Galatians 5 - You can't take away MY FREEDOM!!!!!

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Freedom in Christ

Nobody can forget the incredibly inspiring scene in Braveheart when Mel Gibson wails, "FREEDOM!!!".  Since I loved the movie so much here is another quote,

Run and you'll live -- at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!!! - William Wallace

Freedom is quite an amazing right to have and in our country many brave men and women died and shed their blood so we could enjoy the freedom we have today. Unfortunately we sometimes take our freedom for granted and forget the price that was paid for it. 

Paul starts out Galatians 5 by saying, 

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. 

Jesus also paid a price on the cross for our freedom. He died an innocent death to pay the price of our sin. We are set free from the penalty of sin, and we are set free to live a new life in Christ free from fear, guilt, and shame. When Jesus died on the cross, he did it so we could be free to live the life we've always wanted but could not do on our own. 

So when Paul saw that people had come into the Galatian church and started teaching the Law, he realized that the freedom of the Galatian Christians was at stake. If they chose to go back to the miserable principles of the Law, they were choosing to go back to slavery. You might say when Jesus died on the cross he cried, "Freedom!"

The presenting issue was the circumcision of men who were Gentiles and came to faith as adults. The Jewish legalists were saying that they had to be circumcised to be a true believer just like they were as a baby according to Jewish Law. But we know that Jesus fulfilled the law so then as Paul says in two places, "Circumcision counts for nothing, the only thing that matters is faith working itself out in love." 1 Galatians 5:6 and also Corinthians 7:19

Paul adds sarcastically that those who are preaching this should go all the way and "emasculate" themselves. Yes, Paul has a sarcastic side to him. 

Life by the Spirit

So what does true freedom in Christ look like? How do we live in it? Galatians 5:13-26 is one of the finest expositions on what it means to live the Christian life in the power of the Spirit. It ranks up there with Philippians 2, Romans 12, and Colossians 3. 

Paul asks the Galatians important question, "What are you going to do with your newfound freedom". One way  would be to use it to go back to gratifying their sinful desires. Since they were forgiven, why not just make the most of it and go do what feels good. That is what we call "cheap grace". And as Paul said before it is like a slave who has been set freed going back to the chains of slavery. When you look at it that way, it would be a very dumb thing to do. 

Rather, Paul says to use your freedom to serve one another in love. The Christian life is not complicated. It is summed up in the Great Commandment which says to love your neighbor as yourself. Note it is implied that you love yourself. Not in a prideful way, but respecting your own body. 

Importantly Paul says with our freedom comes a new power that lives in us. The power of the Holy Spirit. We can still choose to walk in the flesh and become re-addicted to our desires, but it doesn't have to be that way. If we choose to walk in the Spirit, we will not have to gratify the desires of our sinful nature. Though we will all struggle with our sinful nature until the day we die, we do have a choice to live in this new found freedom in Christ. 

As we choose to "walk with and in the Spirit", we can live the life we've always wanted and the life Jesus called us to when he said, "Follow ME!" When we are led by the Spirit, we are no longer under the power of the Law. We are set free to love without obligation and give without looking for "kudos"! 

So what does this life look like? How can we know if we are living in the power of the Spirit of freedom and not the slavery to our sinful nature? 

Paul introduces us to the concept of the fruit of the Spirit. Note it is not "fruits" but "fruit" of the Spirit. This means that when we are living in the power of the Spirit all of these qualities will be evident in our lives and in our character! We just get some and not the others, they come as a package deal. 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

So here we have a litmus test which reveals if we are walking in the Spirit or walking in the flesh. The question we have to ask ourselves at the end of each day is, "Have I been loving, peaceful, joyful, patience, kind, etc... to the people around me."  

When I get really irritated with someone I have to ask myself, "Am I living in the power of the Spirit right now?" The answer would be "no". When I act in pride and try to make myself look better than someone else, am I walking in the Spirit? When I overindulge in any desire of the flesh am I being controlled by the Holy Spirit, or going back to slavery? 

This is where it is very helpful to have someone around us, who we might check in with regarding these qualities. Do we exhibit them some of the time, most of the time, or never? Am I growing in patience, kindness, goodness etc..? Am I a more joyful and hopeful person?

As we exhibit these qualities and characteristics in increasing measure we experience TRUE FREEDOM. We experience the way God wanted us to be and live. He wants us to be good people. He wants us to be loving and joyful. God doesn't want us to be out of control with all sorts of addictions. 

Importantly God gave us these freedoms by sending His Son to the cross to die a horrible death so we could be set free from the power of sin and death. 

When is the last time you have yelled like William Wallace in Braveheart ... FREEDOM!!!  Perhaps as Christians we should do it a lot more often! It might remind us just how precious our freedom in Christ is! It is for freedom Christ has set you free!