The Nature of Christian Freedom (Part 2 of 3)

Because of Jesus' life and work, His followers were given freedom from certain laws or practices or restrictions.

So why would we ever choose to constrain ourselves? We'll see the answer to that question today on Truth for Life as we look at two common extremes to avoid as we exercise our freedom in Christ. Alistair Begg is teaching from 1 Corinthians Chapter 8.

It is love which has permanent effect. It's hard for us to realize, isn't it? And so Paul says, the man, verse 3, the man who loves God—now, if somebody covered that up for us and read to his verses 1 and 2 and said, now finish the phrase, but the man who loves God, we would probably, I think, say, he's the one who really knows. You know, the man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know, but the man who loves God, he's the one who really knows.

That's not what he says. But the man who loves God, he's the one that God knows. So that the knowledge that is the real knowledge that produces love in life is the knowledge which is interrelated with the fact that God knows me. And what he's doing is he's underlining a truth which pervades all of Scripture, namely this, that the really important thing is not that we know all the right stuff, but that God knows us. Because even when we know all that we could possibly know for all of our lives, that still is no great mystery. The great mystery is that God knows us, that he would pick us out in a crowd, that he could meet us at the Super Bowl and call us by name, that he could identify us. And so he says the person who is understanding this kind of knowledge knows that this knowledge which produces itself in love is founded in the fact that the Lord knows them that are his.

That's 2 Timothy 2.19. The knowledge that really counts is not mere knowledge, however extensive and correct, but the kind of knowledge that is united with and permeated by love to God. That's why I think in Deuteronomy 6—and we quote it so many times in our baby dedications in the morning—God was careful to say to his people, these things, Deuteronomy 6, are to be upon your hearts, and you are to teach them to your children.

And I've said this to you many times, but I find it a great challenge. The issue is not that these things are to be in your heads and you teach them to your children. Because we may be able to rattle knowledge into our children, we may be able to stamp them out to some degree in terms of our limited ability to constrain their tiny lives as they grow, we may be able to give them all the right knowledge. But that's not ultimately the issue, because the kind of knowledge that God looks for, the kind of knowledge that the church requires, the kind of knowledge that will allow us to deal with difficult, divisive issues is a knowledge, I say it again, that is united to and permeated by our love to, for God. Now again, I say to you, remember that the wider context, digression or not, is that of making important decisions that will have an amazing impact upon our brothers and sisters in Christ. So our conduct, in relation to Christian freedom specifically, must not then be guided by the thought of our own superior knowledge, but by the kind of sympathetic, considerate love for our fellow man, which is directly related to being known of God.

That's tough, isn't it? Especially for those of us who think we know. Especially for those of us who think we know more than what other people know. Because knowledge is power, after all. Knowledge is influence. Knowledge provides the basis of intimidation. Knowledge can coerce people into a lifestyle they don't even believe in. But love won't do that. And that's why the antithesis, again, is not between knowledge and ignorance, but between knowledge and love.

It's an interesting juxtaposition. Only somebody led by the Spirit of God, and as smart as the Apostle Paul, would have been able to come up with this kind of thing, and state it so succinctly. Turn with me into 1 John, just for a moment, because I think this seals it in our minds. This intermingling of our love for God, and what it means in terms of knowledge and love and decision-making for our fellow man.

1 John, chapter 4, and verse 19. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, I love God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command, whoever loves God must also love his brother. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves his child as well, this is how we know that we love the children of God, by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God, to obey his commands, and his commands are not burdensome.

And so the argument continues. It is love, says Paul, which is the key to our behavior, not knowledge. And it is love which sets the limits of our liberty, not knowledge. Because, he says, knowledge puffs up, blows you up. It is love that builds up. And since the responsibility of the Christian is to be built up in their faith, then we want that which builds us up. Now, again, don't let's create this as a false antithesis whereby we set the two things in juxtaposition to one another as if they do not intermingle.

Clearly they do. Knowledge devoid of love is Pharisaical arrogance, ultimately, and love devoid of knowledge is mushy sentimentality. The only way that knowledge, both received and used, will be to the benefit of our own lives and to those who are around us is when we understand that it is love that sets the limits of our freedom. Now, if you're still with that at all, let me come finally to the practical implications. I've found these verses extremely challenging, very unsettling, because as we know our own hearts and we recognize our own propensities, the Word of God cuts like a knife. The practical implications, it seems to me, are these.

At least they're among these. It's only when we are not merely looking out for our own interests, but also for the interests of others, that we can genuinely claim to be on the road to the kind of maturity that Paul mentions here. And we need that kind of maturity if we're going to wrestle with what Christian freedom is really all about—the nature of Christian freedom. Because not everything in the Bible is written down in a list, unfortunately. The Bible is very, very clear about certain things that are to be inculcated in our lives. It's also exceptionally clear about things that are to be removed from our lives or not to be tolerated. But there is a ton of stuff that it does not say anything about. And interestingly enough, those are the areas that most Christian fellowships get themselves most embroiled in discussions about, in my experience. It's not the main things which are plain that they discuss. It's not the central issues. It's the peripheral issues.

