Sermon Cloud

Introduction

Black American slaves lived on their hope for freedom.  They wrote and sang songs about one day being free, they reminded each other of how God freed the Israelites from 400 years of slavery in Egypt, they looked forward to the eternal freedom they would have in heaven, and -- above all -- they prayed and prayed and prayed that they would get to experience freedom on earth.  

God answered the prayers of the Black American slaves.  They were liberated.  They were given freedom.    As the Black American slaves were progressively freed people around the world rejoiced, celebrated, and gave thanks to God.  They had finally been given the freedom they longed for.  And as we have discussed as we’ve read through Galatians together, there is no greater gift in the universe. 

But what the freed slaves soon discovered was this: the gift of freedom is joy incomparable but living in that freedom is exceedingly difficult.  After American blacks were freed from slavery they faced the challenges of living in their newfound freedom.  For one, they were homeless.  They owned very little, if anything.  They had to earn money to eat but they had no resources, no resume (so to speak).  They had to find their own means of education, many times building their own schools.  Even though they were freed from slavery they were still bound by Jim Crow laws that required racial segregation in all public facilities and outlawed interracial marriage.   Life on the plantation was terrible and inhumane, but life off of the plantation was not easy.  They had to learn to live a whole new life.   

The American slaves, like the Israelites before them, had to learn to live in the freedom they had been given.  And it was anything but easy.  Freedom is also what we receive when we respond in faith to Jesus Christ and his cross.  We are liberated from all that constrains us.  We are freed from evil (both within and without), we are freed from our past, we are freed from condemnation, which means we are freed from the pressure to perform, we are freed from nationalism and all forms of human division.  God, who is both all-powerful and all-good, freed us through the life and death and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ.  All we contributed to our liberation was our faith in him.  Now all of us who are followers of Jesus Christ are truly free.  As we said last week, thanks be to God!  We’ve been talking about this freedom for 2 months, but now the challenge is for us to all learn to actually live in the freedom we have been given.  Just as the Black American slaves had to do after being freed from the plantations.  It is not an easy thing, this idea of living in the freedom we have been given.  The Apostle Paul calls living in freedom, “walking in the Spirit.”  And he spends the last two chapters of his letter to the Galatians encouraging us to do just that: live in the freedom we have been given by walking in the Spirit.

Freedom for Freedom’s Sake

We’re going to talk about walking in the Sprit today.  Turn with me to Galatians chapter 5.  Let’s begin by reading verses 1-4.  Many times when we think about freedom we think about being freed from something or someone.  And that is what freedom is. But that is not all freedom is.  Freedom is a two-sided coin.  On the one side you have freedom from, on the other side you have freedom to.  We are freed from certain things in order to acquire the freedom to have, do, or be something else.  Jesus Christ gives us freedom from slavery and all that we long to be free from.  And he does this for a purpose.  According to verse 1 Jesus Christ sets us free from slavery so that we can have the freedom to be free.  Jesus’ life and death reconciled us to God and rescued us from his wrath.  But in addition to that -- or, rather, because of that -- it also secured freedom for each of us.  “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”  In other words, we have been freed for freedom’s sake.   

If it is for freedom that Jesus has set us free then we dishonor him when we do not live in the freedom he purchased for us with his life.  This was the situation with the Galatians.  They were in danger of abandoning the gift of freedom and voluntarily returning to slavery.  They were going to be circumcised because the Judaizers told them that if they wanted to be part of the people of God they would have to both put their faith in Jesus and follow Jewish law and custom.  Paul begs them, “do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.”  Then he tells them that if they do become circumcised Christ will be of no value to them at all.  Some of you guys in here are probably freaking out right now because you have already been circumcised!  And you didn’t even have any say in the matter!  Does that mean that Christ is of no value to you?  Of course not.  The issue at hand was not circumcision itself.  Paul will later say in verse 6 that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value at all.  The issue was not that the Galatians were going to be circumcised.  It was that they were going to be circumcised in order to justify themselves before God.  So Paul says in verse 4, if they try to justify themselves by their own actions they will alienate themselves from Christ.  

