Semon Text: Galatians 5: 1, 13-25
July 15, 2001
WE HAVE A LICENSE
It’s summer time again, and that means a whole bunch of new drivers will be out on the roads. High school students are finishing their Driver’s Ed. Courses and practicing for their tests, all in the hopes of getting a driver’s license.
It seems like a lot of work for a small piece of plastic with your picture on it. Yet, what power that little card possesses. A driver’s license gives an individual the freedom to operate an automobile. What a privilege! Just ask anybody who’s recently gotten a driver’s license – it’s a big deal.
It’s the same way in spiritual matters. Our Lord tells us that we are free – free from sin, guilt, even condemnation. Yet, as with any freedom, this freedom we have in God’s kingdom is not something to be abused. When it comes to spiritual matters: WE HAVE A LICENSE. This license is pure privilege. It’s not so much a license to do, as it is a license to enjoy what’s already done. In that sense, we have a license 1) to salvation. We have a license 2) to satisfaction.
1) To Salvation
The apostle is encouraging the Christians in Galatia to apply what they were taught to their lives. Since Jesus Christ has done everything for us, we are freed from a slavish obedience to Old Testament laws. This means living in freedom. Freedom is a word that is near and dear to us. We talk of how we cherish freedom from political tyranny and such. That’s not the freedom stressed in this section of Scripture though. The freedom we have in Christ Jesus is not political or economic. It’s a spiritual freedom from the tyranny of guilt.
The first thing Paul stresses in these verses is that we are, indeed, free. It’s a state of being.: “it is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” We have a license to freedom. It’s ours. It’s something that is ours in Jesus Christ. Jesus has set us free. He’s the one who has earned our freedom, our license. He did this by making himself nothing. He emptied himself of all that is glorious and took on our own flesh and blood. He carried the yoke of sin in his own body, and paid the price for our freedom by giving his own life. Jesus made himself nothing, so that we might have everything.
His life, death, and resurrection -- that’s our license and it frees us from the tyranny of guilt. There’s nothing worse than a guilty conscience, and Satan knows it. He longs to burden us with a yoke of guilt. It happens to us often. Imagine you are speeding along in the freedom of Christ –relishing the fact that you are a child of God in Jesus --and suddenly the Guilt Police pulls you over. The officer-in-charge, Satan, demands to know how you can be so happy.
Right then and there he attempts to diminish the God-given joy you have in your Savior. He types your name into his computer and it prints out a list of “priors”: “sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” Satan, then, points out that there are a number of offenses against you. He knows us well. He knows us by name. He knows our nature. He looks at you and accuses you of being a filthy sinner. “ Look at this list,” he insists, “You wretch, did you know you were smiling in a No Smiling Zone? You’ve got no reason to be joyful, no reason to hope! Let me see your license!” he demands. Reluctantly, you hand it to him, he swipes it through his computer, and that list of “priors” vanishes from the screen. Not one remains. Satan is surprised. He looks at the name encoded on that card and it says, “Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.” Yes, it’s Jesus’ license. It’s a license to salvation, but it belongs to you! Jesus has given you his life and blood – your license – and that cancels out the debt of sin and frees us from the guilt Satan would heap upon us.
We are to honor this license; to celebrate the freedom we have. Realize the price! Realize how much your freedom cost. It cost your Savior dearly! But he gladly endured the cross and its shame because he loves you so dearly! Understand this truth. Daily repent of your sins and trust in your Savior. Daily drown your sinfulness in contrition and sorrow, and daily arise with fresh confidence in the One who saves you. Rejoice in the freedom Christ has won. It is yours and mine. Show it off! Think about a teenager who gets his/her license. I don’t think that license stays in the wallet very much those first couple of weeks. That license is flashed to everybody – “Look at what I’ve got!” -- Quite an accomplishment and privilege. Yes, indeed, what an accomplishment Jesus has achieved on our behalf, and what a privilege to know he did it all for us.
The knowledge of faith in Jesus Christ leads us to see that we all are “card-carrying Christians” in this sense; we all have freedom – Christ’s license to salvation – in our possession. We have a common bond that ties us together. It’s Christian love; we share the license to salvation.
2) To Satisfaction
Satan wants to make a debacle out of this as well. He wants us to give up our freedom in Christ and turn in that license for a phony I.D. As usual, this I.D. doesn’t look like the original. It doesn’t look like Christ. It resembles our sick, sinful flesh. This I.D. tags us as sinners and has the potential to burden us with guilt.
What’s worse is that we are tempted to grab on to that phony I.D. and just care about ourselves. We might selfishly call it, “the pursuit of happiness.” Now, happiness is important. Everybody wants to be happy. Why, even God wants us to be happy! Happiness is quite elusive. Unfortunately, a lifetime of pursuit will not guarantee satisfaction or happiness.
Satisfaction is hard to find because this world is far from perfect. There is something that fills our world with suffering, sickness, and sadness. Something in people makes it hard for them to find happiness.
