Free for Freedom

Jesus not only frees us from our sins but also provided us a path to encounter the fullness of God.

INTRODUCTON

INTRODUCTON

Welcome

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Series: Pathways to Freedom

Guided

by the ethos of our value of freedom

We are liberated through the person and work of Jesus to unceasingly experience the Spirit’s transformative power and presence, and as a distinct people marked by this freedom, we delight to behold and encounter the face of God as the Kingdom breaks in among us.

We are liberated through the person and work of Jesus to unceasingly experience the Spirit’s transformative power and presence, and as a distinct people marked by this freedom, we delight to behold and encounter the face of God as the Kingdom breaks in among us.

Explored

Exploring

Week 1: Free for Freedom

MAIN POINT: As children of God, we believe that Jesus not only frees us from our sins but also provided us a path to encounter the fullness of God with regularity, made us to operate in concert with the Holy Spirit, & experience His Kingdom breaking in among us. Personal renovation 

Week 2: Temples of the Holy Spirit

MAIN POINT: As children of God, we believe that Jesus not only frees us from our sins but also provided us a path to encounter the fullness of God with regularity, made us to operate in concert with the Holy Spirit, & experience His Kingdom breaking in among us. Personal renovation 

Week 3: Live by the Spirit

Main Point

As children of God, we believe that Jesus not only frees us from our sins but also provided us a path to encounter the fullness of God with regularity, made us to operate in concert with the Holy Spirit, & experience His Kingdom breaking in among us. Personal renovation 

As children of God, we believe that Jesus not only frees us from our sins, but also provided us a path to encounter the fullness of God.

Stand As I Read

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

Prayer

Holy God - in this precious hour, we pause and gather to hear your word - to do so, we break from our work responsibilities and from our play fantasies; we move from our fears that overwhelm and from our ambitions that are too strong. Free us in these moments from every distraction, that we may focus to listen, that we may hear, that we may change. Amen.

That we may change Holy God - in this precious hour, we pause and gather to hear your word - to do so, we break from our work responsibilities and from our play fantasies; we move from our fears that overwhelm and from our ambitions that are too strong. Free us in these moments from every distraction, that we may focus to listen, that we may hear, that we may change. Amen. Pretoria, South Africa/August 1996

Walter Brueggemann. Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann (Kindle Location 410). Kindle Edition.

YOLK OF SLAVERY

was a letter written sometime between A.D. 48 and 55, by Paul, to a group of churches in Galatia, a region of present-day Turkey.

English Standard Version Introduction

Paul’s letter to the Galatians was addressed to a group of churches in Galatia, a region of present-day Turkey. Paul had preached the gospel in these churches. He wrote to counter those who taught that Christians must be circumcised in order to be accepted by God. Paul began with a defense of his apostolic authority (chs. 1–2), then made it clear that all believers, Jew and Gentile alike, enjoy complete salvation in Christ (chs. 3–4). In chapters 5–6 Paul showed how the gospel of grace leads to true freedom and godly living. Perhaps the central message of Galatians is “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (2:16). Paul wrote this letter sometime between A.D. 48 and 55.

Paul had preached the gospel in these churches. Here, he is writing to counter those who taught that Christians must be circumcised in order to be accepted by God.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians was addressed to a group of churches in Galatia, a region of present-day Turkey. Paul had preached the gospel in these churches. He wrote to counter those who taught that Christians must be circumcised in order to be accepted by God. Paul began with a defense of his apostolic authority (chs. 1–2), then made it clear that all believers, Jew and Gentile alike, enjoy complete salvation in Christ (chs. 3–4). In chapters 5–6 Paul showed how the gospel of grace leads to true freedom and godly living. Perhaps the central message of Galatians is “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (2:16). Paul wrote this letter sometime between A.D. 48 and 55.

Judaizers

Judaizers - Paul is challenging the pathway of the past

Christian Jews attempted to impose the Jewish way of life on gentile Christians. 

The issue that concerns Paul is not simply whether or not a person follows the Jewish way of life, but whether one thinks that salvation is attained by them

“Under the Law”

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? - (ESV)

The Law refers to

The OT in general,

The law means variously the OT in general, the Torah (especially the Pentateuch or first five books of the Bible), the Ten Commandments or the several codes of conduct that identified Israel as set apart and in covenantal relationship with God.

But also, The Torah ( first five books of the Bible)

The Ten Commandments (Ex & Duet)

the Ten Commandments or the several codes of conduct that identified Israel as set apart

In covenantal relationship with God.

in covenantal relationship with God.

Jesus summarized the law with two commandments: to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself.

Paul declares that the law is fulfilled in Jesus, who sets humans free from the law’s penalty of death.

Legalism

Systems of Morality

Systems of Morality breed - Legalism is the attitude that identifies morality with the strict observance of laws or that views adherence to moral codes as defining the boundaries of a community. Religious legalism focuses on obedience to laws or moral codes based on the (misguided) assumption that such obedience is a means of gaining divine favor.

