Ways to Freedom

 김정호목사 

Dr. Jung-Ho Kim, Pastor   

그리스도께서 우리로 자유케 하려고 자유를 주셨으니 그러므로 굳세게 서서 다시는 종의 멍에를 메지 말라 ² 보라 나 바울은 너희에게 말하노니 너희가 만일 할례를 받으면 그리스도께서 너희에게 아무 유익이 없으리라 ³ 내가 할례를 받는 각 사람에게 다시 증거하노니 그는 율법 전체를 행할 의무를 가진 자라 ⁴ 율법 안에서 의롭다 함을 얻으려 하는 너희는 그리스도에게서 끊어지고 은혜에서 떨어진 자로다 ⁵ 우리가 성령으로 믿음을 좇아 의의 소망을 기다리노니 ⁶ 그리스도 예수 안에서는 할례나 무할례가 효력이 없되 사랑으로써 역사하는 믿음 뿐이니라. For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. ² Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. ³ I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. ⁴ You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵ For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. ⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.  (Gal 5:1-6)

FCF: We tend to lose our liberty in Christ.

주제: 그리스도께서 우리를 자유케 하셨기에 그분 안에서 자유를 지키려 싸워야 한다.

Theme: Since Christ set us free, we must strive to keep our freedom in Christ.

Introduction: In my childhood, I enjoyed catching fishes in creeks. During summer vacations, me and my friends would spend much of the daytime in the nearby creek. We swam there and made splashes to one another. We jumped into water to clean our mud-smeared bodies. One of the key things we enjoyed most was catching fishes such as mudfish, catfish, or carp. We didn’t have fishing tools. So, we used our bare hands to catch them where it was likely for them to hide. Let me tell you that I was not good at catching them. But I was eager to catch them as I watched my friends proudly boasting about their catch. Their big catch caught attention of all of us. I realized that carrying a fish into a bucket was as important as catching it out of the water. We were all small kids, elementary school kids. We were careless. Some upheld their catch proudly and bragged about it. Then, while bragging about, they carelessly lost them into the water. The fish disappeared quickly, eclipsing their joy of the moment. It was like throwing the water into their proud faces. Sometimes, one guy asked the catcher if he would grab it for a moment to feel the fish. Almost always he would lose the fish out of his grip. Whatever we caught, we put them into a pot and cook with noodle somewhere out there. That was the best part of our day’s work.

I see something similar to our Christian experience. Christ set us free so that we should enjoy freedom. He has handed the fish of freedom over into our hands. We grab it for a moment of joy and victory. But soon we lose it out of our loose, careless grip. Then, we fall back into the shackles of our legalism. Soon, we return to the yoke of spiritual slavery. Sin, Satan, and the world always keep working together to snatch our liberty from our hearts. This is what Paul has been saying to Galatian Christians. These young Christians were attracted by the false or superficial spirituality of the Judaizers. Paul has been calling them back to the sufficient gospel of grace of Jesus Christ, describing free justification by faith in various ways in the first four chapters. From his personal experience, understanding of Scripture, and the Galatians’ salvation experience, Paul has proved that sinners are justified by faith in Jesus Christ, not by legal performance.

Now, we have come to the beginning of the last section, chapters five and six, where Paul deals with Christian ethics. Here Paul deals with the issue of how to practice liberty in Christ or what constitutes Christian liberty. His practical conclusion of the first four chapters is Gal. 5:1 in which he says: 그리스도께서 우리로 자유케 하려고 자유를 주셨으니 그러므로 굳세게 서서 다시는 종의 멍에를 메지 말라. For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. He talks first about what Christ has done for us and then about what we must do: Christ has set us free and so we must fight to keep and enjoy it, not rendering ourselves to the yoke of the law. Today, we will study Gal. 5:1-6 where Paul suggests our problem is losing our precious liberty to legalism, returning to the slavery of legalism, our attempt to save ourselves from sin and death with our legal performance. Paul tells that we must stand firm to keep our liberty in Christ. Unless we keep vigilant and stand firm, we will lose our liberty to our spiritual enemies. As Paul says, we must strive to keep and enjoy God-given liberty in Christ because Christ has set us free. To keep and enjoy what we have in Christ is not an easy task. Surely, it takes our efforts. But it takes more than that. From the text today, we may learn of three ways to strive to keep and enjoy our freedom in Christ. First,  

