Freedom to Love

Outline

Introduction: What you believe impacts how you behave

God wants his people to be free

In what way are we naturally enslaved?

i. Everyone has a “Center”

ii. Everyone is a slave, both religious and irreligious people

How did Christ free us?

i. Christ’s life and death forgives us when we fail and satisfies us when we get him

Christ-followers use their freedom to serve through love

How do we use this new freedom? i. NOT to serve ourselves (‘opportunity for the flesh’) – 1 Pet. 2:16, Jude 4

1. flesh – works of the flesh (v. 19-21)

2. rivalry – bite and devour each other (v. 15)

ii. TO enslave ourselves to others from love (‘through love serve one another’)

1. fulfill the law – love your neighbor as yourself (v. 14)

You’ll never be able to serve others from love until you’ve been set free by the one who became a slave himself

Mark 10:43-45
John 13:3-5, 12-16
Phil. 2:6-8

Message

One of the core things we believe at East Valley Bible Church is that what we believe affects how we behave. We don’t view doctrine or theology as unimportant or secondary. Instead, we think that what you know and believe about God is the foundation and the source of living a life that is honoring to God.

Doctrine or theology (what you believe about God) are like the root of a tree. If the root of the tree is good, the fruit will be good. If the root is weak or malnourished, the fruit will not be very strong or healthy. Now, it is possible to have intellectual agreement with certain doctrines or truth and not have them really transform your life. The devil would be a perfect example of this. He knows more about God than anyone in this room, but he hates God and will be punished forever for it.

That is why we don’t merely teach about doctrine in an intellectual way, nor do we just pick and choose our pet doctrines. We teach the whole Bible and we don’t shrink from anything that it says.

Also, we believe that doctrine is practical. The purpose of rightly understanding God’s word is that it makes a huge difference in your life. This is not some kind of esoteric study that makes us feel good about ourselves. No, this is study that impacts the way we live.

We know that if a person has a heart that is committed to God, then rightly understanding doctrine or theology will be the root that sustains a lifetime of healthy, vibrant fruit. What we believe—not what we say we believe, but what we actually believe—affects how we behave.

Today we are going to study a verse that is a perfect example of this reality. The first half of the verse gives us the doctrine and the second half tells us how it should impact our lives.

Turn with me to Galatians 5:13. As you turn there, let me remind you of the background of Galatians.

The book of Galatians was one of the Apostle Paul’s earliest letters, written to a group of churches in Galatia (which is modern day Turkey). He wrote the book to counter those who were teaching that Christians must rigorously keep the Old Testament law in order to be accepted by God. These teachers, called the Judaizers, were teaching that it was good to believe in Jesus but in order to be fully accepted by God, these new believers needed to be circumcised and obey certain food laws. Thus, these Judaizers were legalists who taught that if you obey God, he’ll accept you. Therefore, the theme of Galatians is “Freedom,” and you see the concept in a number of places.

1:4 - 4who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

2:4 - 4Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery—

3:23 - 23Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

4:3-5 - 3In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

This theme of freedom culminates in Galatians 5:1:

5:1 - 1For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Our passage today, Galatians 5:13, picks up on this theme:

Galatians 5:13 - 13For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

1. God wants his people to be free.

The first part of verse 13 says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers.” This reemphasizes what we read in verse 1, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Christians are called to freedom, which raises a few questions.

First, in what way are we naturally enslaved?

Most people, especially Americans, don’t feel enslaved in any way. Some of you know you are enslaved—to an addiction, a person’s approval, to your anger or bitterness, to your past—but most people don’t have any idea that they are slaves. But they are.

i. Everyone is living for something.

Everyone has to live for something—something that we think will give us a sense of significance and satisfaction. We all then have a “personal center,” a bottom line, an ultimate value by which we sort through all the activities of life and set priorities. It may be career, possessions, appearance, romance, peer groups, achievement, good causes, moral character, religion, marriage, children, friendships or a combination of several. Without this “bottom line,” our life would be completely meaningless.

Often times, these things are good things that become ultimate things. It is good to be hard-working, be loved, have good kids, and be a good preacher—but those things often become the ultimate thing. They become the bottom line that defines us.

My sister-in-law Maggie is a freshman volleyball player at the University of Michigan. She told us recently about meeting a young man on campus and after she introduced herself, he replied, “Hi, I’m the next quarterback at Michigan.” It was clear what he was living for.

What defines you?

ii. Everyone is a Slave.

Whatever we live for has control over us. We do not control ourselves. The things we live for enslave us with guilt (if we fail to attain them) or anger (if someone blocks them from us) or fear (if they are threatened) or drivenness (since we must have them) or despair (if we ever lose them completely).

It is very hard to honestly answer the question, “What am I living for?” This is because we tend to say the right thing. But, the best way to figure out what you’re actually living for is to ask, “What scares me to death? What gives me nightmares? What could happen that would absolutely devastate me? What makes me white hot with anger?” Those questions reveal the real answer.

