It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

(Galatians 5:1)

Today we celebrate the 4th of July. July 4th was the date that Congress accepted the final wording for the Declaration of Independence. In it are these famous words.: ”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These three ideal, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, are engrained in the core of American thought.

If we go to other countries, we find that the freedoms we have here in the United States are lacking. To be truthful, many of those countries do not want our freedoms. They have seen that the freedom of speech leads to people saying whatever they want, however they want. They see an entertainment industry that uses the freedoms in our country to promote immoral lifestyles, a lack of respect for children to their parents , nudity, coarse language, drugs and alcohol and many other vices, all in the name of free speech.

One could wish that the freedoms we have would be used to promote what is good and righteous and uplifting. We wish that the freedoms that have been bought by the blood of our men and women would be used to make our society better, to increase decency, respect and those thing noble.

In many cases that is what happens. America helps other countries. We are concerned about the poor and needy around the world. When the earthquake struck Haiti this past year, America raised millions of dollars and sent thousands of workers to help out.

But we also know that in this country of freedom, many use their freedom to promote ideals and practices that are not only against the Bible, but serve to hurt their own countrymen.

I don’t know the answer as to how we can restore decency and morality to this country in which we live. But I do know that as Christians, we should live and walk on a higher level.

The apostle Paul writes, “1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1, NIV).”

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Before the world was created, God knew that we would become enslaved. We would not be free. Theologians struggle with this and it gives them a reason to write books. The question comes like this, “How could a loving God, knowing beforehand that we would sin and that we would be spiritually dead for eternity, allow such a catastrophe to happen?” This question does not have easy and quick answers. But what we do find is that the God who created us, created the conditions by which we could experience freedom, true freedom.

When we ask about the purposes of God, Paul informs us that Christ died so that we could be free. All of God’s thinking, all of His efforts, all of his sacrifice came so that you can I could experience real freedom.

The songwriter caught this when he said, “Would you be free from your burden of sin? There’s power in the blood.” By this he is saying what Paul said. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Do you want that freedom? If you do, I tell you today that God wants you to have that freedom as well.

In the context of this verse, Paul says that the freedom that Christ wants you to have is freedom from a performance-based life.

So many of us judge ourselves by how well we do things. We are our harshest critics. We call ourselves stupid or dumb when we don’t know something that we have never learned. We act like we should know everything and get down on ourselves when we don’t.

Or we are self-critical. When we try to do well but fail, when we don’t remember something or we don’t get it right, we talk down on ourselves because our performance didn’t live up to our very high standards.

This is what the law had become for the Jewish people. When Ezra read the law in the book of Ezra, the people heard it and were grieved. They understood that the captivity they had come through was the result of their disobedience to God. So they redoubled their efforts to keep the law. Out of this a group of people called the Pharisees was formed. They taught the people the law and told them how to keep it. Keeping the letter of the law became so important, performance became so important, that every detail of the law was explained and people were expected to follow the law to the letter.

Great idea except for one small point. Keeping the law is not the same as keeping a relationship. So in the process of trying to keep the law, they rarely connected on a personal level with God and often kept the law at the expense of loving the people. People who try to keep the law can be very hard on everyone else. They can become critical, judgmental, abrasive, and cruel. Performance-based living can wreck human relationships.

Those who live life based on a performance-based model do not experience freedom. They are slaves to the law. They are so concerned about right and wrong that no one will ever measure up, even themselves. People in this camp are constantly dealing with guilt, often self-limiting on what they will do. I mean, why even try if I will not succeed and everyone will see how bad I am? I cringe when I hear people talk about good Christians and bad Christians. How are we judging Christians? Based on their performance. The Bible does not use that terminology and neither should we.

