Liberated Living
One of the many blessings we have as followers of Christ is freedom. As Christians and Americans, we get to celebrate two kinds of freedom: one as a political nation (“with liberty and justice for all”; freedom of religion, of speech, of the press, to peaceably assemble, to petition the government for redress of grievances, from unreasonable search and seizure, etc.), but the greater freedom is as a holy nation (God’s people in the church—1 Peter 2:9).
Freedom is often misunderstood as a license to do whatever you want to do, but that kind of freedom does not exist. True freedom has necessary guardrails that guide and protect our choices. As we have repeatedly seen in our country, unqualified liberty leads to unrestrained abuses of freedom (1 Pet. 2:16) like abortion, pornography, assisted suicide, slander, drunkenness, and the like.
God defines our spiritual freedom simply and oxymoronically as the liberty to please Him as "slaves of obedience" (Rom. 6:16) or "slaves of righteousness" (Rom. 6:18–19).
You can spell God’s kind of freedom using two words: S.E.T. F.R.E.E.
S-in was condemned by Christ at the cross: Jesus said, “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36), and His death freed us from sin’s penalty (separation from God) and its power to condemn and rule us (Rom. 8:3–4).
E-very slave of sin is set free in Christ: Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34). Sin is bondage, yet faith in Christ is emancipation from slavery. God says “Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin” (Rom. 6:6-7).
T-hrough union with Christ, sin’s reign is broken. Union with Christ in His death and resurrection is the theological ground of our freedom. He died, so in Him we “died to sin” (Rom. 6:2). He rose from the dead and now being resurrected in Him, we “walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:4). In Christ, we "laid aside the old man" (Col. 3:9) and "crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Gal. 5:24), so that "we are not under obligation" (Rom. 8:12). We no longer “have to” sin; we can say NO.
The second word “F.R.E.E.” shows us how this liberty becomes real in everyday life.
F-ollow the Holy Spirit and you will resist sin’s enticements: God says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” (Gal. 5:16–17). Freedom is not passive but actively experienced by the enablement of the Holy Spirit moment by moment to say no to sin. As you continue to walk in His path (God’s Word), sin’s pull loses its grip.
R-eckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God. God say, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts” (Rom. 6:11–12). We are declared “dead to sin” in Christ, now we need to believe it is true. Jesus said, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32). Know that sin is dead in Christ, and you are now alive to God. You don’t wait for sin to feel dead, you count it dead on the basis of Christ’s finished work on the cross. This faith-reckoning renews your mind and starves sin of the permission it needs to reign.
E-mbrace the higher law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus: God says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Rom. 8:2). Which competing force are you going to obey? The indwelling Holy Spirit or the Lord tells us “You are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness” (Rom. 6:16). Freedom is not seized by willpower but embraced by surrendering to who you are in Christ. Meditate on Romans 6:22: “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life” (see also Rom. 6:18).
E-ngage in a life of righteousness: God say, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:12–14). True freedom is not the absence of obligation, but a reorientation toward God. We must actively engage in the pursuit of righteousness, not to earn freedom, but because we are free in Christ. Paul told the Galatians, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1) or Paul put it this way in Romans 8:12-13: “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Now we can all understand why Paul said things like this: “Stop sinning” (1 Cor. 15:34). He said it because we have truly been “set free.”
Pastor Jeff
Foundational Faith Statement #34: What do justification, sanctification, and glorification mean? Justification is God’s declaration of our righteous standing made possible by Christ’s death and resurrection for us. Sanctification is our gradual, growing righteousness, made possible by the Spirit’s work in us. Glorification is our full and final state of righteousness made possible by Christ’s return when we receive our resurrection bodies and become like the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29–30; Rom. 4:5; 2 Cor. 3:18; 2 Thess. 1:10).