Freedom In Christ

Freedom IN Christ

If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.  John 8:36

Galatians is one of the feistiest books in the New Testament. Paul pulls no punches. He curses his opponents. He nails the apostle Peter in public for his foolishness. He questions his readers if they are in their right mind. He uses two very cutting images that allude to knives. In 5:12 he says, "As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves." Paul is downright mad! In 6:17 he says, "Finally  let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the marks (brand-marks) [scars] of Jesus." He means, "Where I have been cut, and where the stones have almost killed me, and the opposition has attacked me, those are Jesus' scars-and I’m proud to be branded!" This book is energetic and angry at times, and almost always passionate.

I want us all to experience a soul revolution, to become God pleasers  through the amazing Gospel!

V1Paul begins by laying claim to the unique authority of an apostle which is not dependent at all on other people, but comes from Christ and God the Father. The point he is making here is. "I didn't climb up the apostolic ladder so to speak.  I didn't grow into the position. I was made an apostle by God the Father and God the Son, working together. They appointed me their emissary, and like it or not, I will speak for them.

After establishing his authority, Paul will speak of the gospel as an amazing rescue, as amazing grace and as freedom from the expectations of others.  He then reiterates the fact that this has been revealed to him and he is called to preach it.

The Gospel is an Amazing Rescue! v3-5

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

First off, a rescue has taken place.  We have been rescued from everything and anything that has come to shipwreck our lives.  We were not meant to buy into our world’s system of success. Our Savior has come that we "might have life, and might have it abundantly" (John 10:10)  Life does not consist of all its possessions.

The second implication of the rescue is that we need to be on God’s search and rescue team.  We need to go against the flow. 

The Gospel Is Amazing Grace and freedom from addition v6-9

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

Unfortunately the message of the purity and the simplicity of the gospel gets attacked.

v6  The purity of the message – The gospel is a message of grace.  When you move away from grace, you move away from Christ and He has no effect in a person’s life.  Galatians

5:4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace.

V6  Also states that is happened so quickly… Another warning sign is that this was a message that was accepted in haste.  It was a quick, snap decision to leave the simple message of the gospel which should stand as a warning to us. 

The Bible shows us the result of quick decisions that lacked discernment.  Often it goes hand in hand with a lack of patience.  The Bible shows us prime examples.

Moses barely gets up the mountain when the children of Israel turned back to idol worship, with the golden calf in Exodus 32:8

Wisdom warns us

Proverbs 19:2  It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.

v7-9 The perversion of the message – Perversion here means to change into an opposite character, to put into reverse. When we add works to grace, we destroy it.  The same way that we enter the Christian life is the same we carry it out.  Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

If you turn from resting in grace to your own ability, you will always fall short and live in disappointment and failure.

A different gospel –

What is the lie that was being told, that is so fiercely condemned?

We don't have a lot of information this early in the book, but we do get clues farther on in Galatians.
In 3:1 Paul yells, "You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith?"
In the question "Did you receive the Spirit?" Paul is gathering up all of the introductory truth of coming to Christ: Were you born again? Were your sins forgiven? Were you placed into Christ? Were you given hope for eternity? Did the reality of Christian identity, the knowledge of God, peace, joy, hope, enter your experience? If so, was it because of something you did? Or was it because you heard the extraordinary message that God loved you so much that Christ was crucified for you-a hearing that resulted in a transformed heart?
The answer to that is obvious. But an important question follows in 3:3: "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" That is, having entered into life in Christ, are you now going to take the ball and try to attain your goal by human effort?

Let me give you a few examples of when the “simple gospel” is not enough

Let me give you examples.  The following are examples of where the simple gospel was not enough and Christians became wrapped up in the “issue of their day” and slowly and surely, the “issue of the day” became a substitute for the gospel.

The year was about 1743, to be exact. The burning issue was whether the earth was the  center of the universe and whether or not the earth was flat. That was the hot issue of the 1750s during the time of Galileo. Gradually, a Christian was to believe the gospel PLUS that the earth was flat and the earth was the center of the universe. The hot issue of that day, the earth being flat and being the center of the universe, slowly became more important than the Biblical gospel itself.

The year was about 1850. The missionaries from the United States and Europe were flooding into Africa by the thousands, and they knew the basic gospel. But to these missionaries, the gospel of God wasn’t enough it was PLUS so Africans started dressing and  becoming European and American in their culture and clothing as well.  Ties and dress shirts for the men for example…  and learning  Western music and hymnology…  

The year was about 1950, and the western world became strongly anti-communist. The world knew the gospel of Christ PLUS Christians were to be democratic capitalists and being a communist meant to be an materialistic atheist. In the 1950s, Christians knew and loved the gospel PLUS the hot and burning issue of the day was to be anti-communist. And as always, the hot issue of the day slowly became the gospel.

The year was 1985 and I was in Bible College and the burning issue was rock music, it was the gospel + burn your records + the KJV was the only real translation became the gospel.

How can we be guilty of adding to the gospel today? 

One of the current issues of our day is gender fluidity.  And the issue in some people minds became more important than the gospel.  Now hear me out, I am not saying that we don’t stand up for what we believe is right and honorable before God but when issues become the gospel, we have lost the way.  Why do we expect non-Christians to have our values?  Also, why would we expect people to change and become something they have no power to become?

