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Risky Business: The
Other Side of Christian Freedom
Galatians 5:13-15
“It is for freedom that Christ
has set us free” (Galatians 5:1a). What exactly is this Christian freedom
that Paul talks so much about in Galatians? Christian freedom is freedom
from sin, not freedom to sin. As Martin Luther put it, freedom is not the
right to do what you want but rather the power to do what you ought.
In the Christian sense, true freedom is
not doing whatever you dream of doing or acting on every wild idea; it is
choosing to do what God approves because you know that will bring you the
greatest happiness today and the deepest joy in eternity. Those who know
the Lord have the power (by the Holy Spirit) to choose that which
produces the highest and best eternal good.
In our study of the book of Galatians I have repeatedly mentioned the
“Judaizers,” that group of so-called Christian leaders who
came from a Jewish background and who claimed to represent the apostles
in Jerusalem. They were influencing the young Galatian
believers (nearly all of them Gentiles) to become circumcised (and thus
live under the Law of Moses) as a means of pleasing God. Every time I
have mentioned the Judaizers, it has been to roundly criticize them. In
this message I would like to say a good word on their behalf. We will
understand them better if we consider the moral condition of the Roman Empire in the first century. Although we like to talk
about the moral decline of Western Civilization in the 21st century, we
need to know that things were much worse in Paul’s day. It is hard
for us to easily grasp how morally degraded the Greeks and Romans were.
Regarding sexual ethics, it was a period of lawless chaos. One writer
describes it as “an age when shame seems to have vanished from the
earth.” The famous orator Demosthenes declared, “We keep
mistresses for pleasure, concubines for the day-to-day needs of the body,
but we have wives in order to produce children legitimately and to have a
trustworthy guardian of our homes.” Almost every famous Greek
figure had a mistress. The list includes Alexander the Great, Aristotle,
Plato, Pericles and Sophocles.
And homosexuality was found in every
layer of society from the highest to the lowest. Rome learned this vice from Greece. J. J. Dollinger calls it “the great
national disease of Greece.” Historians tell us that 14 of the first
15 Roman Emperors were homosexual, including Julius Caesar.
William Barclay offers this telling summary: “It has been said that
chastity was the one completely new virtue which Christianity introduced
into the pagan world.” It is against that backdrop that we must
judge the Judaizers. Knowing the immorality of Rome and Greece, they thought the only way to combat it was
with rules, rules and more rules. Their diagnosis was correct. It was
their prescription that was completely wrong.
I.
Believers are called to freedom. 13a
Twice in Galatians 5
Paul declares that believers are now free. “It is for freedom that
Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1a). “You, my brothers,
were called to be free” (Galatians 5:13a).
So, in what sense are Christians now free? Here are several answers to
that question. We are …
Free from the guilt of sin.
Free from the penalty of sin.
Free from the shame of sin.
Free from the power of sin.
Free from the power of the law to condemn us.
Therefore we can come to God anytime on the basis of the work of Christ
with the certainty that we will be accepted. Our freedom is first and
foremost a spiritual freedom that opens up a new relationship with God.
But freedom does not mean that we do not struggle with sin any longer. We
still struggle from the pull of the flesh that leads us into sin. However, we are free from the bondage
of trying to please God through religious ceremonies and practices. But
we must be honest sin itself remains with us and even in us.
II.
Freedom leads in two directions. 13b
“But do not use
your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in
love” (Galatians 5:13b). The word “indulge” is a
military term that refers to a base of operations that an army
establishes in enemy territory. From this base of operations the army can
then launch attacks in various directions. You can misuse your freedom by
allowing the flesh-the fallen human nature which is still a part of who
you are to have a “base of operations” in your life from
which all sorts of sinful actions spring.
Even though we are
redeemed and made new creatures by Christ Jesus, the flesh is always with
us, pulling us down, dragging us back to the world, and enticing us to
every sort of moral and spiritual compromise.
One writer defines the
flesh as “the inner desire for selfish gratification at the expense
of God and others.” That’s a good definition because it
focuses on the selfishness of our fallen human nature. There is something in all of us that
says, “Go ahead. You deserve this. You’ve earned it. No one
can stop you,” even though we know the thing itself is sinful.