I. 규칙이 아닌 관계로

 Not by rule, but by relationship

We have a strong tendency to conduct our Christian living by keeping a list of “dos” and “don’ts.” We may define ourselves as our activities such as Sunday church attendance, tithing, prayer, baptism, refraining from smoking, drinking, or gambling, etc. It seems right to regard those doing such things as Christians. Thus, we tend to show our Christianity by what we do and what we don’t. Of course, we may show our faith through those things. However, unsaved people too may practice such things for different reasons. Some generous unbelievers make great monetary contributions to welfare of the poor, the famished, or the marginalized in the world. But they are not Christians at all. If we define ourselves as our activities, then we will have an ever-changing view of our identity. Our actions may reflect our hearts. But they do not ultimately determine who we are. Our activities are only the fruit of our internal status, borne out of love for Christ.

Then, how do we define ourselves? Foremost, Christians are those who have a saving, loving relationship with Christ. They have entered a personal relationship with Christ as their Savior and Lord. They have personally experienced Christ’s saving grace and love. They know they are forgiven and accepted into the family of God. They know they are God’s children and heirs. The Bible uses various metaphors to describe our relationship with Christ. Christ is our Shepherd and we are His sheep. Christ is the Head and we are His body. Christ is our God and we are His people. Christ is our Bridegroom and we are His bride. Christ is the Cornerstone and we are His building. Christ is the High Priest and we are His temple. Christ is the Vine and we are the branches.

These metaphors suggest that we are vitally united with Christ. There is an inseparable, vital, mystical union between Christ and His beloved. A key to the Christian life is our union with Christ. Paul expresses this idea in Gal. 2:20-21: ²⁰ 내가 그리스도와 함께 십자가에 못 박혔나니 그런즉 이제는 내가 산 것이 아니요 오직 내 안에 그리스도께서 사신 것이라 이제 내가 육체 가운데 사는 것은 나를 사랑하사 나를 위하여 자기 몸을 버리신 하나님의 아들을 믿는 믿음 안에서 사는 것이라 ²¹ 내가 하나님의 은혜를 폐하지 아니하노니 만일 의롭게 되는 것이 율법으로 말미암으면 그리스도께서 헛되이 죽으셨느니라. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Gal 2:20-21). We are living not by rule, by a close relationship with Christ.

We can keep and enjoy our liberty in our Christian life by utilizing the principles of union with Christ. We must recognize Christ is in us and we are in Him. We are living together for God’s glory. We must treat Christ not an idea, or concept, but as a Person. We talk everything with Him. With our divine Friend, we share our joy and sadness, our hope and despair, our success and failure, our confidence and doubt, or our peace and worry. We suffer with and suffer for Him. We will participate in His glory. We listen to His whisper of love. We journey with Him through storms in life. We are in love with Christ. Instead of relating to Him by keeping a list of rules, we live together with Christ in every sector of life. If we fall into legalism, that is, our efforts to save ourselves through our self-righteousness, we will be separated from Christ and His saving benefits, and from grace. Unless we keep our liberty for which Christ has set us free, we will fall into the yoke of spiritual slavery and fail to enjoy a saving relationship with Christ. If we don’t live with Christ, we will be overloaded with heavy regulations of the whole law.

