Freedom
Christian Assembly
October 21, 2007
Larry Craig
What is freedom? Are you free? We usually think of freedom in political terms. We can worship here today without worrying about the police coming in and arresting us. We can write a letter to the newspaper and criticize President Bush or the mayor, and we won’t get in trouble.
I think most of us would define it as being able to do what you want to do.
I would like to suggest another element to true freedom. True freedom is not just the lack of obvious constraints, but the presence of the environment which promotes optimal being.
Imagine you owned a boat. Freedom is not just the absence of vandals or laws that might keep you from owning or operating your boat, but if you have no way to get it into the water, your boat is not free. You may feel that you are free to make free choices, but if your ability to choose and to live those choices is hampered, then are you really free? It’s like wanting to dance, but there is no music.
Or say you wanted to be a doctor, but you saw no way this could come about. So in one sense you could say you are free, but in another very real sense you are not. I have mentioned before the analogy of a dog on a leash. A dog may not feel enslaved. It may be content to just lie in the house and then go for short walks outside to do his business. It is when the dog wants to run across the street to meet another dog that it realizes it has nowhere to go.
The Old Testament tells the story of the Israelites, and their story tells our story. The events of the Old Testament picture universal experiences that we will all experience at some point in our lives.
We have looked a lot recently at the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt
You may ask the question: in what way are we/ were we slaves? A slave only thinks he is a slave when he wants to do something else and finds he can’t. You only become aware of your slavery when you try to be or do something different from what you are or do now and find that you can’t.
The books of Romans and Galatians both talk about this, but I would like to look today at Galatians 5:13-25. Read. Paul has two lists here, and the first one is what we might call a list of sins. I don’t want to look at that list, because then you might get a checklist mentality, where you look to see if you have any of those. And if you don’t, you think that this is not talking about your life.
I suspect the list is not exhaustive, and we might not find ourselves on it. And, of course, there are all kinds of things that we might do today which wouldn’t be on the list.
These works of the flesh are all symptoms and not the root problems or causes. They may be problems in themselves, but there is always a deeper problem behind them.
If a person has a drinking problem, actually he has at least two problems. The drinking is a problem in itself, but there is some thing or some things which is behind that which is just as serious of a problem. You may have the same problem, though not as bad. Yet. Or you show this out in some other way.
I want to look at the second list, the fruit of the Spirit. This list shows where we want to be, where we need to be. We don’t want to think of the Christian life as a checklist, but we do need a picture of where we want and need to go. When I say where we want to be, I say that on the basis on what we are as human beings. If you were a boat, I would say that you belong on the water. If you were a car, I would say that you belong on a street. If you are a human being, then the fruit of the Spirit is what you were made for.
By looking at the fruit of the Spirit, we can see the different ways our lives are in bondage, and then we can see how God wants to bring us out of that.
I. The Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22,23
Before we even list the fruit of the Spirit, the power of sin is already at work. We see the things that we want and need in our lives, the things that God wants in our lives, and we find something within us that is condemning us for our failure to have these things in our lives. This condemnation drives a wedge between ourselves and God. We doubt His willingness to work in our lives until we are able to somehow produce this fruit on our own.
When we realize that, we should be able immediately to see the futility of that and thus the invalidity of the condemnation. God is the One who has to produce this fruit in our lives.
A. a)g€pj, jv, Ó (a-ga′-pay) love; (1) especially as an attitude of appreciation resulting from a conscious evaluation and choice; used of divine and human love love, devotion;
Love is the ability and willingness to care deeply for others. It is not to be limited to just your own family and a few friends. Paul just said (Galatians 5:14) that the whole law is fulfilled in the one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Are you able to get out of your own little world and really care about other people, whether they know God? Can you feel for those who are going through difficult times and actually want to help them?
The power of sin is being so consumed with your own life that there is little or no room for others (outside of your immediate family). You will always be thinking of your own needs.
