 1776-2025
Wow! Today we celebrate the 249th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I have heard that it was actually signed on July 2nd, but what’s a couple of days over two and a half centuries? The fathers of our country were not grieved because the crown was not providing for the privileges they felt that they deserved as loyal subjects but rather they were seeking liberty from the yoke of taxation prohibiting them from striving to build their own prosperity. I am afraid that today we have confused these categories of rights and privileges. The consequences of this kind of amnesia are that we think that we have a right to have things that in reality we only have the right to pursue those things. But I am getting away from the point I want to make in this post. In a similar way, we as believers can misunderstand the freedom we have in Christ because we have forgotten the purpose of God to make us holy like Jesus. Anarchy Today, we exist in an increasingly individualistic and selfish society. This reality means that we tend to understand freedom as being able to do whatever we want. However as we consider the ways that Jesus and the apostles taught about growth in Christ, two things seem clear. One is that in Christ we should advance in maturity (Colossians 1:24-29). Anarchy is not a mark of maturity, but rather a mark of reckless and childish behavior. Secondly, as our lives exhibit more and more of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, we should produce an increasing sense of self control. But, again self control is not in effect when we are simply following our simplest desires (Galatians 5:22-23). So freedom is not simply being unrestrained as we fulfill all our own lusts and appetites. Rather, through Christ we are free to live for Jesus! Freedom From In Paul’s letter to the Galatian churches, he uses the two sons of Abraham, Ishmael with his mother Hagar, and Isaac with his mother Sarah, to show that the believer in Christ is free of the slavery to law which could only bring condemnation on those under that arrangement (Galatians 4:18-31). We must remember that the law was good because it precisely revealed God’s righteousness to His people (Romans 3:19-31). Yet, as a means to restore humanity to the right relationship with God, the law fails because even under that old covenant the blood of bulls and goats did not actually cleanse from sin but actually only stood as a sign pointing to the true sacrificial lamb who would take away the sin of the world (Hebrews 10:1-22). Paul states that believers are not children of the slave woman destined to be cast out and alienated from God but rather we are children of the free woman and receive the blessing of the promised child. The true promised child prefigured by Isaac was Jesus who fulfilled the law and received the promises so that if we are in Him we are no longer under that burden of slavery. Freedom To But Paul tells us that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free! What does that mean? I think Paul means that we are set free from the law as a means of justification and righteousness so that we can walk by the Spirit as a means to holiness. Jesus has set us free from the penalties and requirements that we could not meet but He has also given us His Spirit so that we can obey Him through the work of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5). The way of Christ is not a list of commands or rituals to be checked off a list but rather a way of being and living which is in accord with His Spirit and His will. This kind of fruitful holiness is not a burden but a blessing which abounds not only for us but for everyone around us. Have a blessed and happy 4th of July and especially rejoice in your freedom in Christ!
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