"The Emancipation Statue" by Karl Broodhagen.
This is the 11th post in my study of Dr. Sinclair Ferguson's text "Children of the Living God". Buy this book from Amazon.
In Part 1, of this post, we explored what freedom in Christ means. I have spent a great deal of time meditating on part one of this post. There are many things that can enslave us. In my life, past sins, failures, and the bruisings of life constantly attempt to haunt me, and chain me from my freedom in Christ.
To be honest, I need to spend some time, in this section, and ask the Holy Spirit to make these truths true in my life.
Moving forward, however, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson now wants to share with us that even though many of us fail to live our lives in the freedom of Christ, some live their lives in the complete opposite direction. In other words, some men abuse their God-given freedoms.
Let's continue our study of Dr. Sinclair Ferguson's "Children of the Living God"...
Notes from Dr. Ferguson's "Children of the Living God", chapter 7, "Family Freedom":
Do not interpret Christian liberty as a licence to sin
Romans 6:1-2: "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?"
1 Peter 2:16: "Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God."Some would claim that seeing that their sins are forgiven that now they can do whatever they like and simply ask Christ for forgiveness. The problem with this thinking is that enslavement to sin would bring question to whether one is actually a Christian or not. Certainly the true Christian, with the Holy Spirit indwelt, is not going to be without inner conflict with this behavior.
Furthermore, God is not stupid. He certainly understands our motives. Seeking to overcome sin, and using God as a crutch to continue in sin, are two completely separate issues.
Do not exercise your Christian liberty in a spirit of indifference to your brothers in Christ
Is the exercise of my liberty proving to be beneficial to me?
1 Corinthians 10:23 - "All things are lawful," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful," but not all things build up."
Is my freedom bringing me closer to Christ? This is the goal of the true Christian. If this is not the case, then clearly we must inspect our motives.
Is the exercise of my freedom contributing to the growth and blessing of others?
1 Corinthians 10:24 - "Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor."
Dr. Ferguson states this case very well:
"How easily we confuse freedom with the number of right we are able to possess. But true Christian freedom does not consist of the increase of 'my rights'. It consists of service! Consequently, Christ's freemen are willing to deny themselves the exercise of their 'rights' in order to contribute to the growth of others. In fact, the only men and women who are truly free are those who are free from their supposed 'rights' and are able to exercise them or not with relative indifference."
Is the desire to exercise my freedom actually proving to be a snare to me?
It may be lawful, for example, for one to drink. In fact some would boast that it is lawful for them to drink. Which is true. But, drinking can also become bondage. Although we are Christians, we still live in a sinful fleshly body. Still saved by grace, but absolutely still capable of fleshly bondage.
Once again, we find ourselves with much to chew on. If we were to put 50 Christians in a room and ask them to come to agreement on drinking alcohol, going to the movies, keeping the Sabbath, and just to make it real interesting, predestination, we would never, ever come to agreement.
So...how are we to live with our brothers and sisters in Christ? Dr. Ferguson gives us five propositions:
- We are to welcome all those whom Christ has welcomed without reservation, and without any desire to make these "indifferent" matters the basis of our fellowship.
- We are to recognize that we stand or fall to our own Master, Christ, and not to one another.
- We are to resolve not to become a stumbling-block to our brother.
- We are to make peace and mutual building-up the aim of our exercise of liberty.
- We are to realize the we do not need to exercise our liberty in order to possess it.
To be honest, there is much here that I have never really considered. My mind is reeling with questions. Once again, I need to spend time here and ask the Holy Spirit to teach me.
Therefore, we end this post for meditation time.
Did you learn anything new here? Can you see how easily this whole teaching can become a real can of worms to those who don't have Christ first and foremost in their desires?