We have said that a)ga/ph is a love of value. What you love is what you value, what is important to you. If other people are important to you, you want to do something for them, something of value.
B. xar€, ‚v, Ó (cha-ra′) (1) literally joy, as a feeling of inner happiness rejoicing, gladness, delight (MT 2.10); (2) by metonymy; (a) the person or thing that is the cause or object of joy or happiness (LU 2.10; PH 4.1); (b) a state or condition of happiness or blessedness (MT 25.21; HE 12.2)
I hear people distinguish often between joy and happiness. Usually it is because they are not happy in life and don’t want to look bad, so like a lawyer or an English teacher, they look for distinctions and nuances and find a way to say they have joy when they are not happy.
They may speak of happiness as fleeting instances of excitement caused by events or unknown reasons, and joy is from a belief in going to heaven and a sense that things will work out for good, though you may not particularly enjoy them at the time.
There will always be events in life that we will not like or understand. The power of sin can cause us to question God’s love, His motives, His purposes. It can cause us to be come disappointed in God, in life, to become bitter, angry, frustrated, and sad.
Life can scare us, and we can doubt God’s willingness to help us, or at least give us the help we want.
The power of sin keeps us in a state of anxiety and fear. We would like to believe that God will come to our rescue and deliver us, but we are just as apt to think that there are good reasons why God won’t. We might feel that He has failed us in the past, or there is something in our life that is causing God to turn His face from us. In fact, we are never good enough for Him, so why should we presume to think that He will come running to our aid? There are certainly a lot of other people who are far worse off than us, and what is He doing for them? Why should we think that we should be any different?
It becomes very easy to feel sad and sorry for ourselves. We can even find a certain delight in recounting our problems to our friends and watching for their sighs of sympathy.
It can be hard sometimes to believe that God actually wants us to be happy. We need to keep looking at passages like this to remind us that it is so.
C. e¸rÐnj, jv, Ó (ay-ray′-nay) peace; (1) literally, as a state of peace (LU 14.32), opposite pçlemov (armed conflict, war); figuratively, as an agreement between persons (JA 3.18), in contrast to diamerismçv (division, dissension); (2) as a greeting or farewell corresponding to the Hebrew word shalom: health, welfare, peace (to you) (1T 1.2); (3) as a religious disposition characterized by inner rest and harmony peace, freedom from anxiety (RO 15.13); (4) as a state of reconciliation with God (GA 5.22); (5) of an end-time condition, as the salvation of mankind brought about through Christ's reign (LU 2.14; AC 10.36)
This is related to joy. Joy would be the sense that you are actually enjoying your life. You look forward to your day. Peace would take over when unexpected, unwanted events occur. They don’t upset you. You know your life is still on track, and these things cannot hurt you.
The power of sin will bring in fear and anger and disappointment. You feel like either God can’t be trusted or life is just too hard. God expects more from you than you can give. You’ll never get anywhere in life, at least where you were hoping to go. You need to lower your expectations and learn to be thankful for what you have. Things could be worse, but you would think it would be better since you are a Christian.
D. makroqum°a, av, Ó (ma-cro-thu-mee′-ah) as a state of emotional quietness in the face of unfavorable circumstances patience, long-suffering; (1) as patience under trial endurance, steadfastness (HE 6.12); (2) as constraint exercised toward others forbearance, patience (2C 6.6); (3) as God's constraint of his wrath long-suffering, forbearance (RO 2.4)
This is related to peace. Peace seems to refer to your general sense of life. Patience is how you deal with particulars. As humans dealing with God, there will be many questions and instances of possible disappointment. Patience takes these in stride, because you are confident of God’s loving care, protection, and guidance in your life.
The power of sin will breed disappointment, anger, frustration. There are things that you want and feel you need, and when they are not forthcoming, you’re hurt. It’s easy to sulk, withdraw, and feel sorry for yourself. Emotional pain can become enjoyable and can be a real impediment to healing.
