Freedom in Christ

What does it mean to be free? If you asked an american the answer would probably be very different depending on who you asked. Freedom in this day in time can mean a-lot of different things. Even websters dictionary has about 10 different meanings for the word freedom, but one of those definitions i found to be relevant in terms of dealing with how freedom looks as Paul explains it in the text. It says freedom is liberation from slavery or restraint or from power of another.

Today I have titled the message Freedom in Christ, and lets see what freedom looks like for a believer…

Starting in verse 1

Main Idea: Christ has set us free to live for him and serve others.

And this main idea has three points that help it come alive, the first one is this.

Free people are not slaves

Paul has tried to beat this into the head of people of Galatia this idea they they are free in Christ. That they dont have to live according to some standards that someone else had tried to set for them. That they could be free to live for Christ, free from following rules that would save them.

Christ dying for them mean they were actually free. They were suppose to live as though John had said in John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Yet, they were struggling to live for Christ, instead of living free they were like slaves. Living their lives in such a way were they not standing firm. Even though they were free. They exchanged the freedom Christ brought them, and return to a life of slavery.

This is not what free people are suppose to do. Free people dont go and follow strict laws that are not meant for them.

Free people stand firm in the truth, knowing that they are free, and knowing that freedom in Christ is better than following just a bunch of rules that only cause them to be slaves.

Something I read this week was really good. We need to learn how to live free from the power of sin. We are in need of becoming what we already are.x2

Paul is arguing to the people of Galatia Freedom in Christ has set you free, so dont return back to slavery. Dont live as though you are trapped by sin.

Because as we have already learned during our study of Galatians is prior to coming to Christ these people were bound to the law, dependent on it for hope, and direction, but now they are dependent on Christ, and nothing else.

In verse 1 of chapter 5 there is a reality that all believers in Christ wrestle with. On one hand we are free. Free to live our lives free from the expectation of hitting all these goals in order to achieve salvation, and for the believer not having the weight of these things actually makes it easier to follow Christ, because the weight of being set free, is so freeing.

It makes you understand that by being free you are now free to live for him, and him alone. To actually stand firm for what you believe in, because you are free.

On the other hand though there is this struggle to know if you are doing enough, if you are actually following Christ in such as way that shows him that you really love him, and what alot of us do is go back to slavery, and say if I just do this or do that then I know im really a follower of Christ.

Ask the question to yourself am I trying to live the Christian life like I am a slave, or am I living as a free person who has been set free. Because if we have been set free then we will live out the truth.

One man has said this. “When you recognize that Christ has done it all and you truly work this into your heart, you will adore Christ. And an adoring heart does not lead to a sinful life, but a holy life.”

Free people live out the truth

Church its one thing to believe the right thing, but its another thing to actually live it out.

Paul challenges the people of Galatia to not do certain things, to actually live out the freedom they have in Christ.

And one of the many things that he says in verse 2 is this… If you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. They wanted part of Christ, and part works, and Paul makes it clear to them this cant happen.

Because in reality if they accept this circumcision they cant live out the truth they believe which is Christ alone is enough for them. Enough to save them.

John Calvin says it like this… “ Whoever wants half of Christ loses the whole”

You cannot substitute anything in order to gain Christ.

As the argument continues though he magifies the previous verse, by saying I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. ) Its all or all or nothing. Keep all the law and circumcision could have value. But as we have learned in our study of Galatians time and time again that you can’t follow the law, and what happens if you accept this circumcision you are severed from Christ.

True believers in Christ cannot lose their salvation, However for those who truly accept circumcision who seek justification by the law are not really in Christ, the grace that is only offered through him, is not available unless they turn back to him.

As believers in Christ we can do things that break that relationship and , but to those who are not believers grace doesn’t come through following the law.

It comes by faith. That is what Paul makes clear in verse 5. Through the Spirit by faith we wait for the hope of righteousness. If you have been with us during our study of Galatians we know that faith is how we are justified before God.

Faith is how we live out our freedom in Christ its how we live out the truth. And by faith we are waiting for the fullness of the reality that comes from being saved. As a believer there is an already not yet reality that comes from following Christ, meaning we are already saved already partakers in him, but the fullness of that reality does not come until we are with him. But this reality helps us live out the truths of the gospel because we have been saved.

And saved people dont take in consideration whether or not they are circumcised, they only take in consideration if they have been saved by faith, our standing before God is not determined on the external things, but on the internal things. and all those things are wrapped up in love. Free people live out the truth by faith rooted in love.

This is how the people were living prior to those from the outside coming in. They were living out their faith not accepting circumcision or the law.

But something happened outsides came and distorted the beautiful gospel for garbage, and works. Causing them to not live out the truth.

Paul says in verse 7 they were running well, but he also says who hindered you from obeying the truth.

Who hindered them was the false teachers the judaizers, who came and distorted the gospel. What false teachers do is they come in and get you to not follow the truth.

For the people of Galatia the false teachers said do this have life, for us today its the same but it presents itself if a variety of different ways.

The people of Galatia were not ready for these false teachers they were like the runner who went all out at the beginning but when trouble came flamed out, A good runner knows the finish line, prepares for it, but a runner without an end goal, gets hurt, misses the finish line, and Paul doesnt want the people of Galatia to miss, nor does he want us to miss.

Hebrews 12:1 “1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

Run the race, run the Christian life with such purpose with such faith, rooted and grounded in the truth that when false teachers come, and they will you will have your eyes on the finish line, and no teacher that is not of Christ will be able to get you off your track.

