Freed for Love (Galatians 5:13-15)
Here’s my sermon from this past Sunday. You can catch the audio and video over here.
Now I’ve told myself numerous times over the past few weeks. And I’ve told this to some of you. I’m going to stop talking about COVID. But then I realized the passage we were coming to this week. If there was a top five list of verses American Christians should have memorized before the pandemic, this would have been at the top. Verse 13: “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.”
But here’s another thing I’ve been telling myself and others this week. I have been given freedom to speak from up here - by God, by you. And in a passage talking about not using your “freedom as an opportunity for the flesh,” I have to make sure I don’t use this pulpit, on this day, to do exactly that. Because this has been a hard season to be a pastor. And a sad season to be an American citizen. And it’s sure tempting.
Now there are two ways we tend to try to live - whether or not we’d call ourselves a Christian. The first way is we try to prove ourselves - how good of a person we are. We try to do all the right things. And avoid all the bad. We try to tip the scales in the right direction. We try to prove ourselves - to those around us, to ourselves maybe the most, and yes, for some of us, to God. We may at times feel like we’re doing well. We may feel swells of pride. But more often than not, we know we don’t measure up. And we find ourselves in despair.
The second way is that we give up on that game entirely. We cast off all the rules. And we make up our own. We do what we want. We become gods unto ourselves. We don’t care what others think. We go our own way. Now that frame of mind, of course, certainly reeks with pride. But throwing ourselves in that direction ends up leaving us empty. We wake up with the hangover. In the bed we don’t recognize. That way, too, leads us away from joy.
There’s a better way. And we see it clearly here in Galatians 5:13-15. The apostle Paul tells us here: don’t use your freedom to sin, but to serve. Otherwise, be scared. Let’s look at Paul’s main point, followed up by His reasoning, and then we’ll close with the consequences if we don’t hear this word of the Lord.
What Paul Teaches
Let’s just jump in here, first, to Paul’s point, in verse 13. He calls us “brothers.” He speaks tenderly to us, His family, in love. And yes, this also includes sisters. And Paul says, “For you were called to freedom.” The Lord called you, Christian, one day in the past, if you believe. Now this isn’t a general call, a shoutout to the sky: “Hey, whoever’s available, come jump on the bus.” This is what’s called an effectual call. This is a work in the heart. This is Jesus calling His disciples. And them throwing down their nets. This is Paul on the Damascus Road. Getting knocked to the ground. This is Jesus calling out to the tomb. And Lazarus walking out. One day, Jesus called us. He gave us life. And we began following Him.
And God reminds us here, that that calling was to freedom. Now here Paul is reminding us of the whole point of this book, Galatians. False teachers have infiltrated that church. We call them now the Judaizers. That’s because they were trying to convince those believers there that they had to become good Jews before they could become real Christians. They had to keep the feasts of the Old Testament. They had to follow all the food laws. And yes, they had to be circumcised.
But the apostle calls that out for the lie that it is. He condemns those Judaizers as the false teachers that they are. “For you were called to freedom, brothers.” You’ve been freed from the law. You don’t keep it to be saved. In fact, trying to be right with God in your own efforts makes you even further from Him. Paul here calls out that first way to live - where we try to prove ourselves.
But then he changes directions in the rest of the verse. Now back in the day I left an event where I’d been playing music. It was frigid that night. And there was still some ice and snow on the roads. I hit a patch of ice and started spinning. And before I knew it, my car was upside down. I remember rolling down my window and crawling out on to the snowy ground. And because I had my priorities straight, I got out, and I thought, “I’ve seen the shows on TV. What if my car blows up?” So I took my keys, opened my trunk, and my guitars and gear fell on the ground. And there I stood, on the side of the road, holding a guitar in each hand - there in the cold - until someone came to pick me up.
But before all of that, again, my car slid on the ice. And what happened is I basically jumped from one ditch to the other. And this is what Paul wants to keep from happening - in these Galatians. He doesn’t want them going from thinking they have to earn their way to God - to not thinking God gives a rip about how they live. Because both of them take you off the road - and may get you killed.
