Freedom in Christ

Freedom in Christ – what does it mean? What does it look like? How does it work out in practice? How can I enjoy it?

I can’t say I have all the answers to these questions, so would like folk to comment and share their thoughts on this one. I will put some thoughts together, and see where we go from there.

A key passage from the New Testament is Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (NIV) The context, as the next few verses show is that keeping the law, particularly as it related to the Jewish definition of law keeping, was not the way to be free. This is to be again under the yoke of slavery, according to Paul.

Paul is concerned that the believers in Galatia, having begun in faith, were reverting to law keeping, i.e., to legalism, to live the Christian life. Paul says in ch.3:1, You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?...2…Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? He then adds further down in chapter 3, 11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith." 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them." So one thing is becoming very clear, as far as Paul is concerned, our freedom in Christ is based on our faith in Him, and not through any effort on our part to keep the law. This does not give freedom.

In chapter 5, where we started these thoughts, he goes on to say that The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (v.6) and then in verse 14, The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” This has followed verse 13 where Paul has just said, … we were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. So a second aspect of this freedom is seen when we are truly loving our neighbour as ourselves, and not living in a selfish and self-centred way. When we serve other people, we are fulfilling the law of Christ. We will then know what it means to be free in Christ.

But how is this achieved? Galatians 5 verse 16 gives a key aspect to the answer. So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit…18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. So for us to experience true freedom, it is not by keeping the law, but rather allowing the Spirit to lead and guide us in our daily lives. Paul further adds at the end of chapter 5, Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.(v.24-25) Paul expands this teaching on living and being led by the Spirit in Romans 8. Once again, our relationship to the Spirit is contrasted to living our lives in our own strength and power. The difference is radical. In verse 5, we either have our minds set on what our nature desires, or we live according to the Spirit and have our minds set on what the Spirit desires. Each has its own consequences, either death, or life and peace. Furthermore the mind controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. But for the Christian it is a different story. He is controlled not by the sinful nature, for that has now been put to death (Gal.5:24), but by the Spirit of God who lives in us. And if we are now alive because of the Spirit within, then we have an obligation to live a life controlled by the Spirit, because we are led by the Spirit of God. Paul would say that this kind of life style is freedom in Christ.

However, in Romans 6, Paul talks about being slaves to those we obey (verse 16). We are either a slave of sin, or a slave of righteousness, or of Christ (verse 17-18). The Christian used to be a slave of sin, but now he is the slave of righteousness. But if we are a slave of righteousness, do we really have freedom in Christ? The whole concept of being a slave does not suggest freedom to me. Paul says he is using human terms to explain the new position in Christ (verse 19). He sums up the two positions in the following way in chapter 6 verse 20-22. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. Sin is a hard task master, Paul says, because the only benefit we reap from serving that master is death. When we have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, the benefit we reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. So how is this new position of being a slave of God and possessing eternal life, freedom? It is living a life of holiness with eternal life as our destiny.

Paul adds a further insight in chapter 7. He uses the illustration of being married. If we are married and have an affair with someone else, we are convicted as an adulterer. However, if our spouse dies, we are then free to marry another without being called an adulterer. So what Paul is saying is that while we were in our sinful state, we were married to another, and we were not free, but when by faith in Christ we put to death our sinful nature, we were free to belong to another, that is to Christ. When we belong to Christ, we become fruitful (verse 4). The fruit that we bore before was for death (verse 5). Now, by dying to what once bound us, we are free to serve in the new way of the Spirit (verse 6).

Paul continues. Sin is the big problem in life. It is what binds us. It is what prevents us from truly enjoying life and living for God. It is what hinders true freedom in our lives. Notice how he shows the power and hold sin has over him and the lack of freedom he has to keep the law. 18 For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do ・this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Paul’s whole argument here is that sin is the master that prevents him from doing the good he wants to do. In fact, it is so strong, that even when he does not want to do something, he finds he cannot stop himself. He is certainly not free in this situation. The sinful nature within us is a powerful force that prevents us from serving God, and doing what is right and good, of loving our neighbour, of pleasing God in everyway. And so his cry for deliverance is seen in verse 24. Who will rescue me from this body of death? The answer is in the next verse 25 Thanks be to God ・through Jesus Christ our Lord! The power of sin has been broken. Or to put it in the words of 1 Corinthians 15:56-57 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Or again, Hebrews 2:14-15 14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death ・that is, the devil・15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

So to summarize these thoughts, the freedom we have in Christ is the freedom we have because we have been delivered from the power of sin and evil, so that we can now live a life of righteousness, of keeping the law of love, and pleasing God in every way. We now have the power of the Spirit within to say ‘No’ to sin and temptation, and do what is right. We can now say ‘No’ to our former way of life, and say ‘Yes’ to doing God’s will. So the freedom we now have is the freedom we have because of the power of God within that enables us to do what is right and good.

