Galatians chapter 5, verse 13. This is part two of a sermon series on Christian liberty. And if you didn't catch the first sermon, that was last week, Sunday morning. It is on the website or on Sermon Audio or whatever. That's really a very important one to hear if you want to learn about Christian liberty. And my other sermons on Christian liberty build on that first one. It's based on Galatians 5, verse 1. Go back and listen to that one if you haven't heard it or if you need a review. This sermon is the second one, and we're reading Galatians 5, verse 13. Same chapter, different verse. Let's pray a moment first and ask God's blessing. Help us, O God, pay attention to the truth of your word read and preached. Father, don't let us, please don't let us wander in our thoughts, thinking about our schedules this week or texts on the phone or anything like that, O God, but help us to pay attention to the word and we pray that your Holy Spirit would go forth and work in our hearts and minds to believe this truth, to rejoice in this truth, and to stand firm and live in the freedom that you've called your people to. In Christ's name, amen. So just one verse, Galatians 5, verse 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. God's word. When I was quite a bit younger, I used to have, I think, a wrong understanding of what freedom or liberty was. I think maybe when I was a teenager, I thought that freedom meant you could literally do whatever you wanted to do. You're free to do anything. That's what I thought freedom meant when I was younger. But I did have some good civics and American history classes in high school. And later in life, as I read some good books and did some other research and study on liberty, it corrected my thinking. Freedom or liberty in a civic or national sense doesn't mean you can do whatever you want to do. That's not what freedom means in a country situation. True freedom, historically speaking of civil liberty, true freedom has limits and boundaries. If freedom doesn't have limits or boundaries, it's not freedom anymore, but it's oppression and tyranny. So, for example, if freedom was freedom to do anything you wanted, it would turn into oppression and tyranny because everyone would do whatever they wanted and trample other people even if it hurt them. So, true freedom comes with responsibilities. Freedom does not mean I can say anything that I want to say. I can't just call in a bomb threat to some school and say, hey, I'm free to do that. That would lead to oppression and tyranny. And freedom doesn't mean that, well, I want to make some money, so I'm going to set up a meth lab in my garage. I'm free to do that, because I just want more money. You see what I mean? Freedom doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. True freedom has responsibility limits and boundaries. That's true in the civil sphere. But it's also true in the Christian life. Civil liberty and Christian liberty are different. Remember I mentioned that last week. There's a big difference between civil or national liberty and Christian liberty. They're not the same thing. But they do have this in common, that in both realms, in the Christian life and in the civil realm, freedom can be misused, but it can also be used rightly. And so that's what we're going to talk about. Not civil liberty anymore. You can kind of forget about civil or national liberty. Now think about Christian liberty again. And last week we looked at Galatians 5 verse 1, which says, So that's what we talked about last week. In Jesus' obedience, in his death, in his resurrection, Jesus has freed his people from the power and the guilt of sin. And he's freed his people from the demands and the curse of the law to be saved. And so Paul said last week in Galatians 5 verse 1, stand firm in the freedom that Jesus won for you. Now this week in 5 verse 13, it's the other side of that coin of freedom, Christian freedom. Use your freedom that Jesus won for you in the right way. Don't misuse it. stand firm in it, and use it rightly. Another way to think about it is Christ has set us free from sin for service. So the theme of the sermon, I guess, from Galatians 5, verse 13, is this. To live in Christian freedom means using it properly. That is, to serve each other in love. Pretty straightforward. So I'm just going to go through verse 13 here in three different parts. The first one's going to be pretty short. First, we're going to look at what it means to be called to freedom, briefly. And then we're going to talk about that phrase or the concept of not misusing or abusing your freedom. And then finally, we're going to talk about using your freedom rightly or using it well. That's right from Galatians 5.13. So first of all, You guys can read this too, we just read it. In the beginning of verse 13, it says, you, this is, you know, the church Christians, you were called to freedom. Brothers, brothers means brothers and sisters. It's like the way we use guys, it means both. Brothers and sisters, you were called to freedom. This is Christian freedom. Another way to say it is God has called you to freedom, dear brothers and sisters. And it goes again with verse one, Christ has set you free. Stand