E. xrjstçtjv, jtov, Ó (chrays-to′-tays) (1) as a gracious attitude goodness, kindness (RO 2.4), opposite a)potom°a (severity); (2) as moral integrity uprightness, honesty (2C 6.6); poie²n xrjstçtjta do what is right (RO 3.12)
A kind person is not just a nice person. A kind person extends out of himself/herself to show good to another person.
The power of sin can cause one not to see beyond one’s own problems. They may not only be too focused on their own problems, but they may often not even care about anyone else. They may see people as intrusions, interruptions, unimportant, and worse, indifferent to one’s problems. When a person is consumed with their own problems, it is important that others know about their misery.
The power of sin can blind you to the importance of that other person, where you might be tempted to find fault or at least indifferent to them.
The Spirit of God wants you to see them as human beings created in God’s image, for whom Jesus died, and for whom we ought to live.
F. a)gaqwsÀnj, jv, Ó (a-ga-tho-su′-nay) (1) as a quality of moral excellence being good, goodness, uprightness (RO 15.14); (2) as a quality of relationship with others willingness to give or share, generosity, goodness (GA 5.22)
A good person is not afraid to be honest, doesn’t worry about the politics of getting ahead. A good person will do what is right because it is right, without thinking of the cost or the inconvenience. There is no question about what to do. No need for discussion.
The power of sin wants to look at how all this will affect you in the future. What will people think or say? How will this look? How can you use this situation for its best advantage? Is it worth the price?
G. p°stiv, ewv, Ó (pis′-tis) (1) active, as belief directed toward a person or thing confidence, faith, trust, reliance on (MT 9.2); (2) absolutely, without an object; (a) as the essential Christian religion (the) faith (CO 1.23); (b) as recognition and acceptance of Christian teaching faith (JA 2.17); (c) as a decision to be faithful and loyal to the Christian religion promise, pledge, commitment (1T 5.12); (d) as a conviction that brings certainty faith, assurance (RO 14.22); (e) as a Christian virtue, especially along with hope and love characterizing believers (1TH 1.3); (3) passive; (a) of what brings trust and confidence from others faithfulness, fidelity, reliability (TI 2.10); (b) as what inspires confidence pledge, (means of) proof, guarantee (AC 17.31); (4) objectively, as the content of what is believed doctrine, (the) faith (RO 1.5; JU 3)
I may be the only person you will hear or read who doesn’t accept ‘faithfulness’ as the translation here. The word pi/stij occurs 22 times in the Book of Galatians, and here appearing by itself, without use in a context, we are supposed to translate it differently. Some say that the context is moral qualities, and faith is not a moral quality. If faithfulness is the clear meaning, the Greeks have another word, pisto/thj (pis-to′-tays), which seems to me a much more obvious choice.
Is it because it occurs so far down the list here that scholars think it cannot mean ‘faith’ here? So what would it mean in this context?
In this context Paul is contrasting works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. The flesh is driven by feelings, seeking out pleasurable experiences regardless of long term effects. This great need to seek comfort is determined to a great extent by our views of life: How are we doing? How are things going?
These are not questions that can be answered by our physical eyes. It’s not enough to count our money and match them against our bills to see how we are doing. It takes eyes of faith to see beyond the obvious circumstances to see God at work in our lives, to see His purposes. Without that, we won’t have peace, patience, and a lot of the other fruit. Without faith one will only see the worst in life. They will expect the worst and face the future with fear.
While we are responsible for the love, joy, peace, and faith that we have in our lives, still it is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. We cannot do this on our own, yet He will not do it in spite of ourselves.
H. prau=thj (prau′-tays) the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance, gentleness, humility, courtesy, considerateness, meekness in the older favorable sense
Many view life as a contest where only the strong win. This translates itself into aggressivness, self-centeredness, and disregard for others, as one feels the need to fight for one’s survival and success in the world.
