A LETTER FROM THE PASTOR
FREEDOM IN CHRIST
SCRIPTURE: Galatians 5:1-15 (Read this amazing account of St. Paul and learn about the freedom we have in Christ, what it means and how it can be experienced.)
TEXT: Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”
MEDITATION: Perhaps it is the case that we Americans take our freedom for granted to some extent. For many of us, freedom is something guaranteed. Freedom is ensured by our constitution, it was further secured by the Bill of Rights, and it was paid for with the blood of our soldiers. Of course, it took a long time for our leaders and people to finally see that if there was to be freedom, it must be freedom for everyone, black and white, male and female. But once we got it, there is little doubt we would ever think differently. And yet, I would submit that our idea of freedom comes directly from the bible, especially from the New Testament and Paul’s frequent references to Christian freedom.
Although the church struggled a long time to bring the idea of true freedom before the world, it was always there in the teaching of Christ and St. Paul. When we read Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia, we see that “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” I expect that rings true for just about every Christian but as we read on in the chapter things become less clear, and we discover that Paul has a very particular kind of freedom in mind. Although it may have some resemblance to American freedom, Paul was really talking about freedom from the Law of Moses, the Torah.
You see, the church in Galatia was being torn apart by those who required that Christians conform to the law of Moses. That they be circumcised and obey the Jewish customs. But Paul rejected that idea, saying that Christ had freed them from those obligations. They no longer needed to be bound to the law. Rather they were bound in Christ, who was the only way to the Father. Good works were certainly good, but only faith in Jesus and the grace of God secured salvation and future reward.
Today we Christians would never think that we must be bound to the Law of Moses. If we do good, it is in response to the salvation we already have in Christ. And yet that response is not simply optional. It still carries a sense of obligation. Paul is clear when he asks to whom are we bound? To whom are obligated? He answers to Christ alone. And yet because Christ has fulfilled the law, we are free from obligation to it. It is not our righteous acts of obedience to the law that count, but our love of Christ and the way that love is manifest among us. Thus, he concludes this passage saying, “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”
ILLUSTRATION
Years ago, when I served the church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a lovely older couple joined our church just after Easter. I was overjoyed and sat with them to make plans for their reception in church. And then I asked them, you have been coming here for a while, what made you decide to join now? They said it was my Easter sermon, and most especially the butterfly story I told.
I remembered that I had said that a few weeks before Easter someone had placed a butterfly balloon on one of the gravestones in our church cemetery. Each day I would look at that balloon and wondered who it was for, who was the loved one that had passed, who was the grieving soul that put it there? Mysteriously, on Easter Sunday the balloon disappeared. I believed it had flown away, as if it was a sign of the resurrection itself—throwing off death and ascending to the Father.
Then the couple related to me that they had been prisoners during the Second World War, captured by the Japanese and interned through the hostilities. They were separated from each other, and so they communicated by drawing butterflies in different places in the camp. They told me, the butterflies symbolized freedom for them. When they were released, they came to American to study psychology and both became counselors. Remarkable, freed from prison, they dedicated their lives to freeing others.
PRAYER
Let’s pray together.
Heavenly Father, Jesus directed his life in perfect obedience to you, and in that he established his freedom and won freedom for all who would believe in him. Teach us the true freedom that comes from following you. And Lord, in your mercy and graciousness, allow us to free others in your name by our deeds of love, compassion, justice and mercy. We pray this in the name of the great liberator, Jesus the Son. Amen.
Pastor Linden DeBie