Freedom
Theologian Steven Paulson once described church as “a group of people gathered around Jesus to hear what he has to say.” I love that definition. As Jay-Z once said, “Take em to church!” What does Jesus have to say to us today? Maybe you have come this week carrying a burden or multiple burdens. Most likely your year can be characterized as being more full of obstacles and difficulties rather than successes and victory. Maybe you are carrying pain, disappointment, or loss. Jesus has a word for you this week, for us. He proclaimed in Luke 4 that he came to set the captives free. He promised, and he doesn’t lie. . .so as Good Will Hunting said, “Let the healing begin!”
If you want to know what God says about freedom, there are plenty of places you could go in the Bible, but I don’t think that you can find it anywhere more concise and focused than in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. The Galatians were dealing with all of the same things we deal with today. There is truly nothing new under the sun. We have the same struggles they had, we just have more resources and technology today, which we like to think makes our situation somehow better, but it doesn’t. It just complicates things more for us. . .just muddies the water. But behind it all we still deal with the same problems that every human does.
When we think about freedom we immediately get off on the wrong foot. We have a tendency to think of freedom as neutrality, or maybe more accurately autonomy. Just think of all those old Saturday morning cartoons like Tom and Jerry or Donald Duck where this idea was promulgated all of the time. Donald has a decision to make and poof! suddenly on one of his shoulders appears a little angel version of Donald advising him to do the right thing, the virtuous thing. But then poof!. . .on the other shoulder appears a little devil version of Donald advising him to do the selfish or mean thing. It’s an idea that has been played out again and again on TV, in movies, in literature, etc. We’re neutral beings, we’re autonomous (which means: a law unto ourselves). It’s the idea of “free will”…and life is all about how we use that freedom, right? It’s all about your choices.
You remember Batman Begins, the Christopher Nolan reboot of the Batman series. Bruce Wayne is going through his existential crisis and he’s starting his vigilante escapade as a man dressed up as a bat…fighting for justice in Gotham. And his love interest is Rachel Dawes, who is a young aspiring lawyer and also happens to be the most judgmental character ever conceived of in all Hollywood history. She says to Bruce who’s trying to prove to her that he is a good man inside, “Bruce, deep down you may still be that same great kid you used to be. But it's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you.” Ugh, she is the worst!
But she articulates this common notion that we are the masters of our fate, we are autonomous. What we do defines us…it’s all about what we do or don’t do…it’s all about our choices. We think this is freedom. . .that it boils down to us. Like He-Man, we have the power! We’re in control. And this is exactly wrong. This is not freedom. In fact, it is just the same old lie that we bought in the Garden of Eden at the dawn of time. "You can be like God. You can have the knowledge of good and evil all for yourself. You’ll get to be independent, autonomous.”
This is what the Galatians were falling back into. False teachers that had come into their church and told them that what Paul taught them was not enough. It wasn’t just about what Jesus had done for them. . .it wasn’t just a matter of faith. . .it wasn’t about who they were on the inside. . .the heart transformation that Jesus had performed in them. It was about what they did. What you do defines you. Sadly, the church has joined secularism and has propagated this idea for centuries, but the burden is extra heavy because the church says this is what God says. You’ve got do some things if you really want to be accepted. You gotta perform. You’ve got to get circumcised (in the case of the Galatians). You’ve got to keep the law.
This is so attractive to us. We’re like insects being drawn into that beautiful blue glow of the bug zapper. It calls to us, it sounds so right and then. . .zap! It kills us. Paul himself says he’s surprised at how fast they turned away from the gospel and towards this false teaching. It happens that fast for us because it is instinctual. It is what we are addicted to…it’s what we believe freedom is. “Oh, thank God, it actually is up to us! We need to do something. We need to earn it. We’re in control.”
We want life to depend on our works because we want people to look at us and think we’ve got all the right moves like Tom Cruise. We’re trying to please the Rachel Dawes’ in our worlds, and we all have them, the people in our lives whose opinions matter so much to us. . .who’s words carry so much weight. We’re so desperate for their approval. . .we want to impress them so much.
Paul says it doesn’t matter who is telling you this or whoever you’re trying to please or impress by earning your way or working to justify yourself. It could be an apostle, and angel, or even Paul himself. But he says do not buy into it. Whenever we turn back to that lie that it depends on us on any level, even on the smallest level, we are turning our back on God. We are deserting him who called us in the grace of Christ because there is only one Gospel. . .and it is not about what we do. It is all about what Jesus Christ has done for us. It all hangs on him. If we try to take any of that back for ourselves, then we are rejecting him. The true Gospel is that Jesus gave himself for our sins. He came to us who have never been neutral, but are actually dead in our sins, and he lived and died for us. He paid the price on the cross for our rejection of God, and then rose again from the dead for us. He gave us life. . .for free. It costs us nothing. He paid for all of it. And he calls us to gather around him and hear what he has to say. This is what he says to us today: You are forgiven. You are free. Free from having to prove yourselves. Free from having to make all of the right moves. Free from having to define yourselves by what you do. Free from having to please others….because I am already pleased with you.
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