Last week, we wrapped up our journey through
Paul's letter to the churches in Galatia. We
went through all six chapters of that letter
and we kind of broke it down into sections and
we focused on this theme that is titled, Freedom
is Here. Because I wanted us to look at the idea
that now that we are in Christ, Now because Christ
has died for us, He lived for us, He rose for
us, He has prepared a place for us, or is preparing
a place for us, because of Christ, we are now
free. Free from the bondage of sin, free from
the bondage of tradition, free from the bondage
of slavery, we are free. Paul's been fighting
for the gospel. He's been fighting for that message,
that freedom, reminding us that salvation isn't
about rule keeping. It's not about religious
performance. But it's simply about the freedom
that Jesus Christ won for us through his life,
his death, his burial, and his resurrection.
The gospel is what we have been exploring. And
as we close this series, I want to focus on one
verse that I think ties it all together, and
that's Galatians 5, verse 1. For freedom, Christ
has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do
not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Never
again. Don't submit to the yoke of slavery. Today
I want to ask a few questions. I want to ask
us, what has Christ done? How? Why? And then
what now? We start with what has Christ done.
Paul says it plainly. Christ has set us free.
He's freed us. He's broken the chains. He's unlocked
the cell. He has freed us. Free from what though?
We just talked about it. It's freedom from slavery.
Slavery to sin. You know those old habits. The
addictions that they once owned you. That they
crept up every once in a while. and they took
hold of your life, they took hold of your heart,
they took hold of your mind, free from those
sins. Freed from religion. The slavery that we
have that binds us to a man -made rule, man -made
traditions, it's freed us from religion. I do
believe that God has called us to relationship
more than religion. That doesn't mean rules go
out the window. That doesn't mean that there
aren't some laws that we've got to follow, right?
But God has called us to a relationship with
Him. The way that I put it is, me and my wife,
we have a relationship together. I have some
rules that I've got to follow if I want to keep
that relationship intact, right? I've got to
do some things in a good way or in an appropriate
way if I want to keep that relationship intact.
That's what God has called us to. So He's brought
us away from this checklist, this legalistic...
And now we have relationship with him. It's a
freedom from slavery to religion. And now we
also have a freedom from slavery to guilt and
a slavery to shame. Because when we keep wearing
the chains, when we put ourselves back in the
cell that Christ has opened, we allow ourselves
to be held captive by the enemy. And Christ came
so that we would not be held captive by the enemy,
but that we could have freedom. For freedom,
Christ has set us free. Whatever it is for you,
whether it's the addiction, whether it's anger,
whether it's fear, whether it's the rule keeping,
whatever it is for you that has held you captive,
Christ has come to free you from it. And not
only has he freed you from it, he says, leave
it behind. Jesus already did the work. Jesus
has already put the nails in his hands. He has
hung on the cross. He has received the beating.
He has received the ridicule, the persecution,
so that you and I could be free. Don't go back
to it. Don't go back to it. And you know what
I mean because maybe you've been freed from an
addiction, but for some reason you slip back
into it. Maybe you found yourself free from those
thoughts or free from those feelings, but every
once in a while, you go back to it. Paul says
don't do that. Don't go back. Don't submit again.
And the next question is how? How did he set
us free? Well, I want us to see what Paul says
about this in another one of his letters in Philippians
2, verses 5 -8. What Paul says is Christ Jesus,
who though he was in the form of God, did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
He didn't hold on to it. He didn't feel like
he had to hold on to it. But he emptied himself.
He gave himself up by taking the form of a servant.
Now we're talking about God, the king of the
universe, the creator of all. In John chapter
1, he says, In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was God, and it was with God, and through
the Word. This is that Word. This is God. And
he came in the flesh and lived this life, a life
of a servant, being born in the likeness of men
and being found in human form. He humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death. Even
death on a cross. That doesn't sound like royal
treatment, does it? That doesn't sound like the
spot for the king of the universe, the lord of
hosts. That doesn't sound like a place for the
ruler of all to be a servant, to be like us.
I know how filthy and disgusting and sinful I
am. And I think maybe you know that about yourself.
And he says Jesus came and he lived the same
kind of life we live. Tempted by the same things
we've been tempted by. Struggled with the same
feelings that we feel. He humbled himself to
that, to the point of death for us. That's how
he set us free. He came down. He lived in humility.
He walked among us. He lived sinlessly, even
though he was tempted by all the same things
we've been tempted by. He suffered unjustly.
He didn't deserve the beating that he took. He
didn't deserve the death on the cross that he
took. And then he died. Brutally. But he also
rose victoriously. And that's how he shattered
the chains that hold us. By defeating sin and
death once and for all, Christ has freed us.