firm in it because you're called to live in freedom by God. So that's an interesting thing to think about. You think about your calling in life, right? As a Christian, you should think, what is God calling me to do? That's something that should come to your mind. There's other answers, but one of them is what? To live in freedom that Christ has won for you. He's called you to freedom. So enjoy that liberty. Stand firm in it, be thankful for it, and live in it. And so once again, you can see the importance of Christian liberty in Paul's thinking. He doesn't just mention it in verse one and just kind of move on, but he keeps coming back to it almost in this whole first half of the chapter, maybe the whole chapter. It's a very important concept for the Christian life, that Jesus has won liberty for you. And you're called to enjoy it, use it. exercise it, and be thankful for it. That's part of your calling as a Christian, to live in this freedom that Jesus has won for you and enjoy it. Okay, so that's first, pretty straightforward. God has called you to freedom, live in it. Now secondly, the second point is, don't misuse the freedom that Jesus won for you, don't abuse it. It says here in verse 13, Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. So right away, you can understand that there's a wrong way to use the freedom that Jesus won for you in his life, death, and resurrection. You can abuse it or misuse it. Don't use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. What's an opportunity for the flesh? What does that mean? Well, flesh here, think sinful desires. Later on in verse 16, Paul talks about the sinful desires of the flesh. So don't use your freedom as an opportunity to do sinful things and follow the sinful passions in your heart. So the reality is for Christians, you know, Christ will one day set us completely free from the pollution of sin in us. In the new creation, we will have no more sin. But Christians still struggle with sin. We're not perfect yet. We're being sanctified. We still have some sinful flesh left in us. We still have some sinful desires and passions. Paul says, don't use your freedom to indulge your sinful passions. That's not right. That's what he's talking about here. So, Jesus has one freedom for you, but don't use it to indulge your sinful passions and desires. And there it is, isn't it? Christian freedom is not freedom to do whatever you want. Just like, get that in your head. Christian liberty does not mean you can do whatever you want to do. Paul says, don't use your freedom to indulge your sinful desires that you're still wrestling with. That's not what your freedom is for. Peter said the same thing in 1 Peter 2. Don't use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Because some Christians were doing this. They were like, well, Jesus has set me free so I can just do whatever I want, right? I can just indulge in my sexual desires because I'm free. Or, you know, if I want to drink a lot, who's to stop me because Jesus has set me free? Party on. I can hate people, get vengeance on myself, and never help anyone, and cuss up a storm because Jesus has set me free. Some people were abusing their Christian liberty, and both Paul and Peter say no. No, your liberty is not so you can indulge in your sinful desires and passions. Liberty is not license. License means behave as you wish. Liberty is not license. And there's a little side note that I want to share. I've been reading a book called The Great De-Churching. It's built on some sociologists' study of how many people are leaving American churches. And it's staggering how many people are leaving American churches. And there's a lot of different reasons why people leave the church. I'll talk about others at a different time. But one of the reasons why some people leave church is because they say that Christians are hypocrites and they don't live out their faith. I've gone to a church, but nobody there lives like a Christian. So they just leave and say, it's just hypocrisy. That's what would happen if you thought Christian freedom was you could do whatever you want. So make sure that's not us. We don't want to be that church where everyone says, well, they're a bunch of Christians who say they're Christians, but they live like pagans. Don't use your freedom to indulge in your sinful passions. And I think it's interesting here, and Paul and Peter and throughout church history, you can see this. In Paul and Peter's day and throughout church history, religious people sometimes go from one extreme to the other. Sometimes religious people are extremists, aren't they? They overreact from one position and they go way far to the other position. So Paul is writing against both in this chapter. He's writing against legalism, meaning you have to obey God to earn his favor and go back under the law. He says, don't go to that extreme. But he's also writing against antinomianism, where people think they don't have to obey the law at all, and they can live however they want. Religious people can often be extremists. Paul is trying to correct that and says, stay in the middle. In the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, the Reformers dealt with this quite