Sunday's Message (Freedom in Christ: Freedom That’s Limited)

On July 4, we'll celebrate our 250th anniversary as a country. And even though we haven’t been perfect, we’ve served as an example of freedom for the rest of the world. But as important as that is, the Bible teaches that true freedom is a spiritual reality found through Jesus Christ that transforms how individuals live, serve, and interact with the world. With that in mind, during the six weeks between Pentecost and Independence Day, we’re exploring six key things the Bible says about our freedom in Christ:

• May 24 - Freedom That’s Empowered
• May 31 - Freedom That’s Liberating
• June 7 - Freedom That’s Enlightened
• June 14 - Freedom That’s Limited
• June 21 - Freedom That’s Active
• June 28 - Freedom That’s Challenging 

On Sunday, we discussed how our freedom in Christ is limited. Below are a YouTube video 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. 

Well, here we are, smack dab in the middle of June, and am I the only one who’s thinking: Where has the month gone? I mean, last week, we had Vacation Bible School and next Sunday we’ll be celebrating our parents at a Father’s Day breakfast. And then, in less than two weeks, we’ll be at the Fourth of July, our Semiquincentennial anniversary as a free and independent country. 

And as most of y’all know, during the time between Pentecost and the Fourth, we’ve been talking about our freedom in Christ. And to this point we’ve looked at how it’s a freedom that’s empowered by the Holy Spirit and that liberates us from a bondage to sin. And last week, we considered how it’s also a special kind of freedom that’s enlightened – in other words, grounded in something more stable and constant than our own thoughts and opinions, and because of that, God’s freed us to be intentional; therefore, we can know. And God’s freed us to be faithful; therefore, we can understand. And God’s freed us to be practical; therefore, we can apply what we know and understand. Now, to this point, that’s what we’ve covered. And today, we’ll continue our little trip down freedom’s highway by discussing how our freedom in Christ is also limited.

And I’ll tell you, same kind of thing is true of the freedom we’ll be celebrating in about twenty days. You see, even though we may get all fired up about how we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. [The Declaration of Independence, 1776], in reality, none of our founding fathers believed our freedom as a nation or as a people was absolute and limitless. For example, the guy who wrote The Declaration of Independence in 1776 would later say this:

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will, within the limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not say ‘within the limits of the law,’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual. [Letter to Isaac H. Tiffany, 1819]

In other words, for Jefferson, there needed to be some limits to our freedom. And for me, that just makes sense. I mean, for the good of all of us, we need soldiers and sailors, police officers and firefighters,  because we need them to protect us even though, in doing their jobs, they may have to sacrifice their unalienable right to life. And you know, if we break the law, we might need to pay the consequences of our actions for the good of society,  even though those consequences may take away our right to liberty. And I’ve got to tell you, every time some of my money goes toward Washington or Harrisburg to support all those things that really need to be done, well, you tell me, what’s that doing to my right to property and, of course, the pursuit of happiness? I can tell you right here and now, I’m not happy paying my taxes. I do it, because I have to, but I’m not happy. But having said that, I also recognize it’s necessary. You see, for us to function as a community, we’re going to need to sacrifice some of our individual rights. 

And it’s interesting, John Locke, the same English philosopher who wrote about those God-given rights that influenced Jefferson, well, he believed this too. Just listen to what he wrote:

The only way whereby any one divests himself of his natural liberty, and puts on the bonds of civil society, is by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community, for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living one amongst another... [The Second Treatise of Government, 1690]

You see, since we have a responsibility to other members of society, we agree to sacrifice some of our rights, our freedom for the common good. 

And I’ll tell you, I think this idea of responsibility can also apply to the liberty we’ve been given by God. I mean, even though it may be empowered and liberating and enlightened, our freedom in Christ isn’t absolute. Instead, it has limits, and similar to how it is within human society, I think those limits are defined by four responsibilities that apply to all followers of Jesus, whether they recognize them or not. And let me share with you what they are.

You see, first, I believe our freedom in Christ is limited by our responsibility to God. In other words, even though God has freed us, we owe him something that sort of puts boundaries on that freedom. It’s like what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians:

My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love. All the Law says can be summed up in the command to love others as much as you love yourself. But if you keep attacking each other like wild animals, you had better watch out or you will destroy yourselves.

If you are guided by the Spirit, you won’t obey your selfish desires. [Galatians 5:13-16, CEV]

Now that’s what he wrote and just think about what it means. Although God has freed us from all kinds of stuff, you know, stuff like the Old Testament Law and slavery to sin and the need to earn our salvation, that doesn’t mean we’re free to run around without really thinking about him at all. In other words, we probably shouldn’t be like this guy I ran into when I first started working in the church. You see, in the beginning, when a couple would come to get married and after they’d asked me how much, I’d say something like this: Well, I don’t like to set a specific amount, because worship services should be free. Of course, I’ll accept any gift y’all might want to give. Now that’s what I used to say, until this one couple came in and asked the question and got me started with the “Well, I don’t like to set a specific amount.” But before I even got to the “of course, I’ll accept any gift,” the guy kind of slapped his thigh, turned to his fiancée and said, “Hot dog, that’s one expense we don’t have to worry about.” After that, I led with the gift part. I’ll tell you, we probably shouldn’t like that guy, because, with God, man, I think we owe him big time. I mean, for setting us free from shame and despair and fear, I think we owe him our thanks and our obedience and our willingness to do what Jesus told all disciples to do: If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me. [Mark 8:34b] You see, when you get right down to it, first, our freedom in Christ is limited by our responsibility to God.

