Freedom Calling
Sermon
Sermons on the Second Readings
Series III, Cycle C
Object:
Free! No obligation, no sales person will call! Free! Don't miss this opportunity! Free! Two sets for the price of one! In the world of advertising, something is free if you don't have to pay for it; if there's no money down, no payments to make; if you get something for nothing -- or at least two for the price of one!
Galatians 5:1, 13-25 describes a different kind of freedom. It isn't free in the sense of no cost -- in fact, this freedom was purchased at the great cost of Jesus' own life. It isn't something for nothing -- in fact, it means becoming like slaves ourselves by giving our lives in love and service, just as Jesus did. Yet the apostle Paul dares to call this freedom and challenges his readers -- and us -- to live that way.
In the English language, an oxymoron is a phrase that puts together two words that would normally contradict each other. As Shakespeare's Juliet says, "Parting is such sweet sorrow." Or in more everyday language, we might give a child some milk in a "plastic glass," or order "jumbo shrimp" at a seafood restaurant. In Galatians, freedom is also presented as a contradiction in terms -- it is "costly freedom," a "voluntary slavery."
To understand this oxymoron of Christian freedom, it might be most helpful to think first of freedom as the free gift of God. In this letter to the Galatians, Paul is very clear that this freedom comes from Christ himself. In his opening greeting, he describes Jesus as the one "who gave himself for our sins to set us free" (Galatians 1:4). Chapters 3 and 4 of the letter contain extended arguments on how the coming of Christ has made believers free from the law. So we are no longer slaves to sin, or slaves to the law, but we are children and heirs of God (3:29; 4:7). All this is the free gift of God -- we have done nothing to deserve it, we can't buy it at any price, it is ours to receive with faith and gladness.
Yet the other side of the oxymoron reminds us that this free gift for us came only at a very high price. In this letter to the Galatians, Paul is quite clear that Jesus' suffering and death on the cross were critical in securing our freedom. Galatians 3:1 reminds his readers: "It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!" Galatians 3:13 adds, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us."
As a result, Paul's readers and all who believe have been set free -- free from slavery to sin, free from the law. Yet for all their very real freedom, they are not free to do whatever they please. Instead, they have entered a kind of "voluntary slavery" where they are to use their new freedom to love and care for one another, to follow God's way instead of their own way.
This was important for the Galatians to hear, because they were in trouble as a community. They were a community in conflict -- some argued that the cross of Christ wasn't enough and that you still had to keep all of the Jewish religious laws. Some disagreed over Paul's leadership and some refused to eat with others in the church. The conflict was so severe that Galatians 5:15 describes it as "you bite and devour one another." Verses 19-21 list some of their destructive behaviors: "fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these." They thought they were exercising their freedom by engaging in such behaviors, but they were actually destroying themselves as a community. They were actually destroying one another.
Instead, the biblical view of freedom is not freedom to sin in these ways but freedom from sin. By his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus had set them free. Instead of indulging themselves and behaving in ways that destroyed their relationships with one another, they were to practice the fruit of the Spirit that would strengthen their community: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (vv. 22-23). To a community in conflict that was being destroyed by jealousy, ambition, and spiritual pride, this was good news!
Today, our community is also in trouble -- whether we define community as the church or the neighborhood in which we live, our own families and households, or the world community. On so many levels, we also have the tendency to act as if freedom means doing whatever we please, instead of loving and serving one another. As a result, we also "bite and devour" and destroy one another.
In the world community, we destroy one another when the desire for cheap products ignores the exploitation of those forced to provide cheap labor, often child labor. We destroy one another when the desire for more and more leads to deforestation and other forms of environmental damage, when the desire for more and more leads to the expropriation of land to the detriment of local people. We destroy one another when we use far more than our fair share of energy and other resources at the expense of others. Whenever those with power use it for their own benefit without regard for other people, that kind of "freedom" is not really free. Instead, the abuse of power exacts a very high price in the destruction of peace and well-being for communities around the world and for the world community as a whole.
Closer to home, the community of our own neighborhoods and households is also in trouble. Spousal abuse, child abuse, drug addiction, homelessness, and other social ills are still very much with us, and whether or not they touch our lives personally, they affect us directly as part of the communities in which we live. If freedom is defined only as the freedom to do whatever we please, to "live and let live," there will be little improvement on any of these fronts. To address them will require social and structural changes to be sure, but the kind of Christian freedom described in our text for today can also play an important role.
One example from history is the life of William Wilberforce, who at the age of 21 was elected as a British Member of Parliament. The year was 1780. Great Britain was in the middle of the American Revolutionary War. The slave trade was still very much a part of its commercial activities, but that was about to change. During his second term of office, Wilberforce experienced a Christian conversion, and he became convicted to apply his Christian principles to his political life as well. Within the next several years, he joined the movement to abolish the British slave trade, and soon became a leading spokesman in Parliament. As a result of his advocacy along with the efforts of other social reformers, in 1807, Parliament finally passed legislation to end the slave trade. Wilberforce continued to work against slavery for the rest of his life, and in 1833, a few days before his death, legislation was passed to abolish slavery entirely. The freedom of slaves in Britain was thus accomplished in part by Wilberforce and others exercising their freedom in Christ -- not using their freedom for self-indulgence but for the good of others.
