Rev. Jacob Singleton…Called to Freedom

Sunday Worship - FPC LaGrange - September 6th, 2026

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To Paul's letter to the Galatians. In this letter, Paul sets up his defense of Gentile, that is non-Jewish, of his Gentile mission as a whole, and how the Jewish law relates to Gentile Christians. The critical issue concerns the law of Moses and the question of whether or not Gentiles should first convert to Judaism, then to Christianity. Other missionaries, aka Paul's opponents, were claiming that Gentiles must submit to and observe the Jewish law, including the rite of circumcision, in addition to the cross as a means for salvation. In other words, his opponents want to continue living under the law, avoiding the path of the cross, and they're leading people astray. For Paul, our justification is through and by faith alone, and not by observing the law. Thus, in Galatians, Paul sets forth the importance of Christ and his redemptive sacrifice on the cross, which frees Christians from the burdens and the works of the law, so that they may live by the Spirit. So we turn now to Galatians chapter 5, verses 1, or verse 1, followed by verses 13 through 25. You can find this on page 190 in your New Testament. Paul writes, for freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not again, do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. For freedom to you were called, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the spirit, and what the spirit desires is opposed to the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enity, strife, jealousy, angers, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I'm warning you, as I warned you before, those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. On Wednesday evening, we began our church-wide study on the spiritual disciplines with Richard Foster's book, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. And this study continued this morning during Sunday school with an introduction to the why of the disciplines. Why study them? What's their purpose? What's our goal in practicing them? There we noted why Foster sees the need for these ancient practices in our modern era. The simplest way to summarize our introduction in Foster's book is with his own words, when he says, quote, God has given us the disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving God's grace. The disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that God can transform us. Now, distinction here matters. We are not working for God's love or God's grace. We are living from God's love. The disciplines don't earn God's grace. They simply place us where we become more attentive to the grace God is already giving. Within the first chapter, Foster warns us of turning the disciplines into law, that is, means of external righteousness. He says this burdens and condemns. But he says that inner righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The needed change within us is God's work, not ours. So our intention is not to use them as a way of obtaining righteousness. Instead, by practicing these disciplines, we posture ourselves in such a way that we might be more attuned, made more aware of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives and in the lives of others. And in doing so, we may, by God's grace, better love God with our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves. So we might ask the question: why are we adding more? Adding more to our never-ending to-do list. For those of you participating in the church-wide study, and even for those of you who are not. The goal isn't to add more, whether it be reading or studying, practicing the disciplines, or whether it be church events in general. No, our aim is not to burden you, but to point to the one who has said to bring your burdens to him. The spiritual disciplines should not be seen as shackles, but liberation. In fact, Foster writes again, quote, the purpose of the disciplines is freedom. Our aim is the freedom, not the discipline. The moment we make the discipline, prayer, service, worship, the moment we make them our central focus, we turn it into law and lose the freedom. And here, here we hear an echo of Paul's declaration to the Galatians when he says, for freedom, Christ has set us free. And his warning not to submit to another yoke of slavery. Don't submit again to the law. Paul is urging the Galatians not to fall into the trap of law, but to live into the gospel message. His opponents are forcing others to subject themselves to something other than Christ. In the verses omitted from our passage, Paul argues that if the Galatians return to the law, and in particular circumcision, then Christ will be of no benefit for them. That they will have cut themselves off from Christ and will have fallen from grace. This is also the stark warning to any of us who dare to turn the disciplines or church worship services or Bible studies, prayer into law. Now we might be thinking, how do we turn the disciplines of prayer, study, service, confession into law, or church worship services, mission projects, or even youth group for that matter? How does that turn into law? Well, I see them turning into law in at least two ways. One, when they become our means of obtaining righteousness. This is self-righteousness. They become law when we think that prayer, study, going to church, serving others, or going to youth group makes us righteous. Or that they are the ways in which we are justified, saved, or sanctified. And then these ways, in thinking this way, leaves out the redemptive work in Christ. In this way we can obtain or achieve our salvation or our justification, our sanctification by our own means, by our own works. In our attendance, in the number of prayers we pray, by the number of people we serve. In other words, by our own merit, by doing the disciplines, by attending church, we can earn God's grace. We can earn God's love. This is contrary to Paul's teaching and is another form of being enslaved. A second way I see it becoming law, the disciplines or attending church, they can become law when we think that we have to do them. And thereby they become burdens. They become a burden when you cannot miss a prayer time, when you cannot miss a worship service, when you cannot miss a youth group or a mission project. For each time you do, you incur a debt. We have to do them. And yet we can never achieve our goal in this way. We can never achieve our goal in this way because though we have to do them, we can never do them enough. We will always be restlessly trying