Let Freedom Ring!

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13,14)

Do you ever feel that freedom is misused and abused in this country?  That it’s used as an excuse to do whatever we want?  To say whatever we want?  To allow anything and everything to be permissible, because you know, you can’t tread on anyone’s rights and freedom.  What do you think Revolutionary soldiers who fought for our freedom would say of the state of our country today?  I am guessing they would be appalled at many of the things they saw on television and the internet, revolted at the words and actions of people as they appeal to their rights and freedom.  “This isn’t what I fought for at all!” they might exclaim.

And too, in our freedom as Christians, we are not free to go and do whatever we want and misuse and abuse the freedom Christ has won for us.  Our freedom is not a license for us to sin and live for ourselves.  The freedom from sin we have through Christ moves us to want to, with the Spirit’s power, fight sin and avoid it, so we don’t once again become enslaved by it. 

The Emancipation Proclamation declared that all slaves were free.  The Civil War resulted in that freedom, but yet the Jim Crow laws, the segregation laws in effect for nearly 90 years after the Civil War, literally enslaved them still.  Freedom had been declared, but awfully, they weren’t able to live in freedom.  And so we too, we have heard and believed that our freedom is declared and complete, so why would we continue to be harnessed by our sin, to live as if we were not free from that sinful flesh and the grips of Satan?

It’s only by the Spirit’s strength and counsel that we live in freedom, wanting to submit to God’s will, using his Word as a light for our path, to use the law as a guide for our daily living.  Paul writes that “the entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”   The freedom from sin we enjoy through Christ leads us to make ourselves servants of each other and to love one another, and in that way we show our love for God.  In your freedom, your life shows the fruits of the Spirit as Paul lists, in “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22).  This is the fruit that God looks for in our life of freedom, this is the fruit that the Spirit produces.  As we daily drown our Old Man in the waters of our Baptism, and as we arise in our New Man, in our freedom to serve God and each other we seek to serve and glorify God.

We enjoy such wonderful blessings of God as citizens of the United States of America.  Blessings we cannot take for granted.  Blessings that have come with a huge price tag.  Blessings we should cherish. 

But the blessings of God that we have as citizens of Christ’s kingdom of grace are so much greater and so much more precious.  Redeemed and freed from the tyranny of the devil, sin, and our sinful flesh.  Freed and forgiven and declared holy in God’s sight.  Blessings we cannot take for granted.  Blessings that came with a huge price tag.  Blessings we should cherish. 

You are free, you are free indeed!  Let that freedom ring in your lives!
 

Jesus promises you:  “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31)

Have You Continued

in What You Have Learned?

 Continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.   (2 Timothy 3:14,15)

On May 11, four of our youth will publicly confess their faith in Jesus and become communicant members of our church.   On that day these four youth will be asked in front of the congregation, and God:  “Do you intend to faithfully conform all your life to the teachings of God’s Word, to be faithful in the use of Word and sacrament, and in faith and action remain true to God as long as you live?” 

The words of Paul above to young Timothy are encouragement that we will offer to our newly confirmed members. But they are also words that each of us needs to take to heart, whether you were confirmed last year, eighty years ago, or anywhere in between.  You were thoroughly instructed in God’s Word and in Luther’s Catechism.  How are you doing in continuing in what you have learned?  How are you doing on keeping those confirmation promises you once made? 

Remember, confirmation is not graduation.  Confirmation is just the beginning.  It’s the laying of a foundation on which we continue to build our faith.  If you are at a time in your life where you have fallen away and are not doing so well at keeping those confirmation promises, it’s never too late to get back into God’s Word and begin nourishing that faith again.  For those who are regular in worship and Bible study and prayer, remembering your confirmation promises encourages you to dive into God’s Word all the more. 

With the help of God, may you continue in what you have learned and build on that foundation that was once laid.  It is in those holy Scriptures that you, find wisdom for this life, and most importantly, wisdom for salvation.  May you always remain firmly connected to Word and Sacrament so that as you publicly confessed at one time, you may remain true to God in faith and in action as long as you live.

- Pastor Aaron Bublitz