“Freedom in Christ” Gal 5: 2-15

We are now in the second week of our discussion of some of the key passages in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Remember back to a few weeks ago when we started out in the first chapter, discovering that Paul had planted a series of churches in the region of Galatia - modern day Turkey. When he left them to continue on in his mission they were doing well, but quickly a group of Judiazers came in and told the gentile Galatians that they weren’t really saved by Christ or doing Christianity right because they weren’t following all of the Jewish laws and regulations. 

Today we are a few chapters ahead but are picking up where we left off in the story. Paul is by now getting quite upset in his writing. He is now addressing the issue of circumsision. Circumsision was a sign of the covenant that God established with Abraham. God told Abraham to have all boys circumsized when they were eight days old, dedicated to God. Now the Judiazers have come into Galatia and have told the gentile Galatians that they are wrong on this issue as well. All men need to be circumsised as a sign of their obedience to God. 

Paul did not teach this. In fact, Paul refutes it - saying that circumsion was a sign of the old covenant but a new one has been formed through the blood of Jesus Christ. Remember the words we hear every time we celebrate communion together “This is the blood of the new covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Thus a problem emerged in the minds of the Galatians - had Paul left out part of what they needed to do or believe in order to be saved?

In some ways we do the same thing today - coming up with a laundry list of things people do or do not do, some of which aren’t actually even Biblically based, all in the name of being a “good Christian”. But those requirements, those laws, are human made, not God intended or blessed. Other times, we’ve taken an old law, such as those surrounding circumsion, out of their original context, and say that they are required in order to obey Jesus, when in fact Jesus didn’t even really speak about the issue. 

The crux of the question seems to be how much to we need to believe in order to be Christian? Or what do we need to do in order to follow Jesus? Is it this laundry list of things, some of which change from church to church and region to region, or is it about something deeper, the heart of the issue? 

The Galatians at the teachings of the Judiazers had become so confused and distracted that they had forgotten all that Paul had taught them about the love and grace of God through Jesus Christ. Paul had come to them with a very clear message, all had sin and fallen short of the glory of God. Sin was violating God’s will and breaking the relationship between us and God. We could never do enough or believe enough to earn forgiveness from God - many people throughout history had tried and all had failed. There had never been a perfect person or prophet or king… until Jesus. God came through the person of Jesus Christ, fully human and fully man, so that we could have victory over sin. Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves - restoring our relationship with God. And that is ultimate freedom. 

But that wasn’t enough for the Judizers. It seemed too simple. So they started adding fluff around the teachings of Paul in the form of laws. It was no longer about Jesus - it was about acting right. And thus the people were back in the mindset that has plagued us for ages about trying to earn our salvation, trying to earn our forgiveness and right relationship with God.

Several weeks ago we were deep into a sermon series about God’s grace. Remember that grace is a gift freely given to us by God through Jesus Christ. We can never earn it. And it is only by the grace of God that we can be saved. 

The truth is that law and grace aren’t really compatible and that makes us uncomfortable. We start to try to prove to God how good we are, how deserving, by pointing out to God all the good things that we have done or all of the things that we haven’t done, all the while overlooking that we are a sinner in need of God’s grace. Shame on us and shame on the Galatians for buying into this lie. 

When we default back to rules all that we have done is disregarded God’s gift of grace. Its like we saw the gift, brightly wrapped before us, but refused to take off the wrapping instead saying that we don’t want to open it or that it isn’t quite what we wanted. So we return to the law - that which is tangible and we can understand, but all that we have done is brought ourselves back into bondage. 

When I was in seminary on of the classes I took was inside of a women’s correctional facility with inmates. We studied along side the cream of the crop and one time I remember getting into a conversation about why some women end up back in jail shortly after being released - its because they don’t know how to navigate life outside of bondage, life outside of regulation and rules. Brothers and sisters we are all like inmates who have been made free only to yearn to return to bondage.

The Judiazers were afraid of Christian liberty and freedom. They twisted around what Paul had taught about freedom in Christ to be about people being free to sin, but that isn’t the point at all. God set us free from sin! Through Jesus’ death and resurrection we have been given victory over sin. Christian freedom isn’t about being able to sin whenever and however we want. Its about God through Jesus giving us the power to conquer sin.

During our last confirmation class back in March one of the students asked if it really was as easy as asking God to forgive us our sins. And it really is. And then asking God to give us the power to conquer sin - but far too many of us fail to pray the second part of this prayer, thus failing to take up the gift that we are being offered. For freedom isn’t about just being able to do whatever we want, its actually true liberation from our destructive habits and that which separates us from God! Praise be to God for such a gift as freedom!

According to Michael Youssef, author of Leading the Way Through Galatians, “Christian freedom is the very heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ”. Don’t let yourself be taken away from the heart of this gospel message. Don’t get sucked back into the idea of salvation being earned through good works and following the law. Christ has already offered you that gift, if only you would open it and accept it. For if you could overcome sin by following the rules why would you need Christ? Preach the gospel of Christ, the center of our faith, first and always. We are sinners saved by grace. Thanks be to God!