He's freed us from those things that hold us
in bondage, those things that they have a place
of hostage in our mind. That when we're feeling
good, we can't help but to sometimes think about
those things that we've done. Remember those
things you did in the dark that you thought nobody
would see? Those things that you did that everybody
saw that you feel like you can never live down?
Those feelings that you feel about yourself?
Those feelings that you feel about other people?
Christ broke those chains by dying and rising.
Our freedom isn't something we earn. It's something
that He bought. Our freedom is something that
was paid for with His blood. And we ask the question
then, why? Because I know how bad I am. And maybe
you know how bad you are. Why would He do that
for us? Because I've got to tell you, I'm not
jumping in front of a bullet for somebody that
constantly cusses my name. And I'm not jumping
in front of a bullet for somebody that constantly
just degrades me and degrades my family and goes
against everything that I believe in. I'm not.
Because I'm selfish. And I love and I hold very
highly my values and my beliefs. And so if you're
against me, I don't think I'm going to jump in
front of the bullet for you. Because that's human
nature. But Christ. Even though we do curse His
name, and even though we do sin against Him and
go against everything that He's about and everything
that He is, He still takes the cross for us.
But why? Well, He tells us in John 10 .10, I
came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
We talk so much about eternal life, but Jesus
talks a lot about the eternal life and the life
now, the abundant life that he wants us to have
today. The kingdom come. He came for us to have
abundant and full eternal life. That's why he
did it, because he wants us to know the life
that God had designed for us in the garden. He
wants us to be able to experience that perfect
home. And the only way we could do that was for
Him to die for us. I use this graphic to illustrate
the gospel message because it's so important.
From the moment that Adam and Eve fell in the
garden that they sinned, they sinned against
God, God has been on a rescue mission. And Jesus
is the center of their rescue mission. If you'll
notice in the graphic, the cross is the center
of it. There's four on one side, four on another,
but the cross is the center because Jesus is
the centerpiece of God's mission. It doesn't
work if not for Christ. He is the key that unlocks
our way back to the Father. Without Christ, we're
stuck in the cell. We've got the chains on us.
We cannot go to God. But because of Christ, we
have access to God. He didn't die just to make
us better behaved people. He didn't die just
so we could look pretty. He died to make us new
so that we, the new creation, could live in the
perfect home with Him forever. He died to restore
us as sons, to restore us as daughters who can
live in freedom with God now and forever. And
so understanding that Jesus had to come and die
for us to have the freedom here, to have the
abundant life here, to have the eternal life
there. Understanding that, what do we do with
that? If you've been here throughout the series,
we spent however many weeks, I think it's like
12 weeks, looking at this idea of freedom and
what Christ has done to free us. And we have
to ask the question now, what do we do with that
now? And this is what Paul says. He says, stand
firm and don't go back. Don't go back. Those
things that held you in bondage before, let them
go. Leave them in the past. Those things that
ruined your life before, let them go. Those things
that made everyone around you hate being around
you, let them go. Those things that made you
hate being you, let them go. You are free from
them. Don't submit again to the yoke of slavery.
That's what Paul says. That's what Jesus is calling
us to. Because every one of us has a pull toward
the old life. It still creeps up on us sometimes.
If you ask an addict why they don't go to the
bar anymore, it's because they know they're not
safe there. If you ask someone who has struggled
with their image why they don't just eat like
crazy anymore, it's because they know they can't
go there. If you ask someone why they don't hang
around the same people they hung around with
before they came to know Christ, it's because
they know they are not safe there. And if an
animal has been captured by someone and it finally...
Breaks out of the fence. Do you think that animal
stays around the fence to see if the capturer
is going to come and get him? No, that animal
takes off. He doesn't look back. He doesn't think
twice. He gets as far away as possible. You ever
hunt? Anybody hunt? And you shoot a deer and
you don't exactly get the kill shot that you
need. And that deer takes off. And you go and
you try to track it down, right? And you look
to see if you can get some blood on the ground
and you look for it and you look for it and you
look for it and maybe you get some blood and
maybe you find some fur and you get in the thick
of the woods and you're like, there's no way
this thing kept going. Yeah, it did. And it will
run and run and run because it is not going back
to the thing. It is not going back to the place
that tried to kill it. So why do we do that?
Paul says, don't do that. Maybe it's not legalism
for you. You know, Paul's been fighting legalism.
Maybe it's not that for you. Maybe it's the website
that you promised yourself you'd stay away from.
Maybe it's the anger or the pride or the urge
to control everything around you. Maybe it's
the comfort that you find when you drink that
thing or you smoke that thing. Maybe it's the
peace that you feel like you have when you're
around those people that seem to only drag you
down. Maybe it's the comfort. That's numbed your
passion for Christ. I don't know what your slavery
is. I don't know what your chains are. But Paul's
message is the same across the board regardless
of if it's an addiction or if it's legalism.