This is not something we can read casually.  This is terribly strong language.  If you choose not to walk in the freedom Jesus has given you, Christ will be of no value to you at all and you will alienate yourself from him.  Basically, we are freed to be free because it is only when we are free that we can follow Jesus Christ.  We cannot follow Jesus when we are weighed down by bitterness, hate, anger, lust, laziness, apathy or anything else.  If we make ourselves slaves at any point to anything other than Christ then we are slaves at every point.  As though Christ never died.

We are freed for freedom’s sake.  We are freed to have the freedom to obediently follow Jesus.  We are freed to have the freedom to live in the Spirit.  But what does that mean?  

Freedom to Live in the Spirit

Paul goes on in verses 5 and 6.  “But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”  I’m going to read those verses again because they are of central importance.  Many scholars have noted that the entire letter of Galatians could be summed up in these two verses (read Galatians 5:5,6 again).

We can choose to either walk in the freedom Christ has provided for us or not to walk in the freedom Christ has provided for us.  One way to discover whether we are walking in that freedom or not is to examine our own concept of righteousness.  Those of us who are not living in the freedom Christ provides are still trying to produce perfect righteousness here and now.  Those of us who are living in the freedom Christ provides are waiting faithfully and eagerly for the perfect righteousness that will ultimately be produced in us by the Spirit of God.  

The difference may seem subtle on the surface.  But the difference is actually profound.  Which of these best describes you?  If you’re not walking in the Spirit your energy is focused on self. You are trying to make yourself righteous.  If you are walking in the Spirit then your energy is focused on God. You are waiting for God to make them righteous.   If you’re not walking in the Spirit you seek direction from rules and formulas.  If you’re walking in the Spirit you seek direction from God. If you’re not walking in the Spirit you’re plagued by guilt when you fail to meet certain standards.  If you walk in the Spirit you’re possessed by a hunger and thirst for the righteousness you know you cannot obtain on your own.  Again, I ask, which of these best describes your day to day living? 

Now, contrary to popular belief, to be freed to live in freedom does not mean that we are freed to do  whatever we choose or  live however we choose.  It means that we are freed to live in the Spirit.  Though ilife in the Spirit is a life free from the law it is not a lawless life.  Remember that Jesus said that all of the Law is fulfilled in these two things: loving God and loving others.  It is only when we walk in the Spirit, when we walk in the freedom we have been given, that we are able to love God and love others well.  As we eagerly anticipate the righteousness that comes through the Spirit, Paul says, all that counts is faith expressing itself through love.  

The truth is we can only truly love God and love others well when we are walking in the freedom we have been given, when we are living in the Spirit.  Because love can only be love if it is given freely by someone who is truly free.  I cannot truly love God if I am loving God because I am commanded to, or because I think by loving God I will earn his love or his favor or his blessing.  Likewise, I cannot truly love others if I am trying to love them because I think I have to or because God expects me to.  Have you ever heard someone say, “I don’t like you but I have to love you because Jesus commands me too.”  With all due respect to anyone who may have said this in the past:  this is wild!  That is not love!  Love is not something that you force yourself to do against your will!    It’s true that love is not an emotion.  It’s an action.  But that doesn’t mean that we force ourselves to love people against our will because “Jesus says so”.  It means that we are free to love even those we hate because Jesus lives in us.    Love is not something we manufacture.  It is something that comes from God and flows through us as we walk in his Spirit.  

So as you evaluate whether or not you are living in the freedom Jesus gave you ask yourself about love.  If you want to know if you are walking in the Spirit ask yourself: Do you love God?  Do you love others?  If so, is it because you have to?  Or because as you walk in the Spirit you can do nothing else?  As we walk in freedom we eagerly await the righteousness that comes through the Spirit and we express our faith in love.  