And the peripheral issues become central, and consequently, the central issues become peripheral. And what Paul is addressing here in relationship to this whole notion of food sacrificed to idols is really simply a key into a much wider question, namely, how far does my freedom extend in regard to behavior that is not specifically forbidden in the Bible? How much Christian freedom do I have in relationship to things that the Bible does not expressly forbid nor expressly call for? I was very, very clear that our freedom is a real freedom.

Jesus said, You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Paul says in Galatians 5 that we have been set free, and therefore nobody should tie us up again in a yoke of bondage. So we are really free. However, our freedom is constrained. And part of the constraint—and this we'll come to next time, but I want you just to notice it—is found in our relationships with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 9. Be careful, he says, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. So the freedom is a real freedom, but there is a real problem attaching to this freedom, because our knowledge is at best limited, and if we go on the basis of knowledge and not on the basis of love, we may get puffed up, but we won't grow up. Now, there have been largely two responses or two common extremes, both of which are dead-end streets in relationship to the question of human freedom in Christian terms, and with this I want to conclude this evening. You know what they are. I just reiterate them for some.

It will be news to others. On the one hand, if you like, and if you want to picture it in terms of context, in the Lake District of England, in the Lake District of England there is a point along the mountain ridge which is called Striding Edge. It's a very narrow point of the journey. It's a very dangerous point of the journey because it slopes away steeply into two deep quarries on either side or two deep gullies, if you like. Therefore, when climbers walk on that striding edge, it is imperative that they look where they're going, they keep their eyes ahead, they don't deviate, because in one moment they may bring themselves or their traveling companions down into one of these deep gullies. Now, with that picture in mind, I want to suggest to you that gully number one, into which Christian people have fallen most frequently in relationship to this kind of question, gully number one is marked legalism.

It's stamped right across it. You can fall into it real easily as an individual and as a church. Let me tell you what it is. Legalism is an approach to Christian living which turns absolutely everything into rules. It knows nothing of principles.

It knows nothing of trying to apply the Scriptures in a way that isn't wooden and constricted to the realistic issues of life. It develops elaborate lists of dos and don'ts. It varies from place to place and from culture to culture and shares the one fact that it produces these lists. So that, for example, if you roam Great Britain alone and go from congregation to congregation, from legalistic congregation to legalistic congregation, you will have to be a pretty fast dancer, because their lists are different from place to place.

So you may be scoring an A in congregation one, move your home by a hundred miles to congregation two, and suddenly you were getting an F. And you don't know why it is that you're not involved in teaching, why it is that you didn't get invited to be in the choir, why it is that this or whatever it is, until they produced their list. You said, oh, I didn't know that chewing was on it. I mean, I didn't know that, oh, and it's not just chewing.

I see it's Wrigley's. You can't… juicy fruit? Ah-ha, you see? So as soon as you look at this list, it ties you up in knots. In this kind of context, spirituality is then judged by one's willingness to comply with the list of regulations.

I don't know if you've ever been in a place like this. The result is that people who live that way find that their lives are not ordered by the Spirit, who brings us into freedom, but they are ordered by the law. And the mistake that is further made is this, that by refraining from the things on the list, you're spiritual.

So it becomes very easy. Give me the list. Make sure I don't do the list. I'm a spiritual person. So the man comes down to his breakfast, having not offended any of the list during sleep or in shaving or whatever it is, so he appears at the breakfast table as Mr. Spiritual.

The fact that he disregards his wife, that he's abusive towards his children, if it's not on the list, it doesn't affect him, because he got his list, and his freedom is found in making sure that he scores high on whoever wrote it down for him. Let me tell you this. Legalism stifles freedom, legalism confuses conscience, legalism limits the Word of God, and legalism diminishes the power of the Holy Spirit in people's lives. And it is a curse. It is a quarry. It is a deep pit into which people fall in trying their best to delineate Christian freedom.

Now, on the other side of Striding Edge is another quarry, another gully, and this one is stamped license. This is the absolute opposite extreme. In this little quarry, everything is acceptable. Freedom is absolute, and freedom is unqualified. You judge everything on the basis of your own conscience. And as long as your conscience tells you that it's okay, you're free to do it.

And when you move in this kind of arena, you will find that you're introduced to people who are engaging in all manner of activities, some of which have actually contravened the clear statements of Scripture, both in the pluses that should be seen and in the minuses that should be avoided. And yet, they've got no concept of it at all. This is freedom, they said. Don't you know that we're free? There is a distinction between freedom and license. License says I can do what I want, when I want, with anyone I want, because I'm free in Jesus Christ. And right along with this goes with the notion that since I was forgiven for all my sins on the cross, past, present, and future, this is perfect. Because not only of all the things, the bad things I'm about to do already being forgiven, but hey, I'm free to do them all as well.

