Sunday's Message - The Book of Galatians: Set Free. Live Free (Set Free! - Galatians 5:1-12)

During most of the Summer, the congregation of Sligo Presbyterian Church will explore the Apostle Paul's Letter to the Galatians and consider how we might claim the freedom we have in Jesus Christ. During our time together, we'll explore the following:

• May 26 - One Gospel (Galatians 1:1-10)
• June 2 - Grace Changes Everything! (Galatians 1:10-24)
• June 9 - Getting the Gospel Right (Galatians 2:1-21)
• June 16 - Don't Be Stupid! (Galatians 3:1-14)
• June 23 - Children, Not Slaves (Galatians 3:15–4:7)
• July 7 - Don't Look Back (Galatians 4:8-20)
• July 14 - Effort Vs. Grace (Galatians 4:21-31)
• July 21 - Set Free! (Galatians 5:1-12)
• July 28 - Living Our Freedom (Galatians 5:13-26)
• August 4 - Sowing and Reaping (Galatians 6:1-18)

On Sunday, we continued the series by looking at Galatians 5:1-12 and by discussing the implications of our freedom. Below are a recording and the text of the sermon. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. (EDT) You can hear a podcast of the service at the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel or the Sligo Presbyterian Spotify Page. 

As I hope most of y’all remember, way back in May, (You remember May don’t you, you know, when the grass was green and the humidity hadn’t hit 100% and I was still 66.) well way back then, we started a series of sermons focusing on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. And with the exception of the church picnic last month, each week we’ve looked at a different passage from what the Apostle Paul had to say to these churches he’d founded back in the day.

And as we’ve discussed, we’ve got a pretty good idea about the trouble they were facing. You see, after he’d shared with them the good news of Jesus Christ, a message which they accepted, the missionary Paul moved on to another area. But after he’d gone, another group of Christians had sort of shown up with a slightly different message. I mean, even though, for the most part, they used all the right words and pushed all the right buttons, they added something to what Paul had preached and the Galatians had accepted. You see, they told these baby Christians that, if they wanted to improve their relationship with God, they should start obeying the Jewish Law, starting with circumcision. Now, in a nutshell, that’s what they taught.

Of course, if something like that happened now-a-days, I think most Christians would see it as just a difference of opinion, no big deal. As a matter of fact, it might be one of the few things in our modern society that wouldn’t result in anger and name-calling. Still when Paul heard what had happened, man, he went ballistic,  and in no uncertain terms, said that this new and improved gospel was just plain wrong. Remember, he wrote,

I am shocked that you have so quickly turned from God, who chose you with his gift of undeserved grace. You have believed another message, when there is really only one true message. But some people are causing you trouble and want to make you turn away from the good news about Christ. [Galatians 1:6-7, CEV]

And once he told them exactly what he thought of this new gospel, he restated the message that he’d originally shared with the Galatians, namely that both his and their relationship with God was grounded on what God had given and what they then could do in response. Again he wrote, 

I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. I don’t turn my back on God’s gift of undeserved grace. If we can be acceptable to God by obeying the Law, it was useless for Christ to die. [Galatians 2:20-21, CEV]

And for Paul, man, that was crucially important, because thanks to what God did, they were now free, free from having to obey the Law in order to get on God’s good side, in fact, free from having to do anything to make themselves more acceptable to God. Remember, he said,

But when the time was right, God sent his Son, and a woman gave birth to him. His Son obeyed the Law, so he could set us free from the Law, and we could become God’s children. Now that we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. And his Spirit tells us that God is our Father. [Galatians 4:4-6, CEV]

Now that’s what Paul wrote in the part of the letter we’ve discussed thus far.

And in the passage we’re looking at this morning, he sort of sums up what he’d already said. Just listen to what he wrote:

Christ has set us free! This means we are really free. Now hold on to your freedom and don’t ever become slaves of the Law again.