The attitude that identifies morality with the strict observance of laws as defining the boundaries of a community.

Religious Morality

Religious legalism focuses on obedience to laws or moral codes based on the (misguided) assumption that such obedience is a means of gaining divine favor.

The Law of the Spirit

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. - (ESV)

The Spirit

spirit refers to life itself, to the life principle and above all to God as the source and giver of life.

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the one triune God and as such is the Life Giver.

Stand Firm in Freedom

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

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

The Christian freedom he describes is freedom of conscience, freedom from the tyranny of the law, the dreadful struggle to keep the law, with a view to winning the favour of God. It is the freedom of acceptance with God and of access to God through Christ.

The Christian freedom he describes is freedom of conscience, freedom from the tyranny of the law, the dreadful struggle to keep the law.

This freedom is transformational, not simply reformational

The gospel transforms you from the inside out.

The gospel of Jesus transforms you from the inside out.

Gospel transformation is different than Moral reformation.

Bent Iron - Richard Lovelace

Bent Iron - Richard Lovelace

Two ways to fix it.

The one is, if it was bent this way, you can just take your hand and with an exertion of external power just bend it back, but if you take a rod that has been bent and you bend it back, even if it looks straight, it is far weaker than it was before because there has been tremendous stress, there have been actually all sorts of little fibers in a sense being broke in there and if you bend it one more time, it’ll break off.

First, w/ external power to bend it back

but, even if it looks straight, it is far weaker than it was before because there has been tremendous stress,

all sorts of little fibers are broken inside and if you bend it one more time, it’ll break off.

If you put it in the fire until it glows fiery from within and then in that fire, when it has been transformed, in a sense, from the inside, you can shape it and make it true and straighter than ever and stronger than ever, tempered because of the experience of the fire.

The second is, If you put it in the fire until it glows fiery from within and then in that fire, when it has been transformed, in a sense, from the inside, you can shape it and make it true and straighter than ever and stronger than ever, tempered because of the experience of the fire.

Lovelace says that’s the difference.

Then he says that’s the difference. If you’ve been abused, if you’re a kind of a mess, if you have all of these bad habits, if you’ve been bent one way by somebody … He says you can just, through moral reformation, bend back with accountability or behavior modification. There are all sorts of ways of doing that. You can just bend yourself back, or through the gospel you can put your heart in the fire of the One who made you.

If you’ve been abused, if you’re a kind of a mess, if you have all of these bad habits, if you’ve been bent one way by somebody …

He says you can just, through moral reformation, bend back with accountability or behavior modification.

or through the gospel you can put your heart in the fire of the One who made you.

The Spirit of God is the Spirit of the Creator, the One who made you, who’s stronger than you are. What’ll happen is when his very power comes in, you’ll glow from within, there’ll be a fire, there’ll be a softness, there’ll be a sweetness. When you are shaped in that experience, you’re stronger than ever. Organically, you’ve been changed. Gospel transformation is very different than moral reformation.

The Spirit of God is the Spirit of the Creator, the One who made you, who’s stronger than you are. What’ll happen is when his very power comes in, you’ll glow from within,

there’ll be a fire, there’ll be a softness, there’ll be a sweetness.

When you are shaped in that experience, you’re stronger than ever. Organically, you’ve been changed.

Gospel transformation is very different than moral reformation.

Pauls call for freedom is the essence of Galatians.

This is Pauls theme for Galatians

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

The purpose of Christ work was to set Jews free from

The purpose of Christ work was to

set Jews free from the curse of the Law

Confused by true and false freedom

allow the Gentiles to enjoy the same liberation by breaking their chains to disobedience and sin.

Not that different today

Our Notions of Freedom

When asked about freedom, our society/culture will describe freedom in three ways.

We have swung to the other side of the Yolk of slavery

Individual

Social

Personal Psychological

For Some Freedom is: Individual freedom as the main form of reality

Doing what I want and thus finding myself.

Chief values are independence, autonomy and personal sovereignty.

What this type of freedom results in is nothing less than human pride and the attempt to make oneself like God by presuming that one can become absolutely, self-sufficient, and autonomous.

One manifestation of individual freedom is

Financial independence

A demonstration to the world, that we are successful and

Supports an individual determining their own destiny.

"Freedom is perhaps the most resonant, deeply held American value. Yet freedom turns out to mean being left alone by others, not having other people's values, ideas, or styles of life forced upon one, being free of arbitrary authority in work, family, and political life. What it is that one might do with that freedom is much more difficult for Americans to define." - Robert Bellah (Habits of the Heart)

"Freedom is perhaps the most resonant, deeply held American value. Yet freedom turns out to mean being left alone by others, not having other people's values, ideas, or styles of life forced upon one, being free of arbitrary authority in work, family, and political life. What it is that one might do with that freedom is much more difficult for Americans to define." - Robert Bellah (Habits of the Heart)

For Some Freedom is: Social

Financial independence that supports an individual determining their own destiny.