He says stand firm. And that's an action that
he's challenging you to. It's not a passive thing.
He says stand firm. Don't go back. Don't let
those chains slip back around your wrist. And
this, again, this is an active thing. It's not
something casual. It's not something passive.
Freedom in Christ is a precious thing. And it
is something to be fought for. It's not something
we maintain passively. It is something we scratch
and we claw and we box our way through an army
of enemies to maintain. We just celebrated Veterans
Day. And we honor those who fought to preserve
our national freedom, and we do celebrate that.
But we also are reminded that there are people
that had to put themselves in harm's way so that
we can maintain our what? Freedom. Because if
we don't, we leave ourselves susceptible to being
overtaken or run out. The same is true for spiritual
freedom. It requires vigilance. We fight not
with anger, not with willpower, but with prayer.
We fight with community. That's why this place
is so important. Again, this is a rally point.
And every week we come here to find ourselves
encouraged. We find ourselves strengthened, prepared
so that we can go out into the world and keep
fighting another week or another day. We fight
this fight with being in the word of God, with
staying with God. We fight by staying alert to
the things that want to enslave us again, to
resisting the enemy. We fight by remembering
who we are and whose we are. C .S. Lewis said
in his book, Mere Christianity, only those who
try to resist temptation know how strong it is.
If you think that this is something you can just
passively do, you're wrong. The moment I get
comfortable in my freedom is the moment the enemy
comes and finds me in a cage. When we fight to
resist, we realize, one, how strong the enemy
is, but guess what? We also find out how strong
our God is. And I like my God's chances in this
fight. If you're not resisting, you may not even
realize how close you are to losing ground. But
if you fight to stand firm, you will find Christ's
strength holding you steady. And standing firm
doesn't mean just holding your ground. It doesn't
mean just fighting to stay in place. I want you
to imagine the buffalo that when the winter storm
comes on and it's snowing and it is pouring down
on them and it's freezing and the wind is frigid
and it's blowing hard, the buffalo goes against
the grain. And he trudges on and he marches forward
through all of the chaos, through the freezing,
bitter. And that is our fight to stay free in
Christ. Because if we'll keep going through it,
the other side is a lot closer than we think.
And the other side is a lot better than we can
imagine. Fighting to stay free means using your
freedom to love radically, to serve joyfully,
and to forgive. Completely. Freedom in Christ
isn't a freedom from responsibility. We talked
about this. It's not a freedom to just live with
no holds barred. It's not a freedom to just do
what you want, to drink what you want, to go
party like crazy, to live how you want, to say
whatever you want. It is not a freedom to just
go and do whatever. What did Paul say? He said,
do I just abuse this grace? No. Heavens no. I
fight. I keep going. It's a freedom not from
responsibility, but a freedom to finally be able
to live like Jesus because the chains are free
and now I can walk freely. It means living a
life that is at peace and confident no matter
what comes, knowing who holds the keys to our
life. But maybe you've been hearing all of this
over the last couple weeks if you've been here
or maybe just today, and it sounds like a lot.
It is, but it's also really simple. Jesus Christ
loves you, and because he loves you, he came
so that you can have a full, free, and abundant
life. That's simple. And the gospel is simple,
and it is so good. But maybe you've been hearing
that. And all of this talk about freedom, and
deep down you know you're not there yet. You
feel like you're not free yet. You don't know
that the chains have been broken off. You don't
know that the cell's been opened for you. You
still feel the weight of guilt. You still feel
chained to sin. You still feel far from God.
You feel like maybe you've wandered too far to
come home. But I want you to hear this, please.
Christ has already broken your chains too. He's
already opened the cell. He's already offered
you freedom, but freedom or being set free isn't
this automatic thing. It's not something that
you just think about and it happens. It's not
something that you just wake up one day and you're
like, oh yeah, I'm free today. There's some things
that have to happen. It's a gift that has to
be accepted and it has to be opened. Paul said
earlier in Galatians, he says in chapter three,
verses 26 to 27. So in Christ, you all are children
of God through faith. OK. All right. So we believe.
Yes. All right. Got it. For all of you who were
baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with
Christ. That's how Paul describes it. He says
when you're baptized into Christ, when you have
put him on in baptism, you give your life to
him. Now you are free. Baptism isn't just symbolic.
It is the moment where faith becomes embodied.
The moment you step into the freedom that Christ
offers. I mentioned the gift. I like to tell
people, baptism is like if I hand you a Christmas
present. It's got the pretty wrapping on it.