You and I may not be another William Wilberforce. We may not have the same gift for speaking, or the same energy, or the same kinds of political connections and opportunities. But you and I can also make a difference in building up good community wherever we are, instead of destroying it. We, too, can use our freedom to love our neighbor as ourselves -- within our own households and church, and in the world around us.
Our scripture text challenges us to turn away from "what the flesh desires" to "the fruit of the Spirit." That means replacing hatred with love, replacing strife and quarrels with peace. On a very practical level, it means refusing to engage in adultery or domestic violence, out of respect and faithfulness to our marriage partner. It means saying no to excessive drinking, to recreational drugs, and related excesses in favor of self-control.
It can mean diffusing road rage by exercising patience and allowing another car to go first. It can mean saying a kind word instead of complaining or passing on gossip. It can mean giving generously to relief and development efforts to bring about social and structural changes. It can mean demonstrating self-control in our consumer culture instead of insisting on more and more things at better and better prices. It can mean finding peaceful solutions to bullying instead of automatically striking back in anger.
In the face of serious social ills in our own communities and around the world, these small things may hardly seem like enough. "What can one person do?" we might well ask. What can one church do? Can we really make a difference to world peace and to the environment or eradicate homelessness in our community and keep everyone safe? Put that way, the needs of the world are clearly beyond any of our small efforts, either as individuals or as a church. Yet you and I have been given the wonderful gift of freedom in Christ, and we are called to use that freedom not to indulge ourselves, but to love and care for our neighbors. In response to that call, we need to at least start somewhere!
One time, Jesus was having supper when a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume. She poured the whole jar of perfume on Jesus' head and anointed him with it. When some of the disciples and others saw what had happened, they became very critical. How could Jesus accept such an expensive anointing? Why wasn't this expensive perfume sold and the money given to the poor instead?
In response to these criticisms, Jesus defended the woman and her actions. He replied, "Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me.... She has done what she could" (Mark 14:6-8).
In the same way, as we exercise our freedom in Christ to love and serve others, we may not be able to do much, and what we do may even seem foolish or wasteful to others, but we can do what we can as a service to God. We are free to serve, free to love our neighbor as ourselves, free to express all the fruit of the Spirit.
Free! No self-indulgence, God calls us to use our freedom to love others! Free! Don't miss this opportunity! Free! Now live in the freedom of God's Spirit.
Let us pray: O Spirit of God, by your mercy, may we set aside all jealousy, anger, envy, and other destructive thoughts and behaviors. Fill us instead with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So may we live in your freedom, for Christ has set us free. Amen.
Galatians 5:1, 13-25 describes a different kind of freedom. It isn't free in the sense of no cost -- in fact, this freedom was purchased at the great cost of Jesus' own life. It isn't something for nothing -- in fact, it means becoming like slaves ourselves by giving our lives in love and service, just as Jesus did. Yet the apostle Paul dares to call this freedom and challenges his readers -- and us -- to live that way.
In the English language, an oxymoron is a phrase that puts together two words that would normally contradict each other. As Shakespeare's Juliet says, "Parting is such sweet sorrow." Or in more everyday language, we might give a child some milk in a "plastic glass," or order "jumbo shrimp" at a seafood restaurant. In Galatians, freedom is also presented as a contradiction in terms -- it is "costly freedom," a "voluntary slavery."
To understand this oxymoron of Christian freedom, it might be most helpful to think first of freedom as the free gift of God. In this letter to the Galatians, Paul is very clear that this freedom comes from Christ himself. In his opening greeting, he describes Jesus as the one "who gave himself for our sins to set us free" (Galatians 1:4). Chapters 3 and 4 of the letter contain extended arguments on how the coming of Christ has made believers free from the law. So we are no longer slaves to sin, or slaves to the law, but we are children and heirs of God (3:29; 4:7). All this is the free gift of God -- we have done nothing to deserve it, we can't buy it at any price, it is ours to receive with faith and gladness.
Yet the other side of the oxymoron reminds us that this free gift for us came only at a very high price. In this letter to the Galatians, Paul is quite clear that Jesus' suffering and death on the cross were critical in securing our freedom. Galatians 3:1 reminds his readers: "It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!" Galatians 3:13 adds, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us."
As a result, Paul's readers and all who believe have been set free -- free from slavery to sin, free from the law. Yet for all their very real freedom, they are not free to do whatever they please. Instead, they have entered a kind of "voluntary slavery" where they are to use their new freedom to love and care for one another, to follow God's way instead of their own way.
This was important for the Galatians to hear, because they were in trouble as a community. They were a community in conflict -- some argued that the cross of Christ wasn't enough and that you still had to keep all of the Jewish religious laws. Some disagreed over Paul's leadership and some refused to eat with others in the church. The conflict was so severe that Galatians 5:15 describes it as "you bite and devour one another." Verses 19-21 list some of their destructive behaviors: "fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these." They thought they were exercising their freedom by engaging in such behaviors, but they were actually destroying themselves as a community. They were actually destroying one another.