But how does this freedom show itself in real life? How will it affect the way we live? In what sort of situations do we see this freedom at work in our lives? What about our relationships? Why, for example, will it be possible to go against the flow, to overcome the fear of man, and be different when to obey God will involve that? How will you respond when your friends want to do something you know to be wrong? Does it mean that I can now do what I like as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody? How costly will it be to be free to be different? I would like to hear your comments please. Thanks.

God is Sovereign – Our trip to UK

Whenever we plan a trip to the UK, we do so because we believe God is guiding us to make the visit. We certainly felt that way about our visit to England in May. A number of things had turned up, and as we prayed about them we felt the Lord’s assurance that it was right to make this trip.

So when the lady at the check-in at Fukuoka would not book us in for our 10:30 am flight to Seoul for the connecting flight to Heathrow on the 17^th May, we wondered what was going to happen. Heathrow had been closed because of the ash problem. Had we made a mistake? Is God testing our faith? What do we do? We felt sure that God wanted us in UK at this time.

We decided to wait around for awhile, praying about it, phoning friends in Miyazaki to pray with us, and also the travel agent to get his input. He did say there was going to be an up date on the airport status at about 11:30 am an hour after our flight would have left. The check in lady did come over to us a bit later on to say she could book us through to Seoul, but could not guarantee the onward flight. The check in supervisor came over at about 10:20 to suggest that we cancel as there was no guarantee that we could get to England. We went over to the check-in with that in mind, but she said she couldn’t cancel us and that we should try for Seoul. So believing that we should trust God we stepped out in faith and checked in. We sensed God had wanted us to go to the UK at this time, and so we felt we should take the step and see what God would do with it. We hurried down to the gate, and we were soon waiting for the flight to leave. One of God’s encouragements was that when we opened the bin above our seats to put our hand luggage in, it was completely empty! Amazing! Our normal experience when travelling has always been full bins and trying to find space.

When we got to Seoul we found the check-in counter and they booked us on to the next flight, although there was to be a three hour delay. This looked promising. However, when the rescheduled time arrived, they cancelled the flight. God had his hand in this too. Korean Airlines divided us into two main groups, those in transit, which we were now, and those who were scheduled to start their journey from Seoul. When the first group had been cleared, we were then sorted out with immigration and a hotel for the night including meal vouchers. It was an interesting experience, because all passengers in transit were in the same difficult situation, the camaraderie was really good. We were able to get to know a few of our fellow passengers.

We had been told to get in touch with the airlines in the morning. This we did first thing after breakfast and were told that we would have to be put on standby, but this could only take place at the airport. We felt that it would be best to do this as soon as possible so had out names put on the list. We seemed to be near the top. Others began to turn up too and so we chatted and talked with different ones while we waited. We had noticed on the BBC news on the TV in the room the previous evening that flights were now landing, so it looked good. At about 11:30 am, we heard our names being called, and we were allowed to check in for the 1:15 pm flight. It was good to see God opening the way and to know we were on our way to England. We had free access to the internet after we were through immigration, and so we were able to get in touch with different ones to let them know what was happening.

The rest of the flight was fairly uneventful. We were really pleased to see our daughter at the airport to meet us which was so appreciated, and we were back home in reasonably good time. We were ready for bed!

But that was not all. We were very conscious of the Lord arranging various visits and situations over the next couple of weeks in ways that amazed us. For example, when we popped in to see an elderly friend, we also met her daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law’s mother at the house, folk we had also wanted to see. Another was a friend my wife knew from when she did a mums and toddlers group at church in Newent and with whom she had continued contact over the years. She made contact through Facebook not realizing we were back in UK and as she was off work there was an opportunity to arrange some time together. Another couple we were able to spend the night with at quite short notice prepared my wife to be able to help another lady whose daughter had a similar problem to theirs. God is great in how He prepares us for situations. We were able to visit a lady in her 90s who is beginning to have some memory problems, so we were glad of the opportunity to have had at least some time with her while she was still alert enough to share with us. All these different times made it clear why God had allowed us this visit, and we thank God for all He did to make the many opportunities possible.

