Good Morning
All!!
1 Corinthinans10:23 “All
things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,”
but not all things build up.
It is always
an interesting discussion. What is
Christian freedom? “If the Son sets you
free, you are free indeed!” Yet how does
that work? While having a Bible study a
few years ago and with the topic of Christian freedom, I stated that, as free
redeemed children of God we are free to do what we like? One of the participants responded, “But not
to sin!” and I replied, “well, yeah, if you want to, but why do you want to?” She didn’t buy into that at all. So how does it work?
First and
foremost, we are freed from keeping the law in order to earn our salvation. We don’t keep the law because we have to because we no longer have to;
Jesus has completed this for us so we are free but there are always limits and
considerations. All things are lawful or
permissible for me but not all things are beneficial or build up the body of
Christ. I can be a jerk but if this attitude
hurts my neighbor or my weaker brother, what good is it? There is none for it hurts the body of Christ
and does not build up.
I am not
required to keep the law or the commandments yet; the law still represents the
way God designed creation to work. To
live in a manner that is opposed to the law of God will only bring about harm. When you sin against your body, you
experience disease. When you sin against
each other, you poison relationships and generate loneliness and despair. I am free to do this but why would we want
to? Why would we run back to the sin
that Jesus freed us from? There is no
value in doing this. There is only death
and destruction in that decision.
This is what
Paul is telling us. Now that we have
this freedom we must exercise the wisdom that God’s Spirit gives to us. God empowers us to be his children. God empowers us to return to our original
purpose and desire. That is the purpose
and desire of caring for God’s creation and worshipping Him with praise and
thanksgiving. This is why we were
created, when we serve this purpose; that is when we find our greatest sense of
purpose, our greatest sense of fulfilment and our greatest sense of wholeness
and peace.
To choose to
sin is no freedom but really just a return to the slavery that Jesus freed us
from. To choose to follow God’s Will for
our life, to engage in the life that God has laid out for us; that is
freedom. We are to find our purpose,
meaning and desires for our life in the freedom that Christ gives us. We have the freedom to choose; we can choose
slavery filled with despair or the freedom of Christ which gives us comfort,
peace, and hope. We have the freedom to
choose, which way do you?
Father,
through your grace I have freedom.
Through Jesus’ death and resurrection you free me to be the person that
you desire. Keep me safe from the devil’s
attacks. Use me as you planned that I
may bring about your hope to those who are enslaved by the devil. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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