Life of Paul Part 22 - Enjoying our Freedom in Christ

I think most of us here know the plot of the movie Saving Private Ryan. Private James Ryan parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and within several days all three of his other brothers were killed in action and so the military brass decided to send out a platoon of eight men led by Captain John Miller, Tom Hanks, to go behind German lines and find Private Ryan, save his life and then get him headed home safely to his mother so that she would have at least one surviving son. Well, in the process of trying to save Private Ryan, six of the eight men in that platoon lost their lives and as Captain Miller lay dying, he says to Ryan, earn this. He said, we've sacrificed our lives to save you, now earn it. Well, Private Ryan spent the next 50 years of his life trying to earn it, but when have you ever done enough? When have you ever been good enough?

When have you ever performed well enough to earn something like that? And so, as we saw in our clip nearly 50 years later, Private Ryan is still in prison to those words, still trying to earn it, still trying to perform up to that standard that he was put on that day on the bridge. Folks, I don't know if you ever thought about it, but just think how much different the world would have been for Private Ryan if instead of saying, earn this, Captain Miller would have said to him, enjoy this. We sacrificed our lives to save you, now enjoy this. I mean, I think Private Ryan would have still gone on to be a good person.

I think he would have still gone on to live a good life, but he would have done it as a free man with joy in his life. You know, 2000 years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed his life on a cross to save you and me. And as followers of Christ, my question is, which of these two phrases does he say to us? Does he say to us, earn this?

Or does he say to us, enjoy this? Well, that's what we want to talk about today because our whole Christian experience, whether we live it in liberty or whether we live it in slavery, is all based on our understanding of the answer to this question. And so today, I want you to put your theological thinking cap on because I want to challenge perhaps what some of you have been taught your whole life about the way the Christian experience the way the Christian life is supposed to work. And we're going to do it with biblical truth. The result of all this is when we're done. I hope you walk out of here to understanding a little bit better today how to live the Christian life, but how to live it according to real biblical truth. Now, if you've got a Bible, let's open it together to Acts chapter 15. If you're in our overflow, we're so glad you're here today. God bless you guys.

We appreciate you coming. This is the first church council ever held. And that council grew out of a conflict, a disagreement that we see here in verse one of Acts chapter 15. So men came down from Judea from Jerusalem to Antioch, and they were teaching the Gentiles there, unless you were circumcised, according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. You cannot have eternal life.

You cannot go to heaven. Paul and Barnabas didn't agree with this. And so they took the matter to Jerusalem and the council of all the church leaders met together to really consider two issues. Issue number one is just how does a person get eternal life? And they answered it in verse 11 when Peter rose and said, No, we believe that it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they the Gentiles are. The declaration of the Jerusalem Council is that salvation, eternal life, go into heaven, coming into personal relationship with Christ is a function of the grace, the undeserved mercy of the Lord Jesus, plus no human works of any kind. And that mercy and grace is activated when we place our faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross.

So issue number one, they settle. Now, issue number two is related to that, and that is once a person becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, what is the basis of that person's ongoing relationship with God? Or to put it another way, is a follower of Jesus Christ free to act any way they want without endangering their relationship to God? Or is there some right way that a Christian has to act in order to stay in God's good graces in order to continue to receive the love of God?

Well, let's see them answer that question. Verse 13. When they were finished, James spoke up and here's what he said. Verse 19. He said, It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

I like the translation from the message. It says, And so my judgment is that we should stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God. Troubling them with what? Well, troubling them with this system of Christian performance that these false teachers in Acts 15 one were trying to lay on them. James says these false teachers went to Antioch, and they tried to put the Gentile believers there on a performance trip, not just in terms of how they start their relationship with God, but in terms of how they continue their relationship with God. And James says here at the Jerusalem Council, we need to state once and for all that the Christian life is based on the unconditional love for us as his Children through Christ, that it's not based on our performance, that it's 100% grace.

It's 0% Christian performance. And this is exactly what the rest of the Bible teaches. Romans Chapter eight, verse one. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus Christ.

For when you gave your lives to Christ, you were adopted into God's family as dear Children. Therefore, you no longer need to act like cowering slaves. If you're here today and you run a company or you're an employer of any kind, you know, of course, that there's a huge difference between your relationship to an employee and your relationship to your own child. Hey, if an employee doesn't perform the way you want them to, you can sever that relationship and fire them if you want to. But if your child doesn't perform the way that you want them to, if you're a good parent, you can't do that because your relationship with your child is like no relationship anywhere else in the universe.

It is unseverable. It is unconditional. And this is all that the Bible is saying that when we become Children of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, our relationship with God becomes unseverable. It becomes unconditional because we are God's Children.

