Discover True Freedom in Christ Today

In America, we have freedom. That doesn’t mean that we are not held accountable or we can just do whatever we want. As an example, we have the freedom of speech, but that does not mean you have the freedom to yell bomb on an airplane.

We have freedom of religion, except when Covid hits and government says that you can’t meet. We have freedom of the press, but that doesn’t mean that they can lie about a situation or about a person without repercussions.

We have the right to assembly, but you can’t “assemble on someone else’s property or destroy property. And many freedoms that we have are conditional like the right to vote. If you are a felon, you can lose your right to vote.

Real freedom comes with responsibility. Just like our freedom in Christ as Paul talks about in Galatians 5. Let’s read our text.

My man Peter talks about it in one of the letters that he wrote… I Peter 2: 16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. 17 Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God... Don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil or to satisfy your sinful nature.

There is a lot to being really free and we are going to talk about this, this morning.

All three of my points today seem to be difficult for us from time to time. And these 3 things should be at the top of our list of accomplishing, to living out, to being obedient in our freedom in Christ Jesus. Let’s take a look and see how we are actually doing with our freedom. Point 1.

Free to….

1. Let it go….

Luke 17:3-4, Ephesians 4:31

Most of us have a difficult time with letting go. Sometimes we are good at letting go of one type of thing but not letting go of another.

One thing that some people have a hard time with letting go of, is our past. Maybe it is the mistakes that we made in the past. You know God doesn’t bring up your past, Satan does. He does it to trip you up, make you feel like you are not worthy or valuable.

Paul writes about the messenger of Satan that would torment him. Paul used to imprison, torture, and be in agreement with the killing of Christians. Paul allowed God to work through him and use his past as a stepping stone of teaching the gospel.

The way people were raised is sometimes difficult to get passed. If you have had bad experiences growing up, physically, psychologically or financially, it can have an impact on who you are today. In the words of Van Montgomery from the show Reba, “I got one word for you, letitgo.” But that’s 3 words. Not the way he says it, “letitgo”.

Another thing that we have problems letting go of, is hurt feelings. There was a time when my best friend did something that was not very best friend like. It was also something that a real friend would never ever do to another friend. Even though he apologized, I could not really get passed what he had done to me. God convicted me of my sin of unforgiveness and I called him to apologize.

Tonia has a testimony that she would like to share.

When it comes to real freedom, we need to let go of many things, just like it says in Ephesians 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. That is just a short list. We can add selfishness, fear, doubt, and pride to that list as well.

When the Son truly sets you free, then you are free indeed.

What else are we “free” to do? Point 2… We are

Free to…

2. Serve…

Galatians 5:13-14, Mark 9:33-35

There is this story of a man that was hired to paint a small row boat. The man bought the bright red paint that the owner had asked for and he went to the man’s house to paint the boat. The owner took him to the boat that was in the back yard.

He laid down some old sheets to keep the paint off the ground and started painting. While painting on the inside of the boat, he noticed a small hole in the bottom of the boat. It was not very noticeable because of the location. The painter stopped painting and got supplies from his truck to fix the hole and after fixing the hole, he finished painting the boat. The owner came out and was pleased with the job and paid the man.

The next day, the owner of the boat came back to the painter and gave him a bigger check than the day before. The painter was confused and asked about it. The man said, “this is for repairing the hole.” “It only took a few minutes and it wasn’t that big of a deal to fix.” The man said, “I forgot to tell you about the hole and when I had gone to town yesterday afternoon and my kids took the boat out on the lake to fish. When I got home, the boat was gone and the kids took it to fish. They could have been in the middle of the lake and no telling what might have happened. To me you saved my children and no amount of money could repay you for that.”

Sometimes we do things, because we have to, sometimes because we want to. But when we do something, we should do it willingly with the right heart. I want to brag on Darrel, who has come and worked on the sheetrock day after day. He didn’t come because he had to. He came because he wanted to. When taping and mudding, he put up plastic to help with the dust. Then he swept and vacuumed the area. He could have left the mess for someone else to clean up and many of you would have been glad to do it, but he wasn’t going to leave it for someone else.

Too many times, we serve a little. We will do this or that because we want to, but we will leave our mess behind. We will see issues and think someone else should take care of that. Jesus put on a towel and washed the disciples’ feet, because He saw a need and an opportunity to teach them and us about servanthood.

If all Christians truly served, what would the kingdom look like? What needs would there be that were not taken care of? What do you look at and think, “someone else will do it” or do you follow the teaching in the Bible from Colossians 3:17 - And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. That is real servanthood.

Free to let it go. Free to serve and point # 3

Free to…

3. Follow…

Mark 8:34-36, Ephesians 5:1-6

There is no doubt that we are called to follow Jesus, but what does that mean? First of all, when we follow Jesus, we are not just going where He went, but we are doing what He did. What does it look like when we follow Jesus?

I saw a video of a man that was being interviewed. In the interview he said that he likes to ask this question to those that do not believe in God. “If you could ask God anything, what would you ask Him.” The man said that 80% of the people would usually say, “If you are really God, why do you allow so much suffering in the world?”

The man said that he used to give a 5-point sermon on why there was suffering in the world. He would talk about Satan and sin in the garden and then he said that he stopped doing that. If the people asked the question of if God is real, why does He allow so much suffering in the world? He would respond with this question, “Why would you ask that?” And most of them have gone through some type of serious suffering in their life, like the death of a child or a spouse with cancer. These people do not need a sermon they need us to be like Jesus.

What would Jesus do? He would love them. He would comfort them. He would cry with them. And that is what the man would do. He would tell them that he is so sorry, put his arm around them, sometimes cry with them, and he would love them.

He would be Jesus to them and they would then feel the love of God.

In one of early semesters of college, I was talking a Psychology class and the online discussion topic was, “Do you believe that there is a God, why or why not?” One lady said, “No.” because she had lost a toddler to cancer. She went on to say that she had been going to church and the ladies at the church would say that it was all part of God’s plan. Let me tell you. “No!” it is not and what they lady needed was Jesus, but she got a cold hard stone wall! If they would have just loved on that lady, and put their arm around her, and comforted her, maybe just maybe she would have felt the presence of God.

One more thing about “Real Freedom” and that is obedience. Are you obedient in your life are you Letting go, serving, following completely?

Real Freedom