Freedom

Sermon
Freedom
May 25, 2003
Pastor Leighton Sheley

I'll invite you now to take your Bibles and open to Galatians chapter 5. As you're turning there I'll say this Sunday is Memorial Day, a day that honors those who have contributed to and in some cases given their last full measure, to providing liberty and our nation. Freedom isn't free. It is paid for in blood.

It was the blood of our nation's founding forefathers that purchased for us the liberties that we enjoy as a nation. It was the blood of Jesus Christ shed on Calvary's cross that purchased an even greater and more eternal liberty.

Galatians 5: It was 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 required to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit 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 and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. "A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 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 do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you may also be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load. Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Galatians 5:1 boldly states it was for freedom that Christ has set us free. As believers we had been delivered from the wrath of God, the slavery a sin, the curse of the law, the tyranny of Satan and his demons, the fear of judgment, and the burden of guilt and shame. In addition to being delivered from these and so much more, we are also set free to live, walk in the presence and strength of the Holy Spirit; to experience joy and peace in even the most adverse of situations; to glorify God through transformed living and willing obedience; to love and serve others and thus fulfill the requirements of the law; to know the awesome thrill of being elevated by adoption from slave to son or daughter of the King of kings; and to have immediate and unlimited access into the very thrown room of our heavenly Father.

It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. We live in a world of extremes. There are many people who are not comfortable with freedom. Our prison ministry workers have said from time to time that some prisoners are more comfortable with the hard and fast rules of living in that harsh society than being released as free men and women in a world full of choices.

Some people are drawn into false religions that are based on rules because they find comfort and satisfaction in checking off their daily list of dos and don'ts. Legalists in churches are concerned that preaching the liberty we have in Christ might result in anarchy and rampant sin. At the other end of the spectrum, are people who can't stand having limitations on their wills or consequences to their actions. They want to experience every thrill and danger this life has to offer, and they positively bristle at the word no.

Before his miraculous conversion experience on the road to Damascus, the apostle Paul had been one of the most zealous and influential religious legalists in the Middle East. He rose quickly through the ranks of the political spiritual leadership and was one of Gamaliel's most promising students. He zealously pursued and persecuted men, women, and children of the early church, sending many to prison and some to their death. And it was for this purpose he was traveling the road to Damascus on that momentous day when the bright light of truth blinded his eyes, yet brought site to his soul.

The transformation of Paul's life and message was so pronounced that those who had formerly been his friends and associates sought his life with fervent devotion. The spiritual revelation given to Paul was so profound that the apostle Peter declared his letters Scripture.

2 Peter 3:15 and following we find these words of the apostle Peter, Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their destruction.

The apostle Peter recognized the writings of Paul as other scriptures of God's word. And because Paul's letters contain, as Peter says, some things that are hard to understand, he was and still is today often misquoted and misunderstood. The letter to the Galatians was written to them to warn them of the false teachers who were endeavoring to lead them from the freedom they had experienced in Christ to a form of legalism called Judaism, and the preceding chapters of Galatians warn against the worthless and restrictive beliefs of legalism.

The Christian who lives by faith is not going to live the life of a rebel. Rather than being constrained by rules and regulations, the true Christian is constrained by the love of God. He or she is guided by an inner discipline rather than shackled by external expectations. No person who depends upon God's grace and God's Spirit, who lives to serve others and to honor God, is driven to become a rebel. Rather it is the legalist who eventually rebels because he or she is living daily in bondage to the unsatisfied cravings of their flesh, whether it be pleasure, fame or fortune.

Legalism is far more dangerous than liberty because it attempts to accomplish the impossible task of making our old, wicked, rebellious nature obey the laws of God. Though legalism may succeed for a period of time, eventually the flesh rebels.

The sequence of thought in chapters 5 and 6 of Galatians is clear. In verses 1 through 12 of chapter 5, I have been set free by Christ and am no longer in bondage to the law. The remaining verses of that chapter, but I need something or someone to guide my life from within. That person is the Holy Spirit.

The first 10 verses of chapter 6: through the love of God's Spirit I desire to live for others rather than to live for self; and then, I want to give God the glory for he is making it possible.

Warren Wiersbe, one of the great teachers of the 'Back to the Bible' radio program, says contrast this with the experience of the person who chooses to live under the law, under the discipline of some religious leader, under legalism.
1. If I obey these rules I will become a more spiritual person.
2. I do what I'm told and measure up to the standards that are reasonable for me.
3. Other people complement me on my spiritual obedience and discipline. I making more progress than others.
4. If only others were like me. God is certainly fortunate that I am his. Too bad other groups are not as spiritual as we are.

The Pharisees believed and taught that circumcision marked a person as been spiritually superior. I know people who are convinced they're spiritually superior. You might as well. They have the best kids, the best testimony, the best answers to life's questions, the best opinions, and an overwhelming willingness to share their superior wealth to all who are wise enough to pay attention. They are spiritually arrogant. And when others are turned off they don't see it as a reaction to their arrogance but rather jealousy of their superiority. And yet, in every case, there are many shortcomings.

Very often people who are legalist are blind to their own failures. Jesus spoke to this in his Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Jesus' comments were squarely targeted against the spiritual arrogance of the Pharisees who considered circumcision as the sign of God's approval. Paul says mark my words, I tell you that if you let yourself be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. You see, rather than looking on circumcision as God had given it, as a symbol of his covenant of promise, many Jews contemporary with Paul considered it as having spiritual power in and of itself.

And Paul did not object to circumcision. Timothy who traveled with him was half Jewish, and in order to minister to the Jews of that time, he asked Timothy to be circumcised. Paul's warning about circumcision was against the false notion that it was required for salvation or that salvation could be obtained through it. Legalism is divisive.