God calls that “little something” sin. Sadly, we are tempted to think that we can find freedom and satisfaction in sin, and at the expense of forfeiting God’s grace. The phony I.D. Satan shoves into our hands might seem to bring freedom and happiness, but in the end it leads to destruction.
We’re led to think we can sin against ourselves in the pursuit of happiness and freedom. Sexual immorality, impurity, uncleanness, and debauchery: are some of the satisfaction this phony I.D. promises. “If it feels good do it. After all, nobody will get hurt. You’re free to do these things!” That’s the mentality of the sinful flesh. We are tempted to sin against ourselves in an attempt to please ourselves. This is not God-pleasing service. This certainly isn’t freedom. That list of “priors” will hound us.
The sad thing is that when we sin against ourselves we begin to feel the burden of guilt laid upon us.
Once the flesh has destroyed its relationship with itself physically, it moves to the next level, the relationship with God, spiritually. Again, this phony I.D. to sin promises freedom at the expense of going against God. “Why, I’m a citizen of the 21st Century. You expect me to be burdened by the Bible – a book full of apparent contradictions. It’s outdated. We are a rational, enlightened people!” So the sinful flesh dupes itself into thinking it can find independence, happiness, and satisfaction apart from God.
Again, this is the result of heaped-on guilt. When we sin against our own bodies, we know it is wrong. This leads to resentment towards God because we know deep-down he is right and we’re not. This leads to resentment against him. Guilt and resentment lead a person to look for answers in all the wrong places.
Paul speaks about witchcraft. This is not a reference to old women wearing pointed hats. The apostle Paul observed this was where so many resentful, guilty hearts were turning. People would turn to incantations or potions. They would turn to illicit drugs, which altered one’s mind in an attempt to divine the future. This is what the apostle identifies as idolatry. And that is what it is. Whether it is a self-reliant attitude – “I’m my own God”, or a superstitious attempt to undermine God’s will, it’s idolatry, because all of this is part of an effort to rebel against God.
This leads often to the final step. As we selfishly pursue sin, and harbor resentment towards God, our hatred is intensified. Finally, our relationship with one another is threatened. Paul mentions "hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage." When we call each other names, or when our fists fly wildly at someone else – it’s our sinful flesh trying to cancel out our freedom.
There is a way to avoid this grief. God tells us how we can be truly happy, now and forever. God promises freedom even though our world is filled with disappointment and pain. God provides it, because he’s addressed the cause of the unhappiness. Satisfaction is found in Christ. Know that the license to salvation is still in your hand, even when the sinful flesh wants to do otherwise.
The Holy Spirit has placed this license in our hands. He reminds us that we are free. God promises it, saying, “Those who belong to Christ have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” Everyday, the Holy Spirit is working in us through the Gospel in Word and Sacraments. He is recreating us to be God’s own. He is slowly prying that phony I.D. from our grasp and making us to trust in Christ more and more.
The Holy Spirit combats the sinful flesh. There’s much to attack. We’re told, “the works of the sinful flesh are obvious.” Satan, our sinful flesh, and this world work very hard to try and prove their phoniness to be genuine. The sinful flesh would love for that phony I.D. to be our permanent calling card. Yet, there is nothing genuine about these things except the end result. The result is that all of this selfish indulgence leads to zero satisfaction. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit has one line of defense; a single fruit. The picture is one of satisfaction. The Holy Spirit is responsible for his produce alone. This single fruit is a product of which we have no part. Our sinful flesh can never work to produce such a thing.
This single fruit of the Spirit is quite dynamic. It has many dimensions to it: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It’s as if this single fruit has multiple flavors. I’m reminded of the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. There was a piece of candy called, “The Never Ending Gobstopper.” What was amazing is that it was a single piece of candy with endless sorts of flavors. The fruit of the Spirit is one specific item with several, continuous qualities. The point is that all of these “flavors” remind us of our Savior’s love for us. The Spirit’s work ties us to Jesus and leads us to see we have true satisfaction in him alone.
We have 100% satisfaction. It’s ours in Jesus Christ. This satisfaction is guaranteed. We have the Gospel in Word and Sacraments. This is what feeds and nourishes our faith and gives us the confidence to trust in Christ for salvation and satisfaction.
When I was on vacation I did some fishing in Wisconsin. I needed to buy a fishing license, though. Now, I could get a one-day license for $30 or a two-day license for $10 (I got the two-day license). I had a nice time. We did some pretty good fishing. But that was all the license was good for -- just two days of fishing. Its now expired and worthless.
Thanks to God we have a license that is, worth much more than two days of fishing. This license identifies us as God’s own in Jesus Christ. We have a license that gives us freedom from the guilt. We are free to serve God with a clear conscience. We are free to serve each other with kindness and love. Thanks to Jesus, we are free. Thanks to him, we have a license that won’t expire or need to be renewed. The license we have in Christ is valid now and for eternity. Amen.
