Freedom [part 3]

Today in this final section of Paul’s letter to the Galatian churches we see the final remarks and conclusions about Christian freedom. Let’s back out a bit and remind ourselves of the greater picture going on in Galatians. Over the last two months we have read over this entire book of the Bible section-by-section. It is helpful that we do not lose the overall theme since we have spread out this study over so many weeks.

The first four chapters of Galatians deals with the conflict that arises in the church between the grace offered by Christ to embrace the new life given by Jesus by faith alone on the one hand, and the legalistic rules and moral regulations of the law on the other hand. We saw week after week that the apostle Paul passionately argues that the grace of God offered through faith in Christ completely does away with every requirement to keep the law of Moses in order to gain and maintain righteousness before God. Paul says repeatedly that we are no longer slaves to the law; that we have been set free from the law. It is language that reaches deeply into the history of Israel as a nation which was once held as slaves to Egypt, but had been set free by the power of God alone.

Chapters 5-6 in Galatians then takes this theme of freedom in Christ and develops it in ways that make direct applications for the churches in Galatia. Paul says that anyone who allows themselves to be forced into following the rules of the law—the particular example here is the law of circumcision—anyone who does this turns their back on the grace of God. In fact, Paul says that Christ died for nothing if we turn away from the freedom given to us by the faith we have in Jesus. We conclude this study of freedom explained in Galatians by looking today at chapter 6.

Galatians 6:1–10 NIV

1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load. 6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor. 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Personal Responsibility

A – mutual accountability (1a) B – personal responsibility (1b) C – mutual accountability (2) D – personal responsibility (3-5) C’ – mutual accountability (6) B’ – personal responsibility (7-8) A’ – mutual accountability (9-10)

Over the last two weeks we have seen some of the take-aways coming from the theme of freedom in Galatians. We have seen that freedom is a virtue, and we have seen that freedom is a responsibility. Now today, as we look through this final section of Galatians, look at the way Paul takes this idea of responsibility and highlights the connection between personal responsibility and mutual accountability. Work with me back through the first ten verses of Galatians 6 and see how this works.

Verse 1a is about mutual accountability and verse 1b is about personal responsibility. There is an accountability the church has to one another when one stumbles in sin. But notice how the personal responsibility expressed in this verse balances with the accountability. Each person is to keep in check their own motives and actions. Allow me to go into some detail with this one verse to demonstrate the nuance of this connection between accountability and responsibility.

katarizmo = restore, prepare, mend, repair

Your NIV Bible says that there is a duty to restore those in our fellowship who fall into sin. The Greek word katartizmo translated here as “restore” shows up elsewhere in the New Testament translated differently. It is used in Ephesians 4 as “prepare.” The gospels tell the story of when Jesus calls James and John to become disciples. It says that Jesus finds them by their fishing boat mending or repairing their nets. Mending, repairing; these are all various English translations of the same Greek word which shows up in Galatians 6:1 as “restore.” I like the idea of “mending” as an alternative to “restore” because it gives a better picture of what this accountability for restoration actually looks like. I picture that scene in the gospels when Jesus approaches James and John, finding them mending their fishing nets. I picture these handmade nets being torn and damaged by use. And I envision James and John gathered there weaving (mending) back together what has been torn apart.

What a great way to think about the way we have accountability to one another. It helps guard us against the awful impulse to look down upon those who struggle with sin. The goal of our accountability is not to shame or threaten one another. We do not point fingers at one another with accusations of sin and wrongdoing in ways that push people apart or drive people away. No; the goal of our accountability is to mend back together what has been torn and damaged by sin. There is no space in Paul’s words here to interpret this verse as a license for self-righteous condemnation of others.

tempted - test/trial or lure/trap? second option; do not be lured into neglecting our responsibility towards mutual accountability

And the second part of this verse places our own responsibility into this equation. Be responsible for your own part of these relationships which need mending. Our NIV Bibles say, “watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” Again, this is not some permissive way of pushing other people away, or of somehow scoring your own righteousness as better than others. Neither is it meant to be a threat; that association with sinners somehow leads you down a path of sin by appearing to condone the broken behavior and actions of others. That is not at all what Paul is saying here. Remember, our personal responsibility is aimed toward a mutual accountability which seeks to mend back together what has been torn and broken by sin.

