Limits of Freedom

1 Cor 6:12-13

"Everything is permissible for me"-but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"-but I will not be mastered by anything.”

It is for freedom that I have been set free. I allow no one to put a yoke on me other than the one put there by the Lord.

I can remember in my younger days watching my friends take all their rock albums and breaking them or throw them away after giving their lives to Christ. I knew the tremendous significance that this had for them, but I also knew that at some point later on they would wish they hadn’t done it. I had the grace to be able to enjoy the music without buying into the message

I also enjoy having a glass of wine every now and again or a beer on a hot day.

Having said all of this I am very careful not to exercise my freedom indiscriminately. For years I served as an addictions counselor. I knew that my freedom could easily become someone else’s stumbling block. Therefore, I chose not to drink in front of my friends in recovery not to talk about my freedom with them.

Having come through the Vineyard, I now am part of church that enjoys dressing casually on Sundays. In our small groups, which meet in homes during the week, we show up in shorts and sandals (this is Florida you know). Recently I was asked to preach at a Presbyterian church. I did not show up in jeans and a polo shirt. I have the freedom to do that, but it would not have been beneficial. If I had exercised my freedom, the likelihood is that the folks at that church would have been so focused on what I was wearing that they wouldn’t have heard a word I had to say.

The second part of this freedom is freedom from the slavery that these very things tie us to. I mentioned enjoying having a glass of wine. While this is true, my wife and I seldom open a bottle of wine because we know that we won’t drink it all and we don’t want to waste the rest of it. We know people for whom an open bottle is an empty bottle. For us one glass is all we really want. In our house a six-pack of beer can last a year.

What I have found is that there is often a spirit or famine or lack of trust that contributes to the compulsion to finish things off. We can buy certain snacks and my wife and I will enjoy taking a bite or two and saving the rest. Our kids on the other hand, once they discover that those snacks are in the house won’t stop until they are completely gone. They are mastered by their compulsion. They are not in control of the shopping so they don’t when we will get them again. Therefore, they want to get them while the getting is good. Don’t get me wrong, some things have a stronger pull than others. A package of Oreos is a real temptation. It used to be that I could go through a bag of Doritos on a Sunday afternoon watching football. What changed my bad habit was hearing Gwen Shamblin talk about absent minded eating. She said that we usually only taste the first two or three chips. After that we are compulsively crunching. We are not really enjoying the taste anymore. I tried it and found that she was right. I know have two or three chips and then I put the bag away.

Paul knew the freedom that he had in Christ. The Jews of his time were so bound up in the Levitical Law that was chock full of restrictions. He knew that obedience is better than sacrifice. He also knew that Jesus said that all the Law and the Prophets were summed up in this:

Matt 22:37-40
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'   38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'   40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." 

All the rest was meant to point out the lawlessness of our sinful nature. Paul also knew the following:

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. 1 Cor 9:22-23

Strength is demonstrated in gentleness. Freedom is exercised in submission and love.

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