Next Week’s Message Christ has set us Free! Galatians 5:1-6

Most people and Americans in particular, prize nothing more than freedom.  The problem is that they generally want the wrong kind of freedom: we want the freedom to be left alone to do our own selfish thing.  

Yet, freedom is not necessarily a virtue. As with most issues we need to ask what is meant by “freedom?” Whether freedom is worth having or not depends on what kind of freedom it is.

The Bible speaks about being set free in Jesus Christ.  What does that mean? John Stott describes it as well as anyone by saying: “freedom from my silly little self, in order to live responsibly in love for God and others.”

Next Sunday we return to the book of Galatians where Paul is defending Christian liberty.  Chapter 5 begins the practical section of the book. The theme of this section is announced in the very first verse: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” (Gal. 5:1) To put it another way, “Christ has freed you to be free; so be free!”