I, Paul, promise you that Christ won’t do you any good if you get circumcised. If you do, you must obey the whole Law. And if you try to please God by obeying the Law, you have cut yourself off from Christ and his gift of undeserved grace. But the Spirit makes us sure God will accept us because of our faith in Christ. If you are a follower of Christ Jesus, it makes no difference whether you are circumcised or not. All that matters is your faith that makes you love others.

You were doing so well until someone made you turn from the truth. And that person was certainly not sent by the one who chose you. A little yeast can change a whole batch of dough, but you belong to the Lord. This makes me certain you will do what I say, instead of what someone else tells you to do. Whoever is causing trouble for you will be punished.

My friends, if I still preach that people need to be circumcised, why am I in so much trouble? The message about the cross would no longer be a problem, if I told people to be circumcised. I wish everyone who is upsetting you would not only get circumcised, but would cut off much more! [Galatians 5:1-12, CEV]

Now that was what he wrote. You see, for Paul, he was and they were and we are free. But you know, even though I think it’s pretty clear and very consistent, I’m not sure folks always know what to do with it. I mean, even if I accept that, through Jesus Christ, I’ve been set free, I may still have a hard time seeing how that freedom can have a real impact on what I think or how I live. In other words, even though Paul wrote it and I believe it, what difference does this freedom business actually make? To me, that’s a good question.

And I’ll tell you, answering it is going to be our focus this morning. You see, during this message, we’re going to consider the implications of being set  free. And we’re going to do that by looking at three ways I believe accepting our freedom in Christ can change us. 

For example, first, accepting that, with respect to spiritual laws, we are truly free, I believe that can change our attitude, and right now I’m talking about how we feel about ourselves and how those feelings shape the way we relate to the world around us. I mean, for those who don’t realize that, through God’s undeserved grace, they’ve been set free; therefore, their relationship with God is not based on following the rules,  well, I think they sort of bounce between two sets of emotions, and right now, I know what I’m talking about, because this once described me. You see, on one hand, when they’re not doing all the stuff they’re supposed to be doing, you know, when they haven’t dotted all the “i”s and haven’t crossed all the “t”s and they’re not thinking the right thoughts or faking the right feelings, in other words, when they don’t believe they’re making the grade, trust me, they’re feeling a lot of fear, because they sincerely believe that, if Jesus returned and could see their failure to measure up, man, there’s no way that he’d take them. Now that’s how a lot of bound folks feel when they think that they haven’t done enough. On the other hand though, well, just imagine the pride in knowing that, based on their words and work, they really have done everything necessary to deserve grace and earn salvation. You see, under the law, people end up bouncing between fear and pride, and like I said, personally, I know exactly how that feels.

But that’s not how I feel anymore, because I believe things have changed. You see, since we can now believe that we’ve been set free and since we can trust that we’re no longer bound to a list of “do”s and “don’t”s guaranteed to make us acceptable to the big guy up stairs, since we no longer believe that stuff, well, we really have no reason to be afraid because we haven’t done enough or to feel proud when we’ve done it all. Instead, I think we end up feeling genuine humility, because what God has given us, we can never deserve. In fact, all we can really do is to thank him for this free gift he’s given. But more than that, I believe we can also experience a whole lot of hope, because let’s get real, when it comes to God and his love for us, what we didn’t earn, we really can’t lose. As a matter of fact, we might even understand what Paul was getting at when he wrote this a little later in this same fifth chapter:

God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings and desires. God’s Spirit has given us life, and so we should follow the Spirit. But don’t be conceited or make others jealous by claiming to be better than they are. [Galatians 5:22-26, CEV]

You see, when we realize that we’ve been set free, I believe our attitude will change. And that’s the first thing accepting our freedom can do.

