True Freedom

With the fourth of July coming up this week, there is a lot of discussion about freedom.

I am so grateful for the freedoms we enjoy in our nation, especially for the freedom to do what we are doing this morning. These freedoms have come at great cost of those who have sacrificed so much of their lives to protect and preserve them.

When some think of freedom, though, they define it differently than things like freedom of religion or speech.

In many parts of our culture, freedom means that I have the liberty to do whatever I want to do. If it feels right and it doesn’t seem to hurt anyone, I am free to do whatever I want to do.

We claim this kind of freedom to cheat a little on our finances, to walk away from our marriage, or to express ourselves sexually however we want.

Can I submit to you this morning that license to do whatever I want is not freedom at all?

In fact, in Christ, we find greater freedom than those secured by our national constitution or than we can dream of through doing whatever we think is best.

In Christ, we have true freedom—the freedom to live the life God created us to live.

As we look at Galatians 5 this morning, we are going to see what that freedom really looks like.

Remember, Paul has been confronting false teachers who were troubling the churches in Galatia.

They were teaching that you had to follow the Jewish law to really be right with God.

Paul has made the argument that the law can’t make us right with God because none of us can actually keep it.

The only way to really be right with God is to recognize what Jesus has done by dying in your place, rising from the dead, and responding to all God has done and is doing by putting your faith, your trust in him and him alone.

You don’t get right with God by keeping the ceremonies that God gave his people in the Old Testament, because Jesus completed those pictures.

All we can do is look to Jesus, surrender to him, and cry out for his forgiveness and salvation.

When we do, we have seen that our old life dies and now Christ lives in us!

Now, we are going to see that the life Christ lives in us is a life of true freedom.

Pick up in 5:1...

Again, speaking to these believers who were getting confused by the false teachers, Paul says that Jesus has set us free, so we don’t have to submit to the slavery of the law that we could never keep.

Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Rightly understood, this freedom is an incredible relief.

However, what we are going to spend the rest of our time looking at this morning is what freedom really means.

It isn’t just constitutional rights, and it isn’t freedom to do whatever we want. It is incredible, it is powerful, and it is beautiful.

In a sentence, we will see that Jesus sets us free to live the way we were created to live.

In order to unpack that this morning, we are going to look at two different aspects of our freedom this morning. The second is probably going to be longer than the first, so hang with us.

First, we see that...

1) We are free to serve in love.

Pick up in 5:13-15.

Let’s pause on that first statement in verse 13 - “You were called to be free.”

When Christ saved you, he called you from slavery to sin and the law you could never uphold and called you to freedom.

Here is how Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe expresses our freedom:

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Ten: The Fifth Freedom (Galatians 5:13–26)

The Christian is a free man. He is free from the guilt of sin because he has experienced God’s forgiveness. He is free from the penalty of sin because Christ died for him on the cross. And he is, through the Spirit, free from the power of sin in his daily life. He is also free from the Law with its demands and threats. Christ bore the curse of the Law and ended its tyranny once and for all.

If you are in Christ, you are free!

Here’s where we begin to see that the freedom we have in Christ isn’t an absolute freedom to do whatever we want, though.

Look at what he followed up the statement with (13b)

In our next point, we are going to talk more about what he means by “an opportunity for the flesh”, but for now, remember that here “the flesh” refers to the part of us that was sinful and corrupted. That’s the part of us that Christ put to death on the cross.

Interestingly, the first direction Paul turns in our discussion of how this freedom plays out is our relationship to other people.

Freedom in Christ doesn’t mean that I get to treat people however I want.

No, freedom in Christ means that now I am free and able to fulfill the greatest commands in the Law, which Jesus said were to love God and others.

Now, we can serve other brothers and sisters in Christ and even those who aren’t yet saved by loving them with the same love that Christ showed us.

Without Jesus, even the most altruistic or kind and giving people are driven by selfish motives. They are not seeking to honor God, and so ultimately, it is about what they think is best or want to do.

They cannot love to the same extent we can because they have never experienced the love we have.

Jesus has loved us so much that he would die in our place and has been raised from the dead and offers us his life in place of our sin.

When we encounter that kind of love, we see that love isn’t just emotion; in fact, it is more clearly defined in the way we act.

Love, then, means we are going to sacrifice for others the way Jesus sacrificed for us. We are going to put the needs of others ahead of our own and seek to show that same love to everyone we can.

Now that you are free from being entrapped by sin and selfishness, you are free to love like Jesus loved.

What does the opposite of love look like?

Look back at verse 15...

Pretty graphic picture, isn’t it? When we bite, when we gossip, when we devour and tear down each other, we aren’t living like those who are free.

That is the way the flesh acts—I want to get what’s mine, and I don’t care who I hurt in the process. You hurt me, so I am going to hurt you back.

Jesus has set you free, so act like it!

You are free to serve and love others.

The second aspect of our freedom gives us more insight into how we are able to serve and love.

We are also...

2) We are free to walk by the Spirit.

Pick up in verses 16-17...

Here, we are commanded to walk by the Spirit.

You might read that wrongly and think that maybe the Spirit is like some idol or something that you walk past.

That isn’t what Paul means at all.

The word “walk” in the Bible has the idea of the way we live and conduct our lives.

Now that Jesus lives in me, I am now able to walk, or live my life, by the power and work of the Holy Spirit.

