Title Galatians 5:13-15
We must first see that our freedom has been given to us from God through Jesus Christ. Christian freedom is not something each of us chooses for ourselves. We cannot set ourselves free. This is what God calls us to be free. God has called us to freedom in Jesus Christ with a great and wonderful grace that is unfathomable and beyond understanding.
But the important thing is to know right away what it means to be "free". Freedom is something everyone loves, and it should be loved and cherished by everyone. Because freedom is an essential element for a person to be truly human. But the tragedy of this world is that many people do not immediately understand what freedom is.
The misunderstanding of freedom that many people have is to know it as freedom from all laws and controls. But Christian freedom is not freedom from all laws and controls, but freedom from the despair and fear of punishment that comes from realizing that we cannot keep all of God's laws even though we should. That's why it's called freedom of conscience.
By “freedom of conscience,” we mean the liberation of our souls from the dominion of sin, condemnation, and the fear of death, not that we are free to do anything according to our own conscience. Freedom is not autonomy in which it is itself a law, nor does it refer to anarchy where there are no laws. Freedom does not mean that there are no masters and no laws. Freedom is rather to meet a good master and to be under the right law. The only good master for us is God, and the only law that is right for us is the Word of God.
It is the fallen nature of man that, when he is freed from all laws and controls, he has no choice but to lead to unbridled greed, selfishness, and sin. In other words, it provides a foothold for the flesh to flourish. That is why the Apostle Paul exhorts us in verse 13, “Brothers, you were called to freedom, but do not use that freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.”
Finally, we must not forget that Christian freedom is not just a matter of our own conscience and interpersonal relationships. In fact, Christian freedom is a matter of relationship with God before anything else. For it is God who called us in Christ, and it is God who has given us new freedom in Christ. It is also because freedom itself was lost because of the sin of disobedience to God, and because it is liberation from the slavery of sin, which is a relationship of turning away from God. Again, our freedom is not freedom from God to sin, but freedom from sin toward God.
As we have seen so far, freedom is not about being released from God, God's Word, relationship with people, and its laws, but about standing right before God and His Word and binding ourselves to right relationships with people. Temperance of my freedom with love is true freedom. A truly free person and a true Christian are those who know how to give up their freedom for love with joy. God has called us to be free Christians in Christ. However, we must not yet get rid of that old man and remain in the darkness. In Galatians 5:1 the Apostle Paul says: "Christ set us free, so stand firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery".
Love and freedom, these are perhaps the two noblest words for man. Love and freedom, these two things, are probably the most decisive factors that make human beings human. Free sex is a representative example of the most misunderstood and most misunderstood of these two, love and freedom, which are the most important to humans. And “serving” is the best way to understand these two things and combine them well. “Serving” is another expression of the phrase “serve one another out of love” in verse 13. And this “serving” will be one of the concrete ways to act like children of light. Only service based on love and freedom in Jesus Christ is the light that can light up today's dark, harsh and cruel world, and make it soft and warm. When we are freed from selfishness and greed, look at others with love, and serve our neighbors with joy, we will spread the light of God's love like children of light.