And second, I think it can also enable us to expand our response, in other words, to broaden the ways we can respond to God. For example, if we believe our relationship with God is based on a bunch of rules that outline what we should do or experience or say or promise or pray or give in order to be right with God, if this is what we believe, let me ask you, when we’ve done enough, you know, enough to deserve grace and earn salvation, is there any reason for us to do more? I don’t think so. I mean, unless we’re going to squeeze in some special incentives, you know, like getting jewels for our heavenly crowns by doing something extra, an idea that’s not found in scripture, let’s get real, if the class is pass/fail, once you’ve passed, doing extra credit just doesn’t make sense, does it? Well, it doesn’t if it’s all about doing enough, and that’s why I call this minimum standard Christianity. 

But since God has set us free from doing enough and since his grace is undeserved and all he wants from us is that we trust that it’s been freely given, in other words, since our relationship with him is actually grounded in what he’s already done, well, how we actually respond is going to be determined by the amount of gratitude we feel. In other words, there’s no minimum standard. There’s no salvation “to do” list that we need to check off. In fact, there’s nothing to earn, because it’s all undeserved. Therefore, what we decide to do is going to be based on how grateful we are for what we’ve been freely given. Of course, I understand that some folks will say that, without a lot of “ought”s and “should”s, no one will do anything good, but let me ask you, how do you think most people would respond if they had the same view of God that Paul shared with the Romans:

Who can measure the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God? Who can understand his decisions or explain what he does?

“Has anyone known

the thoughts of the Lord

    or given him advice?

Has anyone loaned

something to the Lord

    that must be repaid?”

Everything comes from the Lord. All things were made because of him and will return to him. Praise the Lord forever! Amen. [Romans 11:33-36, CEV]

No, I believe that, when this is our understanding of God, our response is going to expand beyond the minimum standards. And for me, that’s the second thing accepting our freedom can do.

And third, along with a changed attitude and a broadened response, I think the reality that we’ve been set free can actually shift our focus, and I’m talking about the one or ones toward whom we direct our attention. And you know, this just makes sense. I mean, if it’s all about me doing enough and about me getting my nose above the minimum standard and about me showing that I really do deserve grace and I really have earned a little bit of salvation, if this is what I believe, where am I going to focus my attention? Am I going to focus on God? Well, maybe, but only to get the rules I need to follow. And am I going to focus on you? Well possibly, but only if that’s something I’ve been told to do in order to do enough. I’m telling you, without freedom, we really need to focus on self.

But that’s changed, hasn’t it, because we’ve been set free. We’re not bound to the laws that promise to make us acceptable to God. In fact, in spite of the reality that we’ve done nothing to deserve or to earn it, God couldn’t love us more than he does right here and right now. Therefore, we really don’t need to focus on ourselves. Instead, we can show our love for God by doing what he’s called us to do and showing love for one another. In other words, we can decide to apply these words that Paul offered to the Colossians as we go about our daily living: 

God loves you and has chosen you as his own special people. So be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient. Put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you. Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together.

Each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace. So let the peace that comes from Christ control your thoughts. And be grateful. Let the message about Christ completely fill your lives, while you use all your wisdom to teach and instruct each other. With thankful hearts, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. Whatever you say or do should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks to God the Father because of him. [Colossians 3:12-17, CEV]

You see, thanks to what God has given with no strings attached, my focus can now shift from me to him and to y’all. And in my opinion, that’s the third thing accepting our freedom can do.

Now, starting next week, we’ll begin to focus on exactly what all of this should look like, and I’m talking about in the real world. But before we move forward, I think it’s important to recognize that, using the words of Paul, “Christ has set us free! This means we are really free. Now hold on to your freedom and don’t ever become slaves of the Law again.” [Galatians 5:1, CEV] You see, whether we like it or not, that’s our reality. And I’ll tell you, when we accept it, when we accept this new freedom we have, I believe it can change our attitude from fear and pride to humility and hope. And it can expand our response from doing only what’s necessary to everything that’s possible. And it can shift our focus from self to God and neighbor. I’m telling you, this is possible when we believe that, in Jesus Christ, we’ve been set free.