Yesterday a friend of mine who reads this blog said, “This study on freedom is an amazing study.” What I think he meant was that Jesus Christ’s gospel is amazing. How true. It’s amazing because it not only sets us free from the dictatorship of sin, and free from the law as a curse and debt (See my previous posts), but also because in Christ we are free to obey God.
The freedom of the Christ means we are free to obey God. Our obedience is a free obedience. Our discipleship is a glad one. We present our selves to God freely. That is, we are perfectly satisfied with what God has chosen for us. We are willingly in agreement with God’s sovereign will. We have the freedom to make the right choice by the power of the Spirit. He has written God’s law in our hearts and we agree with it. This is the law of life in Christ Jesus which sets us free from the law of sin and death. Christ’s gospel brings us simply to live as true human beings…thinking God’s thoughts after him and agreeing with him on everything.
Scripture explains this freedom in many ways. The commandments are not a burden (1 Jn 5:3). Being in Christ, Christians actually don’t see them as a weight, but as way forward in life. They don’t slow us down, they actually speed us up to a life of peace and joy now that the Spirit has and is changing us to make the right choices.
Showing posts with label Freedom of the Christian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freedom of the Christian. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
The Freedom of the Christ: Freedom number two.
In Christ we are free from the law as a debt and curse. The law of God is good, but in our sin without Christ it is a weight greater than we can bear. It is a both a grace and a terror. A terror for it shows us we are not free after all, for we would not have known, “You shall not commit adultery,” except God’s law said so. But it is a grace even as it shows us that we can’t stand under it’s condemnation, but need Jesus Christ to save us. Jesus frees us from the debt and curse of God’s law. In him we don’t come to Mt. Sinai that burns with fire, swirls with judgment. But rather we come to Mt. Zion (Heb 12).
Paul’s point in Romans 5 is that when the law came to Israel, it did not mark the beginning of holiness in them, it accentually intensified the problem of the old Adam. The law intensified, drew attention to man’s sin (even in Israel), like an oven intensifies and makes us pay attention to heat. But the law by itself could and can do nothing to stop sin. Paul said this earlier in ch.3 and in Gal 3. And he said this to bring his fellow Jews to the free gospel of grace in Jesus.
Where sin abounds grace super abounds. The law intensifies sin, God’s grace is great than all sin and death for his answer is not the law, but the new Adam – Jesus. Yes, sin reigned in death. It destroyed slowly, seeking to lay waste man and creation. It raised it’s ugly head to grind men away from God. It stood up as some dumb king, to make all it’s subjects selfish, cruel, inhuman. BUT grace came in Christ…now grace reigns and there is a new kingdom, a new life, a world of God given possibility of a reign of righteousness, holiness, and love; all because of Jesus through whom sinners are justified, made righteous with God. For the curse of God is not directed to us, for Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
Status: Through Jesus we are justified by faith. We are in the new Adam. This was not accomplished by Torah, but by God’s grace through Jesus…so now grace reigns through Jesus’ faithfulness (righteousness), which leads to eternal life in him.
Paul’s point in Romans 5 is that when the law came to Israel, it did not mark the beginning of holiness in them, it accentually intensified the problem of the old Adam. The law intensified, drew attention to man’s sin (even in Israel), like an oven intensifies and makes us pay attention to heat. But the law by itself could and can do nothing to stop sin. Paul said this earlier in ch.3 and in Gal 3. And he said this to bring his fellow Jews to the free gospel of grace in Jesus.
Where sin abounds grace super abounds. The law intensifies sin, God’s grace is great than all sin and death for his answer is not the law, but the new Adam – Jesus. Yes, sin reigned in death. It destroyed slowly, seeking to lay waste man and creation. It raised it’s ugly head to grind men away from God. It stood up as some dumb king, to make all it’s subjects selfish, cruel, inhuman. BUT grace came in Christ…now grace reigns and there is a new kingdom, a new life, a world of God given possibility of a reign of righteousness, holiness, and love; all because of Jesus through whom sinners are justified, made righteous with God. For the curse of God is not directed to us, for Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
Status: Through Jesus we are justified by faith. We are in the new Adam. This was not accomplished by Torah, but by God’s grace through Jesus…so now grace reigns through Jesus’ faithfulness (righteousness), which leads to eternal life in him.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
The freedom of the Christian: Freedom number one.
Paul said in Gal 5:1, “For freedom, Christ has set us free.” Jesus said, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (Jn 8:32). And, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn8:36). Freedom comes from and through the truth of God, through the Son of God. The Spirit of God was upon him anointing him to proclaim liberty to the captives. Through his cross and resurrection we are delivered from the bondage of sin and kingdom of darkness. Where the Spirit of the Lord Jesus is there is liberty, and where Christ’s Spirit has been sent into the hearts of those who repent of sin and believe in him, they can cry Abba Father, and are no longer a slave, but a son.
If we put these and other Scripture witnesses together we could sum up the NT teaching on freedom the way Peter Eicher did. “God’s choice is our freedom.” If we have freedom we owe it to God, and his choice, not to the choice of our own. Genuine freedom, as Eberard Bush explained, “Is the freedom that is granted to us as a gift by the grace of God in Jesus Christ!” If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed. Water and rain go together, and so do freedom and Jesus Christ.
But freedom for what? Over the next few days I will attempt to give answers to that question. I’ll begin with freedom number one.
Christians are freed from the dictatorship of sin (Rom 6). "True Christian freedom is the freedom of the children of God – and that is not the freedom to sin, but the freedom from sin in Jesus Christ" -Kim Fabricius. Jesus Christ came to reconcile us to God, not to our sins. He came to destroy Satan and sin, not his Lordship. Jesus Christ does not make us more rebellious, greedier, or more hateful. He did not come to teach us to be alone to choose ourselves. No, he came to give us new life and crucify the old self. He took our guilty and sin which we loved and nailed it to the cross. We are unshackled from its bondage. Rom 6:4.
If we put these and other Scripture witnesses together we could sum up the NT teaching on freedom the way Peter Eicher did. “God’s choice is our freedom.” If we have freedom we owe it to God, and his choice, not to the choice of our own. Genuine freedom, as Eberard Bush explained, “Is the freedom that is granted to us as a gift by the grace of God in Jesus Christ!” If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed. Water and rain go together, and so do freedom and Jesus Christ.
But freedom for what? Over the next few days I will attempt to give answers to that question. I’ll begin with freedom number one.
Christians are freed from the dictatorship of sin (Rom 6). "True Christian freedom is the freedom of the children of God – and that is not the freedom to sin, but the freedom from sin in Jesus Christ" -Kim Fabricius. Jesus Christ came to reconcile us to God, not to our sins. He came to destroy Satan and sin, not his Lordship. Jesus Christ does not make us more rebellious, greedier, or more hateful. He did not come to teach us to be alone to choose ourselves. No, he came to give us new life and crucify the old self. He took our guilty and sin which we loved and nailed it to the cross. We are unshackled from its bondage. Rom 6:4.
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