We know that false teachers are not from God. God doesn’t call us to live likes of slavery, he calls us to live as though we are free, free to live for him, and serve him by faith alone, see what happens when you add something to the gospel is it distorts is.

Paul uses the illustration of a little leaven leavens the whole lump. If you have ever made bread you know that leaven makes the bread rise, and it only takes a little bit of leaven to make the whole lump rise, it doesn't take much.

This illustration is powerful, because it doesn't take much false teaching to ruin a person that is trying to live out the truth. When you distort any part of the truth it messes up all the truth. For the Judaizers and the Galatians adding just a little think like circumcision may not seem much but the worth that they elevated to distorted the finished work of Christ so much so that they banked on circumcision and the law in order to achieve righteousness and right standing before God.

Little compromises may not seem like much but in the case of the Galatians it wrecked there faith.

I have used this illustration before, but not here at Agape, years ago I was at a bible study where a buddy of mine said this illustration of a little leaven leaves the whole lump, and he said it would be like someone who is making brownies, and decided for one the ingredients i am going to add just a little bit of my dogs poop, not much, but just a little. And so they make up this batch of brownies, mix up up real good, and bake it. And what is the end result poop brownies. It may not look like it, but that is what it is. Something that is so delicious like brownies, can be distorted with the slightest change on an ingredient.

The slightest change whether behavioral, or doctrinal can impact everything in your Christian life.

But Paul despite all the people of Galatia have done, believes that they will take no other view. He is confident in the Lord who called them can bring to back to not accept circumcision, and to live out their lives as free people once again.

and those people who have tried to derail them, and to cause them to stumble will bear the penalty of teaching a false gospel. They will be like it Says in Galatians 1:9 accursed. All those who teach a different gospel, WILL HAVE A PRICE TO PAY. Doesn't matter who they are they will have a penalty for teaching a different gospel.

Paul wasn’t preaching a different gospel a gospel of circumcision he was preaching the cross, and because he was preaching the cross he was being persecuted.

False teachers always persecute faithful teachers, and that is what was happening. These false teachers were not preaching that Christ had set them free to live for him, and serve others like Paul was, they were trying to get them to become slaves of these works to live as though they were not free, and Paul was preaching the opposite, Free people who live out the truth have teachers, preachers who preach the way to become free.

See the cross is offensive to false teachers, to those who are trying to live under the law. To those who are trying to bound the people to live a certain way that isnt the way of God. The cross is a false teachers nightmare.

Because its through the cross where false teachers go to die. This is what i mean, at the cross we see the death of Jesus, and we must ask the question why did he die, and that question is loaded full of answers, and one of the answers is so we could be free. Free from what? Free from bondage, free from sin. To not be slaves of sin anymore, and to be able to live out the truths of our faith, and the cross shows everyone that noone can save themselves.

When a false teacher looks at the cross he trembles, because what happened on it, and what it represents. Christ died on the cross, and it represents freedom, and forgiveness for all those who trust in him.

Jesus is so much greater than any works, he is far more valuable than any works.

Paul thought seriously of those who were teaching a different gospel, causing others to return to slavery, so much so He wishes they would emasculate themselves. Literally mutate themselves, its a serious offence to tell someone that Christ alone does not save, and those people who teach otherwise will face the wrath of God, but to those who are in Christ they are able to live out there faith.

They are also able to if you are taking notes is this.

Free people serve one another

In the freedom we get from Christ, we are free not to live according to the flesh, but to live as free brothers and sisters in Christ. Christ death on the cross gave us the opportunity to be free. And Paul wants us to use that freedom to serve one another.

Christ did not die so we could be free from people, but to ser e people.

The language of the text actually means to become a slave of serving others. So instead of becoming a slave to sin, we become a slave to serving Christ, and others, but this serve is done out of love, and not drudgery.

I like what Luther said, “A Christian is a dutiful servant in every respect, a bond servant to none. A Christian is a dutiful servant in every respect, owing a duty of everyone.”

Christ died so we could serve others.

Loving your neighbor as yourself fulfills the law that the Judaizers were trying to get the people of Galatia to keep.

Jesus says this with a little more detail in Matthew 22:36-40 “36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””

Loving the Lord means trusting by faith you can know him, and love him, and serve him with all your heart mind soul because he died for you, and because this took place you can serve others.

Its crazy to think about, because if we loved the Lord with all our hearts mind, soul, and strength, we would have never needed the law, or Christ, but Christ shows us what love really looks like, what being obedient really looks like, and its through him that we get to know God, and through him that we understand that serving others is fulfilling part of the law.

But the total opposite happens when we dont serve the Lord and others, we bite and devour one another. and it consumes us in a way that is like slavery. See the sad thing for the people of Galatia and for us is verse 15 describes more Christians than verse 14.

We are always quick to devour one another, rather than serving one another, and the sad thing is that without Christ being the center of our lives is we will continue to do that very thing for the rest of our lives.

Church are you living in Freedom of Christ, because if you are a born again Christian Christ has set us free to live for him, and to serve others, meaning we are no longer a slave, but free, meaning we can live out the truth, and that means we can serve others.

If you are not a born again Christian, we briefly talked about the cross, and its through the cross where you can be set free, and being set free is simple, repent of your sin, and put your faith in Christ. It does not matter what your background is, it doesn’t matter if you dont think you are good enough to be saved, all that matters is that you put your faith in Christ, and repent of your sin.

Believer leave here today knowing you are free, free to live for him, and free to serve others.

If you want to make a decision I would love to talk to you about it, and if not i invite you to respond today in how ever the Lord has led you. Let us pray.