a bit. If you know anything about Reformation history, The Roman Catholic Church was saying, and they still say, but back then they said, people are justified by faith and works, in a way. You're justified insofar as you're sanctified, is how they put it. But the Reformers were saying, no, you're not justified by works, you're justified through faith alone, by grace alone and Christ alone. But the problem that happens sometimes is some people heard that And they overreacted from all of Rome's laws, and they said, well, now we can live however we want, because Christ has set us free. We're saved by faith and by grace. And so some people overreacted and just lived terribly pagan lives in the name of Christian liberty during the Reformation. Now, if you know Martin Luther, this won't be a surprise to you. Martin Luther said they're pigs who do that. And this is a quote, these kind of swine have lost Christ and Christian liberty. He's talking about people who just, you know, use liberty to say they can do whatever they want, drink, have sex, whatever. These kind of swine have lost Christ and Christian liberty and are slaves of the devil and are seven times worse under the name of liberty than they were before while they were under the tyranny of the Pope. So Luther said it's these antinomians who are living these terribly sinful lives. It's seven times worse for them to be in that state than they were under the Pope. And remember what Luther also said about the Pope. So the Reformers reacted against these extremes because they're following Paul, following scripture. And I think it really hits us in a practical way in our Christian life. If you're a Christian, Remember last week I mentioned how Satan will tempt you and your own sinful flesh will tempt you to think that you have to obey the law to earn God's favor. Satan and your sinful flesh will say, you haven't obeyed enough. God's not going to accept you. You got to try harder and go back under the law. Paul says, no, don't go back under the law. You're free in Christ. You don't have to work to be saved. Jesus has done it all for you. Just rest in that and enjoy it. But Satan also tempts people to go to the other extreme. Like I've been mentioning, you're free in Christ, so live it up. You don't have any laws anymore. You're free in Christ. Enjoy yourself. You have sexual freedom now. You can do whatever you want. You can say whatever you want. You can live however you want because Jesus has set you free. Satan will whisper that to you and your own sinful flesh will sometimes say, Yeah, that sounds pretty good. So just remember, Satan is brilliantly deceptive when he tempts you. He wants you to go in one extreme or the other extreme. And so I guess there's a question for all of you who are believers. Have you given in to any of these temptations to go to either of these extremes? I mean, so which extreme do you think you're tempted to? The extreme where you have to go back under the law to earn God's favor? Or the extreme that you can live however you want because Jesus has set you free? I think we're tempted to go to one of those extremes, aren't we? I think, when I think about Christian liberty, I think about the liberty that Jesus has given us. It's like this wonderful summit to live on. It's beautiful. It's refreshing, it's freeing, it's joyful. But the problem is that summit, sometimes we want to go down on either side of legalism or antinomianism. And Satan tempts us, no, it's better down there. Or our sinful flesh will say, no, it's better on the other side. And so the biblical call is to stand in the liberty on this summit of liberty that Jesus has put you on, and remember that's your calling, and be diligent in prayer. Be diligent in your Christian practice not to go to either extreme or down the sides of this great summit of Christian liberty. Stand there and enjoy it as your calling. Don't abuse it. So the third point then. Use your freedom well or wisely. So the thought of Galatians 5 verse 13 is don't use your freedom in a sinful way. Use it in a good and godly way. You're free from sin in the law for, what does verse 13 say? Basically service and love. Free from sin to serve in love. Let me read it. End of verse 13. Through love, serve one another. That's how you stay on that summit of liberty, that beautiful, refreshing summit of Christian liberty that Jesus has brought you upon. Serve each other in love. Don't go back to the law, to one extreme. Don't say you can do anything, but serve each other in love. That's the beautiful summit of Christian liberty. And so once again, isn't it so clear that Christian liberty doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. It means you're free from sin and the law. You're free to serve one another out of love. And this is true freedom to do what's good and right. So think about it this way. The best way that you can use the freedom that Jesus won for you is to serve other Christians with love. That's how you enjoy that wonderful summit and avoid extremes. Serve in love. That's what Paul is calling us to here. And love, you know the importance of that word in the Bible, right? This is love for each other here. I mean, of course we should