The Greek word translated as tempted can be taken in two different directions. One direction looks at temptation as something of a test or trial. The other direction looks at temptation as an enticement, lure, or trap. It seems that context in this passage makes trap the better understanding. But context in the passage also makes it clear to us what exactly the trap of this temptation is. Is it a temptation for fall into the same sins as those we are seeking to restore? That makes no sense in the context of this letter to the Galatians in which Paul has gone out of his way to say over and over again that there is a freedom we have in Christ apart from any works of the law. No; the trap of temptation here is to neglect the responsibility we have towards mutual accountability with one another. The trap of temptation is to further tear apart the wounds of fractured relationships instead of working to mend these broken relationships back together again. This is an understanding of Galatians 6:1 which fits into the greater message and theme of Galatians as a whole.

Let’s move on, but I will not go into this kind of detail with the remaining verses. I will just point out the back-and-forth connection between mutual accountability and personal responsibility. Verse 2 restates the mutual accountability within the people of God to carry one another’s burdens.

Personal Freedom is not individual autonomy

verses 3-5 give an extended explanation of personal responsibility

Verses 3-5 give an extended explanation of personal responsibility. Here the instruction of Galatians gives us a little more insight into what freedom is and our tour freedom works. Verse 4 says do not compare yourselves with others. Verse 5 says take responsibility for your own load. Do not forget that these instructions are embedded in the theme of freedom. There is no need to hold yourself in comparison to the standards of others because you are free from those standards. You can carry your own share of personal responsibility as your load because you have been set free by Jesus to do so. This all still fits into the discussion of freedom we see in Galatians 5-6.

we are often prone to thinking that freedom means I am only accountable to myself; nobody else tells me what to do or how to live

But personal freedom is not the same thing as individual autonomy. If personal freedom were to mean that we all have individual autonomy, then there could never be any such thing as mutual accountability. Because the person who lives in complete individual autonomy has no accountability to anyone else. We need to be clear about that because our American culture tends to highly elevate individual liberty in ways that diminish and destroy accountability among others. As Americans we are often prone to thinking that freedom means I am only accountable to myself; nobody else tells me what to do or how to live.

to interpret freedom as autonomy leads us to acts of the flesh (Galatians 5)

There is a danger here is ripping the words of verses 3-5 away from the rest of Galatians and using these verses as some kind of justification for freedom as individual autonomy. But that is not what freedom is. To say that freedom means I never have to answer to anyone else for my actions, that I hold no accountability to anyone but myself, this would be a misguided version of freedom that points us back to what Paul writes about in Galatians 5 as the acts of the flesh. It is exactly the kind of use of our freedom we should avoid.

In fact, we live better in freedom when we reject autonomy. Think about it this way. No one tells me that I need to exercise and stay in shape. I have the freedom the make that choice for myself. There are no laws I am forced to follow about diet and exercise. I could choose pretty much to eat what I like and be as lazy as I want if that is what I choose. And I am also free to choose a healthy diet and routine of physical exercise to stay in good health. But as many others will tell you, those goals of healthy eating and goals of physical exercise are so much better and attainable when we do those things with other people. In our freedom, when we choose to make ourselves mutually accountable to others, when we hold responsibility that embraces this accountability, then our likelihood of achieving those goals is so much higher. Our ability to live within the freedom we have becomes so much easier when we place our freedom within a framework of mutual accountability rather than a framework of individual autonomy.

Mutual Accountability

Verses 6-10 start tracing our steps back through verses 1-5. Verse 6 shows the mutual accountability with mirrors the accountability we saw in verse 2 by giving an example of how we carry the burdens of one another. The example highlights the relationship between the itinerant teacher who travels from town to town—much like Paul did in Galatia—and the people in those towns who took in and supported them. There is a benefit they each give to one another; but that benefit is so much better when it is exercised in a freedom of mutual accountability.

