as you possibly can be. If you can't be a part
of an event somewhere, remember to pray for our
nation on Thursday. Well, today we open our Bible
again to Galatians chapter 5, where we pick up
our reading in verse 13 in just a moment. Galatians
chapter 5. Well, the news this morning is that
they are free. Specialist Stephen Gonzales, Staff
Sergeant Andrew Ramirez, and Staff Sergeant Christopher
Stone, our POWs held by Serbia for these days,
will soon be reunited with their families. That
is good news. We're happy for that. One can only
imagine how thrilled they are to be leaving the
place of their imprisonment. Can you imagine,
however, that should they get to the airport
ready to leave, And suddenly they say, wait a
minute, wait a minute, we changed our mind. We
don't want to go home. We want to stay here imprisoned
in Serbia. You say, well, that would be stupid.
You're right. It would be. But you see, that's
exactly what the Galatians were doing with their
spiritual freedom. For Jesus Christ had died
to set them free. They were free in Christ. And
yet they were saying to themselves, now, well,
we want to go back to the bondage and the yoke
of the law and of rule keeping. And the Apostle
Paul even calls them, in essence, moronish, stupid.
They were not thinking, he says. In our text
today, he points out that we Christians have
a calling. You know what a calling is? A calling
is something for which you are destined. A calling
is that for which you were made and fashioned
and formed. And in your heart you know that and
you don't want to miss your calling. Paul says
that we have been called to freedom in Jesus
Christ. In that sense we are like boats. Boats
called to the freedom of the wind and the waves
were like airplanes that are destined for the
unconstraint of the skies. You see, boats are
not made. They're not called to be at dock. Airplanes
are not made to be in a hangar. They're made
to be free. And you and I and Jesus Christ likewise
are called to be free. We have been liberated
by our Savior, and we dare not lose our spiritual
freedom by accepting again a yoke of legalism.
For we are not slaves. God has called us His
sons and His heirs. We can lose our spiritual
freedom by subjecting ourselves again to the
concept and the notion of rule -keeping. either
in order to please God or to please other people
and make them think that we're spiritual. And
what a tendency there is in evangelical churches,
especially more conservative churches, to create
standards by which we measure spirituality. And
if a person does this or doesn't do that, he
or she is spiritual. Paul says don't allow yourself
to be drawn into that false thinking Don't lose
your spiritual freedom to legalism But at the
same time there's a balancing truth Just as we
don't want to lose our spiritual freedom neither
do we want to abuse our spiritual freedom And
that is what Paul talks about in our paragraph
for today beginning in verse 13. For you were
called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn
your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh,
but through love serve one another. For the whole
law is fulfilled in one word in the statement,
you shall rather love your neighbor as yourself.
But if you bite and devour one another take heed
take care lest you be consumed by one another
Here we have an example of a Christian cannibalism
He says but I say walk by the spirit and you
will not carry out the desire of the flesh For
the flesh sets its desire against the spirit
in the spirit against the flesh For these are
in opposition to one another, so that you may
not do the things that you please. But if you
are led by the Spirit, you are not under the
law." What Paul is telling us in this paragraph
is that spiritual freedom demands spiritual living.
I'll tell you why. It is because our freedom
in Jesus Christ can be easily abused if we allow
our flesh, our self, to control us. It can be
easily abused. Therefore, it demands spiritual
living, living in the spirit. We are freed by
grace to live not for selfish pursuits, but for
Jesus Christ. To live for oneself is absolutely
contrary to the life of Jesus. There is nothing
that contradicts the values of Jesus' life more
than living for self. For Jesus was the great
model of self -sacrifice. We are freed from obligation
to the law, to sin. to the standards that others
try to impose upon us, we are freed from that
obligation so that we can voluntarily, gladly,
and freely surrender ourselves to the Lordship
of Jesus. So Paul writes about this idea. He
writes about spiritual freedom being exercised
in the discipline and the dynamic of spiritual
living. That is what we need to define this morning
and talk about. The first thing that Paul seems
to say in this paragraph is that the parameters
of spiritual freedom are defined by love. The
parameters, the borders, the boundaries of spiritual
freedom are defined by love. There are some boundaries,
even in spiritual freedom. Those parameters are
defined by love. A spiritual freedom can be like
the freedoms of adulthood given to a child. If
a child suddenly gets all the freedom of an adult,
that child will misuse or abuse or waste the
privileges that he has. So Paul explains to us
here how to use spiritual freedom in a mature
way. For the greatest benefit of all, it requires,
he will tell us, discipline. When we think about
freedom, realize that there is no freedom that
is absolute. Not even God's freedom is absolute.
God, being an infinite, supreme being, has infinite
freedom. But his freedom is constrained by his
own perfections, his own moral attributes. For
example, God is free, but he is not free to fail.
He is not free to lie. Framers of our Constitution
were wise enough to realize that we wanted to
be a free nation, but there had to be checks
and balances. There had to be constitutional
restraints built in so that we could enjoy our
freedom. Financial freedom is not absolute either.
