Freedom in the Spirit

The scriptures referred to are Galatians 5:1, 13-25.

There is a weird contradiction in the way movies see freedom and self-control. On the one hand, there are tons of comedies where an uptight person is encouraged by a more carefree person to break the rules and have fun. And this usually leads to them getting drunk or high, having sex with someone they just met, finding themselves in car chases, breaking the law and getting into hilarious trouble. Because these are comedies they never lead to the person having their life ruined or going to prison. In fact, they often come out of it a “better” person. It's the basis for most screwball comedies and especially teen comedies about a good kid who does their homework and is self-discipled. Think Risky Business or The To Do List or What's Up, Doc?

And then there are serious movies about people whose same bad decisions do ruin their lives and yet they just keep making the same mistakes. They have trouble with alcohol, drugs, relationships and the law. These movies about self-destructive characters get praise from critics and garner awards but obviously these dramas aren't as popular as the comedies. Probably because in these films lack of control has consequences. Think Leaving Las Vegas or Requiem for a Dream or Thirteen.

And then, ever so often, you get a movie about someone who is focused and very much in control of him or herself and triumphs because of that. Think Sense and Sensibility or The Pursuit of Happyness or Brittany Runs a Marathon. Or just about any sports film.

The first category of movies tells you to use your freedom to do whatever gives you pleasure. The second category warns you that doing things that way can cost you a lot, including your freedom because you can become a slave to your habits. The third category tells you to use what freedom and abilities you have to do the right thing and pursue a worthy goal. And the last two are closer to what Paul is saying in today's passage from Galatians.

Paul writes, “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery....For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence...” There have always been those people who root for Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. They don't see how this relates to a world in which people do whatever they please. Want to ingest something that make you feel good for a short time despite doing lasting damage to your brain and body? Go ahead. Want to have sex with someone you know you shouldn't? Why not? Want to use your business acumen, not to create and sell something useful, but to take over a successful business and extract all the money you can out of it until it's unsustainable, like hedge fund managers have done to Payless, Toys R Us, Sears and K-Mart? It's a free country. Want to take over another country, despite miring yourself in an unwinnable conflict and possibly triggering World War 3? Take your shot.

To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum's character in the first Jurassic Park movie, we get so preoccupied with whether or not we can do something, we don't stop to ask if we should do it. Not thinking things through and considering the consequences is what the Bible calls folly. Today we might call it stupidity. And it has nothing to do with knowledge or intelligence. You don't have to have a college degree to be wise. And lots of smart people do stupid things, things that when they come to light, as they always do, prompt us to ask “What were they thinking?” The answer is “They weren't.”

People do what's wrong—things that harm themselves or others and consequently harm their relationships, including their relationship with God—for one of three reasons. If they truly didn't know any better, we call that ignorance. And the solution is for them to simply learn. All children start out ignorant and that's why they go to school and, one hopes, Sunday school.

If the person should have known better than to do something harmful—because they are not a child and ought to understand how things work—that's stupidity. Hopefully they will realize their error and learn to think first and consider the damage they can do before acting again.

If someone does know better, if they know they will cause harm by what they do, but do it anyway, that's just evil. It's also evil if they see a situation that is bad or going bad but refuse to help. Jesus condemns both sins of commission and sins of omission. So does human law in many cases. If a doctor or nurse sees evidence of child abuse or elder abuse and doesn't report it, that is also a crime. As someone pointed out, one way evil triumphs is when good people do nothing to stop it. When Hitler began his policy of killing the physically and mentally handicapped, the outcry of the German people caused him to stop. Imagine what might have happened if they had protested as vigorously at the killing of Jews, Slavs, Jehovah's Witnesses, gays, Poles, and Catholic and Protestant clergy who could not reconcile Christianity and Nazism! But they didn't. And 6 million Jews and 5 to 7 million non-Jews were exterminated in the camps.

One of the most chaotic periods in the history of Israel was the the time of the judges. Twice we are told “In those days Israel had no king. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6; 21:25) In other words, nobody was following God's law, just what they considered right. As Paul points out, in God's law, specifically in Leviticus 19:18, God's people were commanded to love their neighbors as they did themselves. In fact, in that one chapter from Leviticus alone, they were told to make sure the poor could eat, told not to steal or defraud each other, not to mistreat the disabled or the elderly, not to pervert justice in the courts, not to do anything that endangers others, not to take revenge and they are told to love the immigrant as themselves. (Leviticus 19:9-18, 32-35) These seem like common sense but if people weren't doing otherwise, God wouldn't have made these laws. The chapter before it was devoted to prohibiting incest and spelling out precisely what constituted it, including variations. There are also ritual laws and unfortunately some people put more weight on those matters than the other laws. It's much easier to fuss about diet and dress than to treat others lovingly. Jesus excoriated the Pharisees for being so concerned with such minutiae. He said, “...you neglect what is more important in the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness!” (Matthew 23:23)

Paul looks at what happens when people merely follow the flesh, ie, unredeemed human nature. “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, brutal lack of restraint, idolatry, drug-induced spells, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, divisions, factions, instances of envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before, those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (my translation) We see these things today and we even see them justified. Folks excuse them in celebrities, They excuse them in leaders, both religious and political. And so people think that sexual immorality, lack of restraint, outbursts of anger, drug use, magical thinking and factionalism are all right for them too. Everyone does what seems right in their own eyes. Which does not lead to the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is key. In Judges, we are told there was no king in Israel and so there was lawlessness in the land. But Paul, a zealous Pharisee, knows that the law is not sufficient. It can tell you what's wrong but it can't make you do what's right. But in Greek the word for kingdom means not merely a physical place where a king is but the reign or rule of a king. Unlike where humans reign, God's reign is internal. In Jeremiah God says of his new covenant, “I will put my law in their minds and write it in their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33) In Ezekiel he says, “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:27) As Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21) God is to reign in our lives. If he is truly rules our hearts and minds, the things Paul warns us of will not come to dominate us.

