Summer Road Trip: Running Free!

 

Summer Road Trip Sermon Notes Pastor Brad Myers

Running Free! June 23, 2024

We are a people about being free!

Memorial Day: Freedom!!

Juneteenth: Freedom Day! Celebration end of slavery in the US.

• America’s freedom & independence in 1776, celebrated on July 4^th
• Black brothers & sisters didn’t see freedom until nearly 100 years later.
• June 19, 1865 slavery abolished in every state.

Common American Understanding of Freedom

Thought: “Give me liberty or give me death!” Patrick Henry speech March 23, 1775.

Thought: When America issued its Declaration of Independence in 1776, it stated that all human beings are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Ever since Americans have made liberty one of their most cherished—if not the greatest–value.

Liberty?

• Freedom from government or control.
• Freedom from foreign rule; independence.
• freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.

Q) What does freedom mean to most Americans today?

My Thought: Freedom in America is viewed as a license to do we please. Where no one tells us what to do or how to live. No government regulation, social convention, institutional authority, including the church, or family pressure—should keep us from doing whatever we want to do.

• Our ability to do what we please.
• Today: “Free To Be Me!”
• Egocentric view: (self-centered). “What’s in it for me?”
• Also permeates groups, societies, corporations, nations, etc.
• Family First, Students First, America First, drives the idea…

God desires that we be free!

• Egyptian captivity: 7x “Let My people go”

Thought: Freedom God granted Israel became a fitting picture of the spiritual freedom God grants us today in Christ.

Biblical Freedom runs counter to most Americans.

Apostle Paul: Writing to churches in Galatia

• Turkey: Jewish and Gentile converts.
• Theological crisis.
• Salvation by faith (grace) rather than by human works was being denied by the legalistic Jews who insisted that the Mosaic Law must be adhered to.
• First, convert to Judaism then you are eligible to become a Christian.
• Paul composed a letter to redefine liberty (freedom) through Christ.

Galatians 5:1 (NIV)

• Jewish false teachers had infiltrated the Galatian churches, demanding that Gentiles return to legalism.
• Before Christ God’s people lived under a system of laws that served as their moral compass.
• Jesus came to set believers free from a legalistic existence as slaves to the rules and regulations.
• The very rules that guided their lives enslaved them to a process that had no power to save them.
• Bible: Yoke references a weight of a task or obligation.
• Thus, wearing a yoke often speaks of slavery and hardship in the Bible.

“Burdened again by a yoke of slavery”

• Weighed down again returning to legalism.
• Legalism: Opposite of Christ Freedom. Back to the old ways of rules and regulations trying to achieve both salvation and spiritual growth.
• These legalistic Jews were trying to make Christians return to a yoke of bondage by requiring them to observe the Old Testament rules, laws, and ceremonies, especially circumcision.
• Paul stood unyielding against these false teachers because the truth of the gospel of grace was at stake:

Paul differentiates

Galatians 5:4 (NLT)

• Law vs. New grace.
• Paul contended that under the New Covenant both Jews and Gentiles are accepted into God’s family by faith alone in Jesus Christ

Finding Our Way in Such a World of Freedom

• It was the fundamental assumption of ancient Greek society that strife between states, social classes, groups, political foes, and specifically individuals–was the natural condition of life. It was normal!
• What’s that remind you of today?? US!!

1. How do we navigate our way in such a context of freedom?

Two options.

1. Competition.

• Conflict is resolved when one person wins, and all others lose. It’s a zero-sum game. If I win, you lose. If you win, I lose.

Paul warns his readers:

Galatians 5:15 (NIV)

• Fulfilled in the history of ancient Greece.
• Rival states fought each other to achieve dominance within the Greek world.
• Process weakened each other so much that when Macedonian imperial power invaded Greece, no city state could successfully resist such unified power.
• What does this remind you of going on in America today?

Second way to navigate freedom

2. Compromise.

• But to someone who values their self-interest above all other values, compromise can feel distasteful.
• I have to sacrifice what I want to give you want you want.
• That can feel like I am settling for second best, not the best. We find this distaste for compromise among many extremist groups today.

Paul’s Concept of Freedom

Galatians 5:13-14 (NIV) L

• Paul defined freedom as being liberated from our egocentric attitudes.

This freedom embraces two important tasks:

1. To recognize, develop, and use our God-given gifts, talents, and skills for God’s glory and for service to others.
2. To give ourselves in love to others and to receive their love and service in return without impediment.

Thought: When we live in love and service to others, we find ourselves becoming the individuals that God created each of us to uniquely be. Our own personal fulfillment is the unexpected by-product, which is called, Christian Freedom!

Few obstacles to Paul’s Concept of Freedom

• Social pressure
• Family expectations
• Guilt or shame
• Distorted thinking.
• Political or economic oppression.
• Discrimination.
• Spiritually wounded.

Biggest obstacle: Spiritual Forces!

Galatians 4:3 (NLT)

Elsewhere Paul calls them “unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places”

Ephesians 3:10 (NLT)

Thought: Today, we might describe them as the systemic structures, mindsets, and expectations that govern the way the world operates with Satan as the driving force.

So deadly to Christian Freedom Paul warns us

Ephesians 6:10-12 (NIV)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Paul digresses

Galatians 3:24 (NLT)

Romans 3:21 (NLT)

Thought: The Christian life is characterized by a joyous freedom to follow Christ out of love and not a dreadful life of following rules.

Thought: Christ set us free to live free. If you’re not feeling it; you’re not living it.

John 8:36 (NIV)

• Christ set us free to live free.

Today, some of freedom looks like this

Thought: Many follow Jesus at a distance because they don’t want their association with Him to cost us anything and that’s not being free!

Paul describes byproduct of Christian Freedom..

Romans 12:11 (TPT)

“Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord, keeping your passion toward Him boiling hot! Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and let Him fill you with excitement as you serve Him.”