Scripture: Galatians 5:13-15                                                                 
Sermon Series: Galatians – Set Free, Live Free – Sermon 14

For nearly twenty years, Drew Carey has hosted, The Price is Right. At the end of each episode, he ends with “I love you!” He thinks that should be as common as saying “hello” or “goodbye”. He told CBS Chicago, “It’s a practice I got in my adult life. I treat everybody I meet with love, as if they were a friend already. And it really changes everything.”

That’s what Galatians 5:13-15 is about – love. Were you a flower child? A prevalent idea of flower children was “free love” but there’s no such thing. Real love is a huge commitment. It costs you dearly. It’s self-sacrificing. It means sharing God’s love and letting it flow through you.

Sometimes a young man who seeks his own gratification will tell a young woman “I love you” to get something from her. He loves her all right. He loves her like someone loves oranges. He takes an orange, cuts a section, squeezes the juice from it, wipes his mouth, then tosses it away like garbage, and says, “Man, I love oranges!” That’s not love. Galatians 5 isn’t Free Love. These verses continue Paul’s theme of Galatians, freedom. It’s Freed Love.

Galatians has been called The Magna Carta of the Christian life. It reminds us we’re free. We’re no longer obligated to keep the Old Testament law to be accepted by God. We can’t add anything to what Jesus has done on the cross. He paid our entire price.

There’s a problem though. Do you see it? The problem is that if we don’t have to obey to be accepted by God, does it mean we can live any way we want? If it’s “Jesus + nothing = acceptance with God,” then what’s to stop us from living a life of sin? If it’s not law, is it license? No, it’s not Free Love. It’s something much better; it’s Freed Love. It’s God’s love.

If we’re no longer under the Law, what’s our guide? That’s the question answered here. It’s the law of love. Please turn to Galatians 5:13-15 (p. 916). “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”

Free love is enslaving, self-indulgence. All around us are the walking wounded of free love – broken hearts, insecurity, anxious children, unwanted pregnancies, single parents, guilt, etc. The world saw a tragic example last week with the Coldplay “kiss-cam”.

Freed Love is true freedom. We are freed from sin not to sin. There’s an unbreakable connection between the freedom we have in Christ and serving one another in love. Freedom in Christ and love for others go together like a bride and groom. When you experience freedom in Christ, self-love dies. You experience resurrection by serving others through love. It’s not freedom to live and let live. It’s freedom with responsibility. It’s the only one that results in an abundant life and the fulfillment Jesus redeemed us for.

God’s love flowing through us fulfills what the law always intended. In Galatians Paul moves from Don’t lose your freedom to don’t abuse your freedom, bringing it all together with use your freedom to love others. Until now, Paul has been theological. From here on out, his focus is ethical. The evidence of Christianity is love. God’s love has been poured out on us so it can flow through us. If you’re taking notes…

1. Christian freedom is God’s will for Christ-followers, vs. 13a. 

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life (Galatians 5:1a, The Message). It’s a restatement of Galatians 5:1a, It is for freedom that Christ has set you free (Galatians 5:1a). All of us who have received Christ by faith are free. We’ve been set free from the penalty of sin, the power of Satan, the wrath of God, and an accusing conscience.

Now we’re free to serve the Lord and become like His Son. But are we also free to be selfish and self-centered? Absolutely not! That kind of pseudo freedom enslaves rather than liberates, shackling us to sinful pride. It says, “I want my way, and I won’t let anyone, or anything stop me from getting it.”

In our study we’ve repeatedly mentioned the “Judaizers,” that group of so-called Christians from a Jewish background who were influencing the young Galatian believers (nearly all of them Gentiles) to become circumcised and live under the Law of Moses to please God. Every time we’ve talked about them, it’s to criticize them. Let me though say a good word about them.

An action is frequently a reaction. That was the Judaizers. They reacted to the immorality of the Roman Empire. We talk about the moral decline in America. Things were worse in Paul’s day. It’s hard for us to grasp how debauched the Greeks and Romans were.

One writer describes it as “an age when shame seems to have vanished from the earth.” The Greek orator, Demosthenes said, “We keep mistresses for pleasure, concubines for the day-to-day needs of the body, but we have wives in order to produce children legitimately and to have a trustworthy guardian of our homes.” Seneca, “Chastity is simply a proof of ugliness.” Homosexuality was found in every layer of society.