Proverbs 6:16 and following says, There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: proud eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man or woman who stirs up dissension or division among brothers. God hates division among brethren. Legalism produces division.

Now the image of the yoke is not hard to understand. The farmer uses the yoke to harness and control the oxen who would not otherwise serve. In early America people who broke the law were put into something that resembled a yoke. God referred to freeing the nation of Israel from the slavery of Egypt as breaking the yoke.

Leviticus 26:13, I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. The yoke represents slavery, service, and being under the control of someone else. Jesus invited us to rid ourselves of other yolks and put on his instead.

Matthew 11:28 and following, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

The word easy in the original language means kind or gracious. The sinner is bound by the yoke of sin, the legalist is bound by the yoke of law, but the believer carries the kind, gracious, gentle, and light yoke of Christ. It is not the heavy, abrasive, abusive, constraining shackles of either sin or the law, but rather the gentle, encouraging, still small voice of God's holy Spirit.

Now although Paul's primary attention through the book of Galatians is on the yoke of bondage to legalism, he also teaches concerning another yoke that is just as binding, the yoke of license. License is the inverse of legalism. Instead of an overemphasis on the don'ts it's an under emphasis. Paul writes, You my brothers were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature.

Jesus said in John 8:34, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Some people think that being able to fulfill their sinful appetites is experiencing freedom. They may have the money, the power, and the connections to acquire their ambitions, but by fulfilling their sinful appetites they are merely acknowledging their bondage to them. A person can have an appetite for mind altering drugs and the financial and legal freedom to obtain them. And if they acquire the drugs they think that they are experiencing their freedom to do so. In reality that person is empowering that drug's influence, authority, and control in their life. People think that sin serves at their pleasure, when in fact, they are serving at sin's pleasure.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:12, "Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered, controlled, yoked by anything.

Back to our passage, he writes, You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 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 do not do what you want.

Those who live like this. 'Live like this' is in the present active participle tense which indicates a lifestyle or a habit, not the occasional failure. All believers sin from time to time. However, no believer can truly be happy continuing to live in sin. And no true believer can promote a lifestyle that is not pleasing to God.

Now legalism and the license are not the only options. There is a better option called love. You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Now someone has observed that there have been over 30 million laws that have been written to support and clarify the Ten Commandments. Jesus reduced the Ten Commandments to two. He was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, or related to it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Why do we have over 30 million laws? Because people can't keep Ten Commandments. And why do we have Ten Commandments? Because people can't keep two commandments. And why can't we keep two commandments? Because people without the Holy Spirit can't love. Love is the key. These two commandments begin, love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor. Both begin with love, and love is from God. Love is the resident desire and motivation to do something good for others. Actions that come out of a heart of love are not a burden.

When a young man is in love the cost of roses, flowers, cards, and chocolates is not burdensome. Now we can't give God flowers, and I don't know if he appreciates chocolate, but the Scriptures tell us what we can give him as an expression of love. In 1 John 5:3, This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome. Will

Our pastor has often stated that Church of the Highlands exists to help people fall in love with Jesus. As I was reading I came across this wonderful illustration of being constrained by love. It is written by Tim Kimmel. He writes, In 1921 Lewis Lawes became the warden at Sing Sing Prison. No prison was tougher than Sing Sing during that time. But when Warden Lawes retired some 20 years later, that prison had become a humanitarian institution. Those who studied the system said credit for the change belonged to Lawes. But when he was asked about the transformation, here's what he said about it: "I owe it all to my wonderful wife, Catherine, who is buried outside the prison walls."

Catherine Lawes was a young mother with three small children when her husband became the warden. Everybody warned her from the beginning that she should never set foot inside the prison walls, but that didn't stop Catherine! When the first prison basketball game was held, she went ... walking into the gym with her three beautiful kids and she sat in the stands with the inmates.

Her attitude was: "My husband and I are going to take care of these men and I believe they will take care of me! I don't have to worry."

She insisted on getting acquainted with them and their records. She discovered one convicted murderer was blind so she paid him a visit. Holding his hand in hers she said, "Do you read Braille?"

"What's Braille?" he asked. Then she taught him how to read. Later, Catherine found a deaf-mute in prison. She went to school to learn how to use sign language. Many said that Catherine Lawes was the body of Jesus that came alive again in Sing Sing from 1921 to 1937.

Then, she was killed in a car accident. The next morning Lewis Lawes didn't come to work, so the acting warden took his place. It seemed almost instantly that the prison knew something was wrong.

The following day, her body was resting in a casket in her home, three-quarters of a mile from the prison. As the acting warden took his early morning walk he was shocked to see a large crowd of the toughest, hardest-looking criminals gathered like a herd of animals at the main gate. He came closer and noted tears of grief and sadness. He knew how much they loved Catherine. He turned and faced the men, "All right, men, you can go. just be sure and check in tonight!" Then he opened the gate and a parade of criminals walked, without a guard, the three-quarters of a mile to stand in line to pay their final respects to Catherine Lawes. And every one of them checked back in. Every one!

Because of their deep love for Catherine Lawes and their desire to honor her, selfish ambitions of escape were set aside and no shackles were needed. When there exists a deep abiding love for God and a sincere desire to honor him, selfish ambitions are set aside, crucified the Scriptures say, and the shackles of law are not needed.

Let's pray. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free; no longer to be subject to a yoke of slavery. Lord, you are the author of liberty and were it not for you, mankind with know nothing but slavery from birth until death. We thank you Lord for your holy word, and for your Holy Spirit, and for your love that is without limit; for your patience, your mercy, your grace towards us. May it be that each and every day our vessel of love be so filled to overflowing that there is no need for any other shackles. May we be constrained by the love that you have placed within us. Thank you Lord for hearing our prayer, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. God bless you.