Let Freedom Ring

Sermon Text: Galatians 5:13-15

13-For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14-For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15- But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

 

I.                   Our Calling—verse 13A  “For you were called to freedom, brothers.

We are called to a service of love

A.    To love God with all of our heart, soul and might.

We love God when our hearts desire Him and Him alone.  When His Words are our bread and meat to our souls.  When His presence is heaven to us. When our mind is fully conformed to the image of Christ.

B.    To love our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

We love those in the faith when we constantly seek to serve their needs above our own.  When we willingly submit ourselves in our covenant community of the local church to: Honor Christ in all that we do, to encourage and disciple others in their faith and to aggressively advance the Gospel to the hurting and lost in this world.

C.     To love the lost and those in the world

To love the lost and those in this world we must be willing to count the cost and invest our lives in those whose lives have been shipwrecked by the destruction of sin.  To be in the world but not of it.

 

      D.    The Caution-verse 13b “Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh,”

Paul is giving careful warning about the war of the flesh that still rages in side of every believer.  A few verses later he says by name what those sins of the flesh are and now they are destruction and contrary to the life of a believer.  Just because Christ has paid for every sin (past, present and future) and made atonement to satisfy God’s wrath for our sin, doesn’t mean we are free to live a sinful lifestyle.  In fact if those characteristic of those sins are dominate in a person life, he has no reason to believe him as communion with Christ.  

 

 

 

E.     Our Challenge-verse 13c-14 “but through love serve one another,  For the whole law is fulfilled in one

The amazing thing about love is that it takes the place of all the laws God ever gave. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” solves every problem in human relations (see Rom_13:8-10). If you love people (because you love Christ), you will not steal from them, lie about them, envy them, or try in any way to hurt them. Love in the heart is God’s substitute for laws and threats.

 

F.     The Contentions-verse 15a “But if you bite and devour one another,

The churches in this area were tearing each other apart because they falsely believe that their faith and their favor with God was based on their works, things they did or didn’t do.

G.    The Consequences-verse 15b “watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Everyone loses when Christians inside the church fight each other.  

What happens when the unity of a local church is broken for non-Biblical reasons?

i.                    God is dishonored

ii.                 Satan is pleased

iii.               The Kingdom of Christ is damaged

iv.               Christians are hurt

v.                 The lost grow more harden to the Gospel