His love and acceptance of us does not float up and down based on our performance. Now, let me stop here for just a second and say, if you're here today and you've never trusted Christ as your real and personal savior, be careful. You don't believe it when the world tells you that we're all God's Children. I'm sorry, but that's not what the Bible teaches at all.

As a matter of fact, the Bible teaches the exact opposite. The Bible teaches that as human beings, yes, we're all God's creation, but that being God's child with all the rights and the privileges that come therein, that that is only reserved for people who have put their personal faith in the Lord Jesus. John Chapter one says that when we trust Christ, verse 12, we are given the authority to become the Children of God. But the only people who have the authority to become the Children of God are people who have trusted Christ. So if you're here today and you'd like to be a child of God with all the rights and the privileges that go with that, hey, friends, God would love nothing more than to make you his child. But the only way into that relationship is through personal faith in what Jesus did for you on the cross. That's it. Something to know.

Well, let's go on. As a follower of Christ, as a child of God, the Bible declares that our relationship with God has nothing to do with our performance. Romans eight, verse 35. What shall ever be able to separate us as God's Children from the love of God?

Neither death nor life nor angels nor demons nor height nor depth nor anything else in creation, including my bad performance, will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that's in Jesus Christ. The point here is that as God's child, I have the freedom to act any way I want without endangering my bond, the love between me and my Heavenly Father. Now, folks, it's this freedom that is what the whole Book of Galatians is about.

As a matter of fact, the Book of Galatians is often called the Magna Carta of Christian Liberty. Galatians two, verse four. Paul says these false teachers.

Which ones? Well, the ones here in Acts 15 that came and tried to put the Gentiles under Christian performance. These false teachers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ and to try to make us slaves again. Verse five. We did not give into them for a moment, and the apostle Paul spends the rest of the Book of Galatians urging these Galatian believers and urging us to resist any and all attempts by people to compromise our freedom in Christ. Chapter four, verse eight. Formerly, when you didn't know God, you were slaves, Paul writes, but now you are children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

So why now do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to a weak and useless system of human performance? You're trying to find favor with God by what you do and what you don't do? Come on now, dear friends, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things. And would you notice here how Paul defines slavery? He defines it as trying to find favor with God by what we do and by what we don't do. He says that the great news of the Bible is that as children of God, as followers of Christ, God has freed us from this kind of enslaving arrangement with God. Galatians chapter five, verse one. It is for freedom that God has set us free.

Stand firm then and do not let yourself be entangled again by this yoke of slavery. Now let's summarize. What have we learned? We've learned that as followers of Christ, as children of God, our relationship with God is not based on our performance. Romans chapter six, verse 14 says, For we are not under the law, we are under grace. Which means when we perform poorly, God doesn't love us any the less. When we perform excellently, God doesn't love us any the more. It means that as the Bible said in Galatians four, Jesus has freed us from trying to find favor with God by what we do and what we don't do. The news of the Bible is we have favor with God 24-7. And the message of Jesus to us is, hey, enjoy it. I set you free. Now enjoy it. Well, we want to stop right here because we need to bring this truth down to 21st century living.

And that means we have a very important question that we need to ask. So are you all still with me? All right. Everybody still awake? Here we go. Ready? Nice and loud.

One, two, three. Right. So long. So what? Say, would you let me put some handles on this for me? Make this truth real practical for me.

OK, I'd love to do that. Friends, whether you realize it or not, most evangelical churches in America teach a system that has salvation by grace and the Christian life by works. Let me repeat that salvation by the grace of God, the Christian experience by works. You say, I don't understand. What do you mean? I mean, that they tell you if you really want to be a good Christian, if you really want to be everything God wants you to be, if you really want to stay close to God, you can't go to movies. You can't play cards. You can't cut the grass on Sunday. You can't gamble. You can't play secular music and you can't do mixed swimming.

You can't. If you want God to really consider you a good Christian, you can't wear short skirts, get a tattoo or drive a new Porsche. If you want God to really think you're a good Christian, you can't dance or drink or smoke or chew or hang around with them, which do if you want God to think you're a good Christian. Now, you know, we laugh. But let me just tell you, this is tragic.

This isn't funny. This is tragic because what this performance approach to the Christian life does, what this works approach does, is it robs people of their freedom in Christ. It makes slaves out of people. It saps all the joy, all the vitality, all the zing and all the sparkle out of the Christian experience. And it makes the Christian life a life of drudgery, a life of bland obligation.

All these churches are doing is producing a lot of private Ryans all over the Christian world, people who are living their entire lives in slavery to do's and don'ts and performance that's been laid on them by somebody else. As I read the Bible, Jesus said, John 836, If I, the Son of Man, set you free, you will be free indeed. Chuck Swindoll and his wonderful book, Grace Awakening. If you hadn't read it, you ought to go down down the bookstore and buy it.

If we're out, sign up and order it. Here's what he says. And I quote, he said, There are grace killers on the loose. These are people who don't want us to be free before God, accepted just as we are by His grace. They don't want us to be free to express our faith originally and creatively.