I hope all of us know there have to be certain
boundaries in your use of money. There has to
be self -discipline because of the pressures.
And likewise personal freedom is not absolute.
Your freedom to do what you want to do and my
freedom to do what I want to do can clash. Therefore
our freedoms are limited by what might be called
the common good. And what Paul is saying here
is that spiritual freedom in Jesus Christ has
a perimeter. And that perimeter is marked by
love. Now that may sound suspiciously like the
language used by contemporary ethicists who say
that only love should determine what is right
and what is wrong. Not the rules of society and
not even the rules of God for sure. But only
love should tell us what is right and wrong and
we hear that we say well that that sounds pretty
good The problem with it is that there's no definition
of love When they say that each person defines
love for himself So you have your definition
of love and this person has his definition of
love and I have my definition of love and we
try to live that way and The result is relativism,
where we all do what is right in our own eyes,
and there are no standards at all. When Paul
says that love marks the perimeter of our freedom,
he means something far different than what I've
just described from our contemporary understanding
of love. Because to Paul, love was defined by
God himself. Love was modeled by Jesus Christ
in the life of self -sacrifice. So Paul is saying
that your spiritual freedom in mind has a perimeter
and that perimeter is marked by love. And then
he goes on to define that perimeter in a couple
of ways. A negative way and a positive way. In
the negative way he says, don't use your freedom
as an opportunity for the flesh. That selfish
programming within you that's left over from
what you were before your conversion That old
imprint of the sinful you the flesh He says you
are free in Jesus Christ, but but don't use that
freedom as a beachhead For the sin in you to
be expressed in your own selfishness That's one
way he defines the perimeter of love. The freedom
that we have in Jesus Christ is never to be used
as an opportunity to advance our own agendas
to get what we want to be driven by our selfish
goals. On the positive side, he says, by love,
serve one another. He says, the love of Jesus
within your heart combines it, places a border
around your spiritual freedom. And that love
causes you to live like Jesus did, a life of
self -denial, so that you will serve others.
Spiritual freedom is never an excuse for me to
get my way. Spiritual freedom means that I give
myself to serve others. I don't do what is best
for me. I do what is best for my brother or my
sister. But Paul goes on to say the whole law,
the whole law can be summarized in just this
one statement, and he quotes from the Old Testament,
Leviticus chapter 19. You shall love your neighbor
as yourself Jesus called that the greatest of
the commandments James called it the royal law
The law of love he says if we keep that law we
will do well The gospel that we have believed
is a gospel that is apart from works we receive
it simply by faith, but listen to me the faith
that apprehends the gospel of Jesus Christ is
a faith that works by love. Paul said that in
verse 6. We do not become Christians by our works.
We are freed from that slavery to do our best
and to perform. But that faith that is genuine,
that causes us to become the children of God
is a faith that has to work itself out, and it
will. And he says it will perform within us by
our love. There are those who fear that the freedom
of grace will lead to lawless living. And you
know, that is a danger. When it happens, it's
an abuse of freedom, but it is a danger. But
there are people who will take their freedom
in Jesus Christ and use that as an excuse to
live without any restraint With they have a license
they think to do whatever they want to do they
misunderstand They abuse spiritual freedom. That
is a danger when you talk about the spiritual
freedom that comes with grace Paul says here
that the law of love will regulate and discipline
our freedoms through an internal code that God
has written on our hearts. He says we don't any
longer need this external list of commands of
do's and don'ts. Because God has written on the
inside of us, in our hearts, in the new person
that we are in Jesus Christ, an internal code
of conduct that lives itself out in love and
self -sacrifice. and service for others. So we
don't have to be afraid of the idea of spiritual
freedom because God balances that with love that
He's placed in our hearts that will work itself
out and sacrifice them for the good of the other
person, not for ourselves. Now the Galatians
should have known this, but they were having
a hard time with it. Paul says in verse 15, that
they were in fact biting and devouring one another.
And he says, take heed lest you don't eat one
another up and consume one another. He's saying
that they were using their spiritual freedoms
as an excuse for criticizing and attacking other
people. Paul says you're abusing your freedom.
You see, that can happen to any of us. And so
we have our spiritual freedom, and we're saying
that it is disciplined with love. The parameter
around it is love, doing what is good for others.
How do you get up every morning and live through
the day, hour by hour, living that way? How can
we consistently carry this out? Without allowing
our freedom in Jesus Christ to be abused. He
says, walk by the Spirit, you will not carry
out the desire of the flesh. What does the flesh
want to do? To express itself? To gratify itself?
To conquer the other person, not serve him or
her? That's what the flesh wants to do. But Paul
says, walk in the spirit, and the flesh will
not be able to use your freedom as an opportunity
to express itself. He goes on to explain that
there is within every believer a power struggle.
On the one hand, he says, you've got this Jesse
Ventura figure. And on the other side, you've
got Hulk Hogan. And the two of them are locked
in combat, arm in arm, looking for the opportunity
to throw the other one down to the mat and land
on him and pin him and defeat him. Except in
our case, inside we've got the flesh and we've
got the Holy Spirit. And the flesh is always
looking for an opportunity to express itself.