That's why Paul says we are to live by the Spirit. Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home in him.” (John 14:23) This takes place in the form of the Holy Spirit. On the night he was betrayed, Jesus said of the Spirit, “you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17) At Pentecost, the Spirit entered all who follow Jesus as king.

And just as the reign of someone ruled by his fallen human nature produces bad qualities, the reign of the Spirit of Christ within us produces a different set of qualities. You've heard the list of the fruit of the Spirit many times. But according to the NET Bible there are 2 ways of punctuating this sentence. The Greek has no punctuation. So when you translate verses 22 and 23, you can either put a comma after the word “love” making it the first in a list of qualities. Or you can put a colon. In other words the fruit of the Spirit is love. The words that follow describe that divine love. And that makes sense. When you love someone, you find joy in them. You wish them peace, which in the Bible means not just the absence of conflict but total well-being. You are patient when dealing with them. You treat them with kindness. You are generous with them. You are faithful and reliable. You are gentle with them. You exhibit self-control for their sake as well as yours.

Now some of these qualities might come easily to you but not all. For these qualities to take root and grow in us and in our lives we need God's Spirit reigning in our heart. That's why Paul contrasts it with those who let their own fallen human nature rule their lives. Paul says, “...those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” By this he doesn't mean that we are no longer ourselves. He's talking about that part of ourselves that was slave to the strong emotions and cravings which drive us away from spiritually healthy living. It is the person whom God created us to be who is raised with Jesus.

You'll notice that Paul uses the term slavery and he uses it in a paradoxical way. He begins by telling us not to submit to the yoke of slavery but then says “through love become slaves to one another.” What does he mean?

Elsewhere Paul says we were redeemed by Christ. (Galatians 3:13) “Redeem” literally means to “buy back.” It was used of a person who would buy back a kinsman sold into debt slavery. (Leviticus 25:25) God uses it to describe what he did when he liberated the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. (Exodus 6:6) The Israelites now belonged to God. And with his blood, Jesus redeemed us. (Revelations 5:9) We now belong to him.

Some people don't like using the word or the idea of slavery today. But in a world where slaves made up as much as 20% of the population, and up to 40% of those living in Rome and in Greece, it was a familiar part of life. And Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin.” (John 8:34) How else do we explain people who keep doing the same harmful things over and over again? No one who gives into an impulse intends to become a slave to a destructive habit. On the other hand, there are good habits one should develop. I know people who were raised by parents who were focused on their children having regular routines and chores. At the time their kids thought their folks were too strict, especially compared to the laid-back parents of their friends. But these habit became part of them. Later, as adults, they were grateful for the self-discipline that was instilled in them and which helped lead them to success in life.

We often define freedom as freedom from things we don't like, such as being told what to do. That's every kid's complaint. Still we tell our children to brush their teeth, wash their hands, share, not fight with other kids, do their homework and all manner of onerous tasks. But we do it so that they will be free to do good things. Not brushing your teeth leads to tooth loss and gum disease, which can lead to heart disease. Not washing your hands can lead to the spread of disease. People with compromised health miss out on things healthy people are free to do. In the same way, not learning to share or get along with others will limit your chances of a happy life. Not learning to do things that are necessary but which you'd rather not do, like homework, will limit your ability to be a success in any field of endeavor.

True freedom is being free to do things that you couldn't otherwise. When Jesus healed people, he not only freed them from disease and disability, he freed them to live happier and better lives and to be able to participate in the life of the community.

But freedom without a guiding principle is chaos. Put a toddler in a room full of every kind of toy and the room will end up a mess as they first pull out one toy and then another and then get distracted by a third. Some people approach life that way. But not everything out there is good for you (1 Corinthians 6:12) and without a guide and a purpose, people pick up all kinds of unhealthy things, and drift into unhealthy habits of thinking and acting. They eventually accomplish nothing more than accumulated regrets over wasted opportunities and grief over the suffering they've caused themselves and others. They often say, “I wish someone had told me to do this or not to do that.” It seems we do need to be told, after all.

As Bob Dylan sang, you gotta serve somebody. It can be the self-destructive appetites and passions within us that can come to rule our lives. Or it can be the life-giving and healing Spirit of God, available to us when we put all our trust in Jesus. We can live for ourselves, only caring about others insofar as they delight us or benefit us, or we can live for Jesus, serving him by serving others, all of whom are either our brothers and sisters in Christ or our potential brothers and sisters in Christ.

Living in the Spirit can free you from something else: being in a rut. Because following the Spirit of Jesus is an adventure. The world becomes a series of opportunities to serve Jesus. Does someone need help? What kind? Do they need food or shelter or therapy or just someone to listen? Does their need fall within my gifts and abilities to fulfill or should I connect them with someone who is better able to help? We all have gifts: creating art or building or writing or singing or organizing or healing or generating ideas or analyzing and solving problems or encouraging people. If we let Jesus rule our hearts and minds, we will find ways to use them. The world will be full of opportunities to do good, to plant seeds in people's minds and hearts, to expand the kingdom of the God who is love, and all the joy, peace, and goodness that goes with serving his Spirit.