Text: Galatians 5Introduction
FREEDOM… this is the cry of every single human being. In whatever walks in life we are in, we always want freedom. There are freedom cries that are noble while others are only for personal satisfaction. One of the famous examples of cries for freedom are: the cry of William Wallace of Scotland against the English kingdom; our very own Andres Bonifacio in the cry of Balintawak, and in my life time the two EDSA Revolution, the first is the cry of freedom against dictatorship and the second one is the cry of freedom against plunder and malversation.
Every single individual, young or old, they cry for freedom. Even the babies, they cry for freedom from hunger. And now, let us take a plunge into the Scriptures that will teach what it means to be Free.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. “– Galatians 5:1
What It Means To Be Free1. Living by faith expressing it through love (v.2-6) Many people until now are still puzzled with the road to salvation. Most people still believe that the road to salvation is good work. But as we have studied so many times, the road to salvation is only by grace through faith.
What the Lord wants to teach to us in this point is for us to learn how to live by faith. Though living by faith in itself is a very broad topic, we will only focus on things that will help us live freely. Let us start with salvation. Again, this is only a reminder to each one of us. We have been saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8), not by works so that no one can boast. This is a very clear statement that our own efforts fall short from salvation. In verse 4, 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
God wants us therefore to completely put our faith on him. He wants us to be practicing faith in love. Take note of the phrase “in love”. In everything we do, the Lord wants us to do it in love. God emphasized love in the Bible because He is Love. It is because of love that we have received his grace and this grace gave us salvation through our faith.
Take note that this passage talks about freedom from the burden of the Law, but despite of this, this message is also true to other truths of living by faith. Money, one of our greatest concerns in life has enslaved millions of people around the world. In my personal estimate, more than fifty percent of all crimes directly or indirectly involve money. People committed crimes because of the love of money.
What God wants for us on the other hand is for us to be free from the yoke of slavery such as the love of money. He wants us to be completely dependent on him. He wants us to be seeking him and not seeking someone who can provide for us. In this way, we will also be able to express such freedom through love.
2. Standing on the truth (v. 7-12)
This is about holding on to the truth. “Know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32), we all know this. The truth that accompanied our salvation brings freedom, freedom from sin and the yoke of slavery. Believing in some other things than what we have received through the word of God is a path to become slaves again.
Perhaps all of us want to have a good life. A life where we don’t have to labor so hard in order to eat. And how about having all the latest gadgets that you can see in the market? How about the latest cars that we are dreaming? Let us say, we have all these, do we want to let it go? I’m sure, we will do all things in order to protect these because we will never want to be slaves of poverty again. This is the picture of salvation. Salvation is what matters in life. In it, we can continue living for our purpose in worshipping God. And this is supposed to be the greatest treasure that man can ever have. Unfortunately, we do not want to take care of it and many of us have taken it for granted in way one or anther.
Brothers and sisters, the truth is, salvation in Christ Jesus is a treasure to keep. A treasure worth taking care of. Money can give you all things that you want, but can never give you eternal life. Money can save us years of life, but only God can give eternal life. God is the only source of the most valuable treasure, a treasure that will last forever.
This is the truth that lies in this passage; God is the giver of peace and salvation, and all things that money can never buy. Nothing and no one can ever give all these things except God.
3. Responsible with his freedom (v.13-15)
Freedom has been the cry of all people. The Bible is very clear however, that we have to be responsible with the freedom “13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”
Indeed God gave us freedom. But we have to remember that such freedom was given to us not for us to abuse it, but for us to take the full advantage of using such freedom for good.
Before the advent of “human rights” parents take control of their children by disciplining them, but now, it is the children who take control of the parents. Teenagers have been a powerful tool in “freedom movements”. What we can see now is a total inverted picture of our world.
The youth in their hunger for freedom were now enslaved by false teachings and false beliefs about themselves. Some became rebels in their young age where they became pests in the society when they have grown up. Leftist groups are trying to attract the youth to join their rallies against the government. We are not creating a rebel nation here right?
I was never against in allowing our youth to be aware of what was going on in our nation. But to teach them to hate our government and leaders is what I believe is wrong. Once they were molded with these lies they will grew up as rebels of the society so as to the future of our nation will be gone.
4. Living by the Spirit (v.16-26)“16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” This passage tells us that if the Spirit dwells in us richly then, our carnal mind will be destroyed. It’s like filling a tank, if it is already full then there is no more place to fill in. It is also like water and oil, which cannot be mixed together. The Spirit hates our sinful nature while our sinful nature hates the Spirit.
Then we can see in the following passages the differentiation between the fruits of our sinful nature and the fruit of Spirit:
The Fruits Of The Sinful Nature
1. Sexual immorality
2. Impurity
3. Debauchery
4. Idolatry and witchcraft
5. Hatred
6. Discord
7. Jealousy
8. Fits of Rage
9. Selfish Ambition
10. Dissensions
11. Factions and envy
12. Drunkenness
13. Orgies
14. Conceited (v.21)
15. Provoking and envying each other (v.2 1)
16. The like
The Fruits Of Spirit
1. Love
2. Joy
3. Peace
4. Patience
5. Kindness
6. Goodness
7. Faithfulness
8. Gentleness and Self-Control
“24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”
Here we see that being free is becoming free from sinful nature.
Conclusion
We can never experience true freedom, unless we become a slave to righteousness.
- Vincent Olaer
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