Social

The breaking down of social structures that are perceived to be oppressive or obstacles to equality and justice.

These are good goals to have, because freedom involves tearing down of social injustices.

The struggle for social justice for many is the struggle of God against demonic powers, and the establishment of social justice is seen as God’s salvation.

A theology of liberation - Gustavo Gutierrez

three levels of liberation

the social aspiration of oppressed people

the human aspiration of developing a new man and a different society

spiritual aspiration of being set free from sin through Christ.

not parallel, but a single and complex process.

In social freedom the deeper sense of the spiritual process is often neglected.

Social freedom is inline w/ Paul’s vision of freedom, but it is not the full

All comes under the saving work of Christ.

For Some Freedom is: Psychological

Highly individualistic is the freedom of self-actualization.

Rejecting conformity and becoming your own self

Now self knowledge is key, but it is only one step in the path to freedom.

It is not the goal, but the result of God’s grace.

Learning who we are before God and learning what we can be through Christ and in the Spirit.

Dimensions of Freedom for Paul

Theological Dimension

Relationship w/ God as a result of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ

Being free is life in the Spirit

Being free is life in the Spirit

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. - (ESV)

Human Dimension

Being free is personal an existential in the sense of being liberated to be what God wants us to be and to what God wants us to do.

Being free is personal an existential in the sense of being liberated to be what God wants us to be and to what God wants us to do.

What Do We Do With Freedom?

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. - The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Freedom From - Freedom For - Free To

Free from our sin

Being free is the liberation of a persons spirit from everything that shackles it to sin and ugliness; “being free” is the liberation of a persons spirit to do what God wants, to be what God wants, and to enjoy the life God gives us on this earth.

Being free is the liberation of a persons spirit from everything that shackles it to sin and ugliness; “being free” is the liberation of a persons spirit to do what God wants, to be what God wants, and to enjoy the life God gives us on this earth.

Being free is the liberation of a persons spirit from everything that shackles it to sin and ugliness; “being free” is the liberation of a persons spirit to do what God wants, to be what God wants, and to enjoy the life God gives us on this earth.

Helmut Thielike, states sharply when he says that “real freedom, on the other hand-the freedom “to become what one should”-must be defined as a definite form of bondage or obligation, in a word, as what one should do. Real freedom is a bondage and nothing else”.

Helmut Thielike, states sharply when he says that “real freedom, on the other hand-the freedom “to become what one should”-must be defined as a definite form of bondage or obligation, in a word, as what one should do. Real freedom is a bondage and nothing else”. Thus, those who have been set free have become slaves of Christ (, ), God (), and righteousness ()

Thus, those who have been set free have become slaves of Christ (, ), God (), and righteousness ()

Free to live a life of freedom in loving others.

Freedom is at the heart of the Gospel

The Pauline Coin - E.J. Epp

The implications of this Christian freedom as Paul develops it are vast and far-reaching.

Freedom is a reality effected in and through the Christ-event, which has broken the power of sin and neutralized the individual hostility against God; which at the same time has covered the guilt and stain of sin and erased the past; which has crushed all enslavement to self, to religious convention, to the present powers of evil, and to the cosmic forces; and which has triumphed over every force that dominates humankind, including human morality itself.

“Freedom from what?” side

Freedom is a reality effected in and through the Christ-event, which has broken the power of sin and neutralized the individual hostility against God; which at the same time has covered the guilt and stain of sin and erased the past; which has crushed all enslavement to self, to religious convention, to the present powers of evil, and to the cosmic forces; and which has triumphed over every force that dominates humankind, including human morality itself.

Freedom is a reality effected in and through the Christ-event, which has broken the power of sin and neutralized the individual hostility against God; which at the same time has covered the guilt and stain of sin and erased the past; which has crushed all enslavement to self, to religious convention, to the present powers of evil, and to the cosmic forces; and which has triumphed over every force that dominates humankind, including human morality itself.

“Freedom for what?” side

But that is only one side of the Pauline coin-the “freedom from what?” side; there is also the significant “freedom for what?” side, and this many-faceted emphasis in Paul, though it can be simply stated, is infinitely complex in its outworking: a Christian is now free to obey God in a radical fashion by serving his fellow human beings in selfless love. - E.J. Epp

A Christian is now free to obey God in a radical fashion by serving his fellow human beings in selfless love.

Free to live a life of freedom in loving others.

Freedom is at the heart of the Gospel

SERVE

WATCH

Galatians two primary issues

Who are the true people of God? Israel or the ChurchHow should they govern their lives? (obeying Moses or following the Spirit?)

Is the Spirit sufficient for moral guidance and and fighting off the flesh?

Christians are to be more loving, because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Freedom is the central theological concept that sums up the Christians situation before God as well as in the world. - H.D. Betz

“Revival is an infusion of new spiritual life imparted by the Holy Spirit to existing parts of Christ’s body.”

-Richard Lovelace

Jesus not only frees us from our sins but also provided us a path to encounter the fullness of God.