Galatians 5:1-15 - Jimmy Alexander

Well, good morning.

Turn with me, if you will, to Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

And this morning we will be looking at verses 1 through 15.

Galatians chapter 5, verses 1 through 15.

Galatians 5:1–15

And our passage is all about the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus.

Which is entirely relevant because the Apostle Paul is writing to a church that is flirting with heresy.

So false teaching always produces bondage.

Which is why back in chapter 4, he reminds them of the true gospel that brings freedom.

But self-righteousness through the law brings slavery.

And so bad doctrine isn't merely a matter of intellectual confusion, but it's a matter of slavery versus freedom.

And so Paul makes this case back in chapter 4, and he uses the Old Testament examples of Hagar and Sarah to communicate this truth.

One child was born by a slave through the flesh, through the effort of man, and the other child was born by the promise of God and was born free.

So, in the same way, says Paul, back in chapter 4, verse 31, you were not children of the slave, but of the free woman.

So he is reminding compromising Christians who are trying to place themselves back under bondage about the freedom that they have in Christ.

And we all need to be reminded, don't we?

Because the devil in this evil world and even our own flesh tries to draw us away from the freedom that we have in Christ.

So we need to hear this again and again because we have a tendency to enslave ourselves to a religion of law or a lifestyle of dead works.

So, friends, may we not give the Galatians too hard of a time.

We are all prone to forget about the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ.

So we need to be reminded because it is a common temptation.

Which is why Paul boldly announces in our text this morning, in chapter 5, verse 1, he says, For freedom Christ has set us free.

Stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

So there are many reasons why God has saved us.

According to Ephesians 1, God saved us for his own glory.

According to Ephesians 2, he saved us for good works.

According to 1 Peter, we're saved to declare the excellencies of Christ.

But may we never forget that one of the chief reasons why God has saved us was to set us free.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

And now the question remains: freedom from what?

What exactly are we free from?

Well, we're free from God's future wrath, the eternal punishment of sin.

We're free from the devil's accusations against us.

We're free from the dominating power of sin in our lives.

So in Christ, there's a lot of bad things that we are set free from.

And so praise God for that.

However, in context, what Paul has in mind here is freedom from the curse of the law.

He talked about this back in chapter three and back in chapter four.

He says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law.

And this brings up a huge theological question.

Why do we need free from a law that God gave us?

If living by the law is so bad, why did God give us his law to begin with?

So allow me for a moment to explain this.

During the time of Moses, back in the Old Testament, God gave Israel, his chosen people, his law.

And by law, I'm referring to God's perfect standard of obedience as described in the commands given to those who would worship and serve him.

And he gave them the law for three main purposes.

One, he gave them the law to show us his character and his standard for creation.

The law reveals that God is holy, he's perfect, he's pure, and therefore he has a standard for his creation.

God is a God of order, he has plans for us, he has a way of living for his creation.

And so the law reveals that God is good, he hates evil, and he demands punishment for disobedience.

So without the law, we wouldn't know any of that.

Secondly, he gave the law to show us our sin and our need for a savior.

Paul talks about this in Romans 7.

He says, I wouldn't have known what coveting was until I heard the command, you shall not covet.

And so sin is so deceptive, it's so blinding, we don't even know how bad we are.

It's kind of like if you drive down a dirt road and there's no speed limit signs.

I mean, I'll drive 80, 90, I'll go whatever speed limit I want to go.

But when I see a sign that says 25 miles per hour, I'm like, oh, I'm breaking the law.

Well, I wouldn't have known I was breaking the law until I saw the sign.

And so God gave us his law to show us, all of us, that we are evil lawbreakers.

Or as Romans 3 says, the law was given to shut the mouth of all sinners, that we might realize that no one is declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law, but that through the law we would become conscious of our sin.

That's the purpose.

This is why Moses' ministry in 2 Corinthians 3 is referred to as the ministry of condemnation.

That's its purpose.

There's an evangelist, his name's Ray Comfort, and he does a lot of street evangelism, and he goes on the street and he he just asks total strangers.

Um he gives them the typical spiel.

If you were to die right now and go to heaven, would God let you in?

And and people will say, Well, of course he'd let me in.

I'm a good person.