A meek person is not a weak person, but a secure one. They don’t see life as a contest, especially against others. It’s not like we are all trying to divide up a limited number of pies. They find their peace in God, not in their bank account. They find their joy in loving and serving others rather than in the toys that they buy. They are not afraid to stop thinking about themselves so that they can think of others. They are not trying to impress other people. They know their humanness and accept it. They are comfortable with who they are.
I. gkr€teia, e°av, Ó (eg-kra′-tay-ah) restraint of one’s emotions, impulses, desires, self-control cf. I Corinthians 9:25 TDNT, II, 339ff This is not inhibitedness or passivity, but one who can control himself from excesses or be controlled by one’s desires, impulses, or emotions.
Most excesses or examples of loss of control stem from a person’s attempt to find some measure of joy or relief from their pain, whether inner or outer. The power of sin works to either cause or exacerbate human pain, so that this is the focus of your life. The behavior that we use to cope or assuage this pain can often then repeated just for its own sake, having a spirally effect.
The person in whom the fruit of the Spirit is working doesn’t need to find his joy or his comfort by indulging himself in things, whether food, drinking, sexual activities, drugs, partying. This is not to say that these things are wrong in themselves. Obviously, you need to eat to live. But people often use these activities to find some joy in life, so they become ends in themselves, and they will do things they are not meant to do.
II. The Walk of the Spirit Galatians 5:16
So we have all these ideals, the fruit of the Spirit. If we are not careful, the power of sin can hold these all before our eyes and make us feel guilty for not having all these in abundance in our lives. But we do need to have a clear picture of where it is we need to go and where God wants to bring us.
In fact, the first step in getting this freedom that the Bible is talking about is knowing what it is that we are to become. In 5:14, Paul says that the whole law is fulfilled in the You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Or, as we have been saying, Value your neighbor as yourself. Too many of us have our minds on only ourselves. That may include our family, but everybody else is a distant second.
But the Bible says to love your neighbor as yourself. How you show that or live that, you would need to ask God. Personally, I am an introvert, and that is sometimes interpreted as unfriendly, indifferent, or self-centered. But I regard the sermons that I preach and the books that I write as perhaps the lovingest things I can do.
But you need to find out from God what this means in your life.
This decision to love is one of the first steps in breaking the power of sin in your life. The reason is that so much of sin’s power comes from feeling that we need to focus so much of our attention on ourselves.
In fact, one of the first things you need to do to break the power of sin in your life is to recognize these manifestations. You need to draw lines, but they must be lines that you believe in. No one else can draw these lines for you, otherwise you won’t have the will to keep them.
The second step is to walk by the Spirit. Scholars disagree as to what that means, but it is important to see what is happening here. It says: walk by the Spirit, and you shall by no means fulfill the desires of the flesh. Or, in other words, do this and you won’t do that.
There is an old saying that idle hands are the devil’s workshop, or something like that. Simply put, it means that if you want to stay out of trouble, you need to stay busy. There is a certain truth here. If you want to change certain behavior, you often need to do something else. I call it having a mission. You don’t just stop something; you need to focus on something else. You often find that the first problem went away on its own.
Scholars differ on whether Paul is talking in many of these verses about the Holy Spirit or our own spirit. In real life, it works out pretty much the same. As you feed your life spiritually, you see life differently, spiritually, and you begin to live your life differently, spiritually.
You feed your life spiritually as you read the Bible, but then you actually have to do what you are learning. It may take a while, but it sparks your conversations with God and others about these things, and your life becomes more ‘in the spirit.’
Conclusion:
Know that the fruit of the Spirit is where God wants to take you, where you are meant to be.
When they are absent, you can see the areas of your life that are still in bondage. Know that God wants to free you from those bondages. He will do so as you first draw the line, showing that you recognize what is acceptable and what is not, then as you feed your spirit on the Word of God and in fellowship with God.
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