It's got the pretty bow. I just need you to unwrap
it. Take that bow off. And now you get to see
the gift that I got you. And you get to experience
it fully. But if you take that gift I got you,
you never unwrap it and you just put it on the
shelf. Guess what happens? You don't get to play
with the remote control monster truck that I
just got you. You don't get to enjoy the gift
that I got you. And that's the same thing here
with baptism. It's got to happen. You got to
unwrap the gift. It's free. You didn't pay me
for the gift. You didn't earn the gift. I just
gave it to you because I love you. And that's
the same thing with God. But you got to take.
One simple step. Baptism's the moment when your
old self, that ugly self that we hate, that we
talk bad about, that self, that bound by sin
self that's got chains on it, baptism's the moment
when that self is buried in the water. Where
your new self, the washed clean self, the shiny,
sparkly, fresh smelling self, clothed in Christ,
rises up in freedom. This is not just a ritual.
It is rescue. It is the moment where I grab onto
the life preserver and say, pull me out. It's
a reunion. It's redemption. When a prisoner's
cell door swings open, freedom still requires
one step, doesn't it? Got to walk out. Baptism
is that step. It's the moment where you leave
the cell behind and you don't look back. It's
the moment where you take God at his word when
he says you're free and you say, I am. And you
walk with him. So maybe you've been standing
just outside the water for a long time. Maybe
you've been thinking, I'm not ready. Or maybe
you've been thinking, I'm not good enough. Or
maybe you've thought maybe later. Or maybe you've
even asked, do I really need to? But you do need
to. And the great news is you don't have to fix
yourself first. You can come just as you are,
just where you are, because the water is for
just that. The water is there to clean. The water
is there to restore. Not because there's magic
in the water. I'd be lying to you if I told you
you're going to feel some tingly feeling when
you get in there, unless the chlorine levels
are high. There's nothing magic about it. But
there's something special and magnificent about
the work that God does through it. I want to
tell you a story that you may or may not be familiar
with. It's a story that Jesus told. I've told
it already since I've been here just a few months.
I've told it a couple times. There was a father.
He had two sons. And one of his sons asked his
father for his inheritance early. He said, I
want to go do my own thing. And the father said,
yeah, sure. Gives him his inheritance. The son
takes the inheritance. He goes off. He wastes
it. He blows it on all kinds of dumb stuff. And
one day he finds himself sleeping with some pigs.
He has nothing to eat. He's starving. He's filthy.
He stinks. He feels awful. And he decides, well,
maybe, you know, the servants in my father's
house, they live better. So he thinks, maybe
I can go beg my father for a spot as a servant.
I can work for him. So he gets up. He goes to
his father. Before he even gets back, his father
runs. He grabs him. He hugs him. He celebrates.
Because my son has come home. And now that his
son is home, he gets him the best robe. He gets
him the best shoes. He gets him a ring. He says,
go kill the fattened calf. Let's throw a party.
Because my son who sinned against me, my son
who disrespected me, my son who wished I was
dead, he was dead. Now he's come home. That's
what happens when we come back to God. When we
give our lives to him, when we say, God, I want
to be yours. I want you to clothe me with your
finest robe. God doesn't make you earn your way
back. He doesn't make you pay for it. He doesn't
make you work for it. He embraces you. He clothes
you. And he says, welcome home, son. Welcome
home, daughter. So if you haven't yet taken that
step, if you don't know, if you don't feel like
you're free, if you feel like, I think I'm free,
but I also sometimes feel bound by some chains.
I ask you a question. Ethiopian eunuch in Acts
asks the same question. What's holding you back?
What's preventing you from taking that step today?
If you haven't felt the freedom. that only Christ
can bring. If you haven't felt the full, abundant,
joy -filled, eternal life that only Christ can
bring, I'm asking you, what's holding you back?
Wherever you are today, whether you're inside
the prison with the door open and you just don't
know if you're able to walk out or not, whether
you've still got chains on you, or whether you
just are struggling to stand firm in your freedom,
I want to encourage you, remember, trust, and
live in this confidently that Jesus has already
broken the lock. It's just up to you if you're
going to walk free. For freedom, Christ has set
you free. Stand firm, therefore, and don't submit
again to the yoke. Freedom's here. Freedom is
here because Christ is amazing. And because he
loves you so much that he would not let you stay
bound by the chains of this world. But he would
redeem you. He would restore you so that one
day you could live eternally in the perfect home
with the Father. And so that today you could
live abundantly in this amazing home with God's
people. Wherever you're at today, I want to challenge
you. Take the step. Walk out of that cell and
run as far away from those chains as you can.
If you need anything today, whether it's prayer
or you need to unwrap that gift and experience
the awesome gift, the free gift that Christ has
brought to you, wherever you're at, I hope you
will trust in him and come.