The Good News of Real Freedom

Please have a seat, and perhaps you could turn with me in your Bible to Galatians. I want to look at passages from chapters 2 and 3, page 1169.

! We've been thinking about the good news that we must never forget, this good news that comes from God, this good news that we are justified, not by our own record of righteousness, but by faith in the Lord Jesus.

This week we're thinking about how vital this message is, thinking about the vital news of real freedom in the good news of Jesus.

It's recognized, certainly in the Western world, that freedom is one of those basic human rights.

I'll take you back to the summer of 2020, in the months following the killing of George Floyd.

I remember the worldwide anti-racism protests.

And down in Bristol, down in the southeast of England, there was this famous scene where the statue of a chap by the name of Edward Colston, you can see it there, was toppled into the sea.

In 1721, the statue was erected with the inscription, you know, Edward Colston, great benefactor of the city of Bristol.

So, fast forward 300 years, and he's become the great villain.

And the question is, why the change?

Why was the statue toppled?

Well, the statue was toppled because he was somebody who had made his wealth through the trading of black slaves.

And that was seen as beyond the pale.

And so, he was toppled.

Today, we recognize freedom is a basic human right.

Many of us are perhaps familiar with how the U.S. Declaration of Independence begins, 1776.

We hold these truths to be self-evident.

That all men are created equal.

That they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.

That among these are life, liberty, there's the freedom word, and the pursuit of happiness.

Now, we take it as self-evident today.

But sociologists recognize, if you look back through history, since the earliest times, all known societies were actually slave societies.

So, what brought the change that means we think that freedom is something that's so essential and vital?

Why do we say, you know, any kind of slavery is wrong and should be toppled?

And it's really interesting to see that Christians and atheists both recognize that within Western society, it's the Christian worldview that accounts for that.

We come to the book of Galatians, written in the mid-40s A.D.

And we didn't hear this verse, but let me read it.

Chapter 5, verse 1.

Here's a great statement from Paul as he writes this letter.

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.

So, Paul writes this letter with this great cry of freedom that is a particular kind of slavery that Paul the Apostle wants to topple.

And it's the slavery of legalism.

It's the slavery of the idea that we need faith in Jesus plus our own good works if we are to be right with God.

And Paul says, down with that, that's false thinking.

And what he defends and what he celebrates and what he says is vital is that there is freedom in Christ.

So, we're going to take two key verses in his letter.

We read them both, Galatians 2.20 and Galatians 3.28.

We're going to explore two different aspects of God's gospel freedom.

And we're going to see how these themes connect with both the desires within our own hearts for freedom,

but also how it creates the path towards the kind of world and society and community that we're looking for.

So, the good news that we must never forget is that faith in Jesus brings us real freedom.

That we are no longer slaves.

We're not slaves to performance, and we're not slaves to lines of division.

So, let's think about this idea, first of all, this freedom that comes through faith,

this freedom that says we are not slaves to performance.

Some of you may be familiar with the Korean philosopher who now works in Germany called Byung Chul Han.

He wrote a little book that's become really popular called The Burnout Society.

And in that little book, he argues that modern life is creating anxieties and depressions.

He uses the image of being consumed by work.

We are never able to switch off.

There is the pressure of competition to find work or within a workplace.

We want more stuff.

And so, we recognize to get more stuff, we need to earn more money so we work harder and we work longer.

And there's a consumption because of work.

And then you add the message of our culture, which from a very early age says to us,

you can define and redefine yourself.

You can be and do anything you want.

And that sounds wonderful until we recognize the kind of pressure that puts on people.

And what if you can't?

What if you can't reach that standard?

What if you feel that you're stuck?

And then we come to life today in the digital world and we watch stories and there are reels and there are videos.

And we feel, again, a pressure, perhaps subliminal, sometimes more overt,

to be more adventurous, more beautiful, more witty and wise, more creative.

And so many people in our society, and that includes us as Christians, are discovering,

if I have to justify myself, if I have to prove myself, that's exhausting.

There's no peace in that way of life.

There's no security in that way of life.

