July 12, 2009

• Our Independence Day: Galatians 5

   

  Harry Houdini was the greatest of escape artist. One time he issued a challenge, a challenge that he could be locked in any jail cell in the country and that he would be able to set himself free pretty quickly. And he always kept his promise. But on one occasion……. something went wrong. Houdini  entered  the jail in his street clothes. The heavy, metal doors clanged shut  behind him.

  He took from his belt a concealed piece of metal and started working with it right away, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock. For thirty minutes he worked and got nowhere. An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door. By now he was sweatin’ and concerned…… but he still could not pick the lock. Finally, Houdini collapsed in “frustration and failure” against the door that he couldn’t unlock. When he fell against the door…..  it swung open! It had never been locked at all! But in his mind it was locked……… and that was all it took to keep him from opening the door and walking out of the jail cell.

  Our “freedom” is often like this. …….. it’s there…. waiting for us to simply choose to open the door….but in our mind the door is locked…and that’s all it takes for us not to do what’s right!

  Freedom is important to us. Our country was founded on freedom…….political freedom, economic freedom, social freedom and most of all we cherish the freedom of our own will. But I think so very often, in a similar way to Harry Houdini, we don’t realize that true freedom is so close….that the door is unlocked, just waiting for us to go through. Something else we don’t realize, freedom is not the power to do what ever “WE” want to do….that‘s what the world tells us……..Freedom is doing what we “OUGHT TO DO”, what God would have us do in our lives.

  When you go to Philadelphia you can see the liberty Bell. You can run your hand over the surface of this “symbol” of our freedom here in America. The Liberty Bell is scared and has been through so much. When you look at the Liberty Bell, you sense something of the history of our United States. It’s a treasured relic of America’s earliest days. Interestingly enough, on this symbol of our freedom are these words from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof”.

  The apostle Paul proclaimed that freedom, “true freedom”, throughout the land. In speaking to the church at Corinth he said in 2 Corinthians 3:17 “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”. The Freedom that the apostle Paul described is a special freedom…it is true freedom for our lives. We’re going to look at that freedom today.

  

  Christian Freedom…TRUE FREEDOM….. means freedom to do the right thing. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the gathering of Christ Followers at Galatia, tells them, and us in Galations, chapter  5,  all about this freedom.

  Galatians 5:1-4 ( TNIV )
  1 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.

  So the apostle Paul is telling us here that Jesus has already set us free……..free from what?    Jesus has set us free from the slavery of our own sinful desires. While we can’t be sinless, we can learn to free ourselves from slavery to those sinful desires. First…….Jesus paid the price for our sin on the cross. And second….Jesus, indeed God, shares with us right here in His Words what it takes to live a fulfilled life of freedom. The door is actually open, it’s not locked. It’s often only in our mind that it’s locked!

  Paul goes on to say: 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.  
   
  Paul here is talking about “The Law”……. the bondage to the Old Testament  Law….not the wisdom of God’s Words, but the ritualistic following of His wisdom. When Paul is talking about circumcision here we have to realize that like many things….it was an outward sign of an inner covenenant with God. However, the religious leaders of the day, and often people, had turned it into a ritualistic action of saving grace. While these rituals are well-meaning and symbolic….God teaches us in Scripture that salvation is not found in these things……..

  Paul is saying that the ritual itself will do nothing ……..it’s living in the freedom of Christ that will save us….loving God and loving each other.

  How many people have their “ticket” to heaven?…..there is no ticket! God wants us to live each and every day….passionate lives, loving Him and loving those around us! And in doing this we willl have freedom. We will have an eternity with Him as we follow Christ…….we find true freedom. We choose to live in the kingdom of heaven….the kingdom of God….with Jesus as king in our lives….but there is no ticket……It’s more of a passport………a passport records where you’ve been and opens the door to where you are going.

  Paul goes on: 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 

  What is Paul saying here?  First….let’s look at this word we translate as “FREEDOM”. The Greek word is eleutheria [el-yoo-ther-ee-ah] and it has the meaning in Greek of “liberty”. In fact this word in other places in Scripture is often translated as “liberty”. Eleutheria  also carries with it the thought of a liberty of “living as we SHOULD…..not as WE please”. Second, let’s look at this whole thing about the bondage of the Law:

  Again, Paul says in verse 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.  

  In that day, and often in this day as well, the emphasis by the religious leaders was to follow the law by the letter, not so much in concept….but by the letter. This is why Paul says, “do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery”. He’s talking about being bound by the yoke of the Old Testament Law. Now let me explain what he is talking about. Maybe this will make it clearer:

  I have a financial assistant, Bobbie, that I trained to help with the tedious task of handling, reporting and entering all the financial transactions here at LifePoint so that we can see clearly what we are doing with God’s money….. so that we can be good stewards and do the right thing. When Bobbie first started, she made endless list of procedures  and rules for how we enter the thousands of transactions we deal with each month. I told her that “this was okay”…..it was okay to document these procedures, in fact it is a good thing and helps in learning. However, what I wanted more was for her to learn the CONCEPTS of what we were doing. Why?