This is what Paul says in Gal. 5:1-4: 그리스도께서 우리로 자유케 하려고 자유를 주셨으니 그러므로 굳세게 서서 다시는 종의 멍에를 메지 말라 ² 보라 나 바울은 너희에게 말하노니 너희가 만일 할례를 받으면 그리스도께서 너희에게 아무 유익이 없으리라 ³ 내가 할례를 받는 각 사람에게 다시 증거하노니 그는 율법 전체를 행할 의무를 가진 자라 ⁴ 율법 안에서 의롭다 함을 얻으려 하는 너희는 그리스도에게서 끊어지고 은혜에서 떨어진 자로다. For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. ² Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. ³ I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. ⁴ You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

We are not allowed to abandon our duty to keep the law by living in union with Christ. Rather, we can fulfill the law out of love for God. Relationship with Christ comes first to honor His Law. We honor God’s law not as a way to God, but as a way of God. Rule can’t save us from sin. Only Christ can. Thus, the way to God is not through a rule, but through Christ. Our saving relationship with Christ leads us to freedom, not to bondage. Our freedom is to serve God, not to sin, which leads to spiritual bondage. But legal performance will fail because it is not perfect. Even when it seems to succeed, it brags about its merit. Thus, it severs us from Christ. Rule enslaves us, not frees us. It makes Christ’s merit unprofitable to us. If you live by rule, you will be focused on it and lose your personality in it. All you consider is rule whereby you judge yourself and others. Especially in a community setting, you will evaluate all people by rule. You will accept those who follow rule and reject those who do not follow rule. You will make impersonal rule dictate everything about you and others. Though the rule is given for you to be led to Christ, it will be your dictator.

The Jews expanded God’s law and classified them into 613 regulations, what to do and what not to do. They added more to the law of God, because they believed they could satisfy God by keeping the whole law. So, they trained themselves harshly to follow the law without having their hearts changed by their personal relationship with God. What matters was their relationship with God based on trust and love. But they turned God’s law into external regulations whereby they tried to manipulate God or earn God’s favor. But God can’t be manipulated by their law-keeping. They should have built their relationship with God on the basis of loving trust. The sin of the Pharisees was paying attention to outward demonstrations of piety for appearance’s sake rather than giving attention to inward obedience. This can be well illustrated by two eggs. One egg is a normal raw egg that, when placed under the palm of the hand and pressed evenly cannot be broken because of the structure of the egg itself. The second egg is exactly the same on the outside, but its insides have been removed. When it is placed under the same palm pressure, it breaks easily because it is internally weak. So, too, one who gives himself to the sin of the Pharisees is empty of substance and will eventually crack under pressure.

But, we are still attracted to legalistic performance. We are likely to live by unnecessary laws. For instance, in Amarillo, Texas, it is against the law to take a bath on the main street during banking hours. In Portland, Oregon, it is illegal to wear roller skates in public restrooms. In Halethorpe, Maryland, a kiss lasting more than a second is an illegal act. The list goes on and on. Suffice it to say that down through history man has been inclined to live by and enforce the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law. The attitude one has toward doing what has to be done determines if the action is legalistic. An illustration makes this clear: “A serious athlete has to keep training rules. Most athletes are glad to keep them, rigid as they may be, for the sheer love of the sport. A few athletes conform to make the team and glorify, show off, self. The former attitude is love, and the latter is legalism, but both attitudes are toward the same rigid code, and both result in conformity. Having to conform to a law is not of itself legalism” (Charles C. Ryrie, The Grace of God [Chicago: Moody Press, 1975], p. 7).

Legalists can’t keep a meaningful relationship if they keep violating His Word. Their fellowship with God is to be based on a loving and trustful relationship with God. They are to keep God’s law to express their love for God, not to earn God’s salvation. Relationship precedes rule. It is bound by love, not by slavish ritualism. Relationship with Christ is beneficial to us. Christ did everything for our salvation. We are in Him and He is in us. This is a vital union with Christ. The apostle John uses the metaphor of the vine and its branches to express our union with Christ. Before we try to do anything to keep our liberty, we must learn to abide in Christ. Harriet Beecher Stowe said, How does the branch bear fruit? Not by incessant effort for sunshine and air; not by vain struggles.… It simply abides in the vine, in silent and undisturbed union, and blossoms and fruit appear as of spontaneous growth. We must be connected with Christ in His love. When we are in Christ, we are more than conquerors. Apart from Him, we are nothing. Like some railway tickets in America, I am “Not good if detached.” Christlikeness, one of the goals of our salvation, does not come from the keeping of a series of rules, but from a loving relationship with Christ. When Christ reigns in our hearts, we can be separated from sin to God for His divine purpose. So, we must stand firm to keep our liberty through a vibrant, vital relationship with Christ.