There's no joy to be found there.

And so as we begin, I wonder, do you recognize something of yourself in that?

Have you or are you trapped on the treadmill of performance?

Remember Galatians chapter 5, verse 1.

Galatians 5:1

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

The church in Galatia needed to hear this message of freedom from a particular kind of performance.

So if you weren't here last week, just to very briefly remind you of the situation,

we have Paul the apostle writing this letter in great grief.

He's defending the true gospel against a false message that the church is being pulled towards.

There's a group of false teachers.

They're legalistic.

They're saying you need to add law keeping to faith in Jesus if you want to be justified.

If you really want to be a member of God's church, you need to prove yourself by your moral performance.

And this toxic teaching has spread through the church.

So even Peter the apostle has come under its spell.

He's become guilty in chapter 2, verse 11, onwards of hypocrisy.

So he knows.

Acts chapter 10, if you read your McShane Bible reading plan, you'll have read Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10 · chapter mention Acts 10 · chapter mention

Peter has come to discover God shows no favoritism.

He knows the gospel.

Jesus is all you need for salvation, but his actions in a particular moment are denying those truths.

Because he says, unless you keep a diet like the Jews, I'm not going to share fellowship and hospitality with you.

And so Paul speaks and acts and writes in this kind of context because he understands

that any view of religion and any worldview that says you and I need to perform to be saved and to be accepted,

it cannot offer real hope.

It cuts us off from Jesus and it severs us from real joy.

Because if it is in any way about me or about you, how good is good enough?

What is the standard that we apply?

What happens to my salvation if I have a bad day or a really spectacular fail?

And one of the reasons that Paul writes this letter is to remind the church in every generation

that if we want to apply God's law to our lives and say, this is the standard,

and if I can just keep this standard, then God will be pleased with me.

We need to take that really, really seriously.

Because unlike our school or uni exams, God doesn't grade on a curve.

He doesn't say, well, 70%, that satisfies for a top-level mark.

Or if the exam is particularly difficult, let me lower the bar.

God doesn't do that with his law.

In fact, what the Bible says is that if we fail at even one point in law obedience,

then the whole law is broken.

If we don't love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength,

with all of our energy all of the time,

then the law is broken and we are guilty.

If we don't love our neighbor with the same energy and creativity and love that we apply to ourselves,

then we are guilty of breaking the law.

And remember who our God is.

God is holy.

He is perfect and he is just.

And so he will not accept our excuses.

Circumstances made me.

And he will not and he cannot sweep sin under the rug.

So if we try and make the basis of our salvation our performance,

we will always find ourselves failing.

Over the holidays, we watched David Attenborough's Wild London show.

I don't know if any of you saw it.

It's a really lovely show.

David Attenborough loves the city that he grew up in.

And there's this really nice scene with the hedgehogs.

We love hedgehogs.

They're very cute.

Hedgehogs are blind, almost blind.

And so there was this scene of this one hedgehog

desperately trying to get to the food that it needed

and trying to find its way to a mate.

But in London, as in all places, when you have gardens,

you have fences and you have walls.

And so this poor, blind hedgehog was trying to get to where it needed to go,

but was literally bashing its head against a garden fence.

No access and no hope,

except that the kind people of London have been creating hedgehog highways,

cutting out little holes at the bottom of their garden fences

so that hedgehogs can move from one garden to the other

and find the lady hedgehog and the food that they need.

And all is well that ends well.

Why am I telling you a story about hedgehogs?

Because the Bible would say to us

that you and I, by nature, are exactly like that blind hedgehog.

And that when we try to perform to enter the kingdom of God,

to find life with God,

we will come to recognize that we are spiritually blind,

we are bashing our heads against the wall of God's law

and our broken sin.

And what we need is someone to open the way for us.

And that's where the gospel comes in.

Because the gospel that Paul is talking about says,

listen, stop looking at your own performance.

The only performance that matters

is the perfect performance of the Lord Jesus

in His life, in His death, and His resurrection.

