"the Freedom Christ Gives

Everybody on earth desires freedom. I do, and if I were a betting man, I’d gamble that you do, too! But many people don’t understand what freedom is or what freedom is not. Unfortunately, some people’s idea of, and quest for, freedom actually enslaves and imprisons them. Jude advises us “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Jude 1:4 (NASB). And Peter says of such people, they promise freedom “while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.” 2 Peter 2:19 (NASB).

Many seem to think that freedom is entitlement. “I can do what I want without regard of your need or rights because I am entitled to!” This sense of entitlement is one of the real problems plaguing the world today. It says such things as:

• “What’s yours should be mine, and you’d better divide it!”

• “If I want, I need it and I should be provided with it.”

• “If you have it, I should have it, too!”

But entitlement does not free us from responsibility, or consideration of others, or limitations on our rights, or from consequence! Just imagine the chaos if everybody did what they want, when they want, where they want, how they want just because they think they are entitled to do so!

• Some people would just blast through stop signals and others had better yield the right of way.

• Some would drive the wrong way on a one way street, concluding that “Whichever way I drive is the right way. Let others beware”

• Some would walk up to your table at Burgerville and make off with your lunch and you’d better let them – after all, they are entitled.

• Some would (and have) quit working and rely on others to provide for them.

And they defend their actions by claiming the freedom of entitlement. Freedom is not entitlement nor is it license. Real freedom recognizes that others have rights and needs, too. I am free to swing my arms around as widely as I desire, but that freedom ends where your nose begins. I have no license to poke you in the snout and blame you for not ducking.

Tom Landry, former Coach of the Dallas Cowboys and a man of faith in Christ, once said: "Most successful football players not only accept rules and limitations but, I believe, they need them. Players are free to perform at their best only when they know what the expectations are where the limits stand. I see this as a biblical principle that also applies to life, a principle our society as a whole has forgotten; you can’t enjoy true freedom without limits."

Freedom is not a thing we possess because we deserve it or demand it, nor is it something that nobody can deny us. We enjoy a fragile freedom; a freedom purchased at a terrible cost in terms of hundreds of thousands of lives being snuffed out. We thank our veterans who, in one way or another, contributed to our freedom. But it is fragile freedom that could be taken from us unless we are vigilant, responsible and prayerful! But let's consider the freedom that has been provided for us by the payment of only one life, the life of Jesus Christ.

Paul wrote, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves. For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." Galatians 5:1-16 (NASB).