June 26, 2019
“Free at last!” (Galatians 5:1, 13-25)
Paul reminds the Galatians that they are free and urges them not to submit themselves to a yoke of slavery. Christians have been freed for life in Christ (2:19-20). Freedom in Christ is not individualistic, libertarian, go-it-alone kind of freedom. Freedom is first of all Christ-centered and therefore communal. It is Christ-centered in the sense that Christian freedom happens as believers are made participants in Christ’s person.
In the famous Christ hymn of Philippians, Jesus makes himself a slave in order to obey and honor God and rescue humanity (Philippians 2:5-11). Becoming slaves to one another means to be shaped by the slavery of Christ. One is freed from slavery to Sin and self and freed for life in Christ the slave who gives himself to God and others.
To be chosen by God for freedom, to have been freed by Christ is to have been freed from the dire results of life lived apart from God. It is also a call into freedom that in some ways mirrors God’s own, that is a freedom dedicated to serving others in love.
We as a culture are also confused about freedom. We think freedom means “I can do whatever I want, whenever I want to.” We confuse freedom with “license.” License means you don’t care about anybody else, so you have no qualms about doing whatever you want, regardless of how it affects others. It’s a matter of indulging yourself however you please. What that misses is that there are always consequences to our actions and choices. Pure self-indulgence never results in real freedom.
The true meaning of love is found in the freedom to give yourself away. True freedom is what you get when you live your life in loving service to others. St. Augustine said it this way: “love, and do what you will.” He was saying that if you truly love God and truly love others, then you are free to do whatever you want, because what you want will be—in so far as it is humanly possible—an expression of love toward God and others. And as St. Paul said it, there is no law against that (Gal. 5:23)!
Blessings,
Pastor Mike
“Free at last!” (Galatians 5:1, 13-25)
Paul reminds the Galatians that they are free and urges them not to submit themselves to a yoke of slavery. Christians have been freed for life in Christ (2:19-20). Freedom in Christ is not individualistic, libertarian, go-it-alone kind of freedom. Freedom is first of all Christ-centered and therefore communal. It is Christ-centered in the sense that Christian freedom happens as believers are made participants in Christ’s person.
In the famous Christ hymn of Philippians, Jesus makes himself a slave in order to obey and honor God and rescue humanity (Philippians 2:5-11). Becoming slaves to one another means to be shaped by the slavery of Christ. One is freed from slavery to Sin and self and freed for life in Christ the slave who gives himself to God and others.
To be chosen by God for freedom, to have been freed by Christ is to have been freed from the dire results of life lived apart from God. It is also a call into freedom that in some ways mirrors God’s own, that is a freedom dedicated to serving others in love.
We as a culture are also confused about freedom. We think freedom means “I can do whatever I want, whenever I want to.” We confuse freedom with “license.” License means you don’t care about anybody else, so you have no qualms about doing whatever you want, regardless of how it affects others. It’s a matter of indulging yourself however you please. What that misses is that there are always consequences to our actions and choices. Pure self-indulgence never results in real freedom.
The true meaning of love is found in the freedom to give yourself away. True freedom is what you get when you live your life in loving service to others. St. Augustine said it this way: “love, and do what you will.” He was saying that if you truly love God and truly love others, then you are free to do whatever you want, because what you want will be—in so far as it is humanly possible—an expression of love toward God and others. And as St. Paul said it, there is no law against that (Gal. 5:23)!
Blessings,
Pastor Mike