This past week, we celebrated the independence of our country. Brave people hundreds of years ago fought to ensure our country could be established and governed by democracy. “The Great Experiment,” as it has often been called, has worked out pretty well in most ways. The United States is one of, if not the, most prosperous and powerful countries that has ever existed. But we must ensure that our civil freedoms are not used or misused and confused with the spiritual freedom obtained through faith in Jesus.
The early Christians had a similar problem, which Paul addresses in Galatians 5:13-14: “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’.” Freedom is not meant to create a free-for-all lifestyle. It is intended to produce a lifestyle that demonstrates the love of God. As this verse warned the early Christians, it stands as a warning for us today: “Don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.” In our day, more and more things are legal and socially acceptable, but are nonetheless merely the indulgence of the sinful nature. The very thing Jesus died to free us from—sin and its stranglehold on our lives—is so often casually taken up again, leading many to become entangled and bound.
In 1 Peter 2:16, the same idea is expressed: “As free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God” (NKJV translation). We are commanded to not hide our indulgence in carnal, sinful, destructive thoughts and actions under the disguise of being free. Another translation (NLT) of this same verse reads: “For you are free, yet you are God's slaves, so don't use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.” Our freedom enables us to be slaves (Greek doulos, “a slave”—literally or figuratively, involuntarily or voluntarily) of God. In fact, we cannot serve God fully until we are set free from evil and our sinful nature through faith in Jesus. Freedom from sin enables us to be slaves of God. The bottom line here is that in truth Christians are not created to be “free agents.” In the words of a famous poet, “You gonna serve somebody.” Whenever we think we are free from God, we are certainly entangled in bondage to evil and sin. And the only way to be free from sin according to Jesus Christ is by following Him. As we see in John 8:31-32: “Jesus said to the people who believed in Him, ‘You are truly My disciples if you remain faithful to My teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”