love God first, but here I think Paul is talking in terms of our love for each other. It's a love that acts. It's not just saying you love someone and then going doing your own thing. It's a love that shows up in the way that you treat people and help people and serve people. And Paul goes on, I didn't read it, but in verse 14, he says, the whole law is fulfilled in one word, love your neighbor as yourself. So here's the amazing thing that you have to remember. If you try to keep the law, the 10 commandments, and you're doing so apart from love, you'll never be able to keep any of them at all. As hard as you try, you will never keep any commandment if you don't have love. But Paul says, if you have love, you're fulfilling the whole law. That's how important love is. And that's what Jesus set us free to do, love each other in service. You're free from sin and evil and the bondage of sin and from the curse and demands of the law, and you're free to love other people and serve them. That's what Christ has set you free for. So what does it mean to serve? You know what love is. It's action and helping. But what is serving? I mean, we're servants of one another. Serving is deeds of kindness. Just very simple things you don't have to brag about. Somebody's basement gets flooded and you think, oh, I'll go help that person because that's not a great thing to go through, so I'll help them. Or maybe someone here gets sick and they can't get out of their house for a few weeks. You call and say, hey, can I bring you groceries or do I have to drive you to the doctor appointment or something? Or maybe someone you know in the Christian family is grieving. How can you serve them? Reach out to them, meet with them, pray with them, and so on. Just everyday actions of kindness, that's what service is. And it's important to note, too, that this loving service starts in the church. Verse 13, serve one another. One of those one another verses. Of course you should love your neighbor. Yes, people out there, you should love, you know that. But this love starts and is primary in the church, in the family of God, in the body of Christ. F.F. Bruce, a good New Testament commentator said, this liberty is not to be exercised in isolated independence. When we enjoy our Christian liberty, it's with each other in loving service. It's not like I'm alone on this summit of Christian liberty. All Christians are, and we should love each other in service. And you know, I think this is one of the greatest blessings of being part of a church family, that others serve you in love, and you can serve others in love. The people in the family of Christ love you, and they'll help you if you need help, and they'll be there for you if you need something. Isn't that a great thought? I've experienced this at least twice in my life, more, but two specific times I always think about. When I was church planting in Washington State, South Central Washington, of course it was a church plant and they couldn't afford to pay me a ton. So it wasn't always easy to make ends meet, but I didn't really worry about it because I'm like, well, the church, they got me. If I have any needs, they love me and they'll support me. So I wasn't worried about it because I know that Christians serve each other in love. And also here, when Lisa was going through her cancer treatment some years ago, I had a lot of worries. There were some nights I went to sleep and I didn't know how long, if she would live, right? I had so many worries in my life at that point. But one of my worries was not that I would be financially devastated or the family would be ruined, because I knew I had a church family that was upholding me and supporting me. And you guys did a great job with that. And even Christians from other places in the United States sent us help. because that's how Christians serve each other in love. And it's such a blessing to be part of a church family like that. And this should be true for all members here, not just me because I'm a pastor more important, I'm definitely not more important, but for all of you, I hope that you feel that way, that the church will help me if I need help. And that's something that we should all remember. If someone is in need of help here, look around, pay attention, and help. Don't think, well, somebody else will help. Take initiative, serve each other with love, and show people what it means to be part of a body of Christ that supports. And once again, if you haven't felt the support or maybe if you've fallen through the cracks a little bit, I'm sorry that church should not let that happen. And sometimes we do and we probably need to improve in some different ways. So let me just encourage you all to look around and see who you can help when they need it. And, you know, serve one another in love. I won't go deep into this, but serving one another in love is also key for Christian marriages. You know, what should you do towards your husband or wife? Serve each other in love. That's a verse for the home as well. And I'm not going to go into this either, but you can read this later in Galatians 5, kind of changing the topic a little bit. Paul talks about how the Spirit of God is involved in