You know, I've I've given money to charity, I've helped old ladies cross the road.

I'm not like that homeless drug addict over there.

I don't do any of that crazy stuff.

And and so he says, Okay, well, let's just go through the Ten Commandments.

Have you ever used God's name in vain?

Well, yeah, every once in a while, okay.

Um have you loved the Lord your God with all of your heart all the time, every moment of the day?

Well, no, no, okay.

Um, have you ever looked at another person?

Uh are you married?

Yep.

Have you ever looked at another person lustfully?

Well, yeah, I mean, everyone does every now and then, right?

So he says, let me get this right.

You're saying you're a good person that God would let you go into heaven, but according to God's law, you're a blasphemer, you're an adulterer, you're an idolater.

And that's what the law does, it exposes who we really are.

And sin is so deceptive.

We think we're good, we think we're okay.

And so God didn't give us his law as a means of salvation.

That was never the intention.

On the contrary, God gave his law that we would recognize that salvation is impossible.

You can't earn your way to heaven.

It was meant to point us to Jesus Christ.

It was meant to show us our sickness so that we might come to a place and cry out, oh wretched man that I am.

I'm powerless to change my heart.

I can't atone for my sin.

I need a savior.

I need God.

And lastly, thirdly, God gave his law to restrain sin in the world.

Okay, without law, anything goes.

And although God's law is unable to save us or produce righteousness in us, it does restrain to some degree evil in the world.

It gives the world a general sense of morality and it promotes societal well-being.

So, what's the problem with God's law?

Why do we need to be free from something that's good?

Well, we need to be free from it because it condemns us.

It points out all of our sins, it lets us know how horrible we are, it keeps us in this condition of always striving but never measuring up, and it promises judgment for every act of disobedience.

And so the law demands obedience that we can't attain, it points to judgment that we can't escape, and it places a burden on us that we can never lift.

This, my friends, is bad news for us.

It's like telling a criminal, hey, guess what?

The judge you're gonna go see, he's really good.

It's like, well, that's not good news for a criminal.

So the problem isn't God's law.

As Romans 7 says, God's law, it's good, it's it's holy, it's it's perfect.

The problem is me.

I have an evil heart.

There's something dark and crooked in me.

I have evil thoughts, I do selfish things, I've hurt people around me.

And the law or rules or policies or any works-based system doesn't save me.

Ask my mom.

If anything, it just provokes my sin nature.

When I see a sign that says, don't touch wet paint, guess what?

I want to touch it.

When my wife tells me, stop teasing me, you're getting on my nerves, I want to keep poking.

And there is no law, there's no rule book out there that can renew our minds and transform our hearts and make us stand right before a holy God.

And when I try to live by the law, I find myself in this endless cycle of bouncing between two poles.

On one hand, when I feel like I'm keeping the law, I have this false sense of pride, earned merit, self-confidence.

Look at me, how obedient I am.

But it doesn't last long because in a moment, if I break the law I'm trying to keep, I'll jump to the other pole.

And then I'm feeling forever hopeless and unworthy because I can never measure up to perfection.

And I feel worthless and pathetic, and I feel like God hates me and He's mad at me.

And some of you no doubt know exactly what I'm talking about this morning.

It's a miserable way to live, which is why Paul exhorts us do not submit yourself again to that way of living.

Don't do it.

And this command, it's not just applying to the Old Testament law, but any type of works-based system.

And the reason, by the way, we prefer to live by the law is because of its appeal.

The first being control.

I like to call the shots.

I like to be my own boss and dictate the terms.

And dead religion allows for that.

You can control your salvation.

You set the terms.

The idea of living by faith, allowing God to lead you in everything, well, that's too difficult.

I'd rather just trust in my own talents, my own abilities.

And you can control things and justify immoral behavior.

I can get drunk on Saturday because I'll go to mass on Sunday.

I can sleep with my boyfriend because we're gonna get married in a couple months anyway.

I can watch this horrible TV show because I'll go to Bible study on Thursday.

And so you're the God of your own atonement.

You're the God of your own salvation.

You dictate the terms.

The second reason is comfort.

I mean, let's be honest.

Law living is comfortable in some measure.

