Sermon Tone Analysis

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

“Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

“You were running well.

Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

This persuasion is not from him who calls you.

A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.

But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?

In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

“For you were called to freedom, brothers.

Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’

But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”[1]

Freedom is never free.

The Declaration of Independence of the United States declares profound truth when it states that certain truths defining man’s condition are self-evident: “all men are created equal” and all men “are endowed with certain unalienable Rights,” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

However, not all people are free, for slavery and thraldom have marked humanity since the fall of our first parents.

Therefore, wars are fought, and will continue to be fought, to secure freedom for populations and to depose tyrants.

Securing political freedom entails great costs; maintaining freedom demands perhaps still greater sacrifice.

Living as free people requires the acceptance of immense responsibility.

What is true in the political world is equally true in the religious world.

Man is either free, or he is a slave; either he is held in bondage, or he enjoys liberty.

The Word of God is unsparing in its declaration that mankind is enslaved.

Believers were “once slaves of sin” [*Romans 6:17, 20*], though they are now said to be “slaves of righteousness” [*Romans 6:18*].

People who live in fear of the opinion of others are identified as “slaves of men” [*1 Corinthians 7:23*].

Tragically, many religious people become slaves to their religion [see *2 Corinthians 11:20*].

The Apostle says that those who live by the Law are held captive [see *Romans 7:6*].

Outside of Christ, people are “enslaved to those that by nature are not gods” [*Galatians 4:8*].

We Christians were “once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing out days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another” [*Titus 3:3*].

There is the very real danger of being snared by the devil—“captured to do his will” [*1 Timothy 3:7*; *2 Timothy 2:26*].

The minds of unbelievers have been blinded by the god of this world [*2 Corinthians 4:4*].

Thus, “they are darkened in their understanding [and] alienated from the life of God” [*Ephesians 4:18*].

It would be appropriate to entitle the Letter to the Churches of Galatia as “The Gospel of Liberty.”

In this letter, Paul stresses the liberty of the child of God.

It is appropriate on this day in which the American states celebrate their independence from the old feudal system of tyranny that we who are Christians should consider the freedom we are given in Christ the Lord.

My sincere prayer is that as this message is delivered, those who have yet to discover the freedom we enjoy in Christ will be encouraged to consider the freedom that attends the life that He offers.

Let me say at the outset that the message is not meant to be a political polemic, though it must, of necessity, address the freedom we enjoy as citizens of this great land.

Perhaps I should address the subject of licence since it undoubtedly has touched the lives of many of the professed saints of God; and I shall speak of this subject if time permits.

My primary concern is to speak to the matter that compelled the Apostle to speak pointedly as he did.

The Galatian Christians were being infiltrated by individuals that had the appearance of godly men.

However, they were enslaving the saints through restricting the freedom that they had previously enjoyed in Christ the Lord.

Tragically, believers in the Risen Son of God are susceptible to voluntarily turning away from the freedom they have known in Christ, embracing chains and bonds even while imagining that they are serving the Son of God.

*The Declaration* — “For freedom Christ has set us free … You were called to freedom, brothers.”

Freedom is never absolute—there are limits to freedom.

Moreover, there are higher authorities to whom we must each give an account for our lives and our conduct.

Governments are appointed or elected, or they assume power, and the citizens must obey their rule.

Certainly, Christians are to yield allegiance to those whom God has permitted to rule over them.

Likewise, each individual must give an accounting to God who gives us life.

As the Wise Man has observed, “the spirit returns to God who gave it” [*Ecclesiastes** 12:7b*].

To deny this obvious truth is to declare oneself an anarchist.

Social conventions and cultural rules direct our daily conduct.

Such conventions and cultural dicta may be contravened, but there are always consequences for any violation of these rules.

Just as society and culture dictates how we act, whether right or wrong, there are more fundamental strictures placed on each human being.

Man is inherently free, endowed by certain unalienable rights by the Creator.