If you are wondering, “What does that even mean,” then just hang with me for a minute. We are going to see some really practical things in a moment that are going to help us clear up what it means to “walk by the Spirit.”

First, though, let’s see what he is arguing in these verses.

Before God drew you to himself, you were controlled by your flesh—you did what you wanted and thought was best and didn’t seek to honor God.

That kind of life is completely opposed to a life that surrenders to Christ and seeks to put him first in everything.

So when you and I are walking by the Spirit, we will be living the life God created us to live morally.

We won’t be doing the stuff that our flesh conditioned us to want to do because that is the opposite of what God leads us to do.

The reverse is also true—if I keep walking like the flesh is in charge, then I need to be careful because I am not walking in the Spirit, which may mean I am not even right with God at all.

So our goal, then, is to walk in step with the Spirit, following his leading and living the way God has freed us to live. That’s the right thing to do, and it keeps us from living the way the flesh wants us to live.

How do I know if I am walking in the flesh or in the Spirit?

The next verses are going to give us some clear answers to that question.

While we know that sin starts in our hearts, it is displayed in our actions as well.

That’s what Paul is going to point out, starting with the works of the flesh.

Pick up in verses 19-21...

Instead of picking each of these apart to draw the lines, let’s put these sins into categories.

One of the clearest categories of sin that is a mark of the flesh is sexual sin. He lists out immorality, impurity, promiscuity, and carousing in these verses.

The scope of these words mean he says that anything outside of God’s design for sex is sin.

God’s design, by the way, is that sex is to be expressed and enjoyed by one man and one woman whose lives have been joined in the covenant of marriage.

That means anything outside God’s design is evidence of the flesh. That includes pornography, adultery, premarital sex, homosexuality, and anything else that deviates from God’s pattern.

He mentions drunkenness, which is pretty clear.

He also mentions sins of idolatry and sorcery. While we don’t practice those as overtly in the US, we still put something else at the first place of our hearts that isn’t God, and that is idolatry. We get superstitious with Zodiac signs and other rituals. Those too are marks of the flesh.

Notice the ones in the middle, though, because those are sometimes less obvious to us: hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, and envy.

Hating someone, especially your brother or sister in Christ, is in the same list as drunkeness and extramarital affairs.

Stirring up dissension, taking sides and forming factions instead of staying united around Christ—all these are works of the flesh.

Being jealous or envious of someone else is a work of the flesh.

Those aren’t the only works of the flesh, though—they are just a representative list of some of the most common ways we show that we are walking in the flesh.

Surely those aren’t that big a deal, right?

Did you see the last part of verse 15?

We all sin at times, but notice he says “those who practice such things...” He is referring to those whose regularly, routinely practice these kinds of sins.

The question you have to ask when you look at your life is, “Does this characterize the way I live?”

Is my life characterized by the flesh, by sexual sin, idolatry, hatred, and dissensions?

Then you need to spend some time making sure that you really have surrendered to Christ.

How should our lives look, then?

Pick up in verses 22-23...

If we have been set free from the law and the flesh, then we should be walking by the Spirit.

How can we know? By the fruit of our life—what comes out of your life?

It should be, in growing measure, the attributes listed in these verses.

There should be moral goodness and self-control instead of sexual impurity; faithfulness instead of idolatry; peace, patience, and gentleness instead of strife, dissensions, and envy.

That’s the kind of thing the law was pointing us to—a life that honored God.

How, though? How can we do this? Read verse 24.

Because the flesh has been crucified, I am now free to live or walk by the Spirit.

That’s what Paul admonishes us to do…read verse 25.

What a great thing to pray, by the way! God, make my every step today be in step with your Spirit. I don’t want to get ahead, I don’t want to lag behind, and I don’t want to turn to the right or the left.

This is a great way to pray for the church and the Leadership Team in the days ahead as well—God, keep us from walking like we still were trapped by our flesh, and instead, help us keep in step with the Spirit with every step we take moving forward.

If you are in Christ, you have been called to freedom. That freedom isn’t a freedom to be selfish—that is actually slavery to your on desires, and they will never be satisfied.

You have been set free to serve one another through the love that Jesus showed you on the cross and shows you daily as he sustains you.

You have been set free to live out your life, walking by the Spirit, with your life producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness.

You didn’t earn this on your own; you were set free when Jesus took your place on the cross, paid for your sin, drew you to himself, and forgave you as you placed your faith in him.

So, then, here’s the question: Which of these lists looks more like your life?

Are there areas where you are still living in the flesh, whether that is sexual sin, idolatry, or through jealousy, strife, and division?

Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have trusted Jesus? If so, the practice of your life should look different—you shouldn’t be driven by the flesh, although you will still sin at times.

If you know you are in Christ, what attitude or pattern do you need to replace?

Maybe there is a positive to celebrate this morning—Is there one of those fleshly areas that used to characterize you, but God has given you strength to overcome it? Is there a particular aspect of the fruit of the Spirit that God has helped you cultivate? Thank him for that.

If things are going well, ask him to help you stay in step with the Spirit in your daily walk. This is a daily, hourly, moment-by-moment kind of request, so take time to ask him to keep you guided.

Through Christ, you enjoy the greatest freedom in history. Let’s ask him to help us live like it this week.