Not only do we stand firm to keep our liberty in Christ not by the rule-keeping, but by a vibrant relationship with Christ, but also we must stand firm to keep it in Christ not by….

II. 행위가 아닌 은혜로

 Not by works, by grace

Grace is God’s unmerited favor. We have done nothing to deserve it. God has freely given it to us. The motivation for grace is God’s love. Because He loves us in Christ, God has chosen us in Christ eternity before, called us in His timing, and has applied all the saving benefits of Christ to us through the Holy Spirit. Grace is God’s unchanging love for those who deserve only God’s wrath. God’s grace is comprehensive in our Christian life. It covers all Christian life from beginning to end. God’s grace is the motivation, principle, and power for us. 

However, legalism finds its motivation in one’s own will. It seeks to show its own righteousness before God. It is proud, so it can’t accept God’s grace. It regards grace as a cheap freebie. Legalists in their consciences can’t accept grace because they believe they must work hard to deserve God’s grace or receive it. They try to make themselves worthy for God’s grace. However, grace is not for those worthy, but for those unworthy. Grace is for sinners, not for self-righteous ones. The reason that legalists can’t accept God’s grace is pride in their hearts. They feel shameful and angry if they receive something for free from others. They may feel in their hearts, “I don’t need your help. I am OK. I can do that for myself. I am not a person who needs you.”

If we try to establish our own righteousness, we will be perishing in spiritual bondage, separated from grace. Martin Luther applied Paul’s warning as follows: 가라 앉고 있고 배를 탄 자가 배의 어떤 부분에 있든 상관 없이 그 배는 가라 앉을 것이다. 이와 같이 은혜에서 떨어진 자도 멸망할 수 밖에 없다. 그러므로 율법으로 의롭다 함을 받고자 함은 파선당함과 같다. 영원한 사망에 이르는 가장 확실한 위험에 노출된다. 하나님의 은혜를 버리고 모세의 율법을 지키는 것보다 더욱 정신 나가고 악한 일이 있을 수 있겠는가? “For just as someone on a ship is drowned regardless of the part of the ship from which he falls into the sea, so someone who falls away from grace cannot help perishing. The desire to be justified by the law, therefore, is shipwreck; it is exposure to the surest peril of eternal death. What can be more insane and wicked than to want to lose the grace and favor of God and to retain the law of Moses.”

Paul condemns circumcision as a way to God. It is because circumcision stands for something more than a physically cutting off the foreskin. As the false teachers were pressing it, circumcision was neither a physical operation, nor a ceremonial rite, but a theological symbol. It stood for a particular type of religion, namely salvation by good works in obedience to the law. The slogan of the false teachers was: “Unless you are circumcised and keep the law, you cannot be saved” (cf. Acts 15:1, 5). They were thus declaring that faith in Christ was insufficient for salvation. Circumcision and law-obedience must be added to it. This was tantamount to saying that Moses must be allowed to finish what Christ had begun.

What does Paul say to them? He does not mince his words. On the contrary, he makes a most solemn assertion, beginning Now I, Paul, say to you (verse 2). He warns them in three sentences of the serious results of their receiving circumcision: Christ will be of no advantage to you (verse 2), you are severed from Christ and you have fallen away from grace (verse 4). More simply, to add circumcision is to lose Christ, to seek to be justified by the law is to fall from grace. You cannot have it both ways. It is impossible to receive Christ, thereby acknowledging that you cannot save yourself, and then receive circumcision, thereby claiming that you can. You have got to choose between a religion of law and a religion of grace, between Christ and circumcision. You cannot add circumcision (or anything else, for that matter) to Christ as necessary to salvation, because Christ is sufficient for salvation in Himself. If you add anything to Christ, you lose Christ. Salvation is in Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone.