Freedom to Face the Consequences

Let’s keep reading here verses 7-12.  The Galatians were living in the freedom Christ granted them.  They were running a good race, Paul says.  But the influence of the Judaizers has thrown them off of the track and they will have to pay the penalty for what they have done.  It may seem like Paul is over-reacting to the Judaizers.  But he is not.  He reminds the Galatians that even a little yeast will work through the whole batch of dough.  And when it comes to the Gospel of Christ and the freedom that it brings there is no room for even the slightest addition.  The issue of the Gospel is the issue.  There are so many things that we can debate in the Church.  We can disagree about issue after issue and yet not divide over it.  This is not the case with the Gospel.  This is not the case with the issue of living in the freedom Christ has given us.  it is an all or nothing issue.  Either you preach the Gospel of Christ and the freedom it brings as revealed in the Scripture  or you stand in judgment.  The Judaizers wanted to turn the Galatians into slaves.  They preached a gospel that required Jesus’ righteousness plus human righteousness.  About them Paul says, “I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves.”  

That is not a tolerant message.  Telling grown men that they should chop off their entire penises is not a good way to make friends.  Trust me, I’ve tried.  But that is how serious the issue of the Gospel is.  We are set free because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  Not by anything we do or do not do.  And we are set free for the purpose of remaining free and living in the freedom Christ has purchased for us.  And this freedom is so liberating that we cannot help but proclaim it to the world, no matter what the consequences.  

For Paul, proclaiming the Gospel of Christ meant certain persecution and eventual martyrdom.  And that persecution was the direct result of the content of his message: that Christ and Christ alone frees us and keeps us free.  He says in verse 11, “if I am still preaching circumcision why am I still being persecuted?”  The people of Paul’s day did not want to hear the message of salvation in Christ alone, through grace alone, and by faith alone.  The people of our day do not want to hear the message of salvation in Christ alone, through grace alone, and by faith alone.  The message is offensive and when we preach it we will face the consequences of rejection, ridicule, and in some cases persecution.  Even in the Church.  And like Paul we can avoid this rejection, ridicule, and persecution if we just slightly alter our message.  All Paul had to do was add circumcision to the Cross and he would not be persecuted.  All we have to do is add human effort to the Cross  and we will not be persecuted.  But if he was to do that, if we are to do that, we are not truly free.  We would be allowing other people to control what we believe and what we preach.  We would be allowing fear to constrain us.  But Christ has set us free from all these things.  He has freed us so that we can walk in true freedom. And when we live in freedom we are prepared to face whatever consequences that freedom may bring.  Even death.  Freedom is more valuable than safety and more precious than comfort.  Those of us who have received it from Christ ought to live in it.  

Conclusion  

There is an experiment that has been done on more than one dog on more than one occasion.  The humans behind the experiment will take a leash and tie one end of it to the dog and the other end of it to an immovable object.  Then they will place something that the dog wants, such as food, where the dog can easily see it.  The food is placed about 25 feet away but the dog’s leash is only 20 feet long.  So every time the dog tries to get to the food he is unable to reach it.  He is unable to do what he desires.  He is a slave to the 20 foot leash.  This is how the situation remains day after day after day until the dog realizes that he will not be able to reach the food, no matter how hard he tries.  At this point the humans behind the experiment remove the dog’s leash.  The food is still in the same place, only 25 feet away and in the dog’s line of vision.   Now that the leash has been removed the dog could run directly to the food without any resistance.  But he has been so conditioned to bondage that he does not even attempt to go for the food.  He still lives as though it is unreachable.  He has been set free but he is not yet living in that freedom.

That is the case for many of us who have been set free by Jesus Christ.  We have embraced the Cross but we still live as though the Cross never happened.  We know we are free but we do not live as though we are free.  But we should.  Because we can.  That is why Jesus set us free in the first place.  So that we would freely follow Jesus in the Spirit, freely hunger and thirst for the righteousness that comes through the Spirit, freely love God and love others through the power and love of the Holy Spirit, and live in the freedom of the Spirit no matter what the consequences.