to do more and more and more. Because we can never pray or fast or confess enough, or we can never attend church enough, the debt grows to be insurmountable. And our failures to not keep them, prayer or perfect church attendance. It quickly turns to guilt, knowing that we can never achieve the goal. And resignation will soon follow guilt. As we throw in the towel, so to speak, unable to carry the heavy load we have placed upon ourselves. But Paul writes, for freedom Christ has set us free. Because the gospel says we are not working for God's love, we are living from God's love. Christ has already done what we never could. Freedom, not slavery or burden, should shape our lives. From the opening declaration in verse one, our reading moves directly from that proclamation to words of freedom when Paul writes, For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters. And here Paul is making the strongest emphasis on you. The you is in the plural, meaning you all, brothers and sisters. Or we might say y'all. Or to really capture this emphasis, we'd say all y'all. All y'all were chosen for freedom. Jewish and Gentile Christian alike have been chosen for freedom, therefore, no one should submit to the yoke of slavery. Paul is personal, he's direct, he's clear. And an important question remains: what does this freedom look like? Thankfully, Paul sketches what it means to be free, that is, to live in the freedom of Christ. Aware that his emphasis on freedom could be dangerous, for it could be interpreted as anything goes, or I'll do as I please. He exhorts the Galatians not to use their freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, or more literally, do not use your freedom as a base of operations for the flesh. Flesh for Paul is not merely the physical body, but the whole self under the power of sin with its self-serving desires and motives. The self is never satisfied. It never has enough esteem, never has enough status, wealth, pleasures, or whatever else it is seeking. Self-indulgence, when seen as a mode of endless self-satisfaction, easily becomes a new form of slavery, of burden. One can easily be bound to their own self-destructive desires while proclaiming they are free, when in fact they are not free, because they must do what they want, what they desire at all times. So the freedom Paul is proclaiming, Christ freedom, is not a wild, abstract freedom free of restraint. It is a gift bound not to self but to Christ. All y'all were called to be free, or perhaps a better way to understand this gift of freedom is to say you were chosen for freedom. The gift of freedom is therefore a result of God's grace given in Christ. To this point, the freedom of which Paul speaks mirrors God's own freedom. A freedom bound in love of others. To have been freed by Christ is to have been freed from the grim results of a life separated from God and others. According to Paul, Christ frees us not only from the law and the sinful self, but Christ frees us precisely for the purpose of humbly serving others in and through love. Those in Christ are free from the yoke of sin and the law. They are free to serve their neighbor. To serve in this way means, in this freedom means that serving is done not to meet the demands of the law or even to feel good about ourselves. It is completely focused on the needs of our neighbor. So what then does the freedom Paul speaks of mean for us as we continue our walk of faith or as we embark on the journey through the disciplines? It means that we do not depend on our own merits to earn the graces of God. It means that we are no longer bound by ceaseless demands of having to do church attendance or the disciplines themselves. We're no longer bound by the ceaseless demands of having to do, thereby turning them into a burdensome law. It means that the spiritual disciplines are not something we have to do and are instead free to enjoy. Because they are gifts rather than burdens. Our justification, our salvation, our sanctification do not depend on us checking them off a list or even that we have to go to church. Because they do not, we are free to receive as God's, we are free to receive them as God's gift to us. So that in receiving these gifts, we might take pleasure in extending the gifts of God's grace to and for others. Our freedom, it mirrors God's own freedom, a freedom that is bound in the love of others. Therefore, we are freed to participate in God's ongoing work in the world. Paul writes that the entire law is fulfilled in keeping the command to love your neighbor as yourself. Now, this you is singular. Each of you, each one of you, love your particular neighbor. Paul warns that if we ignore or disregard the freedom to love another, then when the consequences are our mutual destruction. When this freedom is ignored, we no longer act as those living by the Spirit and we revert back to the yokes that bind us. He says we bite and destroy each other, and destruction follows. Paul tells the Galatians then to walk by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and not to gratify the desires of the flesh. This is the aim of the spiritual disciplines. This is the aim of worship. This is the aim of our service to one another. The disciplines turn our eyes and our minds away from ourselves and on to the other. God and our neighbor. Turns our eyes away from ourselves and on to the other. God and our neighbor. This is life in the Spirit. So how then will we know that Christ has truly set us free? We'll know not because we have perfect church attendance, or not because we have mastered every spiritual discipline, or not because we have checked all the proverbial boxes. People will know that Christ has truly set us free. They will know because they encounter a people who love differently. A people who bear one another's burdens instead of adding to them. They will know because they encounter a people whose actions, whose speech, whose thoughts and hearts are shaped by the cross and by the Holy Spirit. A people whose lives bear the fruit of the Spirit of joy and love and peace, patience and kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Not because they are trying to earn God's favor. Because we've already received it. So that is why we pray. That is why we study Scripture, why we worship and why we serve. We're not working for God's love. We are living from God's love. God has already claimed us as God's own in Christ. So let us not carry these things as a burden to bear and instead receive them as gifts of God's grace. Let them turn your eyes from yourself to God. And from God to your neighbor.