Legalists refuse grace to retain the law in pride. Legalists who refuse God’s grace may be compared to a poor nobleman who refused to receive any help from a wealthy commoner. He was proud of his noble lineage. He tried to act in accordance with his high status. He walked like a nobleman. He spoke like a nobleman. Though he was poor and hungry, he wouldn’t ask for help from others. He acted like he had everything. Now, he was about to lose his house to his creditor. He had no money to pay. But he didn’t want anyone to know his plight. He tried to solve his own problem. In the meantime, the wealthy merchant in town, one of his former servants, heard about his story. He wanted to help him out. Though he suffered much from his former master, he felt compassionate toward him. So, he paid all the debt for him. At first, the nobleman didn’t know about it. He went to see his creator to earn some grace time. Surprisingly, he was told that his debt was paid off by his former servant. Instead of feeling thankful to him, however, he was infuriated. His pride got hurt. He was a nobleman but his servant was a commoner. He thought, “How can I receive a help from such a despicable guy? My grandfather and father held high positions in the government. I am not done yet. I am not dead. I am still alive. I can handle this problem on my own. Though I suffer this much, I will be OK. Who am I? I am the smartest and most capable son of my great father.” He asked his creator to give the money back to his former servant. He promised to pay it back as soon as possible, not knowing he had nothing but pride. Then, he visited his former servant and blasted him, saying, “I am a nobleman. You are nothing. I am not that bad to need help from a guy like you. Don’t ever try to help me!”

In some way, we are like this proud nobleman. We owe incalculable debt of sin to God. We try to pay it off with our good works. But we do not realize we are spiritually bankrupt. Christ paid it off by his life and death. When we hear this news, we get angry, saying, “I am OK. I can pay it on my own. I am not dead yet.” We don’t appreciate God’s grace and love that gave His Son for our sin. We complain to God, “Why did you do this? I don’t need your help. I will take care of my debt.” Our pride, like that of legalists, hinders us from receiving God’s grace or living by God’s grace. We must humble ourselves first to receive God’s unmerited favor. If we don’t stand firm in grace, we will be drifting away to legalism whereby we try to pay our sin-debt and prove our nobility before God. Our proud hearts will refuse to be moved by God’s overflowing grace.

However, if we see our spiritual brokenness and bankruptcy, and humble ourselves before God, then we will be heartbroken before God, thankful to God for His grace, and motivated to please God. Grace humbles us. Grace helps us see our spiritual bankruptcy. But if we refuse grace by pride, we get our hearts unmoved and then our lives unchanged. If we reject God’s unmerited favor, then we will rely on our prideful attempt to prove ourselves before God by keeping the law. We must extend our hands of faith to receive God’s grace in humility. Grace moves our hearts whereas rule moves our mind. Before we try to figure out what regulations we have to follow, we have to let God’s grace move our hearts. But we often fail to let God move our hearts by grace. Grace is moving and touching only when our hearts are burdened by sin and guilt, longing for God’s forgiveness. When we hear God say, “I love you, not because you have kept my law, but because you are my child. I love you in spite of your sin. You are my beloved for whom my Son shed His precious blood.”

But legalists can’t enjoy God’s love. For them, God’s grace is something they must earn by their works. They demand God’s love on the basis of their legal merits. But they are hypocritical. They don’t want to acknowledge their sinfulness and their inability to keep God’s whole law. Before they let God’s grace touch their souls, they must be broken before God. Their repentant hearts are the soil God’s grace blossoms. If we live by works righteousness, we will be enslaved by it. But if we live by grace, we will be thankful to God. Grace motivates and energizes us to please God’s hearts with all that we do and we are. God’s grace is the fuel to the engine of our Christian life. If we fall away from God’s grace, we will be left on our own. Then, we will be miserable and incapable. Only grace enables us to stand firm to keep liberty in Christ.