William Barclay offers this summary: It has been said that chastity was the one completely new virtue which Christianity introduced into the pagan world. The Judaizers thought the way to fight debauchery was with rules and more rules. Their diagnosis was right, their prescription wrong.

Paul declares that believers are now free. Freedom is a wonderful word, but also a dangerous concept. True freedom leaves us with lots of choices to make. It requires self-discipline or can soon disintegrate into anarchy.

In what sense are Christians free? We’re free from the penalty and power of sin. We can come to God anytime because of Jesus knowing we’ll be accepted. It’s first a spiritual freedom opening a new relationship with God. It doesn’t mean that we no longer struggle with temptation.

Are we free? Yes! But freedom can be abused. For most of us, there’s less danger of us failing to enjoy our freedom because of legalism, than there is of devolving into license. It’s our problem today. Christians going too far with freedom and gratifying their sinful natures. 

Freedom is one of those words whose meaning has shifted a lot. Freedom of the press used to mean the right to print the truth without governmental harassment. It’s now used to refer to the right to publish pornography, military secrets, and conspiracy theories.   

Paul saw the potential for the same distortion with our freedom in Christ. It’s a beautiful concept, expressing our release from the deadening demands of the Law. But some go too far with freedom from biblical restraint.  It’s never freedom to indulge in sin. It’s not liberty or license, it’s love!

2. Christian freedom means to slavishly love each other, 13c. 

Through love serve one another (Galatians 5:13b). All religions have some type of service. Under religion you’re mandated to serve. Under Christianity you’re motivated to serve. “Serve” is not the normal word for servant. The word in the original is slave. Don’t miss this. A slave is obligated to serve. The love God produces motivates and obligates us to slavishly serve one another in love.

Today’s church habits are opposite of what God commands. Often a church has to beg to get Christians to serve. It’s a failure to understand our freedom.

When we grasp our liberty in Christ, His love becomes the divine motivator for Christ-followers to serve each other. Only then are we free. Slaving in love for others expresses the freedom we have in Christ. We’ve chosen love because we’re loved. God’s plan is a serving love. If you must be coerced, you don’t understand what it means to have Jesus as your Lord.

Listen to what happens when you put this command together with the first part of the verse: “You were called to freedom…through love serve one another.” You were called to freedom from servitude; now in love submit to servitude! Why are the call to freedom and the call to love synonymous? Because when you live according to the flesh, you’re enslaved. When you serve each other in love, you’re free. Why? Love is motivated by the joy of sharing our fullness. The works of the flesh are motivated by the desire to fill our emptiness. The Message renders 1 Corinthians 13:5: Love cares more for others than for self. Pagans can’t do that. They love self. We need to ask, which one am I more like, a Christ-follower or a pagan?   

When we love, we’re not enslaved to use things or people to attempt to fill our emptiness. Love is an overflow of fullness. It’s why love is the only behavior that we can do in freedom. When God frees us, He fills us with His all-satisfying presence. He fills our emptiness with grace. He frees us from the bondage to accumulate things or manipulate people. When we’re truly free, we want to serve one another through love. Freedom flows forth in love like a bubbling spring out of a mountain stream. Our old nature is insatiable. It’s never satisfied. This was written to show us how our lives can become like a mountain spring that serves the valley of others with the fresh water of love.

Want a simple way to serve others? Jancee Dunn in The New York Times writes that the key to meaningful connection is simpler than we think – the eight-minute phone call. ‌An eight-minute phone call is the perfect amount of time to connect with someone. It’s ideal, not too long and not too short.

Studies found that when participants received brief phone calls a few times a week, levels of depression, loneliness, and anxiety were “rapidly reduced” compared with those who didn’t receive a call. Do you love others enough to give eight minutes? Jacques Ellul was right, Freedom without love resembles a blind man without a guide.

How do we serve one another in love? We pray for each other. We overlook offenses and don’t let them divide us. We encourage each other with edifying words. We serve each other even when we’re busy and it’s not convenient. We consider others more important and more significant than ourselves. We sacrifice our good for them. That’s a start to serving each other in love. It’s being a love slave to Jesus for our neighbor.

