As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. (1 Peter 2:16)
They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for people are slaves to whatever masters them. (2 Peter 2:18)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Galatians 5:3-5)
This time of year, we always hear a lot of chatter about freedom. We celebrate our freedom as a nation. We tout our freedoms as citizens. Over the centuries, somehow the ideal of freedom has become uncomfortably close to synonymous with narcissistic entitlement. The idea of ‘freedom’ is often used to justify an attitude of “I can do whatever I want whenever I want to whomever I want.”
Luther would call that attitude the epitome of humans being in ‘bondage to sin.’ The author of 1 and 2 Peter would identify it as examples using freedom as “a pretext for evil” and people being “slaves to corruption.” The attitude that we are somehow more valuable than those around us is not freedom. Nor does any civil freedom, let alone divine freedom, grant us liberty to hold or defend such a perspective.
34 Jesus answered them (the Jews who had believed in him), “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” For Jesus, freedom was the equivalent to being righteous. Freedom was the result of being a child of God. For God’s Son, freedom necessitated Him to trust and obey.
Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become enslaved to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”” (Galatians 5:13-14) True freedom calls us away from sin and into love. Christian freedom shifts our focus from ourselves toward others.
You are free indeed. Christ gave himself to free you from sin, death, and the devil. The Spirit calls you into love. You are free to love whenever, wherever, and whomever is placed before you. Christ gives you a permanent place in the household of God. You are God’s child. You are free to trust and obey God. The grace and peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
In Christ,
Pastor Carla
pastorcarla 