He writes, “Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve on another.” Paul’s warning them of that second false way to live - where we think we can live anyway we want, where our choices don’t matter. Paul uses this word “flesh” here. He’s not literally talking about the meat on our bones. He’s using the word to talk about our old, sinful nature - who we are in Adam as fallen humans. Not who we are in Christ as redeemed men and women. Picture us driving down that road. It’s like that “flesh” wants to seize the opportunity - of us realizing that we’re no longer under the law - and pull us right into that ditch. Jesus tells us here, don’t let that happen. Is that you today? Has the gospel become an excuse for you to do what you want? Has it just become a way to make you feel better when you sin?
Paul says, “Do not use your freedom” in that way. Now what makes things even harder is that our culture tells us that’s what freedom is - what it has to be. We think we’re free if and only if we can do exactly what we want in any and every situation. But that assumes far too much about who we are. And how we got to where we are in the first place.
What? We only choose based on our desires. We don’t make arbitrary choices. What we choose in every situation flows from who we are at that point in our lives. So we’re really not that free. There’s a limited range of things we can really do. Our circumstances limit us. Ourselves limit us.
But there’s more. That also assumes that we came up with those desires on our own. Hello. Most of the things I want come from the fact that I’m a white male raised in a middle-class family in the middle part of America. Hear these words from Mike Cosper:
“…we automatically assume that what people want is a matter of their own free will. We like to think of ourselves as autonomous actors in the world. We think our desires are innate; they’re ours, and what we want is something that has developed freely and independently.
But our desires don’t appear out of nowhere, innate to our hearts. Rather, they’re formed by innumerable explicit and implicit influences that range from our family system to our education to media to politics. When God tells us that we’re clay, it’s not just a happy image that promises that he - the Potter - has the power to shape us. It means that we are moldable, and something is always forming and shaping us. Our culture tells stories that shape what we think is good and what might make us happy, and our hearts conform to those stories.” (Cosper)
Whoa. What He’s saying? We may think we’re freely choosing to swim. But we’re really floating with the current. We’re not as free as we think we are. And what’s worse is - apart from God - those are desires of our “flesh.” They go against our best, what helps us flourish. They hurt us and those around us. So the current leads to a waterfall - and that won’t end well for us. We’re not nearly as free as we think we are. What we call freedom the Bible call bondage.
And following Jesus often feels like swimming upstream. But that’s what’s truly best for us. The Spirit pushes us up that river, against the current. And along the way to being who we were made to be. Helping us live how we were really meant to live. And that’s freedom. Not the ability to do what we want. But to do what we were meant to do.
But let me get back to the point. God tells us here, “Don’t misunderstand your freedom.” Karis, we’re free from trying to keep the law, the rules, to make us right with God. But now we’re meant to use that freedom to please Him. Now we want to do that.
And how does that freedom get played out? Primarily in how we live with one another. There’s a vertical component of salvation, right? Where by faith we trust Jesus and we’re made right with our Father. Vertical. But there’s a horizontal angle. Where we’re made right with brothers and sisters. We love one another. Paul says, “But though love, serve one another.” Here’s what He’s saying. You’re free. But don’t use that freedom as an excuse to let yourself go and go off on those around you. Love. Serve. That’s what freedom looks like.
Now if I toss a rock into the river, it hits the water. And there’s a plop, right? But there are ripples that go out from there. If I make a sound - a big thud - maybe from the bass drum over there, there are reverberations that pulse out from that. As we think about understanding the Bible, we have the main point in the center, and we have those ripples, those echoes, as well.
Here’s the heart, the center, what this passage means. Don’t think being freed from the rules means that you can throw the whole book in the trash. There are clear matters of holiness. And God calls us to obedience - particularly in how we care for one another - to love.
