| Week
This past weekend, we continued our “Live Free” series through the Book of Galatians with an exploration of Galatians 4. In this message, Pastor Doug Sauder explained how freedom is a fragile gift we must fight to hold onto, how Christians can wind up wasting their freedom in Christ, and how walking in true freedom leads to joy.
Watch the video below to see a few highlights from the message and share it with your friends via social media. To watch the message in its entirety, click here.
FOR THE NOTE TAKERS
Let’s recap some of the key talking points from Pastor Doug’s message this weekend: Don’t Waste Your Freedom (Galatians 4:1–7): Before Jesus, we were all helpless and hopeless slaves to sin, sentenced to death, enemies of God. And then Jesus came . . . He lived a perfect life, fulfilled all the requirements of the law, satisfied the debt of sin, and took upon Himself the sinner’s death. And by doing so, He won our freedom! And now, He offers that freedom from sin and death freely to all who would simply believe in Him as Lord. And as such, as Christians, we are truly and completely free. No more fear, no more doubt, no more hopelessness, no more powerlessness . . . this is what we have in Christ. We are no longer slaves to sins, but sons and daughters who were adopted into the family of God . . . sons and daughters with a great and glorious inheritance, heirs of almighty of God. But here’s the thing: Freedom is a fragile gift, one that is easily perverted and squandered. In order to maintain and walk in freedom, you have to fight for it. There will be many battles throughout your entire Christian life as it pertains to freedom. The enemy will always seek to ensnare you once again, to keep you from experiencing the victory and walking in the freedom that Christ has already won for you. Why? Because if he can keep you from walking in your freedom, then he can also keep you from being an effective witness who can be used by God to free others. So you must fight daily by the power of the Holy Spirit to fend off the lies and spiritual attacks. Your Bondage Hurts Other People (Galatians 4:8–11): As believers, we sometimes trade the power of the gospel for that which has no power. When we do that, we are shackling ourselves to broken chains that we were never meant to walk in, chains that we were already liberated from, putting ourselves back in bondage. It’s a self-imposed slavery. In Galatians 4:9–11 (NKJV), Paul says, “But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.” What is he talking about here? He is saying that by adding anything to the gospel of Jesus, to the message of salvation by grace alone, to the idea that we have complete right standing with God not because of any works we perform but because of the finished work of Christ, then we are putting ourselves in chains. How so? Because we’re shackling ourselves to a lifelong system that requires perfection on our part in order to experience freedom upon death. But that system will never offer freedom because it wasn’t designed to offer freedom. It was designed to point us to the One who offers freedom. And here’s the thing that happens when we who are free walk in slavery: our bondage hurts others. In what way? Here are a few:- When we walk in bondage to the law or to any works-based system, we will be miserable slaves who have no joy and drag others into our misery.
- When we walk bound to a legalistic mentality, we put other believers in jeopardy of being influenced by us. We could be the reason someone else is unable to walk in the freedom, abundance, and spiritual blessings Christ freely gives.
- When we fail to walk in freedom, we fail to be effective witnesses to the watching world.