Use Freedom to Be Free

Intro

A war had been fought—the bloodiest in our history. A President had been assassinated. An amendment to the Constitution had been signed into law. Once-enslaved men, women, and children were now legally emancipated. Yet Amazingly, many continued living in fear and squalor as though it had never happened. In a context of hard-earned freedom, many slaves chose to remain as slaves.

The Emancipation Proclamation changed our world, our country, our way of life for the better.

Battles were fought, both physical and legal. Sacrifices were made. and people made choices that would put everything they knew and loved at risk.

All of this was done, and the war for freedom was won. And while freedom had been won, many either were hesitant, or didn’t receive that freedom at all.

Why?

For some, it was because they were free, but didn’t have the means to survive on their own.

Others had lived their whole lives in chains.

Yet some actually preferred the “comforts” that slavery provided.

I think of the Israelites as they followed Moses through the desert, after God had freed them from the Egyptians in the book of Exodus

Exodus 16:2–3 ESV

2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

These people had witnessed God cause the plagues in Egypt and watched Him part the Red Sea for them, and wipe away the Egyptian army with the same water that He had used to save them.

They had so many reasons to trust that God had freed them and would provide for them, but when things became uncertain or difficult they forgot all of the bad they had been rescued from, and only remembered the convenience from before.

Anytime that we are offered a better way, there is uncertainty.

Freedom can be frightening, or Freeing.

Exegesis

This Semester we are going to spend some time in our small groups looking at the “Fruits of the Spirit”.

There are traits that do two main things.

They give evidence that someone is a truly living the Christian Life.

They give us guidelines, or a path, to us in order to grow and look more like Jesus.

The Fruits are: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and Self-control.

Every one of us have a fruits that we find easy, and fruits that we find really difficult.

But before we can really understand and display the fruits of the Spirit, we must first embrace the freedom that comes from God. Apart from Him these Fruits mean nothing.

Galatians 5:1–15 ESV

1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. 7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! 13 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. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

We were, or are, Slaves

In the first part of vs. 1 Paul tells uses what i think is one of the weirdest grammatical statements in the New Testament. “For Freedom Christ has set us free”

Is seems almost like a He’s saying the same thing twice, but there’s more here than a typo.

You see, Paul is saying that there is a reason that you have been set free. There is a reason that Jesus Died for us. There is a reason that those of us who have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior have been forgiven of our sins.

We’ve been set free to be free.

Pay attention, this is good. Jesus gave us the freedom of Salvation so that we could live a life free of the shame and weight of Sin.

Not so that we would run straight back to the sin that enslaved us to start with.

You tracking with me?

Look at the second part of vs. 1. “Stand Firm therefore, and do not submit AGAIN to a yoke of slavery

My Dad is one of 4 kids. My uncle Frank was a perfect example of what Paul is warning us against.

At a very young age, franky found Himself in the wrong group and became addicted to drugs. The drugs cost him his wife, his kids, and eventually cleaned out his bank account and he was broke. That led him to stealing. Short version of a long story is that he ended up going to jail.

Well, after he served his time, he was granted his freedom.

He was granted his freedom, so that he could be free. To live a free man’s life.

But soon after he got out, he ran straight back to the things that got him locked up. To the same things that stole his freedom from him.

Jesus gifts us with freedom, not so that we can run straight back to our sin, but because he loves us and wants us to have another chance to experience life the way he meant for us too.

“One Time” is never “One Time”

This is one of the greatest lies ever told.

Our world tells us to experience as much as we can. To be true to ourselves. To be the “best version of ourselves”. but those people rarely tell you the full story. They don’t tell you of the guilt that giving your yourself away to someone before marriage brings on your wedding day. They don’t tell you about the lasting mental and emotional damage that is caused by drug addiction. They don’t tell you about the families that have fallen apart because of Alcoholism or unfaithfulness. All of those things and more likely started as “one time”.

Paul tells us that:

Galatians 5:9 ESV

9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

This means that once a drop of sin is added. Is almost impossible to remove. It lingers, and presents itself in the worst possible moments. It causes shame, guilt, pain, and so much more.

You’ll always go farther with Sugar than with Vinegar.

This is an old saying, that means that you can get much more accomplished by being nice to people than by being mean and forceful.

But for us, think about it this way.

When we are living a life that display that fruits of the spirit. A life of true freedom in Christ. Our lives will be whole.

Paul Sums up it all up in the last few verses.

Galatians 5:13–17 ESV

13 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. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Closing

We can be Slaves or we can be free

“One time” is never “One Time” so guard your heart all of the time

You’ll get Farther with the Fruit of the Spirit, than you will with the Thorns of Sin.