But here are some of the other implications that fit with the spirit of this passage. Matters of conscience. Some of us are free to do things - things that aren’t sin - that others can’t quite do. Look at Romans 14 if you want to follow this further. Alcohol usage might be an example. Maybe you feel free to drink in moderation, and that’s fine. But if you’re around someone who’s struggled with it in the past - like my wife, for example - you might want to forgo it out of love. Not all the time, of course, but in her presence. You show patience to those whose conscience might be different from yours.
Here’s another category: matters of preference. Tyler up here is free to choose a lot of songs. And I know there are some that he prefers. But biblical freedom means thinking about what would best serve you and me. Following Jesus means laying down our preferences.
Here’s another way to think about this: areas of influence. As a white man in the United States of America, I am free to do things others aren’t free to do. I have privileges. It’s just true. Now, you can argue that everyone has opportunity. But my friend, Jon Nelson, who happens to be the first black president of the Missouri Baptist Convention, says it’s like this. The black American may still be playing the same game - like monopoly. But he starts out 20 squares behind and thousands of dollars in debt.
We don’t all start out in the same place. With the same freedoms. And something love would lead us to do, I’m convinced, is to use your influence, our privilege, toward justice, toward empowering others.
Here’s another category: matters of convenience. There are ways that you and I may be free to do things faster, cheaper, easier for us. But moving in that direction usually moves us away from most ministry. Most opportunities to share Jesus don’t fit well in our google calendar. He wants us to forget what’s convenient and give ourselves to others in love.
What about areas of weakness? Not just in terms of cultural power, but maybe physical? How could we use our freedom to serve the disabled? The elderly? Maybe the orphans? The unborn? Refugees? The poor? The immunocompromised? I think of our dear friend Jake - who received a heart transplant that hasn’t been able to really leave his house during this season. Or baby Jane who’s gone through the same thing. How are we loving and serving them? That’s what’s been so hard about our response to COVID. We’re screaming about freedom. And Jesus wants us to think about the weak. That’s what our freedom is for. To care for the weak. But we’ve forgotten how weak we all are.
Last week, I gave a one minute summary of Paul Miller’s book The J Curve that was clear as mud. I’ll clear that up down the road. But I talked about how we understand believing in Jesus - at least for the most part. But we struggle with becoming like Him. How to live out the gospel. In a chapter I read this week, he makes this point that fits so well with what we’re talking about here.
As we believe the gospel, we move from a SLAVE TO FREE. Before Jesus, we were slaves to sin. But now, through His grace, we’re free. Free from the law. Free to be who we were made to be.
But now, as we become the gospel, we move the other direction - from FREE TO a SLAVE. Like Jesus, we take our freedom. And we use it to serve. We become servants of our brothers and sisters and neighbors. Faith leads to love. Tom Schreiner puts it this way: Christian freedom "does not function as an excuse for satisfying selfish desires but expresses itself paradoxically in serving one another in love.” We should use our freedom not to sin but to serve. That’s Paul’s main point.
Why It’s Important
Let’s move second to Paul’s rationale, why this is important. Love, Paul says, is the point of the Old Testament law to begin with. He writes, in verse 14, “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” He quotes part of Leviticus 19:18 - a verse from the law to tell us the real purpose of the law. We’ve been talking throughout this study about what the law couldn’t do. It could never make us right with God. But here we get to what the law pointed to. What it was trying to do.
It was first trying to pull us up into God’s love. Right? All the rules were meant to help us see that we needed His help. The law was meant to drive us to the gospel. But second, what were all those rules about? How could they be summarized? Love one another. That’s what Paul is saying. When we love, we fulfill what the whole Old Testament law was about.
Now it’s ironic, don’t you think? These Judaizers are trying to keep the letter of the law, but that’s driving them away from its spirit. And that’s what we’re to be concerned about now. Remember, Jesus said He came to fulfill the law. That all of it pointed to Him. He kept it perfectly.
Now we don’t have to keep all of those regulations. Yeah, some of the commands find their way into the New Testament. But they’re God’s way of guiding us toward loving Him and loving neighbor. Now we, as chapter 6, verse 2, puts it, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” We love God. We love neighbor. We now live this “law of love."
