A Few Thoughts on Christian Liberty
In the last sermon before I went on vacation as we were talking about the final portion of Genesis 3 one of the subjects I brought up was Christian Liberty. The latter word there is something we are quite familiar with. The whole concept of Liberty was the very foundation of what caused our nation to come about. Our forefathers wanted a union where they were free to live under a civil authority that was bound by the same law they were. However, some have confused this idea with an understanding that what Liberty means is that I am free to do whatever it is I want. Besides sharing their first six letters the true definition of Liberty is not libertarianism, or to put it in Biblical terms, licentiousness. A Believer’s Freedom is the right to not have any man-made or man-derived doctrine or teaching placed over our heads that the Scriptures themselves do not command. Our Church’s Westminster Confession of Faith has an entire chapter on the subject.
That portion begins its first section by saying: The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law…as also in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience unto Him, not out of slavish fear, but a childlike love and willing mind. That might sound like a lot, but it perfectly encapsulates what we mean when we talk about Christian Liberty. In our salvation the Lord Jesus has freed us from bondage to sin and freed us to obey the law of God out of a desire to illustrate our adoration for Him and our understanding that He is God and has blessed in every way by granting us access to true knowledge. His word provides for His people the freedom, the liberty, to be wise in our ordering of our families, the State, and our own individual lives. No longer do we wander to and fro trying to float our hole-filled boats in an ocean besought by tyranny.
Living as we do in the shadow of Kings Mountain we know that most, if not all, the British forces at that battle were made up of men called “Loyalists”. In other words they were loyal to King George III and believed the Revolution was an insurrection. Whether or not their position had merit is besides the point, they are a great illustration for why so many fight against Christian Liberty. Of the things that scared the Pharisees more than anything was a worry of losing their place and power if Jesus was right about what He taught concerning the extra burdens they placed on the people. (Spoiler Alert: He was). Their whole identity was wrapped up in a lie and they were not quick to give it up. Sinners never are. They feel safe in their contrived worlds and fear what will happen if it goes away. The loveliness of the freedom that we have in Christ is that we are relieved of the weight of living a false reality, trying to organize our existence by worldly funhouse mirrors, and instead are blessed to thrive in the beauty of the perfection, and logical order of the law of God, not as a means to safety, but in a true flourishing of the peace and surety of His word found in the Scriptures. Stop being loyal to the flesh, and see the absolute honor and glory of resting in the true Liberty that we have alone in Christ Jesus, our King and Lord.