In some ways, it's easier to follow a rule book or a policy than to walk humbly and relationally with God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

And so at times I would much rather just check off a few boxes on a checklist and then live however I want the rest of the week.

But living by faith, allowing Jesus to be my Lord, that means I would have to give up all my secret sins, lose the facade, address heavy things in my life.

I don't want to do all that.

Just give me a rule book.

I'll go to church, I'll give my tithe, I'll pay my penance, I'll do the bare minimum and move on with my safe and secure life.

And the third reason is false assurance.

Boy, do we love to live by sight.

We're always striving after God's approval of us.

And it's much easier to have something tangible, something we can physically touch or feel as a means of salvation, as a means of assurance that God loves me.

If I live by the law, there's things I can point to, physical things, circumcision, baptism, a certificate, an event.

I can trust in something I did.

Then I can hold on to those things as a means of false assurance to soothe my guilty conscience.

But living by faith, trusting in something I can't see, like Jesus' sacrifice for my sins and his promise of salvation to those who believe, that's unseen.

I don't like that.

That involves faith.

Give me something I can physically hold on to.

And so, church, these are just some reasons why we prefer a law over grace and faith.

But friends, don't buy into these temptations.

Resist the appeal.

Stand firm in the freedom that you have in Christ.

You were once in shackles, you were once a prisoner of sin, lost in darkness.

But in the fullness of time, Christ pursued you.

Here is your inheritance, eternal life.

Do not move from this position of freedom.

Can you imagine a prisoner getting released after serving time for decades, but yet wanting to go back to prison?

Yet it happens all the time.

Can you imagine a woman who is fleeing her abusive boyfriend, finding a safe place to go where she's free and protected, but yet her leaving and going back to that relationship, risking her life, but yet it happens all the time.

And in the same way, Christians do the same thing.

We go back to law-living or we go back to destructive sin that God has already delivered us from, and we throw the shackles right back on our feet.

What a tragedy that is.

Stand firm, says Paul.

Do not submit again.

It's this language of standing strong under pressure, not putting a giant burden back on yourself that Christ has already lifted.

If you are considering this morning going back to law-living, or maybe you're weary and doing what's right and you just want to throw in the towel and go back to your old sinful habits, listen to me.

Stand in your freedom.

It's for freedom that Christ has set us free.

When you are free to sin, you become a slave.

But when you're a slave to God, you become truly free.

And if that's not a big enough motivator for us, Paul next lays out for the Galatians the consequences of embracing slavery again.

So here are the outcomes if you decide to give yourself back over to legalism.

Look at verses two through four.

He says, Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace.

So, like the Galatians, if you have your heart set on keeping the law or adding to Christ, here are the consequences.

First, Christ will be of no benefit to you.

People say all the time, we're just, we would rather be safe than sorry.

Well, the moment you add to Christ, you instantly negate him.

So you can't have both justification by grace and by works.

When you choose one, you're denying the other.

So when you pick up law living, Christ is no longer an advantage to you.

You might as well throw him away.

Secondly, when you seek to be justified by works or by the law, you must keep it all.

So you want to keep the law, fine.

But know this: you are obligated to keep the whole law.

This isn't like a box of lucky charms where you can pick and choose what you want.

Okay, James tells us in his letter, in chapter 2, verse 10 whoever keeps the whole law yet breaks one point of it, you're guilty of all of it.

So if you keep one part of the law, you must keep all of it.

And if you break one part of it, you've broken all of it.

So good luck with that.

Thirdly, you are severing yourself from Christ.

Or another way of putting it, you are falling away from grace.

Okay, I don't believe this passage is talking about losing your salvation.

Otherwise, Paul wouldn't be addressing them with the most intimate term brothers, but it is warning us that legalism is positioning ourselves hostile to Christ's grace.

And if you're fully embracing that and you're preaching that, it proves that you never understood the gospel to begin with.

Okay, when you start living legalistically and saying, you're basically saying, I don't want anything to do with Christ's work, I would rather establish my own.

And there's good evidence, if that's your attitude, that you do not understand the gospel.

Because if you had, you would clearly know that that mindset is anti-Christ.

It's directly opposed to Christ's finished work.

And as Paul says in chapter one, that teaching is ananthema.

It's eternally condemned message.

So if salvation isn't found in the law, where can it be found?

