Freeeeeeeddooommmm!!

The scripture for this sermon comes from Paul's letter to the Galatians 5:1,13-25:

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.  13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge 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.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. 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.

19 The acts of the flesh 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. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, 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 flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

The first thing that came to mind when I read this morning’s scripture was Mel Gibson’s character, William Wallace, in the movie Braveheart.  For those of you who have not seen the movie or it has been a while I will reset your memory.  The particular scene I thought of is when the king finally catches William Wallace and they are torturing him and with his last word he screams “Freeeedoooomm!”  As a scottish man, Wallace was fighting with the king of England to gain their independence and the movie details this movement.  Even though he was caught and facing his death he still found solace in knowing that he was now free from the rule of the king.  The other thing I thought of was the “debt free scream” that callers often shout on Dave Ramsey’s radio station.  When people have paid off their debt using the techniques of Financial Peace University, they call in and shout at the top of their lungs, “WE ARE DEBT FREE!!”  Cheyanne and I are looking forward to making that call someday ourselves, even if Dave is doing his show from a nursing home.  In these two examples, the people involved are set free, whether it be from the weight of debt or the tyranny of a king, they are now free and it is that freedom that they so dearly want.  God loved us so much that He created us in a way that we too are already free.  From the day we are born God gives us the choice to follow Him if we so choose.  He does not force us to love Him or others, it is a conscious choice that He allows each of us to make.  

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he is urging them to not use this freedom to satisfy the flesh.  Instead, Paul encourages them to return some of this freedom to “serve one another humbly in love.”  God gave us freedom and it is our choice to use it how we see fit, but our faith is measured by how we use that freedom.  Do we use it to benefit ourselves, to make ourselves happy in this world, or do we use to help others, to share the love of Christ with the world?  It may seem odd to relinquish some of our freedom to serve God but we are blessed ten-fold by what we choose to give up.  It is almost like being wealthier by having less money.  I know that doesn’t make much sense but God will more than make up for what you choose to give up by the blessings He pours onto you.  

What is so great about Paul is his practicality.  He loved to teach about theology but he understood that the knowledge of God was useless if it was not lived out.  Paul ran into a very familiar problem that we do.  Paul made the very life-changing claim that life under the law was over and it was replaced by grace.  This lead a lot of early believers to think that they could do whatever they liked because they could ask for forgiveness and it would be taken away because of God’s mercy and grace.  I do not know if any of you have run into this but I have heard this argument many times.  People think they can use this freedom to do whatever they would like and then ask for forgiveness.  But Paul knew and understood that this freedom came at a price and with obligations.  The price was paid by Christ on the cross but Paul held that we had two major obligations: 1) the obligation to God, God gave us the gifts of love, mercy and grace so we should not spoil this precious life because it is a gift from God.  For example, think about a gift that was given to you by a loved one, a child, a parent or grandparent that you thought was ugly or useless.  But if anyone said anything negative about it, you defended it.  You really enjoy this gift no matter what anyone else thinks.  You keep it in a safe place so that it does not get lost or broken.  We should approach our faith in the same manner.  Our grace is a gift and we will encounter people who may not understand it.  They may even talk negatively about it or tempt us to get rid of it but we continue to hold onto it even if we do not know why sometimes.  Our grace is a precious gift and because of that gift we should feel obligated to live our lives according to the will of God as we understand it.  2) The obligation to our fellow man is understood in the phrase, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Paul wants us to understand that we are obligated to take care of each other, we are called to love one another.  

When those people call into Dave Ramsey’s radio show, they are excited because they are debt free.  They have a newly found freedom.  WIth this freedom they could buy a much bigger house or fancy car and go back into debt or they can continue to live a life that is free from debt.  The freedom in our faith is very similar.  Becoming a Christian does not mean we are free from sin because we all know that we all still fall short.  Our freedom is found in the choice of whether or not to sin.  I know the difference is very subtle but becoming a Christian does not give us the freedom to sin but it does give us the choice not to sin.  Before we have Christ in our lives, we are not as aware of our sins but once we start living a life that is centered around Christ, we start to realize how imperfect we really are.  We can become easily overwhelmed by our sin but it is important to understand that is why God sent His son to die for us.  This freedom becomes a double-edged sword if we are not careful.  The essence of a Christian is not necessarily found in one’s ability to be sinless, it is found in how we change our way of living so that the world knows that Christ is within us.  If you have an ant problem in your house, you do not leave dishes or food sitting out to attract more ants.  Instead, you do something about it.  You may do the dishes more often, put out ant traps, or put away.  You are proactive in getting rid of the problem.  And if you resort back to your old ways the ants will return.  If there is sin in your life that you cannot seem to shake, then you need to be proactive and change the way you are living.  It is not enough to pinpoint the problem, you have to take the steps to get rid of it or it will keep coming back.  

Our freedom comes with a choice just like those people who are debt free.  We can either choose to live a life of this world or we can live a life of the Spirit.  By living in the spirit, we are better able to love, we live with peace, we have a newfound patience, we are able to show and spread kindness, we are filled with goodness, we have a faithfulness that is unshakeable, a gentleness that is soothing and a better ability to control ourselves.  The change from living in this world to living in the spirit is gradual, it does not happen overnight. When we place our faith in Christ, we have crucified the flesh and given up its passions and desires.  We will not be perfect but our Godliness is found in striving to be perfect.  

If you are feeling like you are a product of this world and want to turn your life over to Christ you  can do so today.  You can come forward or do it where you are sitting but I encourage all of us to turn our sins and desires over to Christ this morning.  Use your freedom to spread a message of love and hope.  Use your freedom to serve others just as Christ serves.  Amen.