Instead, the biblical view of freedom is not freedom to sin in these ways but freedom from sin. By his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus had set them free. Instead of indulging themselves and behaving in ways that destroyed their relationships with one another, they were to practice the fruit of the Spirit that would strengthen their community: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (vv. 22-23). To a community in conflict that was being destroyed by jealousy, ambition, and spiritual pride, this was good news!
Today, our community is also in trouble -- whether we define community as the church or the neighborhood in which we live, our own families and households, or the world community. On so many levels, we also have the tendency to act as if freedom means doing whatever we please, instead of loving and serving one another. As a result, we also "bite and devour" and destroy one another.
In the world community, we destroy one another when the desire for cheap products ignores the exploitation of those forced to provide cheap labor, often child labor. We destroy one another when the desire for more and more leads to deforestation and other forms of environmental damage, when the desire for more and more leads to the expropriation of land to the detriment of local people. We destroy one another when we use far more than our fair share of energy and other resources at the expense of others. Whenever those with power use it for their own benefit without regard for other people, that kind of "freedom" is not really free. Instead, the abuse of power exacts a very high price in the destruction of peace and well-being for communities around the world and for the world community as a whole.
Closer to home, the community of our own neighborhoods and households is also in trouble. Spousal abuse, child abuse, drug addiction, homelessness, and other social ills are still very much with us, and whether or not they touch our lives personally, they affect us directly as part of the communities in which we live. If freedom is defined only as the freedom to do whatever we please, to "live and let live," there will be little improvement on any of these fronts. To address them will require social and structural changes to be sure, but the kind of Christian freedom described in our text for today can also play an important role.
One example from history is the life of William Wilberforce, who at the age of 21 was elected as a British Member of Parliament. The year was 1780. Great Britain was in the middle of the American Revolutionary War. The slave trade was still very much a part of its commercial activities, but that was about to change. During his second term of office, Wilberforce experienced a Christian conversion, and he became convicted to apply his Christian principles to his political life as well. Within the next several years, he joined the movement to abolish the British slave trade, and soon became a leading spokesman in Parliament. As a result of his advocacy along with the efforts of other social reformers, in 1807, Parliament finally passed legislation to end the slave trade. Wilberforce continued to work against slavery for the rest of his life, and in 1833, a few days before his death, legislation was passed to abolish slavery entirely. The freedom of slaves in Britain was thus accomplished in part by Wilberforce and others exercising their freedom in Christ -- not using their freedom for self-indulgence but for the good of others.
You and I may not be another William Wilberforce. We may not have the same gift for speaking, or the same energy, or the same kinds of political connections and opportunities. But you and I can also make a difference in building up good community wherever we are, instead of destroying it. We, too, can use our freedom to love our neighbor as ourselves -- within our own households and church, and in the world around us.
Our scripture text challenges us to turn away from "what the flesh desires" to "the fruit of the Spirit." That means replacing hatred with love, replacing strife and quarrels with peace. On a very practical level, it means refusing to engage in adultery or domestic violence, out of respect and faithfulness to our marriage partner. It means saying no to excessive drinking, to recreational drugs, and related excesses in favor of self-control.
It can mean diffusing road rage by exercising patience and allowing another car to go first. It can mean saying a kind word instead of complaining or passing on gossip. It can mean giving generously to relief and development efforts to bring about social and structural changes. It can mean demonstrating self-control in our consumer culture instead of insisting on more and more things at better and better prices. It can mean finding peaceful solutions to bullying instead of automatically striking back in anger.
In the face of serious social ills in our own communities and around the world, these small things may hardly seem like enough. "What can one person do?" we might well ask. What can one church do? Can we really make a difference to world peace and to the environment or eradicate homelessness in our community and keep everyone safe? Put that way, the needs of the world are clearly beyond any of our small efforts, either as individuals or as a church. Yet you and I have been given the wonderful gift of freedom in Christ, and we are called to use that freedom not to indulge ourselves, but to love and care for our neighbors. In response to that call, we need to at least start somewhere!
One time, Jesus was having supper when a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume. She poured the whole jar of perfume on Jesus' head and anointed him with it. When some of the disciples and others saw what had happened, they became very critical. How could Jesus accept such an expensive anointing? Why wasn't this expensive perfume sold and the money given to the poor instead?
In response to these criticisms, Jesus defended the woman and her actions. He replied, "Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me.... She has done what she could" (Mark 14:6-8).
In the same way, as we exercise our freedom in Christ to love and serve others, we may not be able to do much, and what we do may even seem foolish or wasteful to others, but we can do what we can as a service to God. We are free to serve, free to love our neighbor as ourselves, free to express all the fruit of the Spirit.
Free! No self-indulgence, God calls us to use our freedom to love others! Free! Don't miss this opportunity! Free! Now live in the freedom of God's Spirit.
Let us pray: O Spirit of God, by your mercy, may we set aside all jealousy, anger, envy, and other destructive thoughts and behaviors. Fill us instead with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So may we live in your freedom, for Christ has set us free. Amen.