Well, Paul reminds us in verses five and six.

He says, For through the Spirit by faith we eagerly await for the hope of righteousness.

For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision or uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

So if the law couldn't produce righteousness in us, what can?

It is the Spirit of God that we receive by faith.

The law couldn't change our hearts, it couldn't forgive our sins, it couldn't make us clean.

The only thing it did was point out all my crimes, demand my obedience, constantly reminding me of God's judgment.

But what the law couldn't do, Jesus did.

Two thousand years ago, he came to earth and he kept the law that I couldn't keep, and he lived a life that I could never live, and he paid a price that I could never pay, and he died and was buried, and he was raised to life forevermore as perfect mediator and savior between God and man.

And anyone who believes in his work, not their own.

But believes in his work, they will be saved and set free.

And they will receive the promised Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit will make his home in you, and he will write the commands of God on your heart, and he will empower you to live a godly life.

The Holy Spirit gives us the desire and the ability and the enabling power to do God's will.

In and of ourselves, we can't serve God, but God has made a way for him to live in us so that we would be holy and pleasing in his sight, not just legally, but practically.

So here's the contrast Paul's making before the Galatians.

He says you can live by the law in bondage, according to the flesh, and face judgment, or you can live by the Spirit, through faith, by grace, living a life of love, awaiting future righteousness.

That's the contrast he's making here.

And so he lays plainly before the Galatians two ways of belief, two ways of living.

You can live for the law or you can live for Christ.

You can live in the flesh or you can live in the spirit.

You can live in bondage or you can live in freedom.

And so after showing them their error, he follows this up with a strong rebuke in verses 7 through 12.

He says, You were running well.

Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

This persuasion is not from him who calls you.

A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view.

And the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.

But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?

In that case, the offense of the cross has been removed.

I wish that those unsettling you would emasculate themselves.

So Paul begins his rebuke with this imagery of a race.

They heard the gospel, they received it with joy, they moved forward in spiritual growth.

But like the parable of the sower, they began to waver.

So in Christianity, it's not about how you start, it's about how you finish.

That's a biblical principle throughout Scripture.

How you finish determines what you truly believed at the beginning.

As Jesus says, it is those who endure to the end who will be saved.

So Paul questions them.

He says, Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

And notice he doesn't say, who intellectually confused you?

No, Paul points straight to the heart, and he looks at them and he says, You are disobeying the truth.

So this isn't a matter of innocent people being led astray.

This is a matter of willful disobedience.

And he also answers them.

He says, this hindrance doesn't come from he who calls you.

God never calls you into bondage.

Make no mistake, he never calls you into any form of addiction.

It comes from wolves in sheep's clothing.

And the phrase, a little leaven, leavens the whole lump, it's a metaphor he uses to compare false teaching in the church to the results of yeast and bread dough.

So just as a small amount of yeast will make a whole loaf of bread rise, just a little bit of legalistic teaching will quickly spread, infiltrating the hearts and the minds of a church until the whole church is contaminated.

But the hope in verse 10 is that they would take no other view than that of the true gospel.

And that is my hope for us.

False teachers will bear their penalty, but may we resist their appeal and stand firm.

That's why it's so vital that we are a gospel-centered church.

May we never get tired of hearing Christ crucified, the nails through his hands, the blood that he spilt, the gift of eternal life that comes by faith alone in Christ alone.

How dare we complain about gospel redundancy.

We never graduate from that.

And to strengthen his point further, Paul points to his own message in ministry in verse 11.

And he reminds them that if he was preaching circumcision, he wouldn't have been persecuted.

If Paul added the slightest addition or human effort to the gospel, he would have been loved among carnal men.

Satan would have blessed that message.

He would have had his best life now.

But that wasn't his message.

His message was salvation in Christ alone.

And for that he suffered greatly.

And he was eventually killed for it.

If Paul added circumcision to his message, the offense of the cross would have been removed.

And sometimes we forget that the gospel is meant to offend.

It's torment, literally, to the ears of people who are resisting God.

And Paul then declares, kind of a play on words, that those unsettling the Galatians would remove or emasculate themselves.

It's kind of funny considering the matter at hand is circumcision.

Paul basically is telling them, I wish you would cut yourselves all the way off from the body.

