Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,
Have you ever seen a yoke of oxen pulling a heavy load? It is not too common a sight except in places like Conner Prairie. At any rate, did they appear happy? Do you think they were enjoying themselves? Contrast them with a sight you see on the horse farms in Lexington, KY; beautiful thoroughbreds frolicking in their pastures, free as the wind, with big horse smiles on their faces.
Now, if you were an ox and someone had lifted off your yoke,would you want to put the joke on again, or be free like the horse?
Since God has set you free in Christ from the yoke of bondage, do not let “yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” This was Paul’s exhortation to the Galatian Christians. This is the apostle’s Reformation message for our benefit. It is the message of My Freedom in Christ. That freedom means a yoke no longer burdens me. That freedom means the only thing that counts is faith.
Freedom may not be the first word that pops into mind when I think of my relationship with God in Jesus Christ. Peace, hope, joy.Yes, but freedom? “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Our sinful nature strives to get us to use the law as a means of grace. Quite a contradiction.In that scenario, there is no grace. Then, we have let ourselves “be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” We labor under the law’s requirements.We labor under the heavy load of a guilty conscience and the fear of death. Some of us may have come from other churches that piled on the burden with the heavy boulders of human traditions, and regulations in respect to worship, diet, and the celebration of certain holy days and festivals.
Sadly, this was the condition false teachers were trying to lay again upon the Galatians by having them give up their freedom in Christ. The apostle was beside himself with concern for their souls. He wrote, “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? God had given them the Holy Spirit with his freedom from those burdens through the gospel. They had been striving correctly to attain their goal of heaven by Christ not by human effort. Now, they were falling from their freedom in Christ through the gospel back into the burden of the law.
The church of the Sixteenth Century was robbing Christians of their freedom in Christ. What is that freedom? God has delivered me from sin, death, and the devil’s power. Not with gold or silver but with Christ’s holy precious blood, and his innocent suffering and death.
I am free from the curse of my disobedience, and any requirement to keep the law perfectly. I am free from death as a curse for sin. I am free to say no to the devil’s temptations and I am free from Satan’s accusations that God must send me to hell.
My freedom in Christ is the forgiveness of all my sins. Freedom is my new life of faith. Freedom is my everlasting life in heaven. It is my Christian freedom from any human requirements for a relationship with God.
We enjoy that freedom in the gospel. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ThenYou will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Paul did not want his Galatians, or us, to think we have to go back to obedience of the law in order to be saved. The group called the Judaizers was telling the Galatians you had to be circumcised as well as have faith. Today’s Judaizers continue to put the yoke of slavery on their people. Theytell God’s people that their faith and works save them. They tell them they must submit to the authority of council and church as well as to God.
Paul made the excellent point that if you must keep one law then you have obligated yourself to obey the entire law. What does that mean for us? It means tremendous guilt and finally despair. I cannot keep God’s law in every point. This attitude that I can save myself by law alienates me from Christ. It exchanges freedom for bondage. My works cannot contribute to my salvation. Martin Luther and the other reformers took up Paul’s words as the sword of the Spirit against those who had alienated themselves from Christ in their day and continue to lead souls away from Christ even now.
Salvation is by faith alone. My freedom in Christ means the only thing that matters is faith.
If you are trying to be justified by the law, you have been alienated from Christ. Christ either did everything so that God has justified the world, or he did nothing. Jesus Christ did everything for the world. He fulfilled the law, removed its requirement of obedience by us, and removed its curse when we transgress the commandments. Jesus placed himself under God’s wrath and punishment that I deserved.Now I am free from all condemnation.
These benefits Jesus accomplished for all sinners become my personal possession through faith. By grace alone, through faith alone. Faith is the empty hand the Holy Spirit opens to receive God’s grace in the merits of Christ. This faith is the only thing that matters because it holds Christ. Paul writes, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
My freedom in Christ is my freedom to love. Love does not complete my faith, as Luther’s enemies misunderstood both in his day and in our day. Rather, my faith manifests itself, shows itself in my love for God and for my neighbor. Love is obedience to the commandments. When I obey the commandments, I do so not because of the law but as a fruit of faith. When I worship, when I give my money, when I forgive my spouse, parent, child, friend, or enemy, it is my faith acting out in love. A person’s actions, we say, are acting out whatever is inside him or her. We recognize faith in the heart by the actions of love for God and for one another even our enemies.
My freedom in Christ means that I am not obligated to any human tradition, law, ceremony, or decree. My Christian freedom compels me to love guided only by my Savior’s holy will. Holy Scripture alone reveals that will and works my freedom to love. By grace alone, by faith alone, by Scripture alone.By Christ alone.
Do I want to be a plodding Christian, weary and burdened under the yoke of the laws of men and the laws of God as if I had to keep both to go to heaven?Absolutely not. “Mark my words,” Paul wrote. “If you allow yourselves to be circumcised(that is, to think I must keep the law in order to be saved), “Christ will be of no value at all.” What a horrific thought, to give up freedom in Christ for the yoke of slavery.
The Lutheran Reformation was about freedom; my freedom in Christ. We are the heirs of that breath of lifethe Spirit breathed into God’s people, the church. We enjoy that breath of life in Christ as the gospel regular fills our spiritual lungs so that we can run free with love as we “eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.” Amen. <SDG>