Now don’t get confused. Yes, the verse says “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” You undoubtedly, continually, think about yourself and care for your needs. Paul says, love those around you in that way. And as you do, you keep the whole point of the law. Isn’t that what Jesus says, also?
Matt. 22:37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
Matt. 22:38 This is the great and first commandment.
Matt. 22:39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Matt. 22:40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Our freedom is for love. Whether or not we grasp His love will show itself in how we treat those around us.
What is at Stake
I want to turn to our third point. To what’s at stake. To what happens when we don’t walk in true freedom. And love one another. Paul tells us here: don’t use your freedom to sin, but to serve. That’s what the law is all about. But otherwise, if you won’t listen, be scared. Be very, very scared.
Listen to verse 15 again: “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” What will destroy a church? You might say sexual sin. Yes, a pastor committing sexual morality, or a member committing sexual abuse - that will shut a church down. But while it happens, and it’s tragic, it doesn’t happen that much. What’s way more common are really terrible churches on every corner where everyone acts like animals and people eat each other alive.
People let themselves go. They exercise their “freedom,” and they engage in all sorts of gossip and slander and backbiting unhindered. Now that’s not a fun place to be. But it’s what happens if we give ourselves over to sin. We end up in a church that’s devoid of love and full of all sorts of pain. Hear me: a place where people assert their rights at the expense of others is not safe - or the least bit fun.
Like many of you, I’m sure, I’ve watched some documentaries over the past couple of weeks on 9/11. I’ll tell you: one of the most disturbing parts was watching people jumping off the burning buildings. People running for their lives were seeing it happening in real time and were horrified. The firefighters below, trying to figure out to do, would hear thud after thud after thud.
It was terrible. Well, we’ve been seeing and hearing of people leaping from the church over and over the past couple of years. And the explanation isn’t that complicated. The place has been on fire. And people don’t want to take it anymore.
Russell Moore is a friend and mentor of mine. And his writings have encouraged me greatly during this season. He says that back in the day, people would leave the faith because they couldn’t believe in what Christianity teaches. He says that today, people are leaving because they think that we don’t believe what it teaches. He writes, talking like he has today’s passage in mind:
“If people reject the church because they reject Jesus and the gospel, we should be saddened but not surprised. But what happens when people reject the church because they think we reject Jesus and the gospel? People have always left the church because they want to gratify the flesh, but what happens when people leave because they believe the church exists to gratify the flesh – in orgies of sex or anger or materialism? That’s a far different problem. What if people don’t leave the church because they disapprove of Jesus, but because they’ve read the Bible and have come to the conclusion that the church itself would disapprove of Jesus? That’s a crisis.” (Russell Moore)
Now not becoming like the gospel, not living in a way that loves, that hurts - it ruins - our witness to the world. But, as verse 15 puts it, it also destroys us. If the house is on fire, nobody wants to stop by, but everyone inside’s also going to die.
But what do we do about it? I want to give you three points of application, as I begin to wrap up this morning. I want to encourage you - by God’s grace and for His glory - to pursue three important roles with me.
First, be a culture maker. A buzzword thrown around in athletics and business is “culture.” What’s the goal when a new boss or a new coach comes into town? To create a new culture. There’s a certain way things are done. Where the right things are pursued. And the wrong things are avoided.
Do your part in creating a family where people don’t run around with knives. If you have an issue with someone, go directly to him or her. Don’t talk about that person to someone else. If someone angers you, by the Spirit, seek to show restraint. Don’t vent to your brothers and sisters around you. Be a leader. If you sin against someone else, go to them. Ask for forgiveness. Repent. Set an example. Model healthy, gospel living to those around you. Let me say: we’re doing this, and it’s why I think God has kept us together during this season.
But you also at times need to speak up. Second, be a peace officer. What do I mean? Nobody wants to live in a house where people run around with knives, but nobody wants to tell people to put down their knives. Be the type of person that tells people to stop. And let me say. This is something we do. Praise God.