So this is an absolutely beautiful setup. It's a curse. It's a perversion. It's a heresy. So what are we left with? You're left with a Bible. You're left with what James refers to in James 1.25 as the perfect law which brings liberty. The great paradox to which we'll return next time. Expressed in the hymn, Make me a captive Lord, and then I shall be free.

Force me to render up my sword, and I shall conquer be. Freedom is not, as Christofferson said, or was it Janice Ian? I think it was Janice Ian in Bobby McGee. She wrote it.

He made it famous, because her singing was dreadful, but it was just certain passing, but it didn't appeal to me. Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. Freedom ain't worth nothing, but it's free.

Feeling good was easy when Bobby sang the blues, Good Enough for Me, Good Enough for Me and Bobby McGee. Hey, it's the 60s, and this is freedom. Come one, come all. Jesus says no. Old says, somebody, you mean legalism is?

No. That's a deep pit. And license is a deep pit. Freedom is discovering the liberating power of being placed in bondage to Jesus Christ, which in turn releases us in a love for our fellows, which will, as we will see next time, determine things that we say yes to and things that we say no to, not on the basis of a list of rules and regulations but on the basis of the mandate of biblical love. To summarize it, my knowledge of theological niceties or even your ability with Christian fundamentals may impress others, but minus love, it doesn't build people up. And the real questions that we need to confront in relationship to our behavior, specifically in terms of freedom, are questions like these. In my exercise of freedom are people brought closer to God. In my exercise of freedom are Christians strengthened in their faith.

In my exercise of freedom are my brothers and sisters, glad that they know me. It's much easier to be in a church that has a list of rules and regulations. The challenge is to live with the application of principle to specific life issues.

Rules there are, but not for everything. Therefore, it's vital that we learn the nature of true Christian freedom. This is a great study that opens up before as a very important study. I spoke with a man the other day who told me that he'd been horribly let down by a Christian friend to the tune of a large sum of money, and the man had been deceitful with him. And the gentleman said to me in passing, he said, you know, and it's remarkable, because this individual had to sign a thing in his church every year. I said, sign a thing?

What thing? He said he had to sign a list of rules and regulations that said what he did. I said, did anybody ever give you a list of rules and regulations that could change your heart?

The Ten Commandments can't do it, and that's the best list that God ever came up with. It's the Spirit of God within our hearts. You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life.

Alistair returns in just a moment to close today's program. As we are seeing in our current study in 1st Corinthians, the Apostle Paul stressed the importance of unity in the local church. He instructed believers to resist division over superficial differences or preferences.

Well, today we want to recommend to you a book that is a perfect complement for our study in 1st Corinthians. It's called Gospel People, A Call for Evangelical Integrity. This book speaks to the heart of what it means to be an ambassador for Christ. It encourages us to center ourselves firmly in the teaching of the gospel. As you read the book Gospel People, you'll learn why believers are to avoid getting caught up in doctrinal conflict over minor issues.

Instead, we're called to embody the love, grace, and truth of Jesus in every aspect of our lives. This is a book that instructs us, as Paul wrote in Philippians, to stand firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. Ask for your copy of the book Gospel People when you donate to support the Bible Teaching Ministry of Truth for Life.

You can give through the mobile app or online at truthforlife.org slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884. Now here is Alistair to close with prayer. Father, I thank you for this day and I thank you for these people.

Thank you for their commitment to you and their interest in the Word of God. And I pray now at the end of the day that you will bless and guide us as we go from here, and that you will take these words written long ago by one man, as expressive of our hearts, as we end this day together. O thou who art the Lord of the night as of the day, and to whose will all the stars are obedient, in this hour of darkness I too would submit my will to yours.

From the stirrings of self-will within my heart, from cowardly avoidance of necessary duty, from rebellious shrinking from necessary suffering, from discontentment with my lot, from jealousy of those whose lot is easier, from thinking lightly of the one talent you've given me because you haven't given me five or ten, from uncreaturally pride, from undisciplined thought, from unwillingness to learn and unreadiness to serve, O God, set me free. O God, my Father, who art often closest to me when I am furthest from you and who art near at hand even when I feel that you've forsaken me, grant that the defeat of my self-will may be the triumph in me of your eternal purpose. May I grow more sure of your reality and power. May I attain a clearer mind as to the meaning of my life on earth. May I look more and more to things unseen. May my desires grow less unruly and my imaginations more pure. May my love for my fellow men grow deeper and more tender, and may I be more willing to take their burdens upon myself. To your care, O God, I command my soul and the souls of all whom I love and who love me through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. I'm Bob Lapine, so how can we successfully navigate between the extremes of legalism and license? Tomorrow we'll see how the Apostle Paul speaks to this issue, an issue we commonly face when it comes to enjoying our Christian freedom. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.