“Freedom in Christ Jesus” Galatians 2:4, 5:1

“Freedom in Christ Jesus”

Galatians 2:4, 5:1

There were two movies that came out around the same time, both with Mel Gibson having a part. The first movie, “Braveheart,” starred Gibson as a Scotsman who was fighting for freedom against the English. The second film, a Claymation film, was “Chicken Run.” It was a film about a group of chickens who are desparately trying to escape the farm and live life on their own. In this film, Gibson voices a rooster from a travelling circus who helps in the escape.

What ties these two movies together is a word that encapsules the themes of both movies. In “Braveheart,” it’s the last word Mel Gibson’s character says. In “Chicken Run,” it’s the first word we hear from Mel Gibson.

That word is “freedom.”

For as long as there has been life, there has been a desire for freedom. The freedom to live our lives as we see fit, to love whom we will love, to work at we choose, to do or not do what we want to do or not do. Freedom is at the core of every human being.

History shows us that while there may always be a desire for freedom, for most of humanity, freedom has been limited at best. It is only recently that political freedom has come to a number of people, mostly in the Western world, though some in the East and other areas enjoy freedom.

In the case of our walk with God, the Bible tells us that freedom comes only from and through Christ. If we are a follower of Jesus, then we are free. In fact, Jesus tells us in John 8:31-32, Jesus says, “If you hold to My teachings, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

Background

Paul’s letter to the Galatians is unlike any other letter he writes. Normally, the apostle begins his letter with an introduction, followed by a blessing and then a short passage about how Paul is delighted to hear how God is working in the church to whom he is writing.

That’s not the case with the Galatians. His first words to the Galatians after the introduction and blessing are, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6-7a).

The problem in Galatia is that a group of Judaizers have persuaded the believers there that the true gospel consists not just in believing in Jesus, but also become a practicing Jew as well. They insisted that if a person really wanted to be saved, then they would not only acknowledge Jesus as Lord but also obey all the laws of Moses since they were handed down by God.

Paul is beside himself when he hears this. He spends the rest of the letter reminding them that obedience to the law is slavery, while belief in Jesus is freedom. He includes in the letter some of his story about how God was using him to bring Gentiles to Christ. He goes into a part of his history that we do not have in Acts, and it gives us insight into his ministry.

The first verse we are looking at expresses a part of that ministry story. In this verse, he reminds the Galatians that they freedom in Christ Jesus.

Central Truth: Jesus sets us free from sin and to follow Him.

Freedom is Found in Christ Jesus (2:4)

This verse takes part in the narrative Paul is giving about a visit he made to Jerusalem, along with Barnabas and Titus. Barnabas was a Jew who had been sent from the Jerusalem church as a representative to the church in Antioch. When Barnabas saw what God was doing there, he stayed on to disciple, teach and train. He is the one who brought Paul to Antioch to assist in growing the church there.

Titus, on the other hand, was a convert from Paul’s ministry, and was raised a Gentile. Paul mentions this because of how the church leaders in Jerusalem accepted Titus as he was. Titus was uncircumcised, a requirement of all Jews and converts to Judaism. In fact, Paul seems to imply that the issue of circumcision never once arose with the leadership of the Jerusalem church.

When opposition to Titus arose, it was from a group that Paul refers to as “some false brothers” that were spying on Paul and his ministry. The significance of this is that the “false brothers”—Judaizers—would insist that Titus not only be circumcised but that he also begin to obey all the laws of Moses.

The significant part of this verse is this: “some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.” Paul makes a stark contrast between the false brothers and the true gospel. The false brothers want to enslave us to the law, while Jesus sets us free through His atonement and grace and mercy.

Looking over the other verses we have been looking at over the past few months, we know that we are a new creation in Christ Jesus, that we are dead to sin in Christ Jesus and that we are redeemed and righteous in His eyes. We know that we are no longer under condemnation in God’s eyes and are made holy. All of this speaks to the freedom we have in Christ. We are no longer under the influence of Satan nor are we any longer trying to earn God’s grace and favor. The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that we are incapable of earning God’s love or favor, but it is given to us freely by His grace and mercy through Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross.

Knowing we cannot earn God’s favor, but that we have it fully in Christ, frees us from legalistic restrictions and rules and regulations. In Christ, we are free to follow Him as He leads us.