Julie Martin wrote a poem entitled “Grace in a Barren Place” as follows: 저는 그 므비보셋이었어요/뒤틀린 교만으로 불구자되가 되어/주님도 찾을 수 없고 제가 마땅히 받아야 할 대로 주실 수 없는 불모의 곳에서 주님으로부터 숨어 있었어요/주님은 저의 사막과 같은 삶을 살려주시고 풍성하게 해 주셨어요. 그런데 어찌된 일인지 주님은 저를 찾아내시었어요. 받을 자격이 없는 제게 그것을 주신 이유를 이해할 수가 없어요. . 여기 주님의 상에서 저는 주님께 감사드립니다. 나의 왕이시요.  I was that Mephibosheth/Crippled by my twisted pride and/hiding from you in a barren place/where You could not find me/where You would not give me what I deserved./But somehow You found me and I don’t understand why but You give me what I do not deserve./You not only spared my desolate life but You made it bountiful/And here at Your table I will thank You, my King.”

This poem is drawn from the setting of the palace of King David. In the banquet room, David and his children gather for an evening meal. The call to dinner is given, and the king scans the room to see if all are present. One figure, though, is absent. The sound coming down the hall echoes into the chamber. Clump, clump, clump. Finally, the person appears at the door and slowly shuffles to his seat. It is the lame Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, seated in grace at David’s table. We are like Mephibosheth who deserved the King’s wrath but enjoyed our King’s grace around the table. God’s grace comes to us through Christ. When we look at the person and work of Christ, when we live by a living relationship with Christ, we can enjoy His transforming grace. Grace is a gift of God our heavenly Father. If it is a gift, we can ask it of Him. Since He is gracious, He will freely give us everything we need. Paul says: 자기 아들을 아끼지 아니하시고 우리 모든 사람을 위하여 내어주신 이가 어찌 그 아들과 함께 모든 것을 우리에게 은사로 주지 아니하시겠느뇨. He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Rom. 8:32). What we need to do is to ask our heavenly Father in prayer. Prayer is God-ordained way to receive His grace. Prayer is a channel through which God’s grace abundantly flows into our hearts. 

We must stand firm by a vital relationship with Christ and His grace to keep liberty in Christ. Thirdly, we must stand firm….

III. 자기-의존이 아닌 믿음으로

 Not by self-reliance, but faith

To live a life of freedom in Christ, we must be focused on Christ, grace, and faith. Faith is a key to keeping and enjoying liberty in Christ. Paul says: 우리가 성령으로 믿음을 좇아 의의 소망을 기다리노니 ⁶ 그리스도 예수 안에서는 할례나 무할례가 효력이 없되 사랑으로써 역사하는 믿음 뿐이니라.  ⁵ For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. ⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. From these two verses, we glean some important truths on faith. First, faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Faith is not something we can work within ourselves. We can’t get it by trying to believe something our hearts can’t believe. When the Spirit of God moves our hearts to believe in Christ, we come to have faith in Christ. Faith wrought by the Holy Spirit leads us to live in freedom from sin and freedom in Christ. The Holy Spirit uses our faith to lead us to enjoy liberty in Christ. If you don’t have saving faith, you must ask God for it instead of keeping trying to believe because faith is God’s gift.

Second, faith waits in hope. If you have faith in Christ, you will be a person of endurance and hope. Hope in the Bible is not wishful thinking, but confident expectation. Faith gives us hope for God’s final deliverance. “The hope of righteousness” here refers to the consummation of salvation at Christ’s return. By faith, we eagerly anticipate the day of the Lord’s return. Faith fixes our eyes upon the day we will be with Christ in heaven. Such faith-based hope frees us from spiritual bondage. It helps us stay away from sin. It helps us purify ourselves from pollutions of this world. Faith works with hope to sustain us under all circumstances. The reason we have hope for tomorrow is that we trust a God of faithfulness and goodness. Such trust looks forward to a brighter future when we will be perfectly vindicated. Faith waits until Christ returns. 