3. Christian freedom means living out God’s law, vs. 14. 

“For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself” (Galatians 5:14, The Message).

A pastor in Kansas City, Kansas, was organizing opportunities for his church to do small acts of kindness to demonstrate Christ’s love in the community. He phoned several neighborhood grocery stores and laundromats for permission to do specific services. But in one call, the employee who answered the phone hesitated, then said, “I’ll need to ask the manager, but first, let me make sure I understand: You want to clean up the parking lot, retrieve shopping carts, hold umbrellas for customers, and you don’t want anything in return.” “Yes, that’s right,” the pastor replied. After disappearing for a moment, the employee returned to the phone. “I’m sorry we can’t let you do that because if we let you do it, we’d have to let everyone else do it, too!”  

What!?! Wouldn’t that be wonderful if everyone found ways to serve? It would be a bit like heaven on earth. Want to find a little heaven in your home? A little heaven in your work? Do you want to find some heaven in your relationships? Learn to serve others in Christ’s love. That’s freedom!

Our freedom isn’t so we can blow off God’s law. Paul quotes Leviticus 19:18. It’s not that we need to love ourselves to love our neighbors. We already love ourselves.

Have you ever been in a big group picture and someone shows you the picture? Who’s the first person you look for? You look for yourself. We’re to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. We stop thinking in selfies. Loving others is as important as do not kill or do not steal.

A Me first philosophy is foreign to a biblical freedom. We are our brother’s keepers. We must use our freedom to love others. So, do you care for the needs of others as much as your own? Are you willing to give up comforts to make life better for someone else?

When was the last time you had a fight with your spouse because you were so concerned about their needs? When’s the last time you got offended with someone because you loved them so much? When someone has a frown and looks your way, do you think, I wonder what I did? Or, do you think, I wonder what’s going on that’s weighing on them and showing on their face?

Be honest. How often do you find yourself thinking about others and how you can show love and care for them? Compare that to how often you think of yourself? We don’t need to be taught to love ourselves. 

Miserable Christians have an “I” problem. Fulfilled ones have an others’ focus. Do you want joy? True freedom? Love and serve others.

It’s hard to love and serve at a distance. Loving and serving most often takes time and personal contact. Sadly, for very few Christ-followers is gathering Sundays with their brothers and sisters a high priority. They only gather if there aren’t better options. It’s nearly impossible to love in absentia.

Since Covid we’ve had a rise in the online church in America. It’s very hard to obey this and love your Christian family when you attend online church.

God didn’t love us from a distance. Jesus left heaven to come into our messy world. God has given us His Son. Don’t use freedom in Christ to selfishly take care of yourself. Use it to serve others in love.

This is countercultural. If I love my neighbor, it means I must serve my neighbor, I must give to my neighbor, and sacrifice for my neighbor. It’s how I love myself.  Giving of yourself to serve others is the best way to love yourself. Why? Because it’s the path to the greatest and longest happiness.

Philippians 2 reminds us; it’s what Jesus did. Jesus emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant. He was and is God, fully God, glorious, but laid aside His glory, emptied Himself, and took on the form of a servant. He humbled Himself, even to death on the cross. He sacrificed Himself. He emptied Himself. It’s the path to great fulfillment. As a result, God has highly exalted Him. Love doesn’t break or replace the Law. It fulfills it.

4. Christian freedom isn’t indulging one’s sinful nature, vss. 13a & 15. 

“Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh…But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another” (Galatians 5:13a & 15).

As Christ-followers, we need to love each other because apart from Jesus, we’re not very nice. Help me out. Turn to someone near you and say, Hi my name is so-and-so. Okay, now that you’ve gotten to know each other, I’d like you to say, Hi my name is so-and-so and I’m not very nice. One more time, now say, Hi I’m so-and-so, I’m not very nice but you need to serve me.

That’s me and that’s you apart from Jesus. My name is Scott and I’m not very nice, but I need you to serve me. It’s us apart from grace. We’re all under construction. It’s why I needed a Savior…and so do you. Paul gives us two terrible outcomes if we don’t live Freed Love.

We feed our sinful nature.The word opportunity has military roots. It speaks of an operational base. When you want to attack another country, you find a place to base your troops. From there, you can launch attacks.