And the Lord Jesus, by His grace,

has created a heavenly highway for us,

a way back to God,

the means by which you and I,

simply by faith in Jesus,

are declared righteous,

just and accepted by God through faith in Him.

And on that basis,

faith saves us,

and faith is also how we live the Christian life.

And that's exactly the point that Paul makes

at the end of chapter 2.

Galatians chapter 2, verse 20.

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ,

and I no longer live,

but Christ lives in me.

The life I now live in the body,

I live by faith

in the Son of God

who loved me

and gave Himself for me.

This is the key to living the Christian life.

Freedom comes

when we are in Jesus Christ.

When we understand

that He has died for us,

that He has loved us

and given Himself for us,

and that now by faith,

He lives in us.

In fact, He is our life.

Here's where the freedom of faith comes.

By faith,

we share

in what happened to Jesus.

So just as Jesus died on the cross,

so we die to the law

as the way to get right with God.

And we die to sin

because the power and penalty of sin

has been broken in our lives.

And we now die to self

so we can live to Christ.

We have a new identity.

We die to that idea of legalism.

I need to perform

if I'm going to belong to God.

And by faith,

we get the security we look for.

We are secure in Christ.

Martin Luther put it this way,

by faith,

you are so cemented to Christ

that He and you are one person

which cannot be separated

but remains attached to Him forever.

That's the gospel that gives us security.

Whatever is true of Jesus

is true of us.

Wherever Jesus has gone,

so we follow.

And by faith,

Paul says to us,

we have a new source

for living our lives.

We're not relying on our own strength.

Rather,

we rely on Christ in us.

And so the Christian

and the Christian church,

we sing,

Christ is our life.

He is my strength.

He is my peace.

He is my source of love and joy.

He is my holiness.

He is my hope.

So that to be justified

by faith in Jesus

is to be set free

from slavery

to the performance mindset.

It's to have freedom

to rest and trust

in Christ alone

for our salvation.

We are a burnout society.

And some of you have been there.

How can you and I

avoid spiritual burnout?

Only as we leave behind

that idea of performing

to be accepted.

Only as we believe

and trust

in the gospel

that says it's through faith

in Jesus Christ alone,

by God's grace alone,

that I'm saved.

Perhaps it might be helpful

at the start of the year

to perform

a spiritual health check.

How would you honestly answer

these questions?

Do you think God accepts you

only if you are good enough?

Do you believe that God

loves you more

if you have a good day spiritually?

Do you find it difficult

to admit sin and failure

to God and to others?

There are many more questions

that we could ask,

but we need to understand

that the temptation

towards legalism

is real.

It happened to Peter.

It happened to that church

in Galatia.

And you and I,

we need to always be coming back

to this good news

that we're justified

by faith alone,

to believe that gospel,

to preach that gospel

to ourselves,

and to live by faith

in Jesus each day.

This evening,

we're thinking

about the secure identity

that we have

as a child of God.

That's the answer.

So we have freedom

through faith,

so we're no longer

slaves to performance.

But secondly,

because we have freedom

in Christ,

we are no longer

slaves to dividing lines

that we see so often

in our society.

If we go back

to the protest movements

that we've been seeing

in the last few years,

what message does that

tell us about the society

in which we live?

Think about the

Black Lives Matter movement.

What does that say to us?

It says to us,

sadly,

tragically,

racism is real.

What did the Me Too movement

remind us of

over and over?

Violence against women

is real.

What did the protests

that we see

outside G8 summits

or in front of big business

say to us?

The inequality

of rich and poor

is real.

Our society

often seems better

at building walls

than we are

at building bridges.

whether that's

in person

or digitally.

That rise

in tribalism,

in hate,

we focus on

what divides us

more than what

brings us together.

And it's really

interesting that the

first century world

actually was not

so different.

When we turn

to Galatians chapter

three

and those end

verses,

Paul identifies

the big three

forms of division

and prejudice

in his day.

Hear what he says

in chapter three

verse 28.

There is neither

Jew nor Gentile,

neither slave nor free,

nor is there

male and female,

for you are all

one in Christ

Jesus.