In other places, Paul speaks about sin restricting our freedom. Just as some try to live a good life and judge themselves and other on their performance, so some who call themselves Christians say that we don’t want to be legalistic, so they give themselves a license to do whatever they want to do. “Let’s not be legalistic, so there is not need to obey the law of the land when it interferes with what I am trying to do.” “Let’s not be legalistic, so God won’t mind if we skip church, neglect prayer, miss reading our Bible, don’t get involved in Christian ministry.” Satan has used the blanket of legalism to help Christians rationalize behavior that is clearly unacceptable to God. They move from legalism or a performance-based life to a license or a willingness to do what is clearly against the teachings of scripture.

Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says that Christ has set us free.

Free to do what? Whatever we wanted? Is that what real freedom is?

No, Romans 6:1- say, “1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1, 2, NIV).

Freedom that comes from Christ is not the freedom to sin. The world interprets liberty and freedom this way. Freedom for us as Americans is to say what we want, do what we want, go where we want and act as we want. If we push the envelope, so be it. If we choose to live at a lower level, we have the right. If we want to swear, live in sin, disrespect our neighbor, cheat on our spouses, cheat on our taxes, disrespect our parents then we can do so. Freedom for many is the freedom to have no one else condemn what I have chosen to do.

How many of you here are under a burden of sin? What is happening in your private life that you wish was not there? Has your anger or your temper hurt relationships that you wish were not as bad as they are? Has your impulsiveness or your covetousness caused you financial problems? Have you made decisions in your moral life that cannot be taken back, but you deeply regret?

God knows these things that are in our lives. God’s plan for you and I is that we be free. He wants us to be free from living a performance-based life. He wants us to be free from the burden of sin.

So what does freedom look like? What does it mean to be truly free? What is at the core of real freedom?

Paul gives us two elements of freedom. Because both have to be there in order for real freedom to exist, he counts them as one.

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:6, NIV).

What are the two elements? Faith and love.

God sets us free when we trust in Him.

He is the creator of the universe. Can we trust him to know best how the universe works? If I wanted to know how a dingledorf worked, I would talk to the inventor. He would be most qualified to help me understand how a dingledorf works. If I want to know how I was made to work, what will help me the best, I would trust my creator, God, to know more than any human on earth could tell me.

Some people have discovered things about how God made our body to work. I have no trouble listening to doctors and people who can explain how my body works and what is good and bad for it. But when I listen to them, if I hear anything they say that goes against what God has said, I will trust in God. He knows more than they do. That is faith.

Do you want to be free? Can you trust God to set you free? If anyone knows what freedom is, it is God. As Paul has already told us, “It is for freedom that Christ ha set us free.” Jesus came to die on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven and we could be set free from sin. He sent the Holy Spirit to set us free from legalism and give us real life. Can you trust God? If so, trust Jesus, follow Him, and you will experience the freedom that God wants you to have. As the song writer said, “Would you be free from your burden of sin. There’s power in the blood, power in the blood.” It starts by trusting God and trusting Jesus.

Our faith in God flows out into love for others. This is real freedom, when we love others. When we become self-centered, we put ourselves in bondage. When we love others, we set ourselves free.

Think of how difficult it has been for you. You have known someone who has hurt you deeply. You have an old friend that you don’t call and won’t meet with any more. You wish you could find meaning in life, but you don’t go out, you don’t get involved and you don’t do anything for other people.

Christ wants to give you freedom. True freedom is when you trust him and your reach out and love other people. True freedom is when you make a difference in this world by living out your faith in a way that benefits others.

You may read about people in our world who do not appreciate the freedoms we have on this 4th of July. You may know people who are using the freedoms that were purchased with the blood of patriots in ways that do not honor the enormity of the sacrifice.

But you don’t have to be one of them. God has a higher plan for you. He has a higher plan in Christ. He wants you to be free. He wants you to be free by trusting Him and loving others. That will be true freedom.

I want to encourage you to try it. Put this to the test. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. I want to encourage you to trust God in this. Trust Him when he tells you that your sins are forgiven. Jesus died for you. He rose again to give you new life. So live the new life. The new life is a life of following Jesus. It is a life of loving others. So reach out. Reach out in Jesus name.