“Freedom!”

Preached by Rev. Ed Brouwer at The Gathering Place, Osoyoos
Pulpit Series Volume 18, Issue 21 July 27, 2008

FREEDOM! Many see Christian freedom as freedom from sin, death, law, and the need to earn God’s favor by works.

However, Christian freedom is not just freedom “from” it is also freedom “for”, freedom for doing what’s right and honoring to God.

When we were still caught in sin, we weren’t able to please God, no matter how hard we tried. But now, in Christ, we are free to do what God desires, even what His law dictates.

Yet, we do this, not in order to earn God’s favor, rather in a response to the favor already given in Christ.

Here’s the good news of your freedom in a nutshell: You are now free to do the right thing.

You are free to live your life for God. You are now free to live the best possible life there is.

In Christ you have freedom from and freedom for.

Paul is quite specific in Galatians about what our Christian freedom is for.

Galatians 5:13-14 For you have been called to live in freedom—not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Did you catch that?

Don’t use your freedom for your sinful nature (“the flesh” in Greek). Rather use it “to serve one another in love.”

The English misses the shocking irony of the Greek, which literally reads, “You were called to freedom . . . .
So use your freedom by becoming slaves to each other in love.”

Paul says that we should use our freedom in Christ to choose to act as if we were slaves to each other.

We’re not just talking about casual and convenient serving here, but committed and consistent and self-sacrificial servant-hood – exactly the sort of thing we see in Christ himself.

The last supper; What a picture we have here - Jesus kneeling as a slave / washing the dirt from feet of sinful men, who were utterly indifferent to His impending death!

The basin was there, the towel was there.. But they were obscured by the arguement about who would be the greatest... no one was about to move and wash someone else’s feet.

Yet in spite of what awaited our Lord, He still revealed clearly His personal love for the twelve. Jesus selflessly humbled Himself to meet the needs of others.

Paul calls us to mutual servanthood, not a one-way street of slavery and domination. If I am committed to serving you sacrificially, and you are committed to serving me in the same way, then there’s no danger of abuse or domination.

Moreover, we are to serve as slaves to one another “through love.” Love not only enables me to serve you and you to serve me, but it controls the nature of our servanthood.

We have been set free, not only to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ, but to live as servants of Christ in and for the world.

Christ has set us free so that we might give our lives away in his service, loving one another and reaching out to love our neighbors, no matter where they might live.

It is the nature of love to be selfless!

I Corinthians 13:5 seeks not her own... The greatest virtue of love is its humility, for it is the humility of love that proves it and makes it visible.

The desire to be noticed kills love, humility and service.

Jesus was teaching His disciples: They needed to begin to operate on the basis of humility. If the Lord of Glory was willing to gird Himself with a towel, take upon himself the form of a servant, act like a slave and wash the dirty feet of sinful disciples it was a reasonable that the disciples should be willing to wash each others feet.

Many believe that in John 13 Jesus was instituteing an ordinance for the church. Some churches practice foot washing in a ritual similar to baptism and Communion.

I have no problem with that, but I don’t believe that is what is being taught here.

Jesus says I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

The word “as” is a translation of the Greek word kathos which means “according as”.

If Jesus was establishing footwashing as a pattern of ritual to be practiced in the church, He would have used the Greek word “ho”, which means “that which”. He would have been saying “I have given you an example that you should do that which I have done to you.”

But He was not saying “Do the same thing I have done.” He was saying “Behave in the same manner as I have behaved.”

In other words the example we are to follow is not the foot washing, it is the humility.

The lesson of John 13 is a pratical humility that should govern every area of life.

The result of that kind of humility is always loving service - doing the menial and humbling tasls for the glory of the Lord.

This utterly destroys most of the popular ideas of modern-day spirituality. Some seem to think that the nearer you get to God the further you must be from people, not so!

Actual proximity to God is to serve some-one else.

Jesus willingly served - we should be the same!
Do you want to be blessed fulfilled and happy? Develop a servants heart!

Matthew 20:26-27 whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

Instead of grabbing for the crown - take the towel

Philippians 2:3-5 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

The more we do this, the more our neighbors will see Christ in us and be drawn to him.

Before I conclude this message, I must mention that we do not have to try to earn God’s favor by doing the right things and avoiding the wrong ones.

His favor – which we call grace – has already been given to us in Christ.