It was also a helpful time to reconnect with family and with our children and grand children. It was particularly good to spend time with my wife’s siblings as well, when we attended the wedding of her nephew. It was the first time in over six years that they had all been together. Extra time was arranged to be together which was most profitable. It was particularly amazing, and normally could not be arranged even if attempted, and that was that my wife’s older brother, who lives in America, but is working in Malawi at the moment, should be leaving to go back to Malawi on the same day, at a similar time, from the same terminal, with departing gates side by side. That extra time was very special. And so we left to return to Japan praising God for the way the days had gone by and for all He had made happen. God still had people for us to meet.

We stayed overnight in a hotel in Fukuoka, and were to catch the highway bus back to Miyazaki the following day. In the morning when we came down for breakfast, a Vietnamese couple, now living in Australia came and joined us at our table. We had a very interesting time over breakfast. God was definitely in control and we thank God for all the people He allowed us to meet and to have time with.

God is sovereign. We have experienced it.

From R. N. Frost's blog

My brother-in-law told me about R.N.Frost's blog and said that his entry 'Looking for Compassion' particularly was interesting. The link can be found at http://spreadinggoodness.org/ . I found it most interesting and a challenge. I quote from the blog.

The point is that whatever we have as our soul's gaze is what we become. If we're given over to looking at worthless things, we grow increasingly worthless. If we find violence to be entertaining, we become affiliated with violence.

Think, then, of what Jesus did in his ministry. His teaching wasn’t done in classrooms but in the places where there were poor people, blind people, lame people, leprous people, immoral people, needy people. And he had compassion on them. Again and again in the gospels we read that “he felt compassion . . .”

As we use the imagery of vision let me return to something I’ve written before, that faith is a function of our soul’s gaze. When we look to Jesus we only do so because he’s already tapped on our hearts to catch our attention. Then in looking to him we find him gazing into our hearts with compassion: seeing our sin, our pride, our fears, our doubts while telling us, “come to me all you who are weary and burdened”. And as we come to him in faith he places his arm around our shoulders and says, “Do you see all those who are needy? Come with me while I care for them.”

Our hands then become his hands. Our hearts reveal his heart. Our joy is in giving rather than in receiving.

Today, then, do we know someone captured by video games? Offer some compassion by inviting them to places where real relationships exist. Do we know some who are living worthless lives? Have compassion on them by inviting them to join you in offering food, coats, and socks to the local street people. Do we know someone who has never met with God? Have some compassion and share your own joy in knowing Christ.

Empathy is cultivated, then, by both receiving it and then by offering it to others. It’s a heart-to-heart activity that starts with a Heart-to-heart meeting with God. Someone has to offer it to others in every place and in every generation. God meets that need by offering it freely through his Son, and by the Spirit; and we, as we feel his compassion towards us, will soon have compassion for others. Try it and see for yourself; then offer it to someone else.

What a challenge? What an encouragement? The question I ask myself is, "How am I going to respond to Jesus? Will I really let Him have his way with me in whatever He asks me to do? Or will I put obstacles in His way that will hinder His work in my life? What will I have as my main object of my gaze? What will fill my mind and thoughts each day?"

Why does the church not have the impact on society it should?

Ravi Zacharias in his book, Deliver us from Evil, a book we picked up at a Christian second hand book shop in Erith, when we were waiting for Andrew Kruse's wedding, deals with the cause of why the church has lost it's influence in a secular world that has become very anti-God. Quoting the Canadian Historian, David Marshall he says, "From their ranks [the clergy] came the call to congregations to abandon the notion of an authoritative Scripture and surrender the biblical perspective on life's deepest questions." (p.51) When we give up on the authority of Scripture, we lose a power to influence because the standard by which we govern our lives now becomes human based, rather than God based. When it is human based, then anyone can say that his idea of what is good and right is just as good and right as someone else's idea. This is the consequence of giving up on the authority of God's word. This is what we as a Christian community face, and we need to give God's word a greater respect in our lives, and allow God to be our God in every choice and decision we make.