Our Christian Freedom, pt. 1

Sermon prepared by Gregory S. Kaurin, pastor
for Messiah Lutheran Church, Auburn WA
& Elbe Evangelical Lutheran Church, 6/20/10

Texts – Galatians 5:1, 19-26; Matthew 18:18-22

Our Christian Freedom, pt. 1
Freed for Family

[The Bible encounters life, it deals it, and whether we’ve had very good or very bad experiences with our fathers, or an absence of them, then it seemed at least an option this Father’s Day to talk about our heavenly Father who perfectly parents.]

I love my dad; he’s a neat guy. I’ll never catch up to him for being such a wonderful people-person. I grew up with some of the classic father-son issues. There are at least three things in my life that have helped me get over these: first, I have two sons of my own now; second, the mirror. These are brutally honest, and I am glad to be my father’s son.

The third thing is that my wife seems to love me this way.

Men, let me pick on us for a bit. Some parts of being boys and men are hard and challenging; but in other parts of our lives we are used to being coddled and humored. Boys will be boys. Especially when it comes to spirituality and relationships, some of us leave all that stuff to the wife, or religious geeks like pastors. But when it comes to our relationship with God, standing in front of his throne, we don’t get to say, “I’m with her.”

God’s grace is free. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father is given to us. But that does not mean that it is effortless, that nothing is expected from us. Like any other relationship, it needs communication—God wants to see and hear that we love him. We stray down wrong paths, but God still longs for faithfulness from all of us. Perhaps the missing card on Father’s Day is the one we could send to God, the Father who loves us, accepts us, forgives us, and never lets go. And maybe this is the day for some of us to let go of the old habits that get in the way of growing closer and more mature in our relationship with God through Christ.

For the next three weeks we’re going to focus on our Christian freedom using this verse from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, chapter 5, verse 1: “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” This Christian freedom is not exactly the kind of freedom we celebrate on Independence Day in two weeks. It is, in fact, even bigger and a more true independence from oppressive powers.

But Paul suggests that it is a freedom that has struggles. This is not a freedom that lets us just sit back and relax. Listen to that first verse again. He’s talking about a way of living that is not easy. Paul wrote that we need to “Stand firm.” Christ set you free for freedom, for the cause of Christian freedom, to be advocates for Christian freedom. So, stand firm, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. So what is this freedom? And if we’re going to stand firm, I also hope to make clear what yoke of slavery we are to stand against.

We talk about the two commandments that summarize all of God’s law: we are to love the Lord our God with what?… all our heart, mind, soul and strength (basically, with everything we’ve got). Second, we are to love our neighbor as? …our self. If you want to obey all the commandments, just do these two: love God with everything we are, and our neighbor as ourselves? How easy is that? Very hard. If our salvation, if our relationship with God, and our eternal life depend on this, if I am obeying God to get into heaven, then for whom am I really working, about whom am I most concerned? Can we actually love God and neighbor? Whom am I putting as number one? Who is my God? And that is why trying to earn God’s love and salvation actually breaks the first commandment. We can’t have a relationship with God if we are afraid of him, or of his fist.

See, God is really smart. He figured this out, from the very beginning, that we need Jesus… That way, if a price needs to be paid for our sins, Jesus, the very blood of God, pays it. God gives us forgiveness, pays the price, gives us salvation, and a relationship with him. So, if I don’t need to earn my relationship with God, if I don’t have to achieve salvation, if I’m not worried about me anymore, now can I love God? Can I love my neighbor? Can I do loving things for them?

You see, the freedom we are talking about is a freedom that finally lets us obey God, with our hearts, without fear. We will make mistakes, but can trust him and his bond with us to be stronger than our mistakes and sins. We can let go of ourselves, let go of being afraid of God, or of death, or of hell and the devil… Freedom.