Unless he has violated the prohibition against depriving another of life, an individual must not be deprived of his own life.

Unless she has deprived another individual of possessions rightfully owned, no person should be deprived of liberty to move about.

Certainly, an individual should enjoy freedoms such as those enumerated in the American Bill of Rights—freedom of religion and freedom of speech[2], freedom to defend life and property[3], freedom from governmental seizure of property without just compensation[4], freedom to be secure in person and in property[5], freedom from capricious prosecution[6], freedom from aberrant process before the law[7], freedom from fear of injustice perpetuated by government[8], freedom from incarceration without lawful process[9], and freedom from imposition of laws by a legislature that exempts itself from those same laws[10].

Living in Canada, we have similar rights and freedoms which have been enumerated in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Among the freedoms enshrined in this document are “freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; freedom of peaceful assembly; and freedom of association.”[11]

There is a significant difference between the American Declaration of Independence and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Assuredly, the Canadian document reveals the undue influence of lawyers, written as it is in legalese, but it is the appeal to God that distinguishes the two documents.

The American document appeals to the Creator and Nature’s God, whereas the Canadian document mentions God only transiently.

While I have no intention of permitting the message to devolve into a political treatise; of necessity I am compelled to point out what should be obvious dangers to freedoms—freedoms which are ours as sentient beings created to know God and to enjoy Him forever.

Ultimately, every freedom that we enjoy has its origin in God who gives us life.

It is not without reason that the first freedom enumerated by the amendments of the American Constitution is the freedom of religion.

By logical extension, trammelling that freedom must lead inevitably to restrictions in freedom of thought and freedom of speech, and impact freedom of association.

Historically, Baptists have proven to be champions of the concept of freedom of religion.

A Baptist would rather lose his own religious liberty than to restrict the freedom of another to pursue their faith or their lack of faith according to the dictates of their own heart.

Baptists once held convictions; but our Faith has been reduced to a mere religious preference, an homogenisation of contemporary religious expressions casually tossed about in order to create a new religious practise that offends no one and challenges none, and which is indistinguishable from all other religions.

Nevertheless, Baptists once understood the tenets of our Faith and boldly championed them to the benefit of all other religions.

The Faith held by Baptists was at one time grounded in the revealed will of God as provided in this most Holy Word.

That cannot always be said in the modern church context.

It would be impossible in the time allotted to examine in detail the freedom that accrues to the child of God because of his or her relationship to God who is the Author of freedom.

However, I daresay that few evangelicals actually realise the freedom we are given in Christ the Lord.

Consequently, few of us who know the Lord actually walk in freedom.

We permit ourselves to be bound by the expectations of others, or we allow ourselves to be held in check by the threatened censure of some whom we imagine to be better versed in Scripture than we are.

We are ignorant of the Word of God and uncertain what is His will for our lives.

Consequently, the lives of Christians are often marked by genuine fear arising out of uncertainty about what the Word of God says.

We are more versed in modern cultural norms than we are in biblical tenets.

Thus we willingly compromise faith and practise out of a desire to avoid conflict with obstreperous and assertive brothers.

We become more focused on securing the approval of mere mortals than we are in seeking the approval of the Living God.

For this reason, we frequently fail to serve God with our whole being, content to avoid “rocking the boat” or content to “keep the peace.”

Though we may privately hold that we have freedom in a particular activity, we tend naturally to gravitate to one of two extremes—either we cower at the thought that someone may disapprove of the liberty we enjoy, or we become defiant whenever we imagine that someone inveighs against our freedom.

However, we must not depreciate the freedom we have received in the Son of God.

Because of our fallen natures, it is vital that we be reminded of what the Apostle is not saying.

Paul is not saying that we have no responsibility to be obedient to government.

We cannot use the freedom we have found in Christ the Lord to justify disobedience to those elected to govern our nation.

Elsewhere, he has instructed believers in their responsibility to government, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.

For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.

Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?

Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good.

But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.

For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.