As wonderful as it is to be able to celebrate our freedom as a nation, it is a far, far greater thing to be able to celebrate our freedom in Christ. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Perhaps many of us as Americans are sometimes guilty of taking our freedom for granted. But each year on the Fourth of July we remember how precious freedom is, and that our freedom came with a heavy price – the lives of thousands. How much more precious is our freedom in Christ? Did it not come at the price of the life of the very Son of God? (1 Peter 1:18- 19; 1 Corinthians 6:20). Our nation gives us the opportunity for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” but only in Jesus are such concepts fully realized.
The book of Galatians has often been called, “The Magna Charta of Christian Liberty,” or “The Christian’s Declaration of Independence.” Notice Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. “”Stand fast therefore” has to do with the Christian’s life. Dead folk do not stand and walk! “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24). The expressions “liberty” and “freedom” have to do with the Christian’s liberty. The truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is liberating! (John 8:31-32; Romans 6:16-18). William Cowper was right when he said, “He is a freeman whom the truth makes free, and all are slaves beside.” This liberty is a freedom from sin, not to sin.
Note that Galatians 5:1 says, “do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. “It seems to me that this expression, although stated negatively, basically amounts to the pursuit of happiness. I say this because the greatest source of satisfaction and joy in life actually is the pursuit of God! (Psalm 16:11, 43:4; Jeremiah 9:23- 24). Anything else is slavery and/or idolatry! How could one become entangled again in bondage? Perhaps going back to the first book of the Bible will help to illustrate. God created Adam and Eve (male and female) to be both morally responsible (receiving commandments) and free (invited, but not coerced into loving obedience). To fail to properly balance moral responsibility and freedom leads to sin. It results either in license (which denies moral responsibility) or in legalism (which denies freedom). Christians know from both Scripture and experience that human fulfillment (life) is impossible outside some context of authority. For that very reason, our country has a government divided into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The Christian must understand that God is the ultimate King, Law Giver, and Judge. Our national government is “by the people, for the people, and of the people.” Our God made people, is for us more than we could possibly fathom, and sent Jesus to save as one of us! (Hebrews 2:18, 4:15).
Freedom unlimited is an illusion. The mind is free only when under the authority of truth, and the will when under the authority of righteousness. It is only under Christ’s yoke that we find the rest He promises, not in casting it aside or replacing it with something else (Matthew 11:28, 29). “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”(2 Corinthians 3:17). How thankful we should be for freedom in Christ! May we truly be able to say, “In God We Trust.
-Mike Vestal
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