Third, faith works. It is effective to change us positively. Circumcision or un-circumcision is ineffective to change us from sin to righteousness. As James says, faith that does not work is dead. Saving faith is always working faith. How do we know that our faith is working or not? Among other things, we have to check on whether our faith is working itself to be expressed in love. Love is not only a result of faith, but also a companion of faith. In fact, love sums up the whole law. Faith energizes us by grace to love God and others. When we say to poor brothers and sisters, “Go and warm yourself. Feed yourself,” instead of giving them food, our faith is not working through love.

This is what James says: ¹⁴ 내 형제들아 만일 사람이 믿음이 있노라 하고 행함이 없으면 무슨 이익이 있으리요 그 믿음이 능히 자기를 구원하겠느냐 ¹⁵ 만일 형제나 자매가 헐벗고 일용할 양식이 없는데 ¹⁶ "너희 중에 누구든지 그에게 이르되 평안히 가라, 더웁게 하라, 배 부르게 하라 하며 그 몸에 쓸것을 주지 아니하면 무슨 이익이 있으리요" ¹⁷ 이와 같이 행함이 없는 믿음은 그 자체가 죽은 것이라. ¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? ¹⁷ So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (Jam 2:14-17). Love is evidence of faith. Faith makes us fulfill the law of love in Christ. 

Why then are we enslaved by sin and law even when we claim that we have faith in Christ? One of our mistakes is that we see faith as a mere profession of Christ’s death and resurrection. If we profess that Christ died for our sin and rose from the dead, we count ourselves as believers. But devils know that Christ died and rose from the dead. A mere confession of factual information on Christ and mere historical knowledge of Jesus Christ are not equal to biblical faith. It is true that faith professes and possesses the historical facts on the person and work of Jesus Christ. But faith is more than intellectual assent to the information on Christ. Faith is a personal trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is not a reliance on one’s possession and profession of the knowledge of Christ. But it relies on Christ, not on self-righteousness. Faith is a denial of self-righteousness. Also, it is faithfulness to Christ. Those who have faith in Christ are faithful to Him. As Christ is faithful to believers, believers are those who keep faithful to Christ. 

Such faith waits, hopes, works, and loves. It abandons self-glory. It glories only in Christ. It forsakes self-reliance. However, if we live by self-reliance, then we will be enslaved by law and self. Self-reliance keeps us in the prison of self. We know by experience that our self is too unreliable to achieve salvation by works.  The more we focus on self, the more we will be enslaved by self! When we get forgetful of self, we will be free. When we are conscious of self or others, we will be bound by them. But if we live by faith, then we will use our freedom to love God and others. Faith is a link where we connect heaven with earth. It is a vision whereby we see the invisible in a visible world. Faith is trust. Faith is faithfulness. How germane it is for Paul to say, “The just shall live by faith.”

We must stand firm by faith in Christ. This is the way we keep and enjoy liberty in Christ. Christ has set us free to enjoy freedom in Christ. Christian freedom is not freedom to sin, but freedom to serve God freely. Many suppose that freedom is the license to do whatever a person wants. Biblical freedom is the ability to do what is right. It takes obedience in order to have true freedom. You can sit at a piano and be at liberty to play any keys that you want, but you don’t have freedom, because you can’t play anything but noise. You have no freedom to play Bach, or even “Chopsticks.” Why? Because it takes years of practice to be truly free at the piano! Then, and only then, does one have the freedom to play any piece of music. The same is true of freedom in living. To be truly free, we must have the ability to do right to please God. The best and truest freedom is the kind described by John Stott: “freedom from my silly little self, in order to live responsibly in love for God and others.” Philip Ryken says, “We are most free when we so trust in Christ that we are filled with His love, and thus enabled to love God and others with selfless sacrifice.”

Indeed, we are freed to be a slave of Christ. Our freedom means to serve Christ. Now, are you free in Christ or are you enslaved in self? Some years ago in Los Angeles a man was walking down the street with a sign on his shoulders. The front of it said, “i’m a slave for christ.” The back of it read, “whose slave are you?” That is a good question, because all of us are slaves to one or the other of two masters—sin or righteousness. We have no other choices. By the very nature of our humanity, we are made to serve and to be controlled by forces beyond our power. Let’s keep in mind we are set free to serve God in Christ. Like the apostle Paul, let’s give ourselves to God as His blessed bondservants, so that we can truly enjoy freedom in His beloved Son.

