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SERMONS

The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
July 1, 2001

By David Christian

Today is July the first. In three days, on July the fourth, we will celebrate Independence Day. We will honor the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of this country.

On of the basic doctrines that our nation was founded on is the doctrine of individual freedom. We place high value in our freedom, and we are quick to defend it against anything that we perceive to be a threat.

The writers of Holy Scripture also place great value in freedom. In today's second lesson Paul is writing to the church in Galatia. His topic is freedom; our freedom in Christ. He writes, "For freedom Christ has set you free.... You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters...." Those who live in Christ are free from the constraints of the law. We have thrown off the yoke of slavery.

Yet in his very next breath Paul warns about the risk that comes with such freedom. "Do not use your freedom," he warns, "as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another."

What a strange notion of freedom; and what a contrast from our society's understanding of freedom. If I had to articulate how we understand freedom in the United States today, it would be something like: Freedom means that I can decide what is best for me and I can pursue that. And no one can stop me as long as I don't hurt anyone else.

But Paul calls us, in our freedom, to be slaves to one another. The Church claims that in serving Christ we find perfect freedom. How can this be? How is it that we find our freedom in service?

In making this claim both Paul and the Church share a basic understanding of human nature. That is that we will serve something; we must serve something. There is no way that we can escape this truth. To be human is to live in service to something. If this is true, then the question becomes, "Who or what will I serve?"

There are some people who would object to this understanding of human nature. There are some who would say, "I will serve no one. I will decide what is best for me. That is what it means to be free." Such a statement is similar to the notion of freedom that I tried to articulate earlier.

But the Church and Paul claim that for me to follow such a path is to place myself in the service of the cruelest master of all: my own will; my own desire. Paul calls following such a road gratifying the desires of the flesh, and he contrasts that with following the Spirit.

We have a tendency to understand the phrase, "gratifying the desires of the flesh" in a sensual way-seeking physical pleasure. It can mean that. But it means much more. These other ways of gratifying the desires of the flesh may be even more treacherous and more dangerous than the sensual desires we so easily condemn.

"Gratifying the desires of the flesh" can mean seeking security in material possessions or wealth; it can mean the single-minded pursuit of fame or power. It can mean placing service to country or family or church above all other things. It can mean anything that we serve in place of God.

All such pursuits ultimately are destructive. They are destructive because they lead to ends contrary to the end for which we were created.

Let me use an example. Last week I needed to drive a nail into a board but I couldn't find a hammer. So I used my shoe. It worked, sort of. Eventually I did succeed in pounding the nail into the board, more or less. But I also succeeded in destroying the shoe, because a shoe is not designed to hammer nails into boards.

We-human beings-are created in the image of God. We are created out of love and out of God's desire for relationship. And we are created to love-to love God and to love one another-and to live in relationship with God and with each other. That is what we have been created for. That is the end we have been created to serve.

We can choose to pursue that end, or we can choose to pursue some other end. In Paul's terms we can choose to follow the Spirit or we can choose to follow the desires of the flesh.

If we choose to follow the Spirit-if we choose to love God and to love one another-we will be letting ourselves be used for the purpose for which we were created. Paul tells us that the fruits of such a way of life are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

If we choose to follow some other path-if we choose to serve some other god-that path also has its consequences. Paul lists them as well: enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, envy.

We have the freedom to choose. But ultimate freedom lies in choosing to follow God.

I hope you will have the opportunity on Wednesday to give thanks for the freedoms that are ours in this country. But please remember that, as wonderful and valuable as they are, they pale in comparison to the greater freedom that is ours in following our Lord Jesus Christ. The freedom to serve God, by loving God and by loving one another.

David Christian

The Chapel of the Cross
Madison, Mississippi

1 Kings 19.15-16,19-21
Galatians 5.1,13-25
Luke 9.51-63