6^th Sunday after Pentecost – July 4, 2010

Galatians 5:1,13-25 - It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. ¹³ You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. ¹⁴ The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. ¹⁶ So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷ For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. ¹⁹ The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Freedom! That’s an important word to Americans – whether it is freedom of speech or freedom of religion, we are a land famed for its freedoms. In fact, this very day - July 4^th, is a day we set aside to celebrate freedom. But how free are we really? Are we free to drive at any speed we’d like? Are we free to abandon our husband? Our wife? Our children? Are we free to build on our property however we want and wherever we want? Despite living in a land that is famed for its freedoms, we are not 100% free, are we?

That isn’t the case, however, when it comes to the freedom we have in Christ! In Christ we are 100% free! Listen to what the Apostle Paul, writing by inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, says in the very first verse of our text. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Freedom is an even more important word to Christians, for freedom from a guilty conscience is a far greater blessing than taxation with representation. Freedom from spiritual tyranny far surpasses freedom from political tyranny.

Paul’s discussion on freedom—in this verse and throughout this chapter—is one that is especially dear to us Lutheran Christians. But at times we can find Christian freedom difficult to understand, and even more difficult to put into practice. Let us, then, on the basis of our text, tackle this subject of Christian freedom.

The freedom that we enjoy as Christians has been purchased at a great price. This is a theme that the apostle has been highlighting throughout this letter to the Galatians. Now, in chapter 5, he begins the practical application of this important truth. In other words, Paul helps us, living in the 21^st century, to understand what it means that we are free in the Lord.

If Paul were standing in this pulpit today, he might very well say something like this: “My dear friends, you know you are free. God himself has secured that freedom for you at an awesome price. You are free from the penalty of sin because Christ died for you on the cross. You are free from the guilt of sin because you have experienced God’s forgiveness. You are free from the Law with its demands and threats because Christ bore the curse of the Law and ended its tyranny once and for all. God offered up the life and death of his Son, Jesus Christ, to make you free.” In the words of Peter: “It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Pt 1:18,19).

If Paul were standing in this pulpit today, he would make sure that we understood the incredible price that Christ paid to secure our freedom. That is what Paul would emphasize. That is what he would stress. But he wouldn’t stop there. He would continue, “So how should we respond?” And that’s exactly what he did.

After establishing that it was Christ who had set them free, Paul said to the Galatians, “Do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” In other words, “Don’t go and be slaves again and lose your freedom.” One of the ways that could happen is spoken about in the verses omitted from our text. In verses 2-12 Paul says that if someone says they are saved by grace plus works, they lose their freedom. Such a belief would make Christ of no value because they would be trusting in their work, not in Christ. Another way this could happen is when freedom is used as an excuse to do whatever a person wants to do. That is what Paul has in mind in our text; and that is why he issues the caution, “Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”

You see, human beings are prone to go to extremes. One person sees liberty as a license to do whatever they want. Another person, seeing this error, goes to an opposite extreme and imposes Law on everyone. The foolish Galatians were no different. As a result, some insisted that there was no such thing as freedom and others abused their freedom. So they argued. They bickered. They called each other names. They refused to walk and talk with one another. The picture that Paul paints is one of wild animals “biting and devouring each other” and, in so doing, destroying one another.

I wonder: have we outgrown the foolish behavior of the Galatians? How foolish of me to ask! Do we not still see husband pitted against wife? Children against parents? Race against race? Member against member? Are we not still infected with s sinful nature which bubbles over with sin? Where do jealousy and hatred come from if not from within, from our own self-rooted interests? How does greed see if not with our own eyes? Where does quarreling arise if not from our own tongues? Where does lust burn if not in our own hearts? Are there not times we’ve secretly told ourselves, this sin isn’t that big of a deal, it’ll be ok, I know Jesus?

Oh the wretchedness! And Paul doesn’t beat around the bush: “Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” What’s that? “Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” That’s enough to make us tremble and blush because we can’t help but think, “But I’ve done such things. What does that mean for me?” I’ll tell you what it means. It means that all those times we told ourselves it was no big deal, or that God would understand, or that it would be okay so long as we didn’t get caught – we didn’t know what we were talking about. It’s not okay. As redeemed children of God, set free by the blood of Christ, we are to live in step with the Spirit.

“O almighty God, merciful Father, I am a poor, miserable sinner!” It’s not who I want to be, but it’s who I am, and I can’t will myself to recovery. There’s no ten-step secret or magic pill. Flesh is flesh. Sinners sin. What I need – what you need - is to be cleansed. And Jeremiah gives us the words: “Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise” (Jeremiah 17:14).

How we need to remember that it was for our biting and devouring of each other and our abuse of our Christian freedom that Jesus went to the cross to pay the awesome price for our sins. How we must repent and return to the storehouse of God’s forgiveness! How marvelous that our gracious God continues to say to us, “Your sins are forgiven!” That repentance is the difference between being a Christian who falls into sin and being someone who thinks they are a Christian but habitually indulges in these sins and lives like this.

Yes, my dear, repentant, Christian friends, you are free. You are free from the penalty of sin because Christ died for you on the cross. You are free from the guilt of sin because you have experienced God’s forgiveness. You are free from the Law with its demands and threats because Christ bore the curse of the Law and ended its tyranny once and for all. God himself has secured that freedom for you at an awesome price. God offered up the life and death of his Son, Jesus Christ, to make you free.

But that doesn’t mean we are free to do whatever we want! Our sin nature has not been eradicated or even rendered inactive. The flesh is opposed to the Spirit and they will wrestle all the days of your life until the dirt hits your coffin. But that doesn’t mean it’s a hopeless fight and you might as well give up. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” Your sin has already been judged. Victory over the sinful nature’s passions and desires has been provided by Christ in his death. Just as he made himself to be our sin, and then took our sin to the cross, so when we are in him, our sinful nature has been crucified along with him; it is dead to sin. And just as Jesus rose again from the dead on the third day, leaving our sin in the grave, so when we are in him, we rise from the dead to live for him now and with him forever in heaven. We have been released from the domination of the old and warped within us. Now the Spirit has full reign to produce good works. What will those works look like? St. Paul tells us: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Christian freedom is the capacity, and the strength, to act in love, to know and share joy, to experience and promote peace, and all those other blessings that come only through the Spirit working in our heart.

All this having been said, Paul concludes, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” How much more practical could Paul be? Isn’t he pointing his finger at us, as he once did at the Galatians, reminding us not to misuse our freedom in Christ? My friends, that’s precisely the point Paul wants to drive home. He wants us to turn from the acts of the sinful nature and focus on those of the Spirit. And do you know what? That’s freedom—not to sin, not to gratify the desires of the sinful nature, but willingly—not reluctantly or under compulsion—to walk in step with the Spirit and to do so solely to glorify God. Amen.