Conclusion: At the University of Oklahoma, for many years a project was underway to teach a fifteen-year-old female chimpanzee named Washoe to talk by combining sign language with simple recognition. Since 1966, this chimpanzee learned 140 signs. Finally, the project directors decided that Washoe was prepared to “conceptualize.” This meant that instead of merely imitating some human’s words, the chimp would express thoughts of her own. Now, understand, Washoe was a pampered animal in the university’s laboratory—well fed, physically comfortable, safe from harm. She had security. And yet, when she was able to put words together on her own into a phrase, these were the first three—and she has said them again, repeatedly—“Let me out.”

Surely, all of us want freedom. For true freedom, we must come to Christ by faith. Paul still says, “For freedom Christ has set us free!” To quote from John Stott again, “Our former state is portrayed as a slavery, Jesus as a liberator, conversion as an act of emancipation and the Christian life as a life of freedom.” Our Lord Jesus Christ had lived a life of freedom. He was perfectly free from sin. His freedom was in the Father’s unfailing love. Also, He set His people free from sin, death, and Satan. He did everything in dependence upon His Father, though He could do it on His own. God demonstrated His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. If God’s love doesn’t move your hearts to love God and others, you are proud, maybe feeling like you don’t need God. Your pride is your slave master. No matter how hard you try to prove yourself before God, you will certainly fail. Take your eye of faith off from yourself to Christ. Enjoy freedom in Christ. Strive to keep and enjoy it in Christ, not by rule, but by relationship with Christ, not by works, but by grace, and not by self-reliance, but trust in Christ.

Let’s enjoy the glorious freedom of conscience that Christ has brought us by His forgiveness. Let’s acknowledge we are sinful and broken so that we can receive God’s grace freely in Christ. Let’s strive to keep freedom in Christ from the bondage of sinful past, habitual sin, or satanic bondage. Satan tries to entangle our hearts in negative thoughts, addictions, or emotional toxins such as anxiety, fear, inferiority, despair, or depression. Instead of freeing ourselves from all this, let’s throw ourselves at the mercy of our Father. Let’s not lapse into the idea that we have to win our acceptance with God by our own obedience. Let’s not go back to our old, sinful way of living. Rather, let’s walk with Christ by faith. Let’s rely on God’s grace, so that we can live freely to do right and glorify God. Please, let’s make Paul’s exhortation deeply inscribed on the tablets of our hearts: 그리스도께서 우리로 자유케 하려고 자유를 주셨으니 그러므로 굳세게 서서 다시는 종의 멍에를 메지 말라.  For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Benediction: ²⁴ 능히 너희를 보호하사 거침이 없게 하시고 너희로 그 영광 앞에 흠이 없이 즐거움으로 서게 하실자 ²⁵ 곧 우리 구주 홀로 하나이신 하나님께 우리 주 예수 그리스도로 말미암아 영광과 위엄과 권력과 권세가 만고 전부터 이제와 세세에 있을지어다 아멘. ²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.  (Jud 1:24-25)

Lyrics

I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I’m not enough
Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up
Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low?
Remind me once again just who I am, because I need to know (ooh oh)

You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
You say I am held when I am falling short
When I don’t belong, oh You say that I am Yours
And I believe (I), oh I believe (I)
What You say of me (I)
I believe

The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me
In You I find my worth, in You I find my identity, (ooh oh)

You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
And You say I am held when I am falling short
When I don’t belong, oh You say that I am Yours
And I believe (I), oh I believe (I)
What You say of me (I)
Oh, I believe

Taking all I have and now I'm laying it at Your feet
You have every failure God, and You'll have every victory, (ooh oh)

You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
You say I am held when I am falling short
When I don’t belong, oh You say that I am Yours
And I believe (I), oh I believe (I)
What You say of me (I)
I believe

Oh I believe (I), yes I believe (I)
What You say of me (I)
Oh I believe (oh)