Christian Freedom!
Notes
Transcript
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.
I am going to start this morning with a quick question - are people good or evil? Well, this may depend on who you have been around. We would like to say most people are good in nature, but we know there are those that will choose to do evil. That is why we have to have rules, regulations, and laws. Without these basic guidelines, any person would do whatever they wanted to do, whenever the wanted, and without regard to anyone else. There will be some who will even say the freedom from rules, regulations, and laws equates to freedom. But, what is freedom? According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think freely, the state of having free will. We think of freedom a s the ability of a person or group to be and do what they want instead of being controlled by another. Isn’t it interesting that God created us with this free will? In the original placement of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, this free will was what allowed them to act without concern of their fate. Yet it was this same free will that allowed them to sin against God’s command given to them.
3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
But if we were created with free will, the ability to do as we wished and with our own discretion, then why were there rules established by God? Simply answered, we were created “dependent” on God, not independent of Him. Therefore, we live by rules, regulations, and laws BECAUSE we are not independent of others or God. Even though we call ourselves “free”, we do not have the power to do what we want to, whether that be to fulfill the law, love others, or save ourselves. Therefore, we must have something in place to ensure some semblance of order. God did that in the Ten Commandments, and our founding fathers had this in mind as they drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
James Madison in “The Federalist no. 51” made this comment: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”
The colonies had been held hostage by England, with their basic rights stripped from them, exploited for money and goods. They had no voice, no representation, and were being required to care for the King’s soldiers. Their freedoms and liberty stripped from them. David Barton, one of the founding fathers, in his work titled Documents of Freedom made this comment “Madison, along with others who had experienced the British government’s violation of the traditional rights of Englishmen in the years leading to America’s independence, looked to the lessons of human nature and history to determine how best to structure a competent government that would promote liberty.”
This was not a rash decision - not something taken lightly. Even within the Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers wrote “The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation's, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. In every stage of these oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
So, you have been tasked with forming a new government that will have the authority to govern a nation effectively, but not override the freedoms of the people. How do you do that? The founding fathers relied on God, and wrote it in the Declaration this way “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. “We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
While history tells us the more familiar founding fathers may have been more influenced with the “enlightened” form of theology, a careful reading of many of the Founders’ public and private communications demonstrates they had the following in common: (1) belief in a personal God, (2) familiarity with the Bible, and (3) belief in prayer. The founding fathers relied on God as they formed the rules that would govern the United States.
Not only that, but they also understood the need to celebrate and preserve these freedoms. John Adams stated “Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.”
We are told in Deuteronomy 5:1
God knew there would be the need for rules, and He passed along to Moses the need to learn them, do them, and pass them along to the next generation.
Unfortunately, our freedoms are coming under attack. Why? As Benjamin Franklin put it “They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.” We, as Christians, have not learned, done, or passed along God’s rules and laws. We have become complacent, and we put more emphasis on temporary security of this world than eternal security in Christ. We have become the United States of the Offended. We have forgotten the Constitution gives us all equal rights, but instead have debated on, not equal rights, but restitution for or acceptance of those who feel they have been treated unequally - whether true or not. They have taken to the streets, destroyed their own neighborhoods, commited crimes under the guise of “justice”, and justify it as being part of their “freedom and liberty”. Thomas Paine, author of “Common Sense” during the time leading to the Revolution made this comment “Liberty is the power to do everything that does not interfere with the rights of others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of every individual has no limits save those that assure to other members of society the enjoyment of the same rights.” To sum it up, as my government teacher did, your rights end where my rights begin. I do believe in standing up for our rights, but it should be done appropriately, and with assurance that all rights are protected, not pushing a personal agenda on everyone else because you feel it is right.
Paul understood the need to preserve our freedom in Christ but there were false prophets who interpreted scripture with their own personal agenda attached. They had forgotten the power of Christ and His redemptive salvation. The founding fathers knew the importance of freedom and liberty for this nation, and Paul knew the need to preserve our freedom in Christ.
