Christian Liberty
"You
are not under the law, but under grace" is
a beautiful and foundational part of the
Christian doctrine. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty"
is another foundation of Christian belief. But there is a problem. This
grace and liberty have been divorced from obedience to God's law - the O.T.
laws in particular. Grace and liberty have been used as a means to give
license to a casual, ineffective Christianity. When speaking to someone
about obeying a certain command, I have gotten comments like, "O, we're under
grace," "That was for O.T. believers," or "You're being legalistic."
What is true Christian liberty according to God's
word? First, we must understand that everyone is born under the law of sin
and death. You could consider this a natural law, like the law of gravity.
We are born with a sin nature. Apart from God, man sins and dies as a result.
James 1:14,15 spells this out clearly: "But every man is tempted, when
he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
We must also understand that we sinners are in bondage to this sin
nature. We cannot truly do good, we cannot truly seek God in this state (Rom.
3:10-12). Even the best or most noble things we do are tainted by impure
motives.
Only a child of God can see and agree to the fact
that there are just 2 kinds of people on this earth: believers in the one
true God and unbelievers. And as such we have only 2 options: we are either
servants to sin or servants to righteousness. "Know ye not, that to whom
ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey;
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Rom.6:16
This is the way our heavenly Father designed His creation, like it or
not.
Some have the misconception that God's law is
a bad thing, a restrictive and confining thing. But "the law is holy, and
the commandment is holy, and just, and good!" Rom.7:12 In reality
God's law is love. It is love to Him first resulting in love to others
. . . "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Matt. 22:37-39 It is God's way of loving us, for obeying the law protects
us from much harm and evil. For example, take the sin of adultery. The lust
of the flesh is as a god to many people. But when the marriage vows are broken
there is a ripple affect. The sacred bond of love and trust between husband
and wife is broken. Often the marriage ends. The children suffer terribly
from broken parents, a broken home, absenteeism of a parent, and on and
on. There are risks physically from S.T.D's. It is devastating financially.
So when we obey a command we shouldn't view it in a restrictive way, but
rather with the understanding that this is the Father's best for us. We are
under His protection when we obey.
The flesh being weak and sinful cannot live according
to God's laws, nor does it want to. And here is where Christ Jesus
comes in. God's law requires perfect obedience. Jesus achieved this. He
is the believers righteousness . . . "For He hath made Him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
II Cor.5:21 God's law requires the penalty of death for breaking His
commands, and the only acceptable sacrifice for sin is one of perfection.
Jesus perfectly obeyed and could pay this penalty for us. This means He
is our Redeemer. He purchased us with a price - His own death. So now instead
of being servants of sin, the believer is to be the servant of righteousness
. . . "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that
we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness . . " I Pet.2:24
Since the believer has been justified by the Savior, he can now come
into the presence of God - he is acceptable to Him based on what the Savior
has done.
Now we will see what Christian liberty really is.
Since Christ broke the power of sin for the believer by paying the penalty
for it, he now has the freedom to be able to obey God's word.
This is achieved by the gift of the Holy Spirit at the time of salvation.
Through the Holy Spirit, God writes His laws on our hearts. See Heb. 8:10
With freedom from the sin nature the believer wants to obey
God because he loves God and wants to please Him. This is the law of the
Spirit spoken of in Romans 8. Believers are to be a holy righteous people
not only by justification as spoken of in the preceding paragraph, but also
by sanctification. Sanctification is a life long process of learning to live
a holy life. A holy, righteous life is defined by keeping - obeying
God's word.
God's purpose for salvation is to create a holy
people for Himself who will praise and worship Him and do His will.
See I Pet.2:9, Eph. 4:24, Philip.2:13. And what is His will? Look
to Jesus, He repeatedly states that He came to do the will of the Father.
Part of that will consisted in obeying God's commands. Should we be anything
less? Does it make sense that God would save us from our sins, to give us
the so-called "liberty" so many espouse, only for us to continue in sin?
Absolutely not, we are to be conformed to His image - that means
a holy righteous life! I Pet. 1:13-16
Christian liberty - freedom in Christ means freedom
from the bondage of sin in order to be able to obey God's word . . . "For,
brethren, yea have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an
occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." Gal.5:13
Freedom according to man's definition means to do
whatever he wants, which whether he realizes it or not, is evil continually!
Just take a look around you. From God's perspective, it is entirely different.
God is holy and perfect - He can only do good and right. What is good and
right to God is defined by His law. Therefore "freedom" in God's eyes is
living according to His word. The Psalmist says, "And I will walk at liberty,
for I keep Thy precepts." Can it be stated anymore clearly that that?