In Galatians, Paul answers the question, “Why did Christ set us free?” For freedom Christ has set us free. That is an indicative, a settled truth. We have been set free by Christ. It is followed by an imperative, a command. “Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” You are free in Christ. And in Christ, you are to remain free. That will take effort, but that effort is energized by the grace of the settled truth: Christ has set us free by grace. And the grace that redeems us also empowers and transforms us.
In his book, Formed for Fellowship, Kyle Worley writes that he was a teenager percussionist in his high school band. But as he said, it wasn’t cool. He thought he would be like a drummer in a rock band. Instead, he was told to play the xylophone, a large one that Worley said was expensive so his parents borrowed one from a family friend. His parents then said, “Do not break this instrument.” So Worley wrote, “I broke it. On purpose. By throwing it across the yard to make my friends laugh.” He broke it in half and that night told his parents. They were upset, rightfully so, and told him he would likely have to pay to replace it. He went to bed that night frustrated and angsty. “I was so entitled and so immature that I was angry not only because I had to play such a dumb instrument, but now I was going to have to pay for it? How unfair was that? Never mind that it was entirely my fault.” Kyle woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep so he went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. There was a light on in the laundry room and when he peeked through the cracked door, he saw his father on his knees fixing the keyboard with glue. It was a picture of grace. He had made a mistake and something needed to be fixed. It was entirely his fault and yet, he was shown grace.
As were the Galatians when Paul first came to them with the gospel. Then they fell into deception. Paul made his plea in his letter to the Galatians to reject the lie of the Judaizers who would steal their grace and replace it with works. The churches Paul planted had been led from Mt. Sinai’s laws to Calvary’s grace and now were headed back down south toward Sinai as fast as they could go!
Why would anyone do this, having tasted the goodness of the grace of God? Here’s why: the default mode of the heart is set on self-justification. The Galatians, like so many Christians today, could not believe that Christ had done it all. They had grown accustomed to the yoke of slavery to pagan idolatry and their necks were itching for that yoke again. So they believed the lie and traded idolatry for biblical moralism which says, “I will keep the law and therefore make sure I am earning my way into God’s good favor.”
The problem with that is two-fold. On the one hand, if you are going to be a Pharisee, you better be a perfect one. No slippage. Because no amount of obedience will make up for one single act of disobedience. I haven’t been pulled over on the highway in a long time, much to my wife’s surprise. But the last time I was pulled over, I didn’t try to make a plea to the highway patrolman that I am a faithful husband, that I pay my tithe and my taxes, and besides that, officer, I have been pretty good at obeying most of the traffic laws, most of the time! All of that would be irrelevant, and the patrolman would shake his head as he wrote me a ticket. That’s the problem with trying to keep the law in order to be saved. No one is a perfect Pharisee.
Ok, what about a combo deal, which is what the Judaizers were pushing? How about Christ plus the law? As Tim Keller said, you cannot add to Christ without subtracting Christ. Paul reminded the Galatians that Christ was either all their value, or He was without value. We cannot stand on grace if we are holding onto works. Peter argued this position at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 as he spoke to the apostles and elders. He said, “…why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the (Gentile) disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
The grace of the Lord Jesus saves us and brings us into freedom. “For freedom Christ has set us free.”
Let’s ask ourselves this question: In what way am I not enjoying the freedom Christ purchased for me with His blood? Am I relying on rules rather than grace? Am I regularly returning to sinful habits? Am I holding onto unforgiveness for a perceived wrong? Am I constantly living under the burden of fear? Or guilt? Or is my freedom diminished for any other reason?
The Lord would whisper to us, “You were called to freedom.” May we answer with, “Yes, Lord. And…Lord? Would you help me to lay this hindrance down today, and tomorrow, and walk in the freedom your grace supplies?”
J. Mark Fox 