Text: Galatians 5:13-15 For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
God wants us to fully enjoy our freedom in Christ. He purchased it, not by opening His wallet, but by shedding His blood.
The Main Idea: Love is always the boundary line of freedom.
Fully enjoy your freedom in Christ but remember… love is always the boundary line of freedom.
The exhortation to serve one another is not intended to restrict or curtail the blessing of our freedom in Christ but to enhance it by using it to bless others. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Three helpful caution signs to prevent our freedom from turning into “unlove.”
1. If my freedom causes someone else to stumble
1 Corinthians 8:13 If eating meat causes my brother to stumble, I will not eat meat again.
2. If my freedom causes offense
Consider verses like let Colossians 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
And… 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
3. If my freedom deprives someone of a blessing
Sometimes we are called to be inconvenienced because love is often inconvenient.
Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
None of these come with absolute guidelines. They will often require prayer. The blessing of this challenge is the relationship building it develops with the Lord. We have to dialogue with Him. This is a means of getting to know Him better.
Whether we use our freedom or sacrifice it for love’s sake depends on the circumstances.
• Paul wrote a whole book about the unnecessity of circumcision in Christ but in Acts 16:3 it says he circumcised Timothy to avoid offending the Jews.
• In the church at Corinth, a brother may have had the legal right to sue another brother, but in 1 Corinthians 6:7 Paul appealed to him to let it go. But there may be times when it is necessary to take another brother to court.
• Jesus went to the home of tax collectors and sinners. It caused the Pharisees to stumble, but it was the loving thing to do.
The Lord doesn’t require us to have perfect decision-making but to operate in faith and with a heart focused on love as its objective.
We are here to bring glory to the Lord. Isaiah 43 says we were created for His glory. But His glory shows up best in us when love is our goal. Why? Because 1 Corinthians 13 tells us without love, all our spirituality is nothing but a noisy gong.
• What brings the most Glory to God is our adherence to what is most important to God.
• If love brings the greatest glory to the Lord, it is unlove that brings the most dishonor to His name. That is what Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for. They neglected love and mercy for the sake of their rules.
Clinton Scott says
Colossians 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
There is a way to answer someone who is in the household of faith. There is a way to answer someone who is not in the household of faith. But, I often struggle to find ways to answer people with just the right amount of salt ☹️. Sometimes, my answers are the same or similar, they may vary in style and substance, or become nuanced, while other answers are radically different in tone, style, meaning, and substance depending on the relationship I have with person that I am talking to. And things can get tricky very fast or get out of control when topics suddenly change during the course of a conversation. Attitudes can abruptly change, a person can get defensive, or start verbally attacking for no apparent reason.
So, knowing how to answer and respond to *everyone* with just the right blend of grace and salt is a perpetual challenge for me. 😂