  One…..so she could make decisions on her own and not be “bound” to the procedures. So that she could do the right thing and when a situation arises that is not  “standard” or clearly spelled out. So she would know how to handle it on her own.

  Two….I wanted her to feel the fullfillment of knowing what the right thing was to do, not just know how to follow a list of rules that is. while helpful, kind of “hollow” when it comes to truly knowing how to do the right thing.

  Three….I want her to truly know how to do the right thing and not feel the frustration of doing the wrong thing when she is faced with making decisions.

  So…the procedures, the rules, the LAW, is important. But it should not be our emphasis as much as the underlying emphasis of the concepts. I believe that this is what Jesus meant when He said that He came to “fulfill the law”. God doesn’t want us to be slaves to “the law”….He wants us to be free to do what is right.

  NOW AT THIS POINT HERE….maybe you realize that the door is actually open…..and it is only in your mind that it is locked……..let’s get ready to open that door. Where do we start?  Where did Jesus tell us to start so that we could be free?

  Paul continue’s on: Galatians 5:5-6 ( TNIV )
  5 But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope [Jesus taught that He would leave with us a helper…the Holy Spirit]. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value [remember…it’s not about the law…it’s about the concept]. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love [this is the big thought…let’s  look at that].

  This is where we have to go back to the very beginning….the core of what Jesus taught….the core of God’s wisdom…..and it can be found in a sermon that we call the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was teaching primarily his disciples, the apostles, so that they could carry on this great message from God after His death on the cross……a death he knew was coming. This last year as I have studied and preached the Sermon on the mount…I have come to realize that the Beatitudes are the very core of what we must understand first in order to live a fulfilled life…a life of FREEDOM.

  Why do I believe this? First….because as Jesus choose to teach the disciples…..and this is where He started. He started with the inner attitudes of our heart…the Beatitudes……these are the concepts…..these are the concepts we must understand first!

  Let’s take a quick look at Matthew 5:

  1.  Blessed are the poor in spirit………blessed are those who trust in God with a childlike…daily…trust

  2. Blessed are those who mourn…….blessed are those who see the wrong of their own sin as well as the wrong the sin or the bad in the world and mourn it’s effects on not only their own life but the lives of others. Jesus is saying blessed are those who care for others.

  3. Blessed are the meek……..MEEK…not WEAK….what is the difference between meekness and weakness? weakness=lack of strength…..meekness=not flaunting your strength, it is strength under control

  4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…….blessed are those who hunger to be truthful, honest, and to be stand behind their word.

  5. Blessed are the merciful…….mercy is grace in action….blessed are those who show mercy for others by helping them…by loving them and helping to carry their burden.

  6. Blessed are the pure in heart….blessed are those who have discovered these truths, have put them to the test, and who live their lives in God’s will.

  7. Blessed are the peacemakers……blessed are those who seek an attitude of peace on all levels…in their lives….in the lives of those around them and in the world.

  8. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness ……blessed are those who see the truth of Jesus and stand strong in their hearts and actions at all cost .

  As we apply these eight attitudes to our lives (and we often need the strength of the helper, the Holy Spirit, to do this) we will see a faith that expresses itself through love.

   

  Christian Freedom Means Service. Paul tells us to “Use our freedom to … serve one another in love”. Real freedom is living by the Spirit…….living with the strength of Jesus and bearing the fruit of the Spirit.

  Galatians 5:13-14 ( TNIV )
  13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.

  Remember the Greek word translated as “FREEDOM”: eleutheria [el-yoo-ther-ee-ah]  and remember that this word carries with it the thought of a liberty of living “as we SHOULD…..not as WE please”.

  Paul goes on to tell us: But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature [Or the flesh]; rather, serve one another humbly in love.  14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” [Leviticus 19:18]  15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

  Are we getting the picture here? Freedom is serving one another in love. So, now we start to come full circle in what Paul was teaching……there is a slavery to sin……there is a slavery to our sinful nature…….Jesus came so that we could be free of this slavery….so that we could be free to do what is right:

  Galatians 5:16 ( TNIV )
  16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.  18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

  I want you to look closely at this next part of what Paul is teaching us…..Paul spells out the “sinful nature” , that if we are not careful, comes out and,if you look closely, each of these things hutrts somebody…..

  19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;  20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. [None of these are things that help us to love one another. They are all things that break our relationships.] I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

  Jesus taught us that the Kingdom is right here among us…it’s right in our midst………the door is unlocked………..all we have to do is open it and walk through. Paul also goes on to tell us what that freedom looks like…..the freedom to love God and to love one another. Paul comes full circle and sums it up. Notice that these are all attitudes of the heart:

  Galatians 5:22-26 ( TNIV )
  22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

  Jesus gives us the great promise in His own words found in the Gospel of John

  John 8:36 ( TNIV )  (Jesus talking)
  36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 

   

   

  In conclusion……as we sum up what the apostle Paul was teaching about this FREEDOM that we all want:

  1. True FREEDOM means the freedom to do the right thing.
  2. True FREEDOM starts with a love for God and a love for others…it starts in our heart and…… the inner attitudes of our heart.
  3. True FREEDOM means serving one another humbly in love.

  • 4:55 pm
  • Leave a comment