Freedom

Preached at Hallam and Martell United Methodist churches June 24, 2007.

It was one of those scenes that attracts onlookers. Two police officers had stopped a car in downtown Milwaukee and ordered the driver to get out from behind the wheel. The man was obviously very drunk and had a hard time standing up, much less completing the field sobriety test. The resulting exchange between officers and the glassy eyed, thick tongued offender drew a crowd. The police were trying to get the man to turn, lean over and put his hands on the hood of his car. The man was screaming, "Hey... I'm an American and I live in America and that means nobody can tell me what to do!"

Oddly enough, this story is about freedom. Here in the United States we have freedom—glorious wonderful freedom. But does that mean we can do whatever we want?—No. There are limits on what you can do—you can’t shout fire in a crowded theater. You can’t drive drunk, you can’t sell illegal drugs. There are limits on our freedom designed to protect others, and to protect us from ourselves.

I want to take this just a step further, and say that to do anything we want would not be freedom, rather it would simply be an abuse of freedom—a self-indulgence.

But our scripture from Galatians says that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free, Christ came that might have life abundant—what could be more abundant than indulging our passions and pleasures, whatever they might be—that 10 commandments thing?—well, that’s Old Testament! As New Testament Christians, we should be free by grace of God to do whatever we want—as long as it is legal according to the laws of the land, right? After all, we are forgiven of ALL our sins aren’t we?

But wait a minute, let’s back up and look at what Paul writes here in Galatians.

Galatians 5:1

First, it is true that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. But what Paul means is that you are free from having to try to earn God’s favor by obeying the Jewish law—something nearly impossible to do in its entirety. It is Good News that that through faith in Jesus Christ, our sins are absolved—not just covered, to be brought out again later, but gone—washed away! It was especially good news to those who thought that they had to lead great or holy lives to earn or deserve God’s love. Truth is that none of us can earn God’s love—we can’t be good enough to measure up to the holiness of God—that’s why it is called Grace!

Paul’s opponents in Galatia wanted to make sure that people still followed the law—it was OK to believe in Jesus, but you still have to, by your own efforts, follow the law! Men have to be circumcised, you still have to follow the ritual cleansings, on and on and on.

I think this is where we today get confused. We know that we should live lives that are pleasing to God, so that means we have a set of laws and guidelines to follow, right? When we become Christian we have to do certain things, right? When we join the church, we vow to support the church with our prayer, our presence, our gifts, and our service, right?

But if you examine what this promise is, you’ll see that it goes back to doing these things in response to God’s grace through Jesus Christ rather than as a prerequisite for salvation.

Paul refers to what Jesus said, that we should serve each other, that we should love our neighbor. If we do this, then our eyes are no longer on ourselves. That is the only rule that Paul gives us here—that in response to the selfless sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we should refrain from a focus on ourselves—rather, love one another as Christ has loved us.

Look at vss. 16-21 This is a list of the works of the flesh -- every one is something we do for ourselves—whether pleasure, power, or personal gain. This is self-indulgent living—focusing on ourselves.

Now look at the next passage, vss. 22-23. This is a list of the fruit of the Spirit. Notice that they are not things that we can do by our own power—they are what the Spirit does in us if we stop focusing on ourselves.

This is the challenge—the war within us so to speak. We are given freedom, yet that freedom is to live freely for others, because living for ourselves is bondage. Self-indulgence is an abuse of freedom. This battle to take our eyes off ourselves is hard, but it is possible. But it is not possible though our own strength, but only through our submission to the Spirit of God.

We all struggle over right and wrong everyday. We decide over loving ourselves and loving our neighbor and we probably don’t win as many battles as we could.

God offers us the help we need, it is not always as easy to find as we want. It takes real effort and control to listen to the Spirit. It takes even more to follow the Spirit’s direction.

My challenge to you today is this: Live by the Spirit, and you will experience freedom. Freedom from unmet expectations, freedom from self-focus, and freedom from fear.