One of the most

amazing things

about the story

of the early church

in the first few

centuries

is the way

that they tore

down those

barriers in the

Roman world.

That this message

of freedom

in Christ

had explosive

power.

So here,

for the very

first time,

it seemed like,

women found

honor and protection

and they flocked

to the church.

Slaves that were

dispossessed,

they could become

leaders and they

could worship

with their masters

and so they loved

the message

of the gospel

and the culture

gap was bridged.

that Jew and Gentile

who normally hated

each other

would gather together

to worship

in one house

in one church.

And it was amazing

and as people saw

this radically

different community,

they were drawn

to ask,

what is it that makes

this place,

this people,

this message

so different

and so wonderful?

And that helps us

to remember

why the letter

to the Galatians

is so important

because this was

under threat.

The church

was wrestling

with this message.

What is the basis

for belonging

to God's church?

Is God's grace

powerful enough

to unite those

who are normally

divided?

Can a multi-ethnic

church of rich

and poor

of male and female,

can it really flourish?

Can it show

the beauty

of the gospel?

And Paul's answer

through this letter

and it's the message

of the whole Bible

is that yes,

it can flourish

and indeed

it must.

This is God's

design for His church.

But it's not easy

and that's what we see

in Galatia.

If God's design

for His church

were to be

sort of captured

in an artwork

in a canvas,

it wouldn't be

the canvas

of geometric shapes,

of nice,

clear,

crisp lines

of everything

black and white.

Perhaps it would be

more like,

I'm no art critic,

but you know

when you go into

a gallery,

perhaps a modern art gallery,

and you see those paintings

and you think,

a five-year-old

could have done that.

You know when you just get

that sort of mess

of color

and swirl

and it all kind of

blends in together

and it's messy

but you're kind of

drawn to it,

that's the church

by God's design.

It is messy

to figure out

how these people

can come together

but there's something

beautiful

in this kind

of community.

And Paul,

here in chapter 3

verses 26 to 29

shows how the gospel

has the power

to create

this new community.

Verse 26,

so in Christ Jesus

you are all

children of God

through faith.

All believers

are part of

God's family.

One father

would become

brothers and sisters.

That's a unifying principle.

Verse 27,

all believers

have a new

identification.

For all of you

who are baptized

into Christ

have clothed

yourself with Christ.

So all of these

Gentiles

who are becoming

Christians

for the first time,

they're getting baptized

and they're doing

that as a public

statement.

I now identify

with Jesus as Lord.

I'm not going to

worship Caesar

and the gods of Rome.

I identify

with Jesus as Lord.

And then Paul

uses this imagery

of being clothed

with Christ.

And that's an

interesting image

when in that day

when you moved

from childhood

to adulthood,

you literally

put on a new

set of clothes

to show

this new

identification.

new

identification.

And the new

identification

for the Christian,

what do we

clothe ourselves

with?

With Christ

himself.

He's the new

clothes we put on.

Verse 28,

all believers

have a new

identity.

There is neither

Jew nor Gentile,

neither slave nor free,

nor is there male

and female,

for you are all

one in Christ

Jesus.

What is the

badge

that identifies

you,

that identifies

me?

When we introduce

ourselves,

we probably have

a whole list

of characteristics

and other people

will view us

through certain

lenses,

but what Paul

wants to say

in the gospel,

the badge

that identifies

us as a Christian

is,

I am in

Christ.

That's what

comes first.

That's what

should define us.

Now he's not

saying that

all of those

things cease

to exist,

our gender

or our

nationality

or our

social status.

He doesn't

say that we

should all

become exactly

the same.

He's not

saying the

church should

look uniform,

but what he

is saying is

that unity

in Jesus,

that's what

matters.

That's how we

should see each

other.

Not nationality,

not money,

not gender.

Of course,

those things

matter,

but they're

not primary.

And then in

verse 29,

he reminds us

that all

believers have

a new

inheritance.

If you belong

to Christ,

then you're

Abraham's seed

and heirs

according to

the promise.

So he goes

back to

Abraham.