liberty. Paul mentions the work of the Holy Spirit later in chapter 5. Basically, the Holy Spirit changes our heart, gives us life in Christ. And Paul says in verse 18, if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. And remember, the first fruit of the Spirit is love. And Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So don't forget the Spirit's work in this freedom. So this freedom that Christ gives is really an unfathomable blessing in life. I mean, it's something we don't talk about that much, maybe, but you have to think about it. This is not like hyperbole. There is no greater freedom than freedom in Christ. There's no greater freedom you can have than freedom in Christ. And there's no greater service than serving in love. Those are twin truths and they're amazing blessing. Have you ever thought about what it means to be free to love? Like you're free to love. You're free to serve out of love. And that's at the heart of a life full of meaning and purpose, isn't it? Where you can actually be a force of good in the world. You're free to love and serve and do good things because of what Christ has done for you. You can just go about loving others. You don't have to worry about earning God's favor. Forget about that. Jesus has done that. You can just serve people in love. And you don't have to worry about your sin condemning you if you mess up because Jesus has already paid for your sin. You're free to serve each other in love. The Christian finds her, his or her identity in Christ and purpose in serving one another in love. That's the summit of true Christian freedom. That's how you use your freedom right in a way that pleases Christ. Now, we're going to learn more about Christian liberty next week, Lord willing. But when I'm talking about love, one more just point I wanna make this morning, thinking biblically here, is for motives when you do something for someone else. You know what a motive is? It's the reason you do something for someone else. If your motive in helping someone or doing good for someone is to earn God's favor or approval, that's not liberty. So you know what I mean? So if you're going to help someone who needs help and your motive is, I hope God sees me and he notices this and gives me more favor. If that's your motive for helping someone else is to earn God's favor, it's not liberty, it's slavery. And it's selfish, isn't it? If you come to help me and you're trying to earn God's favor by helping me, you're just doing it for yourself to try to earn God's favor. It's terribly selfish. It's not just selfish, it's also stupid, foolish, because you can't earn God's favor no matter how hard you try. It's a losing endeavor. So if your motive in helping someone else is to earn God's favor, try to win his approval, stop. Don't have that as your motive anymore. Enjoy Christian liberty and serve other people out of love. That's freedom. That's true freedom. You don't have to earn God's favor, you don't have to try to atone for any sins you've committed by doing good works, but you're free to love and care for your neighbor. And that's such a wonderful motive. And if you've done that before, if you've truly helped someone out of love, you know what I mean, that it's awesome, a way to use your freedom in an awesome way. And so that's what you should pray for in your life. That's what you should aim for in your life, to serve others out of love. not trying to earn something with God or atone for sins, but choose your freedom in the way that pleases the Lord. And you can't go wrong if your motive is love. You can never go wrong in serving someone else if your motive is love. It's exhilarating and invigorating and it makes you dance for joy on the summit of freedom when you actually serve someone out of love. So, Dear Christian, Christ has set you free from sin and from the demands and curse of the law. Stand firm on that freedom. And remember, God calls you to live in this freedom and enjoy it. So don't use your freedom to sin. Use it to serve each other in love. And this is the way of Christ, to serve in love. It all comes back to Jesus, doesn't it? And what he's done for sinners. Out of love, Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and give his life and die on the cross to set us free. So we're free to love. And like Jesus himself said, if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Let's pray. Lord, we fall at your feet and rejoice and praise you and love you for this freedom that we have in Jesus. We're so thankful, Lord, that there is freedom from bondage and guilt and freedom from the curse and demands of the law. Thank you, O God, for this. Forgive us for those times in life where we've gone from one extreme to the other, maybe trying to earn your favor or just living in indulgent sin because we think we're free to do whatever. Forgive our sins, O God, and once again, we thank you for the work of Jesus. Perfect work of salvation to set us free and we long for that day when he returns and we'll enjoy our freedom in all its fullness Until then Lord help us to serve one another in love in Jesus name. Amen Well speaking of what Christ has done in service to us to save us we're gonna sing a hymn about that as we