Sermon Cloud

Intro:  Financial freedom is fleeting- here today, gone tomorrow.  $450 free gas- w/a mortgage.

Big Idea: Jesus set us spiritually free so we can love & serve one another.

Context: Paul has been refuting the false teaching that has bewitched the Galatians.  He’s moved from justification to adoption, and now explores the reality of freedom.

I. Guard the freedom Christ won for us.

-         “Christ set us free”- our spiritual freedom is a gift resulting from Messiah’s sub. death.

-         Jesus is the spiritual liberator of all who trust Him to save them.  Ill. Political freedom

-         We were unable to free ourselves.  Most didn’t even realize they’re enslaved (sin, guilt).

-         This work of Jesus for us is foundational for the entire passage.  Therefore…

-         “Stand firm … don’t be burdened by the yoke of slavery”.  Military & farm imagery.

-         Recently freed slaves go to 2 extremes: they are unaccustomed to freedom, it’s scary.

-         Some seek to return to slavery- legalism (Numbers 14).  Ill. Bankrupt lottery winners.

-         Some go crazy with freedom- license.  Ill. Seminary students/new toys, splurging.

…you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”  Numbers 11 (NIV)

Transition: Freedom is quickly & easily forfeited by license & legalism.  How do we guard it?

II. The cross kills both license & legalism.

-         The Galatians were being persuaded by Paul & the false teachers.  Ill. Angel & devil

-         False Teachers => circumcision => law => slavery => conflict

-         “obligated to obey the whole law”- circumcision brings a debt (financial language-gas).

-         Like yeast leavening dough, false teaching quickly infects a church.  Ill.  Must/Must not!

-         Seeking righteousness in Law is to be cut off, alienated from Cr & grace- dead serious.

-         False teaching caused them to turn on each other, destroying the body (1 Timothy 1).

-         Freedom doesn’t mean no rules- “opportunity for the flesh”  Ill. Staging area, D-Day

-         Our flesh also persuades us to serve its sinful desires.  Ill. Self-indulgent spending

-         Paul reminds them that he is persecuted because he does not preach circumcision.

-         “the offense of the cross”- the cross is offensive to both legalism & license.

-         The cross condemns license- our sins deserve death!  Go there to kill your license!

-         The cross condemns legalism- it is powerless to save us, Jesus had to die to do it.

and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine  ¹¹ that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.  1 Timothy 1 (NIV)

¹⁶ Watch your life and doctrine closely.  1 Timothy 4 (NIV)

¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. … ¹⁶ Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.   1 Peter 2 (NIV)

Transition: We have been delivered, in part, from both license & legalism.  But to what?

III. Genuine faith produces hope & love which serves.  Faith alone, but not a faith that is alone!

-         Faith produces hope- awaiting the revelation of our righteousness.

-         False teachers pointed to circumcision as proof of righteousness.  We point to Jesus!

-         Love serves as the bookends of this passage.  Our freedom is characterized by love.

-         “faith working through love”- genuine faith manifests itself in love.  Faith energizes love.

-         Love reveals that Christ is being formed in such a person (God is love).

-          “slave one another in love”- not a sentiment, but actions to express love. (1 John 4).

-         Paul => Christ’s work => freedom (guilt & shame) => love => service

-         The gospel shifts us from advantaging ourselves to advantaging others.

-         Opportunity + Ability + Desire  teaching, praying, feeding etc.

-         The moral law reveals what love is like so we can imitate Jesus, not merit His love.

⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  1 John 4 (NIV)

²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.  Romans 6 (NIV)

 “Christian liberty is service, not selfishness.”  John Stott