Passage: Galatians 5:13-25
Preacher: Rev. Bob Hiller
Series: Lectionary Series C
Category: Freedom
Keywords: bondage , chickens , condemnation , dog , freedom , law , shackles , slavery
Summary:
In Christ, you are free from the shackles of sin, free from the condemnation of the law, free to do the very things God created you to do.
Detail:
Today, St. Paul starts us off with my favorite of all Bible verses, For freedom Christ has set us free, stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery . Let me give you a picture of what it looks like to be free from the condemning power of the Law. As you know, I am new around here, but my family is really new here. We officially moved in last Thursday. We brought with us our dog, Lena. Steph and I weren’t actually sure Lena could make the trip and if the move would be good for her. But, our kids love the dog, so we brought her. See, the son pleaded to the father…something gospelly about that. Anyhow, the reason Steph and I weren’t sure if Lena should come is because she has been miserable lately. She seems old and depressed. We lived with five people and our good size dog in a cozy townhome that was likely confining to her. Her sins prevented her from enjoying things like walks and going out as she is aggressively violent with other dogs. The only outlet she had was going crazy with other dogs by aggressively barking at them through the window, only to be yelled at and yanked away from the window. Lena, also hates suitcases, because she knows that means she is going to be left to someone else for a while. So, she has been depressed and frustrated these past few months as our homes have been filled with suitcases and boxes. She has sulked and looked depressed. She feared, I think, that this was it for her. Very depressing indeed.
This is the life of sin under the law. No freedom, stuck inside, rewarded or punished for what you do or don’t do. This is the bondage of sin in which we all find ourselves. Our sin places us under the condemnation of the law. But, as you have heard these past few weeks, Christ sets us free from this condemnation of the Law. Remember, the Law is everything God commands or demands of us. If that was the only Word we had from God, our lives would be filled with fear, uncertainty, or depression, knowing that we were never doing enough and always losing the battle to sin. It is a life of condemnation, and perhaps even fear that God is going to pack up and leave us.
But, again, my kids love the dog. And, because we love our kids (and we love the dog, too), we brought Lena with us. And, we brought her to a new home with three acres, no fences, and nothing but wide open spaces to run and play in. Now, I was initially nervous, because what in the world would she do with this new found freedom? Would she run off? Would we never see her again? Oh no! We hike around, and she is right there with us. She runs all over the place, we can’t find her, we call and, and she comes running! Our neighbors have horses, so she has something to watch to make sure they don’t attack the family. I’m not kidding, she is a new dog! She has been set free. The family’s love brought her to this new place of wide open spaces to run, laugh, and live as the dog she was created to be!
This is what the gospel does for us! I think this is a beautiful picture of how we are to live in light of Paul’s words to us today, For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. I think too often, Christianity is depicted as a new set of rules we have to live by. We are defined as a religion with rules, guidelines, and expectations. The story of Christ takes a backseat to our moral stances and strict rules. The reason the church has this reputation is because this is the picture we tend to portray to the world. We need to repent, I think, of defining ourselves by our legalistic and self-righteous views. The Christian life is not about creating rules and regulations that are more condemning than the Law ever was. It is about freedom!
You are free from condemnation. Do you know that? I was talking with someone recently about what will happen on judgment day. They were concerned that all of their sins were going to be brought up and they were going to have to give account. They were terrified. You know why? Because that is terrifying! It is terrifying to know that God knows it all. But, and here is the key, for you and for me and for my friend, judgment day has already happened. You have already been judged. Only, you were judged on the cross of Jesus. He took your place, He took your death, He took your judgment. And you, oh dear friends, you were set free from the condemnation of God! There is no condemnation for you who are in Christ Jesus, Paul says in Romans! Think about that!
So that, the picture of my dog running in the wide open spaces of or new yard is a far better picture of the Christian life! You are free from the shackles of sin, free from the condemnation of the law, free to do the very things God created you to do. He’s given you His Spirit so that you can live a life full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control! You are free to do it! God freed you for such a life! Against that, says Paul, there is no Law!
But…now, this is pretty idealistic isn’t it? As soon as I say this, or better, as soon as we see St. Paul saying this, someone inevitably asks, “What? So that’s it? What’s to stop me from sinning? Can I just go around and do whatever I want? This sort of teaching is going to send the kids off into all sort of fornical caboodlin!”
Paul is ready for this argument, For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only, do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another. Paul has to offer up this warning, because here is the reality you and I live in. We are completely, 100% saved by Jesus. Crucified with Christ in baptism, and there, raised to a new life. You are, thus, a saint because of Christ! But, as Luther once said, though your old sinful nature was drowned in baptism, the sucker can float! And, until we die or Christ comes again, we are constantly at war with our old, sinful nature. We are not under the condemnation of the Law, but we do have to fight the old habits we had as slaves to sin! You are yet a sinner. As a baptized Christian, you are a sinner and a saint at the same time. You are thus at war within yourself against your sin.
See, my story with Lena is not over. She is free! She lives in our home! That dog is a Hiller. But, her old sinful nature came with her. Her instincts sometimes get the best of her. For example, we have chickens. And, Lena, God bless her, wants to kill ‘em. And, the other day, she got into the chicken coop. How it happened is beside the point for now. She got in their, scared one out of the coop (which my boys and I had to chase for the next hour and a half), and bit another one in the back, and it died. See, the dog is free, but there, used her freedom to indulge her flesh, and killed the chicken. I had to go down and yank the dog out of the coop before she lost all control!
Now, we are not dogs, but how true is it that when temptation arises, it just seems so much easier to give in and “indulge the flesh.” We hear this all the time these days when people are living in sin or sinning, they say, “I can’t help myself” or “Well, God made me this way” or worst of all, someone may run in the coop and say, “Hey, I’m saved by grace! I can do what I want!” And we use our impulses as an excuse to run into the chicken coop! Trouble is, God set you free to love, not to harm others with your sins. See, one of the great problems with sin is that it harms others. To stick to Paul’s sort of language, if you are using your freedom to sin against others, you are using your freedom to bind them and harm them. But if you bite or consume one another, watch out that you are consumed by one another.
They suffer because of you. Christ did not free you for that. You have not been set free to live like an enslaved sinner. You are set free, but now you also enter into a battle against your flesh. But, to this end, the Father has given you His Spirit to fight against your sinful nature. Just as I had to yank the dog out of the coop, so the Spirit has to battle the old sinful flesh inside of us to keep us free. If we indulge the sinful nature too long, we could walk back into slavery. So, God sends us His Spirit. To battle the flesh, the Spirit guides us by means of the Word. He gives us brothers and sisters to call us back from our sins. He gives us the Lord’s Supper to strengthen us against our sin, but also to forgive us for when we get in the coop.
The Christian life is one in which you have been set free by the blood of Jesus. But it is a freedom we must fight for against our old sinful nature. Until you see Christ face to face, you will remain a sinner. But take heart, He remains your savior, and calls you His saint. After all, you live in the wide open spaces of the Lord’s house now! He’s brought you to His freedom. And He is going to fight to keep us there!