But our greatest weakness, I think, at least mine, is a return to self-absorption. Both the Proverbs and St. Paul will talk about a dog’s tendency to return to its own vomit. These are our old sins even after we’ve rejected them, either because we still are tempted to do them, or we haven’t let go of the shame. That’s what the list of sins in our lesson was all about. When Paul talks about fleshy sins, he’s not just talking about lust or greed or gluttony. Sin is anything that hurts, gets in the way or breaks down our relationship with God, or with people, and creation. Sin keeps us from trusting, and is anything that takes time and energy away from our primary callings as Christians, as husbands or wives, family, church, neighbors.

For instance, take the first thing in Paul’s list of sins in verse 19 from today’s reading: fornication. Sexual relations, as expressions of love between two committed adults, can be a beautiful gift. But a focus on sex, abuse, pornography, any flesh trade, pedophilia is objectifying someone else for yourself, gratifying your needs. It is destructive to relationships. It takes the time, energy and affections that rightly belong to the people with whom we’ve made promises. It is adultery and unfaithfulness. It enslaves the one who does it, and those who are caught up in it. But even the monks and others who set up extreme rules against sexuality, even those who are prudish and pious, with such an extreme focus and infatuation on the issue are still falling prey to the sin of making it into something that destroys instead of the gift it was meant to be to express spousal affection, love, mutual and lasting commitment.

Or, take the fifth thing on the list. Our translation calls it sorcery; others call it witchcraft, and you might be tempted to think that it’s got nothing to do with us. Who believes in that hocus-pocus. But I like that Martin Luther, back in the 1500’s understood this sorcery to mean anyone who uses their power or influence to lead astray or to use others, especially children, for their own benefit. It wasn’t just about magic for him. And William Barclay in the last century connected witchcraft with the use of potions, poisons, hallucinogens to control or abuse others, or ourselves…in other words, addictions and those who profit from addiction. Those who use others’ weaknesses, or avoid facing real life and people, once again, are destroying, taking time and energy from the relationships like our family, which should matter most, through self-medication and self indulgence.

But before we try to make one sin more horrible than the other, these things also break down the kingdom: jealousy, heated anger, arguing, envy. All of these are breaking faith. All of these get in the way of our family life, taking energy, breaking it apart. How we live affects others, and most especially the people nearest to us.

It isn’t that we are called to obey this or that specific commandment. Instead, we have been called into a new covenant, a new way of living. We are called to express the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. When we find ourselves in situations, or temptations, we have to ask ourselves, what would be the loving thing to do, how can we show more patience, or self-control.

In other words we seek to be more like God, more like Jesus. Jesus didn’t obey God because of written laws. He obeyed God because he loved God, and us. And we pray to the Holy Spirit to give these new attitudes to us, to write this new covenant, this new way of living on our hearts. And that starts with family. Loving the neighbor is not just about being nice to Jim Bob or Mary Ellen down the street, but about being faithful to the nearest neighbors God has given us, our given or chosen family members. It’s with them we can begin to allow and see these changes first. And if and when we do this, as soon as we ask, I promise God flies to us, blesses and works through us.

We will fall. And all he asks us to do is to grab his hand, and stand back up. You have been forgiven; you are now free to forgive and let go of old hurts, or come to a kind of peace with them, putting them in God’s hands for now us. We cannot make others forgive us. We cannot change history, but if we allow God’s Spirit to work on us, on the parts that are rough or dark and cold, if we let him, others will begin to notice changes in us. God isn’t done with me yet.

God’s faithfulness, love, patience and joy for us, are how we will stand firm, and why we need to stand firm. Others need to see and hear this message of gospel salvation. We cannot allow our mistakes or other preachers to knock down God’s baptismal promises. We cannot submit to guilt or to those who want us to be afraid of God again. God our Father is our perfect parent. He will never let you go or reject you. Don’t ever let anyone tell you different, or cause you to doubt God’s love or his claim on you. Stand firm.

In the meantime, knowing that your salvation is secure, and that you are safe: take a moment and choose today just one area of your family life that continues to bother you, something you’re not proud of, pray about it, and let God love you there. Just a moment to think about that. Give him time, I know from personal experience that it sometimes takes patience, and thank God, our Heavenly Father has lots of it.

May the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.