And next, Paul circles back around to his main theme of freedom.

And he shows us in these last verses what Christian freedom looks like and how it operates.

Because one of the biggest objections from the Judaizers towards Paul's gospel was they thought it promoted sin.

If you're saved by grace through faith and not by works, where does obedience come in?

What about holiness?

What about purity?

What about right living?

If we're free from the law, then what's stopping people from living like the devil all the way to heaven?

Right?

That was their big objection.

And so Paul addresses all this in verses 13 through 15.

He says, 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.

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

So he reminds them that they are called to freedom.

But the freedom that we have in Christ has boundaries.

There are limits.

It's not this you're free to do whatever the heck you want attitude that the perverted grace movement has foolishly promoted in our society.

Our Christian freedom is not to be used as an opportunity to sin.

You're not free from sin to sin.

That's problematic.

Yet nowadays we see this everywhere.

Christians using God's grace as a license for sin.

I went to a church service once in Columbus years ago, and the pastor was on stage, he was preaching in Titus, talking about the freedom that we have in Christ alone, by faith alone, as he opened up a 12-pack of beer.

And at the end of his sermon, he was down to his last bottle, and his words were slurring, and he stumbled off stage.

I've heard Christians say this so many times.

I'm free from condemnation.

Nothing can separate me from God's love.

Therefore, I can enjoy and watch Netflix for five hours a day.

I can look at porn every once in a while.

I can stay the night with my boyfriend.

I can overeat just this once.

I can be passive today.

I can abdicate my family responsibilities and be lazy.

Friends, you're not free to sin.

You were purchased by the blood of Christ.

Why then would you use your freedom to elevate the murder weapon that killed our beloved Savior?

The purpose of God's deliverance, the reason he released you from bondage was so that you could serve other people in love.

That is the chief goal of your freedom.

You are free to love God and serve others all you want with creativity.

Freedom from sin allows us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to the Lord Jesus Christ and to live an adventurous life with him, looking for ways to expand his kingdom, edify others, serve the body of Christ, and unconditionally love other people.

This is the entire heart of the law.

Look at verse 14.

It's ironic because Paul is talking to people who are trying to keep the law.

So he says, You want to keep it?

Here it is in a nutshell.

The whole heart of the law.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

God saved you from your destructive self-selfishness so that you might be productively selfless, pouring your life out for others.

And so, church, the freedom that Christ has given you, how are you using it?

How would you answer that question?

Are you joyfully offering your life up for the sake of others?

Are you using your freedom to participate in gospel efforts?

Are you looking for opportunities to serve, to help provide for missions, to pray for someone who's struggling, to spend time with someone in the church who's hurting?

Or simply help a friend with a home project?

Or are you using your freedom to invest more in your own personal interests and hobbies that have become idols?

Do you think more about your own little world, your own little building rather than God's kingdom?

Or even worse, are you using Christian freedom as an excuse to sin?

Jesus will forgive me, you say.

So I'll go ahead and sin, I'll confess later, and he'll forgive me.

Listen, if this is your view of the gospel, I fear for you.

Because that is a shocking distortion of Christ's sacrifice.

We all sin at times, we all make mistakes, but if you are intentionally sinning and your motivation is God's grace, that's a dangerous place to be.

As Hebrews 10 says, that is trampling Jesus' blood underfoot.

So this cultural definition in freedom and being autonomous, it's not biblical.

Okay, in America, freedom is typically defined as the American dream.

Okay, I'm free to live however I want, do whatever I want to do, pursue whatever dreams I want, and I can be independent, free from tyranny, you know, I can pursue whatever.

And this often manifests itself in isolation and indulgence.

And politically and economically, this is really a good thing.

This is a great thing that we have in our country.

But this is not biblical freedom.

Biblical freedom is relational, it's others focused, it's rooted in service towards others.

There's 59 one-another commands in Scripture.

We're called to be relational, so much so to be laying down our lives for the sake of the church, sacrificing time, money, resources to make disciples, equip the saints for the works of ministry, helping weak people for the glory of God.

So in Christ, you are free from your addiction to sin, you're free from the judgment of God, you're free to truly be who God created you to be, all for the purpose of loving others endlessly and with creativity.

Are you doing that?

