“Free For What?”

June 27, 2010
Galatians 5:1-25; Luke 9:51-62

Paul has been talking about freedom now for the last three weeks. Actually it’s all one letter to the Galatians that we have been reading in parts. The common thread running through this letter has been the freedom that comes from believing in Jesus Christ. Paul’s words are important. “For freedom Christ has set us free.” (5) “…the only thing that counts is faith working through love.” (6) Paul says in Christ we are free – but free for what? He then says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.” (13) We have been freed to become slaves to God’s law and the direction of the Holy Spirit. “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (14) “Live by the Spirit.” (16) And, “…be guided by the Spirit.” (25) We have been freed that God might live through us.

Someone once said, “Nothing advocates for our faith more than the lives that model it.” That makes sense; our lives do speak volumes. We should live out our faith, every day. But sometimes that is a very hard thing to do. Sometimes this whole religion thing is just too much. If our belief frees us, then free for what?

Jewish Rabbi David Wolpe, in his book Why Faith Matters, suggests that religion gives to society several important things, including: an interdependent community, a sense of social responsibility, a commitment to charity, believing in something larger than oneself, promoting healthy personal boundaries and submitting to a “higher power.”

“In essence,” he says, “This is how God’s self is demonstrated through God’s followers – in our participation in things like: community, social responsibility, charity, etc. The key in all this is “God demonstrating God’s self THROUGH God’s followers.” It really is about God and not about us.

Wolpe tells a story about something that happened early in his ministry that is true of so many clergy. He said he was called to the hospital bedside of an elderly woman to offer final prayers for the dying. Holding her comatose hand, he felt like a fraud – thinking who was he to shepherd a soul to the edge of the next world? But he prayed the familiar words anyway, letting their power carry him. Sharing this later with his wife, her response was, “You’re right. You are unworthy. Anyone would be unworthy doing such a thing. That’s okay, though. It’s not you doing it. It’s being done through you.”

Wolpe writes, “That was a pivotal moment for me. Suddenly it became clear to me that we bring light into this world not as a source but as a prism — it comes through us.” God’s Spirit moves through human beings, like you and I, to touch others in crucial moments. Wolpe concluded, “As soon as I stepped out of my own way, the prayer felt real. Its blessing did not depend on me.”

Novelist Edith Wharton put it this way: “There are two ways of spreading light, to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it” Christ is the candle. We are the mirrors.

Christ has set us free (v. 1), and ultimately he is the light of the world that we reflect. Changed by God — and led by the Spirit to be fruitful — we reflect Christ’s light in the same way that a mirror does candlelight. This is the most powerful argument for Christianity – the changed lives of its believers and their love of neighbors. We aren’t the source of light, but the prism. Not the candle, but the mirror.

Belonging to Christ (v. 24) as a slave belongs to a master is the means of our liberation in Christ (v. 1). “Freedom” is ultimately found not in our independence but in our loving relationship with God, through which the Spirit leads us to loving acts toward others.

“The depths of our spirituality does not depend upon changing the things we do, but in doing for God what we ordinarily do for ourselves.” —Brother Lawrence.

“Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion. It is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.” —Billy Graham.

“Few things are more infectious than a godly lifestyle. The people you rub shoulders with every day need that kind of challenge. Not prudish. Not preachy. Just honest to goodness, bone-deep, non-hypocritical integrity. “ —Charles Swindoll.

The Gospel lesson today gives us a good idea of what we are to mirror – it’s what we have been freed for, and what we are to be committed to.

Andrew Prior, Scotts Church – Adelaide, Australia helps us understand the commitment we are called to. If the phrase “Son of Man” is translated as “the human one,” it can be referring to all humans. Take the verse: Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the human one has nowhere to lay their head. To be really human means to be committed to more than a place, more than a home, or a job, or a family. Even to more than a church. We are committed to MORE… to the Kingdom of God. We are committed to a way of living where God’s very self, sets the agenda and tone of life.” This is the light passing through us, the light reflected – the light of God’s Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God calls us to compassion. It means we will feed our family. We will honor our parents. We will support them in their old age. But the Kingdom of God goes further and asks more of us. But how do we do what we are asked without making excuses. How do we answer the call to God’s radical compassion so it might be reflected in us?

The gospel reading today is about committing to the kingdom. It’s about setting our face towards something, and not looking back. It is about our seeking: 1) the kingdom of God before security, 2) the kingdom of God before family, and 3) the kingdom of God for the long haul, with no going back.

But there is something more. Today in Luke, when Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem what happened first? Did he talk about foxes and the son of man? About the dead burying the dead? About putting your hand to the plough and not looking back? Did he talk about commitment or was it something else?

Before commitment, Jesus talked to his followers about compassion. Before calling them to commitment, he showed them how to be mercy-full to the ‘Samaritans’ who had rejected him. The kingdom of God does not punish people – and neither should we. Only after this truth does Jesus talk about commitment to a kingdom that will result in him losing his life. Only then does he call us to a kingdom without prejudice, where there can be no commitment without compassion.

This is what we have been freed for. To be a prism and mirror of Christ’s light and love.