“Freed to Proclaim Christ”

Scripture: Galatians 5:1; 13-25

Have you ever really thought about God’s concept of life when he created all that is?

Hans Kung, Roman Catholic priest, theologian, and author, wrote:
"From the first to the last page of the Bible, it is clear that God's will is aimed at our well-being at all levels. God's will is a helpful, healing, liberating, saving will. God wills life, joy, freedom, peace, salvation ... both of the individual and of [humanity] as a whole. And this is the meaning of all that Jesus proclaims."

--Hans Küng, The Christian Challenge: A Shortened Version of On Being a Christian (Doubleday, 1979), 146.

All too often, folks only see God, especially as depicted in the Old Testament, as a demanding, expectant, condemning task master, when that isn’t his nature at all! Our best is at the core of all that God ever did. His will is about healing and liberation; his will is about joy and freedom and peace and eternal life. Unfortunately, the legalism that was being forced upon the Galatians was anything but! The law was enslaving them, God is about freedom.
The entire purpose behind Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia was to bring the truth of God’s will into their lives, and it is a lesson that we all should consider once again.

Read Galatians 5:1; 13-15

The Anglican priest Charles Kingsley wrote:
"There are two freedoms — the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought."
~Charles Kingsley

The latter definition is the one that Paul is now encouraging us to follow. The freedom that faith in Jesus Christ brings to us is not the right to let worldly pleasures and earthly standards become our focus for life. Neither does it necessitate a surrender to the minutiae of laws that Israel was living under. Jesus brings us the freedom to do what is right – those things that bring honor to Almighty God. It is about being released from obedience to the ways of earth so that we can follow the teachings of Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20). The New Interpreter’s Bible, in its commentary on this passage, tells us “The Galatians have been caught up in a cosmic conflict, and they must take care not to let the territory won for them by Christ become a staging ground for a counterattack by the hostile power of the flesh.”

In essence, this is saying that they were beginning to surrender the very freedom that Jesus had gained for them, in favor of a return to slavery in the world. It is interesting to note that this is the very problem that the Israelites experienced during their desert years. (Numbers 14:1-4) The Children had a constant problem in seeing their wilderness journey as one of freedom – for them, this journey was worse than the bondage and oppression that they were subjected to in Egypt! They lacked the divine vision of liberty, and could only remember their captivity as a blessing, instead of the oppressive burden that it truly was.

And when we return to the false freedom that causes us to sin, we lose our motivation to truly love. (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:34-40) We become self-serving; we become critical of others; and the unity that the Church is supposed to stand for begins to wane. And it is then that the church is no longer the church.

Read Galatians 5:16-21

A life in the Spirit is just the opposite from that of a life in sin. We all know folks who say that the Spirit has led them to live in a particular (sinful) way, and that this is evidence that Scripture isn’t always right. The only response that we can give is that they might very well have heard a spirit call them to this, but is wasn’t God’s Spirit that did the speaking! The Holy Spirit can never do anything that is contrary to Jesus’ teaching, and Jesus could never teach anything that was contrary to the Father’s nature.

Paul offers quite a list of sinful acts, and we could probably spend an entire message or two in discussing the implication of each one. Let me just offer this thought – some of these sins are against either our self or other people and a few, such as idolatry and witchcraft, are directed against God; but there is also quite a list of attitudes and acts that come against the unity and cohesiveness of the Christian community, and these may present the most immediate and vile danger to the Church. The greatest risk to any group will always come from within, and Paul is very intentional in pointing this out.
As we search scripture for a reference to these condemnations, we will discover that every one of them is valid - that every one of these violate some aspect of Jesus’ teaching. They include sinful acts of a sexual nature, they include negative attitudes that we may hold against other people, some are self-centered and self-aggrandizing, and some are just plain harmful to our human life and relationships.

Paul suggests that as extensive as this list may be, it still isn’t complete, which, of course, it isn’t, but in a general way, is still pretty comprehensive. This list would be a problem for the Pharisees, in that they wanted specifics and not generalities. They wanted each and every law spelled out completely – that was the basis for all of their theological discussions. They debated issues until there was nothing left in uncertainty, and they liked it this way. Unfortunately, the decisions came about by their understanding, and as it is God’s Way that is under consideration, humanity doesn’t get to define what each of these are about. That’s the Lord’s prerogative.

As an example, what does the word “impure” indicate? By definition, it implies that something is contaminated, tainted, mixed with foreign objects or ideals, and even polluted. And the basis for this imperfection is found only in God’s word, and not in ours.
How about “fits of rage”? “Hatred”? “Discord”? This isn’t just those things that others do – it must include those things that we do. Do any of us become angry at another driver who cuts us off in traffic? Have we ever broken off a relationship because we don’t like what the other person did? Have we ever uttered words that slandered someone else?
Now, I’m not condemning anyone who may have done one of these things – I have enough to deal with in my own life! But note Paul’s concluding words in this passage – “those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Does this mean that we are all in deep trouble, and have forfeited our place in glory? We have if we have no faith in Jesus Christ, and if we don’t seek the Lord’s forgiveness and his strength to set these things out of our life! Unforgiven sin is the very thing that will cause us to be called “least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19).

Read Galatians 5:22-26

This, on the other hand, is where our lives will be if we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. We need to remember that these attributes are not necessarily those that come from our own lives – they are the evidence of the Spirit’s activity within the Church as a whole. But Paul isn’t encouraging us to work to produce these characteristics, but rather that they will occur through our faithful service in the name of Jesus.

And, of course, “faithfulness” (# 7 out of the list of 9) is the very issue that is being raised throughout this entire letter! “Keep in step with the Spirit” is pretty good advice for both the 1st century Church, as well as for those who live today. Initially, Paul simply chastised the Galatians in a very powerful and direct way for living lives that ran counter to God’s will. Now, as his letter is nearing its end, he is providing some detail as to what the differences are between the direction they are headed in, and in the way that God is calling them to live.

Are these thoughts solely for the Galatians in their day? Hardly! These are words that the Church has needed to hear throughout the centuries. Humanity has always had a tendency to make the faithful life way too difficult. Live by the Spirit! Stay in step with the Spirit! Did God send the Spirit just as a nice thing to do? Certainly not! The Spirit is with us to encourage us, to lead us, to counsel us in divine truth, and our only responsibility is to listen and to follow.
That may not be as easy as it sounds, of course. Satan has a way of sending conflicting messages in a way that seems to be Godly in nature. But staying in the Holy Spirit’s way, keeping to the teachings that Jesus gave us in the gospels, seeing our lives in the same light as God does will help our walk to remain faithful.

May each of us have ears tuned to God’s word and way and Spirit, and may we all be deaf to the cries of the false spirit.