To be in

Christ Jesus,

to have faith

in Jesus,

means we get

all of God's

blessings,

all that he

has promised

in the present,

but also

thinking about

future inheritance,

future glory,

life with God

that lasts forever.

That's true for

all who

will

believe.

And so as

Paul writes

to this church

that's wrestling,

and as we find

ourselves in the

21st century

in a society

wrestling with

these walls

that divide,

he introduces us

to the power

of the true

gospel

gospel that

can create

a gospel

community

that builds

bridges

and doesn't

build walls.

And so he

paints this

beautiful canvas

of a community

that is free

of pride,

that is free

of prejudice,

that is free

of hostility

and hate.

He calls them

back to the

gospel so that

the church

would be a place

where anyone

can find members,

where anyone

can find a

welcome and

hospitality,

where acceptance

and grace

is given

and received.

That's what the

gospel can do.

It's only what

the gospel can do.

Doesn't that sound

good?

Doesn't that sound

like a good vision

from God for a

local church,

for a church like

ours?

Doesn't that sound

like a good place

to invite people

into, people who

are hurting, people

who are lonely,

people who need

hope?

Now, of course,

we need to be

honest.

Christianity has

not always practiced

what it should

preach.

Of course, you

can look at

church history

and you can look

in our own day

and we recognize

Christians and

churches have

been guilty of

ugly racism

and prejudice

and we have to

own that.

But it is also

true that

Christians have

been responsible

for wonderful

acts that have

brought unity,

that have

brought love,

that has

brought separate

people together.

That the message

of the gospel

does have the

power to do

that.

And that the

gospel does

present for us

this wonderful

vision of a

community of

faith that is

set free from

the usual

prejudices that

we meet in

society.

community.

So how can we

make progress?

How can we look

to present this

light to one

another and to

the world?

Well, Paul would

say to us, we

must begin by

believing the

gospel.

It all begins

with faith in the

Lord Jesus.

Jesus, the

eternal Son of

God, who came on

God's great

redemption mission,

who came to

reconcile people to

God and to one

another.

It all begins

with trusting in

Jesus, this one

who came from

God, the Son of

God, who gave up

his freedom, gladly,

willingly, in love

to save us.

He was betrayed.

He was beaten.

He was arrested.

He was crucified

as the way to

break our chains

of sin that lead

to death.

As the way to

grant forgiveness

from God, to give

us peace with God

that we can

experience the

freedom of God's

grace to know

God's love poured

out in our hearts

so that we can

share that with

others.

So it begins

with Jesus.

And then, but we

live out the

gospel by faith

in Jesus.

With his help, we

welcome strangers

just as God

through Christ

has welcomed us

when we were

strangers and

enemies to him.

we practice

hospitality, knowing

that God welcomes

us every day to

feast on his

goodness and

mercy.

We show patience

to one another

because God

every day is

showing patience

to us.

We grant

forgiveness as

those who have

known and

continually know

that God

graciously forgives

us.

And we love

sacrificially as

we remember

what Jesus, the

Son of God, did

for us on the

cross at

Calvary.

Freedom in

Christ means we

are not slaves to

those lines that

divide.

Now imagine what

kind of community

the gospel of

freedom in

Christ is able

to produce.

Think about why

our world needs

this, why we

need this, why

we need to stay

close to the

gospel.

Because you and

I need grace.

And the gospel

produces a community

where people are

shown grace.

Because our

acceptance is not

based on our

performance.

It would be a

community that

would focus on

what unites us,

what would draw us

together.

together.

We belong to

the Lord Jesus.

Not what divides

us culturally,

socially,

politically.

Faith in Jesus

comes first.

The gospel would

produce that kind

of community where

anyone can belong.

Anyone could walk

through these doors

and they should

find a welcome

that comes from

God himself to

discover God's

love in us,

in our words,

and in our

practice.

this is the

way.

This is the

way of Jesus.

This is the

freedom that

Jesus calls us

into.

And this is the

gospel that Paul

writes to defend.

And it's the

gospel that the

Lord Jesus wants

you and I to

pursue in our

own lives and

as a church.

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