If you want people to like you and you get criticized, you’re devastated because the very thing you live for has been harmed. If you live for comfort and your comfort is threatened, you become angry and harsh. If you live to be a very good person and then you blow it, you become despondent. You are a slave to whatever you center your life on.

Jesus makes it clear that we are always serving something. We are always the slave and never the master. He says in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

This means that…

Even the most irreligious people are really worshipping something. Whatever thing or things from which we choose to derive our value become the ultimate meaning in our lives – thus it serves as a ‘god’ and gives us a sense of worth or `righteousness’ even if we don’t think in those terms.

Even the most religious people are not really worshipping God. Religious people may look to God as Helper, Teacher, and Example, but it is their moral performance, which is serving as their Savior. They are just as guilty and self-hating if they fail it, just as angry and resentful if someone blocks it, just as fearful and anxious if something threatens it, just as driven “to be good.”

Since we are naturally slaves to sin, we often try to stop sinning by imposing some rules—this is what was going on with the Judaizers. But this is trying to stop slavery to sin by becoming a slave to law. It’s exchanging one form of slavery for another. Irreligious people are slaves to their passions and desires. Religious people are slaves to their morality and rules.

So both religious and irreligious people are avoiding God as Savior and Lord, but in different ways. Both are seeking to keep control of their own lives by looking to something besides God as their salvation. Neither is truly free.

So, How does Christ free us?

Look back at Galatians 4:4-5 – “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

If everyone is living for something and everyone is a slave, then everyone needs a substitute.

“Sin” then is us substituting ourselves for God, putting ourselves where only God deserves to be—as Savior and Lord of our lives.

“Salvation” is God substituting himself for us, coming to earth in Jesus and putting himself where only we deserve to be—living the life we should have lived and dying the death we should have died.

“The Solution”

To become a Christian is first to admit the problem: that you have been substituting yourself for God either by religion (trying to be your own savior by obedience to moral standards) or by irreligion (trying to be your own lord by disobedience to moral standards).

And second to accept the remedy: asking God to accept you for Jesus’ sake and know that you are loved and accepted because of his record, not yours.

Jesus is the only Master who forgives you when you fail him and who satisfies you when you get him. Nothing else ever will. If you live for your kids and something happens to them, it will haunt you forever. If you fail your career, you’ll beat yourself up forever. And it won’t satisfy you. But Jesus always forgives and always satisfies.

True freedom comes from having Jesus as your substitute and Master. This is why Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Jesus lived and died to create a people who were truly free from sin and free from bondage to religion. Trusting in him sets you free.

So, if you are a person who has already placed your trust in him, Galatians 5:13 calls you to live as a free person. You have been called to freedom! Galatians 5:1 says, “Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” If you’ve been set free by Jesus but find yourself really living for other things, admit your idolatry and live in the freedom of Christ.

2. Christians use their freedom to serve through love.

The news that we have freedom through Christ’s perfect life and substitutionary death is truly good news—that is why the word “gospel” means “good news.” But the question remains, How do we use this new freedom? If you’ve truly been set free by Jesus, what should you do?

Paul addresses this question by stating it both negatively and positively.

First, he says “do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.”

The word “opportunity” was originally a military term for “a base of operations.”[1] Paul is saying that our newfound freedom should not be the launching pad for living sinfully indulgent lives. The good news of the Gospel is that even when we do indulge our flesh and live sinfully, we are still free. There is still no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1).

Nonetheless, Christ did not die in order for us to continue serving ourselves and our passions. If our freedom results in unrestrained pursuit of sin, we have to really question whether we’ve actually been freed or if we’re in fact still a slave to sin.

The flesh that Paul warns against is described just a few verses later in verses 19-21: “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

This kind of fleshly indulgence was already happening to the Galatians and Paul gives an example in verse 15: “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” The indication is that this biting and devouring was already taking place (the verbs are present tense). These believers were like wild animals biting and fighting with each other. Paul warns them that if this continues, they will end up consuming each other. The picture of the word “consume” is the idea of a fire licking up something until it is utterly destroyed.

Isn’t it sad that we have such a tendency to bite and devour one another? This is not talking about opposition or persecution from outside. This is talking about people in the church who are against each other. There was all kinds of strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and envy—the very thing Paul condemns as “works of the flesh.”

We have to be honest and say that we are not immune from this same danger. One of the unspoken core values at East Valley Bible Church is sarcasm, which is one of the things that I particularly like about it. But sarcasm can easily lead to meanness and hurtful things. If you are naturally sarcastic, like me, you need to watch out that your words don’t harm people.

