drawing analogy or an illustration from marriage…
TO MAKE – a powerful point about how Jesus has freed us from the law.
OKAY - suppose a woman is in her second marriage, let’s call her Jane for the sake of illustration.
Now Jane’s first marriage was not that great, as a matter of fact it was terrible. LIKE - she could never satisfy or meet the expectations of Bill her husband.
IMEAN - no matter what she tried to do it didn’t work, she never did the right things and it was never was quit good enough.
B/L - in this relationship she was constantly carrying around the burden of trying to please him, trying to be something so she would be accepted and have worth in his eyes.
Jane was trying "to do to be", and she kept falling short and coming up empty.
AND - in like manner, The lost sinner, the one who is not in Christ and under His grace, is still married to the law.
He is still subject to the righteous requirements of the law.
He is still a slave of the law of to do be.
AND MGCC THAT’S - really a good summary of what keeping the law taught. If you were to be righteous by keeping the law, you had to ‘Do’ or ‘not Do’ certain things to be righteous. AND - do you know what?
NO ONE - could ever be righteous by keeping the law, YES - everyone no matter how hard they tried could not meet the laws expectations.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
– Romans 3:23
And if that was not bad enough James the half brother of Jesus in his letter writes in James 2:10,
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. – James 2:10
UNDERSTAND - being under the law is like holding on to a long chain over a steep cliff, it only takes one bad link to kill you, it only takes one sin to condemn you.
MGCC – and you may want to write this down.
We can never save ourselves by being good, because we are just not good at being good.
NOW - as we consider further, the concept of freedom from the law let’s go back to our illustration of Jane to underscore the power and magnitude of our freedom in Christ.
Jane is now in her second marriage.
And things are totally different, IN FACT - they are incredible, her new husband Brian, loves her (he really loves her), spends times with her, encourages her, with Brian she can do no wrong.
I MEAN - it is a complete reversal in her life, no longer is she carrying along the heavy load of having to do to be, he accepts her and loves her just as she is.
UNDERSTAND - Jane is now living a life and experiencing a freedom, that before she couldn’t even imagine existed.
QUESTION - wouldn’t it be insane for Jane to live as though she is still married to her first husband - to still feel unworthy, unacceptable - and try to measure up?
MGCC - that’s what it like to go back to the law (to go back to trying to measure up) once you have been set free by Christ.
B/S - through Christ we are set free from the burden of do to be…
UNDERSTAND - that marriage is over and it no longer has power over us, because we are now married to Christ and his grace. AMEN?!
It is for freedom that Christ has set you free.
And here are a few truths to seal that freedom
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. – Romans 8:1,2
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.
- Colossians 1:21-23
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
– Colossians 2:13-15
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 to the law…
Jesus did not die and set you free for you to still be a slave to earning and deserving your salvation.
II. Freedom From Worry
QUESTION
Does worry ever enslave God’s people today?
Have you ever been enslaved by worry?
Statisticians at the University of Wisconsin have studied the things that we worry about. And they found that the average individual’s worries can be divided into 4 categories:
40% - things that never happened.
30% - things that happened that they can’t change
22% - petty worries
8% - legit worries
Someone has said, "worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s trouble."
Worry distorts our thinking, disrupts our work, disquiets our soul, disturbs our body, disfigures our face. It destroys our friends, demoralizes our life, defeats our faith and deflates our energy....
AND LISTEN - if you have ever found yourself bound by the chains of worry you know those things to be true.
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 to worry…
OKAY – here are some truths about worry that can set you free…
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. – Matthew 6:25-34
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. And the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:6,7
And I can tell first hand that this really works....
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 to WORRY…
Freedom From What Other People Think About You
QUESTION…
Have you ever been enslaved by what other people think about you?
Or by what you think other people think about you?
UNDERSTAND B/S – Jesus did not die and set you free for to be a slave of the opinions of other people.
Get It?
It is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you, but if you trust the LORD, you are safe.
– Proverbs 29:25
As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. – 1 Corinthians 4:3
I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. – Galatians 1:10
Okay and you may want to write this down
What God says about you is infinitely more important than what other people think about you.
• You are His child (1 John 3:1)
• You are loved (Ephesians 3:18,19)
• You are accepted (Romans 15:7)
• You are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
• You are the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)
• You are chosen (1 Peter 2:9)
• You are royal (1 Peter 2:9)
• You are holy (1 Peter 2:9)
• You are precious (1 Cor 6:9)
• You are God’s masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10)
• You are forgiven (Ephesians 1:7)
• You are God’s special possession (1 Peter 2:10)
• You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139:13
• You are a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19)
• You are more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37)
• You are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)
• You are called (Romans 8:30)
• You are justified (Romans 8:30)
• You are made in His image (Genesis 1:27)
What God says about you is infinitely more important than what other people think about you.
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 to what other people think about you…
III. Freedom From Circumstances
QUESTION…
Have you ever been a slave to your circumstances?
Have you ever let yourself be burdened by the slavery of difficult, painful and unwanted circumstances?
YEAH – I think we all at times have done this very thing.
OKAY – so here are some truths that if you know and hold to will set you free from slavery to your circumstances.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. – James 1:2-4
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
– Romans 8:35-39
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
– Romans 8:18
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. – Revelation 21:1-7
This world is no our home… we are just passing through.
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. – Galatians 5:1
Max Lucado in one of his books writes the following…
It happened too fast. One minute Barabbas was in his cell on death row playing tic-tac-toe on the dirt walls, and the next he was outside squinting his eyes at the bright sun.
"you’re free to go"
Barabbas scratches his beard. "What?"
"You’re free, they took the Nazerene instead of you."
Barabbas has often been compared to humanity, and rightly so. In many ways he stands for us; a prisoner who was freed because someone he had never seen took his place.
But I think Barabbas was probably smarter than we are in one respect.
As far as we know, he took his sudden freedom for what it was, "an undeserved gift." Someone tossed him a life preserver and he grabbed it, no questions asked. You couldn’t imagine him pulling some of our stunts. We take our free gift and try to earn it or diagnosis it or pay for it instead of simply saying "thank you" and accepting it.
Ironic as it may appear, one of the hardest things to do is be saved by grace. There is something in us that reacts to God’s free gift. We have some weird compulsion to create laws, systems and regulations that will make us worthy of our gift.
Why do we do that? The only reason I can figure is pride. To accept grace means to accept its necessity, and most folks don’t like to do that. To accept grace also means that one realizes his despair, and most people are not too keen on doing that either.
Barabbas, though, knew better. Hopelessly stranded on death row, he wasn’t about to balk at a granted stay of execution. Maybe he didn’t understand mercy and surely he didn’t deserve it, but he wasn’t about to refuse it.
We might do well to realize that our plight is not too different than that of Barabbas’s. We, too, are prisoners with no chance for appeal.
Why some prefer to stay in prison while the cell door has been unlocked is a mystery worth our pondering.
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. – Galatians 5:1
