Christ the Liberator: Chapter 5

This week we began a new section of the Jesus Christ study, Paul's letters. Paul is indignant with the "foolish Galatians" because they are beginning to rely on themselves and their own acts to become righteous. Paul strongly reminds the Galatians that doing so would ensure their condemnation.

Are we that much different from the Galatians? Have we forgotten what it was when Christ entered our lives, how we were filled with the Spirit , and how we relied fully on him as the crucified savior and the one who took away all of our sin?

As I began studying this week, two images of "freedom" were stuck in my mind. They were both images from the Newseum's "Freedom Walk."

The first was a chunk out of the Berlin Wall:



The second was an upside down lawn mower chassis that was turned into a boat for a refugee who sought freedom from Cuba in the United States:

It was nearly time for church when God demonstrated two very interesting parallels between these images and our lesson.

1. The Berlin Wall

• The Communist built a wall in order to make their law stronger. But its effect didn't make for a stronger Germany or even a stronger East Germany. It's effect was to prevent families from reaching one another, to prevent friends from having relationships, and to create a form of slavery.
• This is what the Law can do to us if we try to obtain righteousness on our own. Reliance on the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ's crucifixion is the only way we will ever be righteous.
• This isn't to say that the law shouldn't be followed, as the Holy Spirit will help conquer the sins of the flesh. But, the key is to have our hearts in the right place. The key is recognizing that it is by faith that God counts us as righteous and it is by Christ's blood that the curse of the law was removed from us.

2. The Lawn Mower, turned Boat

• Imagine what it must have been to feel oppressed by a harsh dictatorship for your entire life. Imagine how badly Cuban refugees wanted to get to the United States. So badly, actually, that they would willingly risk their lives for freedom by traversing 90 miles of turbulent, shark-infested waters just to get a taste of freedom.
• Isn't that what Paul is saying in Galatians 3 and 5? With the transforming nature of our conversion and with Jesus Christ as the Great Liberator, shouldn't we have this amazing desire to be free? Would we traverse 90 miles of ocean in a tiny, one man boat made of a lawn mower so that we could taste the liberation given to us by Jesus?
• If so, then why would we ever try to earn that righteousness on our own? As soon as we try to earn righteousness, we are slaves again and not at all free. Yes, we become slaves to the law because if we don't follow every word of it, we will be cursed.
• So, let's have a joyful, emotional, powerful desire to allow the Holy Spirit power in our lives to battle against the desires of the flesh. In this way the fruits of the Spirit will ripen within us. Let's also have a joyful, emotional, powerful desire to be truly free from the curse of the law and reliant on Jesus Christ as a part of our identity.

So, read and pray over the scriptures:

Galatians 3:1-14 (click hyperlink) and Galatians 5:13-18 (click hyperlink)

Remember the following:

1. We cannot rely on ourselves for righteousness. Have faith in the power of God through Christ's crucifixion.
2. We must rely on the Spirit to give us strength to battle the desires of the flesh.
3. Then we too shall become sons and daughters of God.

Your turn, now. Please post comments on ways we can live according to the freedom we have received in Christ.

In Him,