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is at the end of the Gospel according to John. It takes place by the Sea of Galilee. The resurrected Christ has eaten a breakfast of fresh fish with the remaining apostles and now He is walking with them beside the sea. In that time, Jesus restores Peter back to his place of leadership by telling Peter to feed His sheep. Jesus then tells Peter how he will die.

Peter decides he’s heard enough about himself and, turning, sees John. So Peter asks Jesus, “What about him?” Jesus’ words to Peter are: “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow Me” (John 21:22).

The point of the story is that each of us is called to follow Jesus as He leads us, and that each of us has the freedom do so as we understand His will. And that’s the point of the next verse we look at.

Jesus Intends for Us to be Free (5:1a)

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”

At first glance, it seems Paul is repeating himself in this verse. But look a little more closely and we realize that there is a lot of information in that short sentence.

Jesus sets us free when we come to Him in faith. He sets us free in order that we may serve Him with love and respect and faith. Jesus doesn’t want us to follow Him because we have to; He calls us to follow Him because we want to, because we have nowhere else to turn for salvation and for fellowship with God.

Jesus didn’t set us free in order to pin us down to a new set of rules and regulations. Instead, we are called to walk in fellowship with Jesus through the presence of His Holy Spirit within us. Instead of rules, we have a relationship, and we no longer are tied down to the things that hinder us.

I have always enjoyed reading. Oddly enough, though, I never enjoyed reading books for school. Required reading took all the fun out of the flow of the book or story. Instead, I had to read to pick up things, to get points or information. Because I was so intent on the reading assignment, I couldn’t enjoy the reading of the book. I’ve kept many of my college books, and many of them I have re-read. I got so much more out of them in the second reading, in large part because I had been set free from having to read them. I read them because I wanted to, not because I had to, and that made so much difference.

It’s the same with our relationship with Jesus. He sets us free so that we can choose to walk in fellowship with Him. We don’t do it because we have to, but because we want to. It is for freedom that Christ sets us free, and we are free in Him.

We Control Our Freedom in Christ (5:1b)

The second part of this verse reminds us of our role in preserving our freedom in Christ. While Jesus sets us free and we are forever and eternally free, we nonetheless have a responsibility to protect that freedom. We do that by consciously choosing to follow Christ and not the rules of religion.

Someone years ago told me there are two ways of looking at the Bible. One viewpoint says, “If the Bible doesn’t permit it, it shouldn’t be done.” The other viewpoint is, “If the Bible doesn’t forbid it, we are free to do whatever we want.” I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but the point is one viewpoint looks at the Bible as restricting our world, while the other viewpoint seeks to set us free.

One of the dangers in living a free life is that we sometimes forget the free life calls for responsible living. Just because I have the freedom of speech doesn’t make it prudent for me to say whatever I want whenever I want. With that freedom comes the responsibility to recognize how words can be taken, and to consider carefully what I’m saying to whom.

Freedom in Christ does not give us a license to sin. Rather, it calls us to live in a way that reflects our relationship with Him. After washing His disciples’ feet, Jesus said, “You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am” (John 13:13). He then goes on to tell them that He has set them an example.

As our Teacher and Lord, Jesus shows us the way to live and has the right to demand our obedience to Him. Again, our obedience is not out of a sense of obligation, but a sense of trust and faith in Him, knowing that His ways are the best ways and, in the end, the only way to success.

We are wise to follow Christ’s leadership. We trust Him to lead us in the right direction and to call us to live for Him. We trust Him because we know that He knows so much more than we can ever hope to know, and He sees so much more than we can hope to see. We trust Him because He has demonstrated to us what it means to live in obedience to the Father. We trust Him because we believe that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We trust Jesus, and because we trust Him, we protect our freedom by giving ourselves to Him. Only by so doing can we protect ourselves from becoming burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Conclusion

Do you remember what it was like to move out of our parents’ home for the first time? We had freedoms we had never had before. No longer were we obligated to do what they told us to do. Now we were on our own, with money and time to spend as we saw fit.

It didn’t take long, though, to realize that with freedom came responsibility. Sure, we had money, but we now had rent, food, utilities, transportation we had to pay for. Yes, we had time, but we also had jobs to get to and to do, and we couldn’t stay up as late as we wanted if we hoped to be able to get up and go to work and be responsible employees.

Yes, we were free, but we learned with freedom came responsibilities. That’s why Jesus says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).

In Jesus, we are free. We are set free to be free. It’s time to throw off the burden of trying to live up to our expectations of what God wants and start listening to Him and His will. It’s time to embrace the freedom that Jesus died to give us.