Stop using Christian freedom like a credit card, promoting cheap grace, and start using your freedom to live like Christ and serve others.

And if we refuse to do this, Paul concludes his argument with a warning in verse 15.

He says, But if you bite one another and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

And so this is what happens when we use our freedom to indulge.

This is what happens when you have a church full of people who are solely concerned about their independent desires, their personal interests, and their preferences.

By the way, this is what legalism promotes.

It promotes spiritual pride, jealousy, envy, strife.

The list goes on.

So what kind of a Christian are you?

One that looks around the church saying, wow, God, thank you for this amazing opportunity to gather with your people and serve them, to be a functioning, moving member in this body.

How can I help?

Holy Spirit, where do you want me?

How can I exercise my spiritual gifts here?

Or are you one that looks around with a critical heart, saying, ah, Rick doesn't know what he's doing?

I could do things better if I was in leadership.

I'm so special, I'm so valuable, I have a lot to offer.

I should have the loudest voice here.

I think meals should be done like this.

I think the worship music should be done like that.

I, I, I, me, me, me.

And what this leads to is a biting, a devouring.

Because you're not content, you're not happy.

Because you are looking selfishly inward instead of lovingly outward.

And I'm not talking about healthy criticism or constructive advice.

That's different.

Okay?

I'm talking about an unhealthy self-focus where you make everything about you.

And you have the inability to look outside of yourself and to see the needs of others, which by the way is the definition of narcissism.

And this language of biting and devouring is that of a beast, I think of a lion, that aggressively attacks with the intention to hurt.

And that leads to consuming one another in hatred rather than loving one another in humility and love.

What a tragedy this is.

What a horrible witness this is to the world when Christians are against one another, wishing harm towards one another.

All because of selfishness.

And if it isn't dealt with quickly, I think we can all attest to the problems it creates: gossip, slander, discrimination, disunity, ultimately leading to things like church splits, lifelong resentment, long-lasting emotional pain, which is a horrible testimony to the world.

When lost people see the church all corrupt and scandalous, saying they naturally say, Why would I want to be a part of that?

I saw a date line the other day where the church tried to poison their pastor.

I mean, it's like it's crazy how small seeds of sin can start and how it always grows into death and destruction.

So let us be warned by this.

Watch yourself, give careful thought to your motives and your desires.

Check your heart this morning.

So, proclamation church is a way of conclusion.

Be reminded this morning of the freedom that you have in Christ.

Don't go back to Egypt.

Stand firm on the foundation of Christ.

Live through the Spirit that God has given you.

Walk humbly with God, relationally with Him in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Stop living legalistically like this bunch of rules of do's and don'ts.

Stop parenting your children that way.

Stop holding a law over other people's heads and demanding things.

It's unproductive and it's hurting the gospel.

And start walking in the grace that is found in the person and in the work of Jesus Christ.

And put to death things like perfectionism.

I struggle with that.

I gotta put it to death daily.

Living for performance, self-striving.

You will never measure up.

You will always feel like a loser.

And guess what?

That's the point.

You are, but you need Jesus in his life, in his grace, and he will uplift you and transform you and give you the new identity that you need.

And do not use your freedom to sin, but to love other people.

1 Peter 2, verse 16 says this: Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil.

1 Peter 2:16

Live as God's slaves and look for opportunities to serve people that God has sovereignly placed in your life.

We all have a circle of influence, so stop using your freedom in Christ to sit back and self-indulge and whatever, fill in the blank.

Life is too short for vain things.

Use your freedom to expand the kingdom of Christ.

Church, let's pray this morning.

Father, it is for freedom that you have set us free.

We look to you this morning and we give you glory.

We give you praise and we say thank you for giving us freedom.

We needed it, Lord.

Help us to walk in that freedom.

Lord, we need your help.

It's so hard sometimes, but we make it hard when you've given us everything we need to live a godly life.

So remind us of that this morning.

We have everything we need.

We have a God who loves us, we have a spirit who empowers us, and we have a a savior who's who's with us and for us.

So help us, Lord, to walk in that freedom.

Lord, I just pray for our hearts this morning.

May we be doers of your word and not just hearers only.

And may we put this truth into practice in the name of Jesus, I pray.

Amen.