Verses 7-8 echo the personal responsibility we saw in verse 1b. Here, the instruction is expanded to point us back to chapter 5 where we saw the contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. And to close it out, verses 9-10 mirror the mutual accountability we saw in verse 1a. It is an appeal to do good to others in such a way that the community of God’s people is mended back together and is built up with one another in faith.

application: what does mutual accountability look like in the life of faith?

Let’s think about some application. What does mutual accountability look like in your life? That is a bit of a loaded question because we cannot answer that question as it comes from Galatians without taking into consideration all that the letter of Galatians is teaching about living in the freedom that comes along with the life of faith offered in Jesus. Thankfully, we have some helpful ways of thinking about the accountability we pick up here at the end of Galatians.

Discipleship

discipleship - our accountability to one another shows our accountability to God

First, let’s take a huge step back and look at the wide-angle view. There is some helpful language we have used within the church for many generations which can frame this idea of mutual accountability for us. For instance, we talk often about the life of faith using the label of discipleship. There is no way for us to grasp what mutual; accountability looks like in each of our lives without also considering the way that this accountability we freely make to one another is inseparably tied together with the journey of discipleship.

Discipleship is a term from the Bible. It is based on a Greek word in the New Testament which characterized the relationship a student had with the teacher. A disciple was someone who focused all dedication to following the teaching and ways of the master. Jesus called his followers to be disciples. What’s the point? How does this help us understand something of mutual accountability? It is a reminder that when we embrace a life of faith which freely commits to holding accountability with other people of faith in the church, it signifies a way in which we are also dedicated to following Jesus.

We cannot pull those two ideas apart. Perhaps there are many in our world who say they believe in God and believe the Bible and profess to follow Jesus, but have absolutely no connection to a church community and no mutual accountability to other believers. But that is not true discipleship. Jesus established for us a pattern in scripture which shows us that those who follow God do so on a path of discipleship which carries a personal responsibility to engage in mutual accountability with other disciples of Jesus.

Having accountability with other Christians is part of what it means to follow Jesus as one of his disciples.

Calling

calling - we are accountable to one another because God has called us to be free in Christ

There is another term we use in the church when we talk about the life of faith, that of calling. Our way of looking at the Bible in the Reformed tradition emphasizes that it is always God who makes the first move. God was the one who did the creating in Genesis 1. God was the one who came looking for Adam and Eve after they had fallen into sin. God was the one who chose Abraham to be his holy nation. God was the one who came to Moses at the burning bush to lead his people. In every step of the Biblical story it is always God who initiates the action. It is God who comes to his people. God is the one who does the calling; we are the ones who do the answering.

The life of faith, then, is a life to which you and I have been called. God has not only invited you to follow him as a disciple, he has called you. This means that it is God himself who has planted his Holy Spirit in your heart and begun the process in you which grows faith. The point is that your life of faith comes from God and starts with God because it is God who does the calling, and we who do the answering. This means that everything we need to be able to turn to God in faith is also supplied to us by God as part of that calling.

Maybe there are some who think, I just don’t have what it takes to live up to the expectations of this mutual accountability of discipleship. Sure, the freedom I have in Christ points me down that path, but I just don’t know that I have it in me to hold onto an accountability like that. And I would say, you’re right. You haven’t got what it takes to live up to that kind of accountability. You do not have it on your own; but rather it has been given to you by the one who has called you and gifted you with all good things to answer that calling and follow that path of discipleship.

Having accountability with other Christians acknowledges that we have been called and equipped by God himself to embrace this community of faith. It is a freedom that always acknowledges I need God and I need others.

Now then, what exactly does mutual accountability look like in your life? The answer may be a little different for each of us. Maybe it is a small group you are part of. Maybe it is a Bible Study fellowship. Maybe it is a group of close friends who are Christian brothers and sisters. The community of God’s people which hold as his church is a gift given to us by God. It is a community into which we have been called. It is a place in which the freedom you have been given by God may flourish and abound.

May you know and experience the freedom we have in Christ to live our faith together. May you flourish in the calling you have received from God to be a disciple of Jesus. May God grow and strengthen your faith in all goodness as together we find expressions of joyful fellowship which lovingly hold one another in this community of grace.