Here is the tricky part. Our old nature …our human nature, the
flesh attacks us anytime, anywhere.
We as Christian make a serious mistake in underestimate the pull
and power of the flesh. We like to dance as close the fire as possible
without getting burnt, but more often than not we get burnt.
Let’s pause for a moment and learn a new word. The word is
“antinomianism.” It doesn’t sound very good, does it?
Well, it isn’t good at all. The prefix “anti” means
“against” and “nomos” means “law.”
Literally, an antinomian is someone who is “against the law.”
In church history the term has come to refer to one of the most ancient
Christian heresies, a virulent strain of false teaching that has recurred
in every generation and is widely held in evangelical churches today. An
antinomian is a person who believes that salvation by grace means that he
is free to do whatever he likes and God won’t care. Such a person
excuses evil by saying, “God will forgive me.” He claims that
God’s grace allows him to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants,
and without paying any consequences. Some people use this logic to excuse
adultery (“I know it’s wrong but God will forgive me”)
or unbiblical divorce (“God wants me to be happy”) or
pornography (“I have needs, you know”) or homosexuality
(“God made me this way”) or theft (“I deserve
this”) or anger (“God understands when I lose my
temper”) or even abuse (“She had it coming to her”).
Where this logic prevails, anything goes. There are no limits, no
restraints. It’s a convenient theology because you can claim to be
a Christian and yet ignore the moral teachings of the Bible. It says,
“Accept Christ and then live as you like.” It’s pure,
undiluted hedonism dressed up in a Christian costume. How easy it is for
all of us to “justify” our sin. We use grace as a cloak to
cover our sinful behavior and then dare God not to forgive us.
Let me say it as clearly as I can: Anybody who says a Christian can do
evil and God won’t care is a missionary from hell. Again, Biblical freedom is never
freedom to sin; it’s freedom from sin. It’s the power to
overcome, to get up and fight the battle again and again and again.
III.
Love fulfills the entire law. 14
“The entire law is summed up in a single
command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:14). There is a better way than indulging the
flesh. Paul calls it serving one another in love. But there is irony in
his voice. The word “serving” comes from a Greek word that
means to be a slave. We are set free from our slavery to sin by the power
of Jesus Christ. Having been set free, we are called to become slaves to
one another in love for Christ’s sake.
Here is where the Judaizers made their fundamental mistake. They thought
the only way to change human behavior was through a system of
laws…outward behavior. But laws can never change the heart.
Christianity works because it changes people from the inside out. When
Christ comes in, he changes the desire of your heart. The desire of our heart is to serve God
and to do those things that please God…yes we still sin, but when
we do we grief, because we know we have broken the heart of the God who
loves us and gave His son to redeem us.
In his final message to his men before his crucifixion, Jesus declared
that love was to be the distinguishing mark of his followers: “By
this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one
another” (John 13:35). Today we have changed the words of Jesus. By this shall men know that you belong
to Jesus if …
You attend the right church.
You say the right prayers.
You sign the right doctrinal statement.
You dress and act like other Christians.
But Jesus said the one way to spot his disciples is by the way they love
one another. The gospel changes the heart and a changed heart always
leads to changed relationships.
IV. Liberty without love leads to mutual
destruction. 15
“If you keep on biting and devouring each
other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other” (Galatians 5:15). Our passage ends on a solemn word of warning.
Because freedom leads in two directions, we either use our freedom as an
excuse to sin or we can use our freedom as a means to serve others. If we
choose self-indulgence, we risk destroying our friendships and tearing
apart the family of God.
Two simple equations make the choices crystal-clear:
Liberty + Love = Service to others
Liberty – Love = Freedom to sin
Where God’s love reigns, sin cannot abide.
Three Concluding Statements
Let’s wrap up our study with four statements that summarize the
message of this passage:
1) Christian freedom is not the right to do what we want, but the power
to do what we ought.
2) Freedom that is not guided by love soon descends into destructive
self-indulgence.
3) When we act with love towards others, we have fulfilled the law of
God.
4) God’s love and bitter strife cannot coexist.
Brothers and sisters, we are called to this freedom. It is for freedom
that Christ has set us free. God grant that we should live as the free
children of the Living God this week. Amen.
Return to First Baptist Sermon page.
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