~ Living in Liberty

One old song goes “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able, to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”  It is a statement that affirms the trustworthiness of Jesus.

Liberty is that freedom from restraint which enables us to choose what we will; it is different to “license” which is the freedom to do anything at all.  Paul of Tarsus made this distinction im Romans 6:15-18, it went like this

So, since we're out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we're free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom! Romans 6:15-18

Liberty is not the right to do anything at all; rather it is the ability to choose what is best for us and others.  In the old Testament there is a system of voluntary “slavery” where through financial distress a person would be pledged to another to satisfy a debt.  The “slave” was to work for his master for a period of six years but in the seventh year was to be emancipated.  If however the slave decided to, he could voluntarily attach themself to the master again.

This is the picture that Paul was using. Jesus set us free by His submission to death and His Father, and we should choose to live for Jesus because it is for our benefit to live the life He offers.  He tells the Church of Galatia the reason we should make this choice is that God has called us to it and then shows what liberty should look like.

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? Galatians 5:13-15 (The Message)

Jesus our Master took the journey to the cross for two reasons.  He knew that it was necessary to fulfil all righteousness, and that hard as it was, it was Father’s will for His life.  He demonstrated what the “God life” was during the ministry years.  He then showed us what submission to God meant by going to the cross: a particularly nasty way to die.

We also are called to live for others, not just our loved ones but the foreigners and strangers in our midst as well.  We are to stand with the oppressed and those who are unable to stand for themselves.  We are to love the unloving and unlovable.  This is a big job however Jesus has paid the price and is with us enabling us to live up to the God life.

Finally Peter wrote in first Peter a model for living as a Jesus follower look it up and apply this verse to your life.  Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.  1 Peter 2:16 (New International Version, ©2010)