They want everybody to act and talk and behave exactly like they do. Too many folks out in our world, he goes on, are being turned off by this twisted concept of the Christian life. Instead of giving people permission to be absolutely free in Christ, more people than ever are projecting this grim faced list of do's and don'ts, which result in believers who spend their whole life in a tight radius of bondage. Too many people in our world see Christians as stiff, uptight people who live lives that are inflexible, colorless and unbending. He closes by saying in vain, I have searched the Bible looking for examples of Christians whose lives were marked by this kind of rigidity, inhibition, dullness and caution. Instead, in the Bible, I find adventurous, risk taking, enthusiastic believers whose joy was contagious because they understood God's grace and they knew they were free.

End of quote. You know, Romans Chapter five, verse two says this. It says, Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have gained access into this gracious position in which we now stand. There's a gracious standing that is given to us as as followers of Christ, which means that our relationship with God, God's love for us, God's acceptance for us is all based on God's grace, not on Christian performance. You say, well, what are you really trying to say here?

I mean, just put it right down rubber meets the road. OK, I will. Friends, as a follower of Jesus Christ, you can play poker, go to the movies, play slot machines, listen to rock music, smoke cigars. You can do shots of tequila. You can buy lottery tickets, get a tattoo. You can wear 75 earrings and 25 studs if you want to. And it won't change how God feels about you one bit.

Y'all still there? All right. Now, I don't want anybody fainting and rolling out into the aisle when I say this, but it gets more radical than that. Friends, you can smoke dope in the McLean Bible Church restroom and it won't change how God feels about you one bit. Now, I'm not saying God will be thrilled with your choice of activity.

And lots of times I'm not thrilled with my children's choice of activity. But my relationship with them is not based on their choice of activity. And God's relationship with you isn't either. Hey, as a follower of Jesus Christ on travel, you can order an adult movie in your hotel room and it won't change how God feels about you one bit. As a follower of Jesus Christ, you can be unfaithful to your spouse.

And as sad as that situation is, it won't change how God feels about you one bit. You go, OK, OK, OK, stop right there. See, I knew this. I knew if the elders of this church lawn gave you enough rope, you would turn into a heretic. I knew it. I knew it.

I knew it. Well, what about Chuck Swindoll? Well, he's a heretic, too.

Well, wait a minute. What about the apostle Paul? Romans Chapter six, verse one. Paul says, What am I saying here? Am I saying we should go on sinning that grace may abound? May it never be? Romans six fifteen. What am I saying? Paul says, Am I saying we should sin because we're under grace and not under law?

By no means. Here in Romans six, the apostle Paul is defending himself against those who accused him of license, of freeing people to go commit sin whenever they felt like it because of the way he taught Christian liberty. Now, friends, let me ask you a question. Is the apostle Paul a heretic? Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones wrote, he said, The true preaching of grace always leads to the possibility of this charge of license being brought against him. If your preaching of grace has not been misunderstood in this way, you had better examine your sermons again to make sure you are preaching grace as it is really offered in the New Testament.

Folks, listen to me. I'm not up here trying to encourage you to exercise license to sin. I am not up here trying to encourage you to go disobey God. I mean, I get up here Sunday after Sunday and my passion is to teach us to walk in the spirit, to obey God, to live out a Christian worldview. But folks, obedience to God needs to be based on biblical truth.

And biblical truth is this, that because I'm a child of God, because I am under God's grace as a follower of Jesus Christ, I am free to do whatever I want without ever endangering my eternal life or my relationship with God. That is truth. Now, before we close shop today, let's balance this truth. You say, Lon, please.

Okay, I hear you. Let's balance this. First Corinthians 10 23. Paul writes and says, All things are lawful to me, but not all things are profitable. Paul says, As a follower of Christ, I can do anything I want to do without endangering my relationship with Christ. All things are lawful to me, but not everything's profitable.

And friends, there are two categories of choices that you and I make in our lives to which this verse applies inside of our Christian liberty. Category number one is those things that might possibly offend other people. These are things that are not spiritual issues with God. The Bible doesn't talk about them. They don't offend God, but they might possibly scandalize other people and get in the way of their coming to Christ. Things like what, Lon?

Well, things like playing cards, going to movies, getting the tattoo, smoking cigars and drinking margaritas or whatever. Now, do we have Christian liberty in this area? Absolutely.

Without a doubt. And yet God says, Hey, you know what? All these things are lawful to you, but there are times not that all these things are not profitable. And there are times I want you to limit your liberty, God says to us in these areas. Yes, you have liberty, but there are times I want you to limit it in deference to other people for the sake of other people. Now, we're going to come back after the holidays and we're going to spend a couple of weeks looking at what the Bible teaches about those principles of how do you limit your liberty? When do we limit our liberty? Under what circumstances do we limit our liberty when we're doing these things that are not issues to God? But they certainly sometimes are issues to other people.