Don’t be self-righteous. Don’t be rude about it. Don’t nit-pick. Listen to last week’s message. But when you see something - something that works against a gospel culture - say something. And say it with love. And as you do, try to aim for the heart. Help people to really see where a lack of love leads.
Here’s an example: “Brother, you know what you just told me about Steve? Think about this. What would it be like if you thought I was taking my gripes about you to him? Think about what would happen if everyone here was doing that. Go talk to Him. I know he’ll take it well."
Third, be a gospel encourager. My wife likes to talk about how certain world leaders or big celebrities - those who come off as really rude or pompous - at the end of the day cry themselves to sleep at night. Now I think that’s a stretch.
I really doubt that happens. But there’s certainly truth to what she says. Hurt people hurt people. And insecurity is generally what’s underneath all that hurt. We’re fighting for our reputations. And hurting others in the process.
Here’s what a gospel encourager does. He or she doesn’t just say, “Believe in Jesus. Stop sinning.” The gospel encourager tries to again get to the heart. To ask people why they’re acting in those ways. What lies are they believing? What false gods are they worshipping? It’s reminding people of what Jesus has done. Of who they are now in Christ. That they don’t have to prove themselves any more. That they don’t have to defend themselves. That they’re accepted. That they’re secure in Him. It’s not just that they shouldn’t do what they’re doing. It’s that they don’t need to do what they’re doing. That’s the best, deepest way we can possibly love our brothers and sisters - reminding them of the gospel. And this, too, is something I see our people doing all the time.
Let’s seek to be culture creators, peace officers, and gospel encouragers. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to Ray Ortlund and he made this simple but profound statement.
He said that if we, God’s people, could be a little pocket of shalom within all the rage going on around us today, it would be prophetic in our day. And that’s so true. And it all starts with a deep confidence in the gospel. If we could reclaim that, people would be sprinting into our doors and not jumping out.
COVID and Love
But how do we get to that place? Here’s my candidate for number two on my list of verses we should have had memorized before COVID. It’s found in Philippians chapter 2.
Phil. 2:1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
Phil. 2:2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
Phil. 2:3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Phil. 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Phil. 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
Phil. 2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Phil. 2:7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Phil. 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
I kicked off talking about two ways we tend to live. We either try to keep the rules, or we throw them away entirely. But we’ve seen here in this passage in Galatians that, while we can’t make ourselves right with God through how we live, we can’t just throw ourselves the other direction and do whatever we want.
What’s the route to that third way? Particularly in loving each other well? It’s here in Philippians 2:1-8. Who Christ is. What He’s done. That gets in our hearts. He’s God in heaven. But He doesn’t cling to His “rights.” He lays them down. The King of the universe becomes a servant. He empties Himself. He’s born in a manger. He dies for us on a cross. This is Jesus. This is who He is. This is what He’s done.
Paul says, in verse 5, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” Look at yourself in that same way. Pattern yourself after Him. And He says in verse 4, don’t just think about you, and look after you - care for those around you. He adds in verse 3, lay down your pride, make yourselves low, and put others first. And in verse 2, he says, “Children, make me happy by walking in love and unity.”
And then imagine the apostle Paul, gently holding your chin, a loving father in our faith, looking us in the eyes, and saying verse 1, “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy…” And we’re nodding along. “Of course, there is, Paul.” And then it hits us: how we live is fairly obvious. How could we live any other way? But using our freedom to serve.
Hear me, Karis. I’m so proud of you. I talked earlier about creating a culture. I think, by the grace of God, we’ve built a family together that has said, “Well, of course we’re going to love our neighbors.” And we’ve done our best to do exactly that. I’m extremely proud. I’m so grateful. I’ve told lots of people that I think, by God’s grace, we were prepared for what we’ve all gone through. And we’re going to be fine.
That’s the third way we can live. So moved by what Jesus has done for us that we want to do whatever we can for Him. And that means more than anything, loving those around us from the heart. Doing that leads to a family that’s not only safe but is good. Karis, we’re freed - for love. Let’s pray.