Thursday, July 14, 2011
Galatians 1:1-10 Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
FREEDOM (4)
What then is the service of freedom?
I recently had a unique opportunity. A coworker asked me a Bible question and after some discussion, I found myself talking about the book of Ecclesiastes. I explained that the basic message of that book was summed up in the phrase "vanity of vanities, all is vanity." It didn't take long for my coworker to ask the next obvious question: "What is the point of life then." "It depends on whether you are a believer or an unbeliever. If you are a believer the purpose of your life is to spread the word of God, if you are an unbeliever the purpose of your life is a chance to repent and believe."
The work of the Christian is the proclamation of our freedom, to tell the world of the grace of God. If we teach works of the flesh, we are not proclaiming grace and freedom from sin, but works, and slavery to sin. Let freedom ring. More importantly than temporary imperfect American freedom, let ring the freedom of the Christian, the grace of God, the love of Christ.
This is the service of freedom: that we seek to persuade men. Just as we do not consider it a bad or embarrassing to promote democracy across the globe because we know what we have and what a good thing it is, far more should we never shrink from persuading men across the globe concerning the freedom we have in Christ.