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Christ has freed the believer from the bondage of the law. Therefore, we must stand fast in the freedom and liberty He has provided for us. We no longer have to worry if we are good enough, if we have done enough good works, or if keeping laws will be acceptable to God because Christ fulfilled the law for us. Because Christ came to earth and lived a sinless life, free from sin, He is able to stand before God as a perfect man and was able to stand as a substitute for our sin. Payment has been secured for our sins and we are able to stand before God perfect, free, and acceptable to God. Unfortunately, not everyone will accept God’s offer because not everyone will accept and believe what Jesus has done for them. Jesus has set us free IF we believe in Him. Not only do we believe, we must protect our freedom and liberty He has provided for us. In Galatia, some were about to become entangled again with the yoke of bondage. False teachers had arisen who were teaching that the basic work of Christ was to live as a great example and to bring us the great teachings of God. That is, they accepted Jesus Christ as the Son of God, but they did not accept the message of salvation by grace (the righteousness and death of Jesus Christ). They taught that Jesus Christ had not come to give us a new approach to God; He came to add new teachings to the law. Christ came to fulfill the law, freeing us from its control. No person can ever do enough or keep enough laws to make themselves perfect before God. Our acceptance is only by believing in Christ and the only way we will be free from sin, is to stand before God forgiven by the sacrifice of His son.
Freedom Through Christ
Freedom Through Christ
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.
Paul reminded the Galatians that forsaking our heavenly Father’s command for our lives and place our beliefs on our own understanding is worthless. These false prophets were applying the ritual of circumcision but can apply to anything. If we are trying to approach God and secure acceptance by any means other than Christ will profit us nothing.
They were trying to take part of the law and make it more important, not realizing to continue in the law meant we had to perfectly keep the whole law until our death. This happens today when we, as citizens of the United States, want to apply only a portion of the laws of the land but think we can exempt ourselves from what we don’t like. By only following what WE want, we can not be fully free.
Just like Paul, we have to stand firm in the hope a believer has for righteousness. Not of the things in the word, but a secure righteousness before God. Just as we are guaranteed rights through the constitution, God provides us with rights in scripture and confirms these within us through the Holy Spirit. The constitution offers freedom for all, but some choose to not accept these freedoms, the same is true for scripture. We are all offered freedom from sin, but some choose not to accept these freedoms.
Obeying Truth
Obeying Truth
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.
For us to accept the liberties given by the Constitution, we must obey the truths within. For us to find freedom in Christ, we must obey His truths. The Galatians believed in Christ, they were living a life and testimony for Christ. But SOMEONE stepped in and was teaching their own personal agenda, they had taken charge and was the ringleader of trouble and false teaching. Is it not interesting that the vocal minority could influence otherwise good people to do bad things? These false prophets in Galatia were teaching there was some other way than Christ and people followed. They were no longer running a good race, they had turned from the truth. Paul told them to remember and obey the truth. Anything that goes contrary to the truth of Christ is not of God. Even our own personal opinion, if contrary to the Gospel, is not of God. To allow even the slightest untruth to come into the congregation would lead to a corruption of the whole. A little yeast causes fermentation and soon, spoilage. The same is with false teachers. If the church does not stand up to false teaching, soon the whole church would be corrupted and truth would be destroyed.
Within our own government, we have the responsibility to preserve and protect our liberties and freedoms from corruption. We the people have a voice, and need not simply submit to rulers who violate our liberties. History, the Founders believed, showed how otherwise decent people can be swayed by emotion, selfish impulses, and corrupt leaders to do terrible things to one another. The Founders worried that a democracy would become just another version of tyranny. Paul is worried that decent people were being swayed by corrupt leaders and he called for them to not submit to their teachings but instead to obey the truth found in Christ.
These false teachers were threatening the very security and lives of the believers in the church of Galatia. But Paul reminds the church these false teachers would be judged for their sin. Paul pointed this out, and the false teachers attacked Paul, attempting to discredit him and his ministry among the believers. Paul addressed these concerns in a Godly way, with truth and righteousness.
What is disturbing today is the way Americans are treating each other when they disagree. We have become rude, intolerant, accepting of sin, and defiant against God. We have not gained freedom, but have put ourselves in a form of slavery, the slavery of sin. The same problem we have had since the fall of man. Those who are supposedly on the same team are at odds with each other. We are opposing each other publicly, verbally, and in our actions. We have forgotten biblical truth is more important than our own personal desires. We are to not allow ourselves to be pulled into acting the same as those in full defiance of God. Even though we possess the truth, our Christian liberty is not a license to act like the unsaved.
This is what is wrong with the United States. We have allowed ourselves to become too attached to our own personal agendas…we have become a band of false teachers and this is partly because our government has tried its best to shut down all that is right and Godly and has put programs in place to give a false sense of security. They take away the working persons freedoms, liberties, and money and give it to those who will submit themselves to their false truths. The founding fathers spoke to these concerns.
“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.” Thomas Jefferson
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” Benjamin Franklin
“There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet an enemy.” George Washington
While it is important for our personal liberties to be preserved, we must also stand up for or freedom in Christ and realize He is the one who has set us free.