Verse 13 says don’t let your freedom in Christ be the base from which you satisfy sin and the flesh. Jesus paid it all. You’re free. Don’t use it as an excuse to live a lawless life. How do we do that?

We give our flesh opportunity if we nurse a bitter spirit. We give it an opportunity when we dwell on the negative. We give it an opportunity with a critical spirit. We give it an opportunity when we feed lust.

Our sinful nature was nailed to the cross. Galatians 5:24, And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. We must leave it there to die, not try to remove the nails and allow it to control us again. Who controls your life, Christ or your sinful nature? You’ll only find freedom by obeying Christ and yielding to the Spirit’s control. John Stott, Christian freedom is freedom from sin, not freedom to sin.

We’re not to attack others. “If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?” (Galatians 5:15, The Message).

Have you seen YouTube clips of tourists approaching a bear or a buffalo? Those aren’t pets. Often they’re attacked or killed. By the way stay away from Oconomowoc. A black bear was sighted there near I-94.

The Galatians were failing miserably at serving and loving each other.  This spiritual cannibalism is probably a reference to malicious talk and slander.

An Associated Press article from a few years ago stated that human bites had increased 77% in the previous ten years. New York City reports that human bites used to rank third behind dogs and cats but now rank second behind dogs. Maybe the Galatians were actually taking chunks out of one another! 

Whether these were literal or figurative bites, apparently the false teachers brought this destructive spirit into the church. Conflict, anger and disunity are common when you have one or two individuals who think they have all the answers on doctrine or how the church ought to be run.

It shouldn’t surprise us. You can’t focus on serving and loving others if you’re focused on how you think things should be done and irritated when they’re not done YOUR way.

Spiritual cannibalism can happen in any church. We must be vigilant against it.  Sometimes we don’t realize how destructive our comments, or attitudes are, Christian freedom isn’t freedom to exploit my neighbor. It’s to serve and love him or her.

What organ in our body do we use to bite and devour? Our mouths, our tongues. It’s shocking the callous, cruel things we say if we’re not walking in the freedom God gave us. I’ve done it, you’ve done it. It hurts and leaves scars.

Do you know where we bite and devour the most? In our homes. We bite our spouses and children. We say harsh things to them that are shameful.

Want to know another one? It happens in the church. Recently, Jane and I attended a pastors and wives conference. Ken Dalton was there. Ken is nearly 80. He’s pastored several churches. He shared that he’ll be at a coffee shop with his Bible open and a younger man will approach him and ask, “Are you a pastor?” When Ken says yes, they will say that they are too and then often they start weeping…they’ve been devoured by their church.

Maybe you in the past did that to a pastor or church leader. Please make it right. On the other side, if God has used a spiritual mentor in your life, please take the time this next week and drop them a note and thank them. They need to know that they made a difference. It’s so important that I’ll pay the postage.

So, what’s happening in Galatia is they’re ripping each other apart with their words. Paul warns them that they’re going to destroy the church. We must replace devouring each other with loving and serving each other. 

It’s not easy. Every church person is a sinner saved by grace. Sometimes the sin is more evident than the grace. Mark it down. Satan loves division. We take the battle to him when we love and serve each other.

Conclusion

Want to hear about rules? Do you follow Kate Middleton, the princess of Wales? Most don’t know the huge sacrifices she made to marry Prince William and the shocking restrictions.

For example, Kate isn’t allowed to eat potatoes at dinner. That’s because Queen Elizabeth didn’t like carbs, so the royal menu didn’t have potatoes, rice or pasta. Many other rules were set by the late queen. She didn’t like women wearing white sandals or going bare legged. Kate must always wear pantyhose. She couldn’t go to bed early but had to wait until the Queen went to bed. It’d be considered disrespectful to go to bed before the Queen. When she travels she must always carry a black dress with her in case a member of the royal family dies unexpectedly.

If you’re a Christ-follower, you’re part of God’s royal family. There’s only one family rule. James 2:8, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.”

Jesus died for us. He set us free so that we could live in Freed Love. How are you doing in living with the one law? Do you love others? Not just with words but with your life. Jesus loves us and we are to love each other. If we truly want freedom and fulfillment, we must obey the one rule and know what it is to let Christ’s love flow through us. This morning can you honestly say that you love your neighbor as yourself?