Also, in a large church like ours, there is great temptation to break up into little tribes and develop rivalries. We begin to attach moral value to the ministries and programs we like and we villainize others. We develop loyalty to certain leaders or styles or preferences and, if we don’t watch our hearts, we can get divided and factious. “I’m of Tom, I’m of Gary, I’m of Matthew, I’m of Tim.” “I’m of Area Ministries, I’m of Student Ministries, I’m of Worship Ministries, I’m of Women’s Ministries, etc.”

Paul addressed this in 1 Corinthians 1:12-13 and said, ‘What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?’

So, Paul is saying that if you’re among those who are biting and devouring others, “watch out” that you don’t destroy people.

Okay, back to the question, How do I use my freedom?

Second, Paul addresses it positively by saying that we use our freedom to serve one another through love.

This is such an interesting play on words. Paul has showed us that we are free. We are not to submit again to slavery, because we are free in Christ. But now, at the end of verse 13 he says, “but through love serve one another.” What makes this verse so interesting is that the word “serve” literally means “be a slave of.” The exact word is used in Galatians 4:8,9,25. It’s the same word used back in Matthew 6:24 that says, “You cannot serve two masters.”

So, Paul is saying “You are now free in Christ. Don’t submit to a yoke of slavery. But, now that you’ve been set free, voluntarily enslave yourself to serving others.”

The same idea is found in 1 Peter 2:16 – “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.”

Why would you do this? Why would you voluntarily enslave yourself to serving others?

Love.

It says, “through love serve one another.” In other words, you aren’t serving out of duty. You aren’t serving because you’re forced to. You aren’t serving because it will earn you anything or merit some approval. You aren’t serving people because they will pay you back. No, you’re serving because of love. Your entire motivation has changed.

In his book, Scandalous Freedom, Steve Brown tells the story of Abraham Lincoln going to a slave market (12-13).

There he noted a young, beautiful African-American woman being auctioned off to the highest offer. He bid on her and won. He could see the anger in the woman’s eyes and could imagine what she was thinking, Another white man who will buy me, use me, and then discard me.

As Lincoln walked off with his “property,” he turned to the woman and said, “You’re free.”

“Yeah. What does that mean?” she replied.

“It means you’re free.”

“Does that mean I can say whatever I want to say?”

“Yes,” replied Lincoln, smiling, “it means you can say whatever you want to say.”

“Does it mean,” she asked incredulously, “that I can be whatever I want to be?”

“Yes, you can be whatever you want to be.”

“Does it mean,” the young woman said hesitantly, “that I can go wherever I want to go?”

“Yes, it means you are free and can go wherever you want to go.”

“Then,” said the young woman with tears welling up in her eyes, “I think I’ll go with you.”

When you have been truly set free by the radical love of Jesus, you can’t help but want to go with him and live on his agenda. You don’t do it because you have to, but because you want to.

And now, you gladly obey Christ and his command to love. You take your eyes off of yourself and off of serving your needs and wants and you begin to “love your neighbor as yourself,” which Paul says in verse 14 “fulfills the law of Christ.”

John Piper describes love this way:

“We love other people when we stop using them as means to supply our deficiencies and instead rejoice in the divine enablement for us to supply their deficiencies.”[2]

Instead of using people for our benefit, we now serve people for their good. Instead of walking into a room and looking for how the people in that room can meet your needs, you walk into the room and think, “How can I serve the people here?”

Instead of merely being a consumer of church, you begin to serve and love people and participate in being the church. This is a radical approach to life—one that you will enjoy and God will bless more than you can imagine.

[The church website currently has a listing of service opportunities within the church. There are all kinds of ways to serve and many needs that you can meet.]

But, this kind of life does not come easy. In fact, this kind of sacrificial, serving-others-out-of-love kind of life only comes one way.

3. You’ll never be able to serve others from love until you’ve been set free by the one who became a slave himself.

If you look at this idea of serving others out of love and you realize that you’re more about self than about service, then there is only one way to have your heart and attitude changed. You can’t merely try to serve people with your will. Paul doesn’t write, “Through willpower serve one another.” No, he says, “through love serve one another.” Where do you get this love?

Well, we’ll finish this morning with where we started: Jesus has to set you free. Only when you’ve been truly set free by the one who became a slave himself will you have the power to follow him into serving others out of love.

Consider the following passages:

Mark 10:43-45 - 43But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

John 13:3-5, 12-16 - 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him…12When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

Philippians 2:6-8 - 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Only when your heart has been melted by the One who gave up his freedom and became a slave for you, will you be free enough to become a slave to others out of love. Until then—whether you’re a Christian or not—you’ll be living for something or someone else, living as a slave, indulging your flesh and devouring others. But Jesus frees us to love him and love others.

Let’s pray.

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[1]G. Walter Hansen, Galatians, The IVP New Testament commentary series (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1994), Ga 5:13.

[2] Dr. John Piper, “Saving Faith Produces Love.” http://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/83/060583.html