The Responsibilities Of Freedom

The Responsibilities of Freedom

Galatians 5:13

As a nation we celebrate our independence on July 4th. Freedom never comes free and is never without bounds or responsibility. On the 4th we reflect upon our nation’s freedom, its price, its limits and bounds, and the responsibility it carries. Every Lord’s Day, Christians need to reflect on their freedom through Christ, its price, bounds, and responsibilities.

I. Freedom should be valued

A. We have of all nations been highly blessed by God.

B. We all too often take our freedom for granted. Here we sit today, praying, singing, fellowshipping, worshipping God together, reading and studying His Word…with no fear of reprisal, intimidation, persecution or government interference.

C. But this freedom did not come free. It’s bought with a price.

D. The freedom we enjoy as Americans came at a very high price. Untold thousands have died to procure our liberties. We need to thank God for those that were willing to sacrifice and paid the price of our freedom.

E. But one can live in this land and still not be free. For without the freedom that Christ gives one is in bondage though he be a freeman – in bondage to sin and its penalty. And though a man be imprisoned with chains, if Christ be his Lord he is free.

F. John 8:36: "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

G. There is no greater freedom in the world than the freedom that Christ gives. This should be valued above all else for it did not come cheaply.

H. 1 Peter 1:18-20 “...you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

II. Freedom requires restraint

A. True freedom isn't doing anything or everything our hearts desire.

B. "A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes." - Thomas Huxley, “Address on University Education,” 1902, III, 236.

C. Freedom is not the absence of restraint. Freedom without restraint is anarchy.

D. Our society requires law and respect for the law, or chaos and confusion result. Respect for the rule of law and the rights of our fellow man must be observed in order for freedom and liberty to prevail. Civil society cannot exist without the law. Without the rule of law our highways would be treacherous, the airways fraught with danger, and our food and water could be deadly—just to name a few. – copied GLCG

E. When Paul said, “Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature,” he was instructing us that Freedom is not License. To be free does not mean that you and I have a license to do or say or act any way we want.

F. Freedom isn’t license. Unfortunately for many people, the idea of freedom is associated with the license to do whatever you want.

G. 1 Corinthians 6:12 “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”

H. Peter Marshal, when Chaplain of the United States Senate, prayed before our senators, “Lord Jesus, thou who art the way, the truth, and the life; hear us as we pray for the truth that shall make all free. Teach us that liberty is not only to be loved but also to be lived. Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books. It costs too much to be hoarded. Help us see that our liberty is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to please to do what is right.

I. Christian freedom, unlike the political freedom we celebrate this week, is not freedom established by and under law. Christian freedom, in a sense, is freedom FROM the law so that we can do more than the law requires. -copied

J. Romans 6:1-4, 22 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life… But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”

K. Christian freedom is not freedom FROM as much as it is freedom FOR living by the spirit. - copied