We're going to come back and deal with that. There's another category of things where our verse applies. All things are lawful, not all things are profitable. These are those things in the Bible that God says are just flat displeasing to him. They offend him. These are things that are just flat wrong, God says.

Adultery, pornography, stealing, lying, cheating, embezzling. Now, as uncomfortable as it makes us feel, the Bible says we have liberty in any one of these areas to do these things that it will not affect our relationship with God. But God says to us in the Bible, all things are lawful, but definitely these things are not profitable. And I'm asking you to stay away from these things. I'm asking you not to use your liberty in these things, not only because these things offend me, God says, but because they'll bring consequences on your life that you'll be really sad. 1 Peter 2, verse 16, Be holy because I am holy. God says, I don't want you doing these things. I want you to be to do the things that are holy. Galatians chapter 5, verse 13, You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge your sinful nature. Use your freedom to serve God and to serve people.

Friends, as free people, God calls us to avoid doing these things that offend him that are spiritual issues to him, not because we have to, but because we love God so much, we want to. See, I commit as much adultery as I want to. I don't want to commit adultery. I smoke as much dope as I want to. I don't want to smoke dope.

I embezzle as much money from McLean Bible Church as I want to. I don't want to. And the reason I don't want to is not because I feel guilt or obligation or that I have to comply to some rules.

No, no, no. I have a God who gave his life on the cross for me. I have a God who died not only to give me eternal life, but to take my life, which wasn't worth a plug nickel and make it worth living again. And I love that God so much that if he asked me not to do these things, even though I'm free to do them, he says not to do them out of love for him.

I'm not going to do. See, Christian liberty, folks, is not about having the freedom to sin against God. If that's what you think it is, you completely misunderstand Christian liberty. Christian liberty is about having the freedom to obey God for the right reason. Not for guilt, not for obligation, not for duty, but because we love him. We have the freedom not to, but we choose to obey God because we love him. That's Christian liberty.

Let's summarize. What have we learned today? Number one, we've learned that when we've placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we become God's child in a way that the rest of the human race isn't. Number two, we've learned that as God's child, I have the freedom to act in any way I want without endangering the bond between me and my Heavenly Father. Number three, we've learned that God wants us to know that we're free and to enjoy our freedom.

He says to us from the bridge, enjoy it. But number four, God, out of love for him, asks us to be willing to limit our liberty, number one, in those areas that patently offend God, and number two, in those areas that will possibly offend and damage other people. You understand what we're saying?

That's what we've learned today. Now, I understand why churches teach a different way. I understand why churches teach, don't you dare do this, don't you dare do this, and don't you dare do this, because they're afraid if they teach liberty the way it's supposed to be taught, that right after the service, we'll have people full in the restroom smoking dope.

Everybody be down there blowing joints. I understand that. But you know what, friends? You can't deny truth in order to try to keep people not to behave wrong.

You understand what I'm saying? All that does is damage people. Listen, my sons, when they turned 18, it was pretty risky to let them go off and exercise their freedom and make their own choices. Frankly, if they'd have left it up to me, I could have made better choices than they're making in many cases, up till the time they were 50 or 60 years old.

I could have done this for them. But the problem with that is they don't grow up. The problem with that is they stay infants their whole lives. And so as risky as it is, I had to take my hands off and just trust God that, yeah, they might make a mistake or two, but the result would be they'd develop their own convictions, they'd develop their own walk with God, and they would grow up to be mature men and women of God. If a church is always telling you what you can do and what you can't do, you'll never grow up. You'll be a child the rest of your Christian life. And so God says, no, you have freedom. Yeah, you may make a mistake or two, but you and my spirit together will develop your convictions, will teach you how to make good choices for the right reason, and will help you grow up to be a woman of God, to be a man of God. That's what we want to do here, friends. And so in what may be my last message at McLean Bible Church, we're going to teach you truth, and we want you to go out and live the Christian experience with the right choices but free and to make it in truth.

And if you were taught different someplace else, then just let me say you were taught wrong. We're going to teach you right, and we're going to try to help you grow up to be men and women of God. Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, thanks for the privilege of talking today about this incredible subject that we need to understand. We need to know that we're free and then to limit that freedom when you tell us to, Lord, out of love for you, not out of duty or obligation. My prayer is that you would challenge our thinking about the Christian life today, that you would challenge our understanding of the Christian experience, that you would liberate us from a life of drudgery and guilt and obligation, and liberate us, Lord, into a life of freedom where we still make the right choices out of love for you, not out of duty. God, change our whole approach to Christian living because we were here. Infuse our Christian lives with freedom, joy, and vitality as we live it the way it was supposed to be lived. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.