And we'll talk about that some more next week.
The flesh is always looking for an opportunity
to put down the spirit and to motivate us to
selfish living. On the other hand, the spirit
is jealous for us, and he's looking for the opportunity
to put down the spirit, or put down the flesh
rather, and to energize us to say no to the flesh.
These two are in opposition. They battle. You
face it, and I face it. He says, walk in the
Spirit, and you will be able to say no to the
flesh. The flesh will still be there with its
desires. It will still have its temptations.
It will still make its demands on you. But you
can say no, he says, through the power of the
Spirit. Walk in the Spirit. Now, how do we do
that? Well, I've used this illustration before
numerous times. In walking, you and I simply
throw ourselves off balance on purpose and we
reach out to catch ourselves with our leg. And
we learn as little toddlers to do that and we
find that we can walk when we throw ourselves
in dependence out into the air and then stick
out our leg and catch ourselves and we move.
And what he is saying here is that you and I
need to throw ourselves on the spirit. We need
to be dependent upon the Holy Spirit. It's an
act of faith just as much as receiving Jesus
Christ as our Lord and Savior. We choose to say,
Holy Spirit, I can't do this in myself. I don't
have the energy to live this way. I can't say
no to the flesh consistently. He says, throw
yourself on me. Depend on me. Yield yourself
to me, and I will give you energy to do that.
The Holy Spirit is like the wind that fills the
sails of a boat. That wind pushes it along. When
you and I depend upon the Holy Spirit, He's like
that. He pushes us along in the right direction.
The Holy Spirit brings to us the law of the Spirit
of life. It is the law that lifts us above what
the flesh wants us to do and allows us, like
an airplane, to overcome the law of gravity,
the flesh that pulls us down. The power of spiritual
freedom is discovered in the Holy Spirit. Spiritual
freedom demands spiritual living. If we don't
live in the Spirit, we will abuse our spiritual
freedom. It demands spiritual living. What does
that mean? It means to choose the path of love
and the power of the Holy Spirit. A young man
named Bill lives across the street from a very
conservative church. Bill is a college student.
He's been there four years. He's bright, rather
esoteric. In his senior year, he comes to faith
in Jesus Christ. Bill has been a nonconformist
as a college student. He wears jeans with holes
in them, t -shirts, no shoes. Must be in California.
And he has wild hair, kind of like your husband
in the morning when he gets up. And Bill... finally
sees that church across the street. He's gone
to campus four years, he's now come to faith
in Christ, and he sees this church across the
street. Now in that church are wonderful people,
very conservative, they love the Lord, and they
are praying for an opportunity to reach people
on that campus across the street. And so one
day, God leads Bill to walk across the street
and go to that church. And he enters in. And
immediately, he notices he's quite different.
Everybody else is dressed differently. But he
goes down the center aisle, trying to find a
place to sit. And every seat is filled. And he
goes further and further down into the church.
And of course, as he does that, more and more
eyes begin to look toward the center aisle. And
they see this rather wild -looking character.
Well, Bill has just come to faith in Christ.
He's not been in the church before, really. And
so he just imagines that he's on the college
campus still, and he goes right down to the front
of the church. He can't find a seat in the pew
anywhere. And so he sits down on the floor right
in front of the pulpit. The preacher has stopped
preaching. He might as well, because Bill was
the center of attention. Everyone's focused on
Bill. And then from the back row, this elderly
man gets up, distinguished looking, has a cane.
He's in his 80s, the oldest deacon of the church.
And he starts down the aisle. And as he does,
all the people in the church sigh a bit of relief.
They say, this is so uncomfortable, somebody's
got to deal with him. Might as well be a deacon.
He'll tell him to get a seat or move out, but
that deacon will deal with it. And so the old
man is down the center aisle, slowly, and he
comes to where Bill is, sitting in the front.
He lays down his cane, and slowly he gets down
and he sits beside Bill. Because he didn't want
Bill to be alone. Grace is breathtaking. The
liberty that we have in Jesus Christ is marvelous.
And that deacon on that day lived it. In the
power of the Holy Spirit, in the parameter of
love, He embraced that young man who didn't conform
to the unwritten rules of the church. And the
pastor said, you will never remember what I have
said in my sermon today, but what you have seen
today, you will never forget. Let's bow together
in prayer. Father, how easily we slip into them.
We want them to conform. And how easy it is for
some of us to slip into that and to think that
because we're doing certain things that please
men, we are spiritual people. I pray that you
will show us today what real spiritual living
is. Because the spiritual freedom that you've
given us in Jesus demands spiritual living Help
us to live like Jesus did To sacrifice himself
as we partake of this bread in just a moment
as we hold it in our hands Help us to examine
our hearts Lord to see if we're really as broken
as Jesus was As finished with self -centeredness
as Jesus was, living love in the power of the
Holy Spirit.