It is only when the Holy Spirit convicts of truth, righteousness and judgment 

The Gospel Is Amazing Freedom from people pleasing v10

V10 Who persuades you?  Who was so convincing that they made you change your mind? The gospel is not to please men but to please God.  Live for an audience of one!  Do not compromise your beliefs.  We are not here to impress people.  Stick to your authority for your convictions – The Word of God, bring people back to the pure truth of God.

What are characteristics of someone who is a people-pleaser

The following is a partial list from Vicki Champion (vickichampion.com) on characteristics of a chronic people pleaser:

Automatically Says YES when they want to say NO.

Experiences exhaustion from trying to be “perfect.”

Thinks that if they “do” the right thing they will be “accepted” or “loved.”

Fear risk or that they might be wrong.

Bankrupts themselves because they feel undeserving.

Says “I’m sorry” when no apology is necessary.

Believe others’ happiness is their responsibility.

Chooses to be nice over being real.

Never has enough time.

Lives with irritability because of constant pressure.

Tries to control everything for everyone with no regard for his or her self

Is easily  taken advantage of.

Now what would characterize someone who is a God pleaser?

Uses the Bible as their  guide, not what is popular or politically correct.

Obeys God rather than men.

Knows that they answer to God and looks to Him  wholeheartedly.  

Makes it their aim to please God.

Makes the most of their time, gaining wisdom from God and guidance from the Holy Spirit. 

Puts God first. 

They understand grace, meaning that they don’t have to earn approval or work for their salvation.  What Jesus did was enough, so they walk in freedom. 

Doesn’t worry about being liked and is willing to suffer for the sake of the Gospel.

Two things are at stake when the gospel becomes watered down from its simplicity

One is the glory of Christ; the other is the salvation of sinners. If the gospel is twisted, the all-sufficiency of Christ's work is dishonored and the way to salvation for sinners is blocked.

The most thrilling implication of verse 10 is this: The absoluteness of Christ's Lordship is completely freeing. It frees me from having to worry about pleasing one person here and another person there. It brings unity and integrity to my life. When you live to please only one person, everything you do is integrated because it relates to that one person. Shall I go to this movie? Read this book? Make this purchase? Take this job? Go out on this date? Marry this person? What a freeing thing it is to know that there is one person who is to be pleased in every decision of life—Jesus. Sometimes pleasing him will please others. Sometimes it won't, and that will hurt. But the deep joy of a single-minded life is worth it all.

So, how did you get started? How did your life change? How did you become the home of the Holy Spirit? Was it because of something you did, or because you discovered news so good it was completely liberating? 

In summary: 

The underlying truth of this passage is that there is one and only one gospel. It is therefore astonishing to turn away from it—away from God who calls and away from grace in Christ. It is not only astonishing, it is tragic, because the person who rejects the gospel is accursed and cut off from God. But on the other hand, if you embrace the one true gospel, not only are all your sins forgiven by God, but a thrilling unity and integrity and freedom come into your life because there is only one person to please, Jesus Christ.

The same way that you started the Christian life is the same way you carry it out…

We live on a receiving system of His grace, not an achieving system of making ourselves more acceptable to Him.

 You were never meant to live the Christian life, because you were meant to let Him live His life through YOU!

The Gospel Is Amazing Freedom.

It is freedom from the chains that lock us up in our addictions.  It is freedom from all those things that we thought would satisfy us, but in the end left us hollow and empty.
Are you a fighter for freedom, or has religion gotten to the point in your life that it has you as much enslaved as you were before you knew Christ? Do you delight to seek out God, live for him, and enjoy his approval? Or has something else taken his place?
I really appreciated this teaching from Steven Furtick on the subject of chains that inspired this.

http://elevationchurch.org/sermons/choosing-your-chains/

Every decision begins with a
Choice -  It is that moment when a thought enters my mind and I choose to entertain it.  
Habit – choices become habits, you name it, whatever the addiction is, it takes a little more to get a hit or a reaction or fulfillment.
Automatic – habits eventually become automatic, there is no thought or refining process, we keep doing it because it’s all that we know.
Identity – We allow our choices, habits to define us…it’s just the way that I am
Nature – It is now just part of who we are, it’s just second nature.
The enemy wants to lock you up while you are wrong.  Sexual addiction is one of them and can certainly become a stranglehold especially when you believe the lie that God’s love can’t fill your tank, so you have to manufacture your own cheap version of intimacy, but it’s not intimacy at all.
However, once we make the choice to believe for example that God our Father’s love is the ‘unfailing love that is better than life itself’ something changes and who the Son sets free, is free indeed.
We then get chained to grace and discover a love that will not let me go! We are no longer a slave to fear, to people’s opinions of me.  God will even use my chains, my story, my chains to set others free.
Grace is a bigger chain than sin!  I am a child of God.
You made so many bad decisions, but you are here today.  You stand today in the presence of a chain breaking God!

God can enable you to build a new chain, a chain of love that will never let you go and it will become a habit as you soak in His presence so that it becomes automatic, it becomes your identity and your new nature. If anyone Is in Christ, He’s is a new creation!