Live Free in Christ!

1st Sunday of End Time, Reformation Sunday, 11/2/14
Galatians 5:1-6


Live Free in Christ!
I. Free from works to save yourself
II. Free to serve others in love


What is freedom? I’m sure a common dictionary definition is that freedom means you can say and do whatever you want or wish. And that might sound attractive to the children and teens among us because you live each moment under the careful eyes of your parents. But to those of us who have lived a few decades, we shudder at the thought of people living in such freedom. We have countless laws on the books that regulate life in our society. And still people commit heinous acts, unthinkable atrocities, because that’s what they want to do. Freedom to say and do as you wish wouldn’t work in our world.

Even if it would work, if you could say and do as you want, would you still be free? Some of the world’s greatest thinkers don’t think it’s possible. And their thinking goes something like this: even a tree can’t be free from soil. That’s their way of saying we’re all dependent upon someone or something. We aren’t free from our environment. We cannot exist free from our world.

Today’s sermon text opens with the sentence, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Paul wrote these words to the Christians in Galatia who were having a problem living in that freedom. Sadly, Paul’s words to them didn’t correct their problem. It persisted. We still see it all over the religious landscape today. In fact, we have a problem living in that freedom as well. So, on this Reformation Sunday, let’s remind ourselves of the freedom Christ has won for us and live in it. Live free in Christ! Join me, please, in seeing what that freedom is and what it means to live in it.

Part I.

There’s a story about a king who called all his economic advisers together and asked them to define economics in a “short and simple” way. The advisors launched into lengthy explanations which did nothing more than confuse the king even further. So he ordered their executions. Finally it was the last advisor’s turn and he stated that he could define economics in nine words: “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” Everything costs something.

Everything costs something. The people to whom Paul wrote these words shared that conviction when it came to their salvation. They had trouble believing that their salvation cost them nothing. Don’t get me wrong. These people confessed Jesus as their Savior from sin. They believed that his death on the cross was the payment for their sins. They believed that Jesus won salvation for them and for the whole world.

But everything costs something. So they also insisted that, along with believing in Jesus, you also had to keep certain Jewish laws from the Old Testament. Paul speaks about one in our text—the Old Testament covenant of circumcision. But that wasn’t it. They also insisted on eating kosher and observing the Sabbath day. In other words, they insisted that people needed to live like Jews of the Old Testament if they wanted to be saved.

To us, that sounds ridiculous, but to these people so recently removed from Old Testament times, it sounded like an enticing combination. After all, in the Old Testament God told them they had to obey these laws if they wanted to be his people. So why wouldn’t that still be the case? And mind you, all the while they claimed that Jesus was their Savior. But these were the things that you needed to do if you wanted to be saved. And believe it or not, that appeals to every person on the face of the earth. It’s our natural opinion of ourselves. There’s a voice inside us which states, “You can do something to make yourself acceptable to god.” So, believe in Jesus and do what God demands to be saved. That’s such an appealing combination.

But it’s spiritually deadly. Listen again to Paul’s words, “Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” Paul declared to them that they couldn’t pick and choose what they wanted to follow from God’s laws. If they wanted to be saved by the law, they had to obey all of it—all the time. And that included every one of the 10 Commandments. God doesn’t require good. He demands perfection. So, it’s either your own perfection or it’s Christ’s. You can’t depend on both. If you do, you have fallen from grace and that’s the worst fall of all.

Instead, trust Christ. Trust him completely. Trust that he did everything for your forgiveness and salvation. He left nothing for you to do so that you can be absolutely confident of your salvation no matter what your situation in life. That’s the gospel. That’s the good news that Martin Luther restored to the church. For centuries that gospel had been buried under work-righteousness—the teaching that we must contribute our works to be saved. That teaching doesn’t free the sinner for heaven; it binds him to hell. No, we are saved by grace alone, by faith alone, through Scripture alone. That’s freedom!

Live free in Christ—free from works to save yourself.

One of the reasons you’re worshipping here today is because, as Lutherans or as a person interested in becoming a Lutheran, you know that we are not saved by our works. We’re saved by Christ alone. We’d never be so devilishly crass as to state that our good works earn salvation. But like I said, in every sinner there’s a voice that states we can make ourselves acceptable to God. We can earn his favor. And that attitude shows itself any and every time we consider someone to be beneath us, even if it’s just a little bit. It shows itself every time we consider that our life is too difficult, that we deserve better because we’re a faithful Christian. It shows itself every time we fail to recognize how desperately we need Christ. It shows itself every time we lull ourselves into thinking we’re OK just as we are. It’s not as blatant as what these Galatians were stating, but it’s basing your relationship with your God on what you do, rather than on what Jesus did. Look to the cross and see what needed to be done to forgive your sins and win your heaven. Then look to the empty tomb and be assured that what Jesus did he did for you. Live free in Christ—free from works to save yourself.

Part II.

Ever since Martin Luther showed from Scripture that forgiveness of sins could not be earned by good works or purchased with money, his opponents have been stating, “You Lutherans believe and teach that a person can sin all he wants and then excuse it by stating that Jesus has forgiven all their sins.” In other words, our Christian faith gives us a license to sin, to live like a non-Christian.

But that’s simply not true. Paul once wrote to the Roman Christians, “What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1-2). You cannot claim to believe that Jesus shed his blood to pay for your sins, but you have no intention of turning away from sin. As a Christian you have died to sin. Paul goes on in this same chapter of Romans to state that if we died with Christ, we also live with him. In other words, a new person lives in you by faith in Jesus. That new person loves Jesus and wants to live as a child of God.

You see, faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone. Let me say that again. Faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone. Your faith in Jesus will change the way you live. It will produce fruits. It will be evident in your words and actions. Your faith in Jesus is the power for you to do the things Jesus wants you to do.

And that’s freedom, my friends. That’s freedom in Christ. Paul says it like this in the closing verse of our text, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” This is Paul’s connection to the writer James who famously stated, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). Believing that my own good works do not earn salvation doesn’t decrease the number of good works in my life; it causes them to increase. Those works reveal my love for Jesus and my neighbor. Your love for Jesus causes you to be faithful in whatever calling the Lord has given you at this time. It’s your daily power to say no to sin and yes to Christ. We are free to serve others in love because of what Jesus has done for us.

That’s freedom. Live free in Christ, free to serve others in love.

As I stated in the beginning, we still see the religious landscape littered with the false teaching that there is something we can do to earn our forgiveness, to earn God’s favor. But not here. Here we see and know the truth, that Christ has done everything for our salvation. We do nothing. We’re free. As people who are so blessed to know the truth, our lives should abound with acts of love towards others. But we often have trouble with that. We so often lose our battle against our sinful nature. We give in. We convince ourselves we have a right to feel and act this way even though that’s not what our Lord wants for us. With Paul we say, “How wretched we are!” We can’t even do the good we want to do and avoid the evil we don’t want to do. What’s the answer? Thanks be to God, he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! The answer is in Christ, in his death and his resurrection for us. By faith in Jesus hold onto his work for you and live free—free to serve others in love. Amen.