And second, it’s also limited by our responsibility to other believers. Put another way, we owe something to one another right here and right now. And I think we can get an idea about what this is all about by looking at something Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Now, to understand what he said, we need a little background. You see, evidently whether or not Christians should eat meat offered to idols was a big deal in that congregation. They even asked for Paul’s opinion, and so he gave it. And it was clear and concise. In a nutshell, he told them that, since idols represented gods that really don’t exist, the sacrificed meat wasn’t tainted and could be eaten. In other words, in Christ, the Corinthians were free to eat meat offered to idols. But he didn’t stop there. Instead, as he continued, he reminded them of something that might limit this freedom. He wrote, 

Not everyone knows these things. In fact, many people have grown up with the belief that idols have life in them. So when they eat meat offered to idols, they are bothered by a weak conscience. But food doesn’t bring us any closer to God. We are no worse off if we don’t eat, and we are no better off if we do.

Don’t cause problems for someone with a weak conscience, just because you have the right to eat anything. You know all this, and so it doesn’t bother you to eat in the temple of an idol. But suppose a person with a weak conscience sees you and decides to eat food that has been offered to idols. Then what you know has destroyed someone Christ died for. When you sin by hurting a follower with a weak conscience, you sin against Christ. So if I hurt one of the Lord’s followers by what I eat, I will never eat meat as long as I live. [1 Corinthians 8:7-13, CEV]

You see, whether we like it or not, we have a responsibility to those around us, our brothers and sisters, men and women for whom Jesus Christ died. As he wrote to the Thessalonians, “This is why you must encourage and help each other, just as you are already doing.” [1 Thessalonians 5:11, CEV] You see, we have a responsibility to build one another up, to encourage our shared faith and to strengthen consciences that are weak. But before that can happen, before we can all be on the same page about just how free we are, well, the strong really need to be sensitive to the weak. They need to show empathy. As he said to the Romans, “Welcome all the Lord’s followers, even those whose faith is weak. Don’t criticize them for having beliefs that are different from yours.” [Romans 14:1, CEV] Our job is to encourage growth and not to win arguments. And let’s get real, growth takes time and effort and sensitivity. You see, second, our freedom in Christ is limited by our responsibility to other believers.

And third, this God-given freedom is also limited by our responsibility to secular society, and I’m talking about the world on the other side of the stained glass. And you know, in his letter to the Romans, Paul explained the nature of this responsibility:

Obey the rulers who have authority over you. Only God can give authority to anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power. People who oppose the authorities are opposing what God has done, and they will be punished. Rulers are a threat to evil people, not to good people. There is no need to be afraid of the authorities. Just do right, and they will praise you for it. After all, they are God’s servants, and it is their duty to help you.

You must also pay your taxes. The authorities are God’s servants, and it is their duty to take care of these matters. Pay all that you owe, whether it is taxes and fees or respect and honor. [Romans 13:1-4, 6-7, CEV]

Now before we talk about what that means, I think it’s important to be clear about what Paul isn’t saying. I mean, he was writing about rulers who were a threat to those who are evil and not those who are good. Now I think that’s really important, because I don’t believe he was binding Christians to obey leaders who scare the puddin’ out of good, moral folks  while letting the evil sort of slide. If that were the case, every Old Testament prophet who spoke out against cruel and corrupt and godless kings would have been wrong. No, Christians weren’t obligated to blindly obey Hitler or Stalin or Mao. But when leaders are good and honest and compassionate and when governments protect the weak and the abused and the neglected and when nations do what Jesus told them to do, then we have an obligation to obey the laws and to pay our taxes and to pray for our leaders. As a matter of fact, even if we’d prefer doing something else, we might actually be expected to help move secular society closer to values and principles affirmed by Christ. You see, third, I believe the freedom we’ve been given is limited by our responsibility to secular society.

And fourth, in my opinion, our freedom in Christ is limited by our responsibility to ourselves. I’ll tell you, along with what we owe our God and our Christian brothers and sisters and our society, we need to take seriously how abusing our freedom might affect us as individuals. And I’ll tell you, I think that’s what Paul was thinking about when he wrote this to Corinthians:

Some of you say, “We can do whatever we want to!” But I tell you not everything may be good or helpful. We should think about others and not about ourselves. However, when you buy meat in the market, go ahead and eat it. Keep your conscience clear by not asking where the meat came from. The Scriptures say, “The earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.” [1 Corinthians 10:23-26, CEV]

Frankly, I love this. In fact, it reminds me of something I’ve learned by  spending most of my life in the Presbyterian Church. I sincerely believe Presbyterians can do anything we want; we just can’t enjoy it. Of course, I think we all know that what we choose to do or choose to leave undone, man, they all have consequences. I think Buddhists call it karma. You see, our freedom can really hurt us. And for that reason, before we make big decisions, I think it just makes sense to ask ourselves a few questions, you know, like: How will this decision bring me closer to God? And how will this decision strengthen my Christian brothers and sisters? And how will this decision make the world around me a better place? I’m telling you, before we just stumble ahead, maybe we should be a little more intentional in what we choose to do. Why? Because I believe our freedom in Christ is limited by our responsibility to ourselves.

Of course, in my opinion, it’s not all that surprising that our founding fathers believed that, for our country to work, there really needed to be some limits to the freedom expressed in The Declaration of Independence. I mean, the same men who talked about freedom of speech and religion and assembly also wrote laws against slander and polygamy and mobs. Although real, our freedom as Americans must always be limited. And I’ll tell you, I think the same applies to the freedom we have in Christ. You see, before we just run off and do whatever we want, I think it’s important to consider our responsibility to God and to other Christians right along with our responsibility to secular society and even ourselves. As a matter of fact, as we consider what we’ve been given, personally I believe we probably should be grateful that our freedom in Christ is limited.