For Freedom’s Sake

Greetings from Kenya, and the Kenyan family of believers! When I find myself immersed in a culture divergent from our own in America, I cannot help but have vast theological and geopolitical thoughts while observing the differences. It is hard to miss the oppressive realities in both places with just basic observable stats. For example, Diesel is about half a dollar cheaper than unleaded in Kisumu, and a Burger King meal is just under $4 which includes a bottled drink and a dessert. Yet, you cannot drink the water (anywhere) and many children go uneducated because there is limited access to affordable education for the average family. It amazes me that many of the things we would attribute as ‘freedom’ are just opinions based on the matrix of our life experience.

This takes me to the Paradox of Christian Freedom.

Our world is filled with an ever-fluctuating value system. The pace at which those material or immaterial items are raised and lowered makes the volatility of the stock market and cryptocurrency look like the Rock of Gibraltar. About a century ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find someone who did not have a high value for God, Country, and Family. Those days are long gone, and with them have gone our normal, human ability to focus our lives on the greater purposes. One of those greater purposes, intrinsic to the human soul, is the desire for freedom.

From the first breath released into our human existence from the very lips of God Himself, we were destined for uniqueness amongst creation. We were given the divine right to rule and reign on the earth as sovereign beings with liberty only exceeded by God. Yet, was God really free… by our modern definition?

Psalms 89:34 BSB
I will not violate My covenant or alter the utterance of My lips.

God has chosen that His liberty would be restrained by His covenant and His Word. We could look at that as God limiting His freedom, or we could see that as an authentic definition of true liberty. I believe it is the latter and it defines His nature.

Genesis 1:26 BSB
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”

I do not know how many people have read through the Genesis account here and connected the ‘image’ we were given to the ‘rule’ we were given. It would benefit us to see that when He gave us His image and then gave us directives on what to do with that image, it was congruent with His character and His definition of liberty. In our prideful mentality, we tend to believe that terms like ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ are absolutes without any limitations… especially when it comes to MY freedom or MY liberty. Many of our cultural woes have found their roots in the twisting of this foundational ideal.

• The abortion industry exists and thrives only because of the premise that one person’s freedom (choice) overrides the freedom of another (life).
• Our divorce culture thrives in a ‘me-centric’ version of freedom that cannot consider the victimization of innocent children.
• The whole pandemic was sold under the snake-oil marketing of “protect yourself, wear a mask, stay six feet apart, get the jab…” do these things and you MAY live.
• If getting a raise or promotion means to desecrate or destroy another and their character, then so be it.
• People under the power of addictions tell themself that they are not hurting anyone else, it is just their own life they impact.
• The American church has little strength because of the rejection of authentic unity that can only be achieved through selflessness and submitting to one another.

Look at this quote from Martin Luther, the progenitor of the Protestant Movement in his work entitled, Concerning Christian Liberty:

A Christian man is the freest lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone. Although these statements appear contradictory, yet, when they are found to agree together, they will be highly serviceable to my purpose. They are both the statements of Paul himself, who says: “Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all” (1 Cor. ix. 19), and: “Owe no man anything, but to love one another.” (Rom. xiii. 8.) Now love is by its own nature dutiful and obedient to the beloved object.

You see then that, if we recognize those great and precious gifts, as Peter says, which have been given to us, love is quickly diffused in our hearts through the Spirit, and by love we are made free, joyful, all-powerful, active workers, victors over all our tribulations, servants to our neighbor, and, nevertheless, lords of all things. But, for those who do not recognize the good things given to them through Christ, Christ has been born in vain…

The specific type of Freedom we were created with, and we share with our Father in His image, is a Freedom not easily defined by our modern experiences. It is difficult for us to shape the idea of freedom without applying it towards self-service, or liberty of our own will which strives to benefit itself. That is not the divine liberty that was granted to humanity to share in.

1 Peter 2:16 BSB
Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

What was Peter referring to when he implied there were folks in their communities who were using their freedom, ‘as a cover-up for evil’?

In the older translations, this is the wording: ‘And not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness.’ This is a literal translation that challenges us to not have our liberty as a cloak, which means we can. The word rendered “cloak” (ἐπικάλυμμα) is used in the Septuagint (Exodus 26:14) for the covering of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was covered in animal skins. I am sure you are grasping the gravity of the place where God would meet the people and bring forgiveness and atonement to them. This sacred space they shared with Him was covered with the skins of innocent animals who sacrificed their freedom. This was a shadow for what we would experience after the Cross. Jesus’ self-sacrifice now covers our hearts where the forgiveness and sacred meeting with our Father can take place in true freedom. The pretense of Christian liberty must not be made into a covering or concealment of wickedness, but rather as the ability to be true servants of God. The truest liberty is that of the servants of God; his service is perfect freedom.

The Apostle Paul wrote extensively about this true, Christian freedom. One of the more interesting places was in Galatians where we see one of the reasons for him to be so adamant about the people of God getting this revelation. Here is how the story goes…

Remember, there was quite a hubbub in the early church over the Gentile (non-Jew) converts. We look at it today with puzzlement or even with slight prejudice about why ethnicity was such a major hurdle for them. But, we often do not realize how radical this particular change was. The ‘Kingdom of God’ as defined in Old Testament terms was almost exclusively Jewish. If one was born in that Abrahamic bloodline, then you were of the ‘elect’ people of the Most High God who were ordained for salvation. If you happened to be of another people group and heard the ‘Good News’ about Yahweh being the God above all gods and desired to have your spiritual life align with that truth, you would become a convert to Judaism or what was sometimes referred to as a proselyte.

The biblical term “proselyte” is an anglicization of the Koine Greek term προσήλυτος (proselytos), as used in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) for “stranger,” i.e. a “newcomer to Israel;” a “sojourner in the land,” and in the Greek New Testament for a first-century convert to Judaism, generally from Ancient Greek religion. It is a translation of the Biblical Hebrew phrase גר תושב (ger toshav). “Proselyte” also has the more general meaning in English of a new convert to any particular religion or doctrine. (Wikipedia entry)

To fully transition to Judaism from another religion required one to go through the covenant practice of circumcision. This meant you were SERIOUS, bloody serious (ladies, just ask a guy his feelings on this matter). There was likely NONE who were willing to go through that torture and not legitimately embrace the faith and practice. Many of the proselytes were more committed than the ‘natural Jew,’ and you can understand why. I have often wondered if there was a requirement like this for grown men to convert to Christianity today, how effectively just this one thing could be to prune some of the posers… but I digress.

This specific act of faith, the cutting away of the most private area, was a topic of great concern in Paul’s day because there was no way one could be in the covenant with Yahweh without this requirement. And the Gentile converts were not abiding by that law.

Genesis 17:9-14 BSB
God also said to Abraham, “You must keep My covenant— you and your descendants in the generations after you. This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised. You are to circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner— even those who are not your offspring. Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh will be an everlasting covenant. But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

This caused no small stir for Paul when he was operating under the New Covenant where the revelation of circumcision was based in the heart through the New Birth.

Deuteronomy 10:16 ESV
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

Jeremiah 4:3-4a ESV
For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

“Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem”

Romans 2:27-29 ESV
Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

This was a major revelation AND a major change. Because of the spiritual reality of the ‘type and shadow’ of circumcision, Paul was ushering droves of Gentiles into the Kingdom through his Gospel. Many of these new believers were passionate and fervent for the things of God because there was now a way opened to them that was not available before, their experience had deep gratitude. But, this also caused Paul to add new levels of persecution to his already tribulated life. Not only was he an enemy of Roman polytheism that drove their culture, but now he was a heretic to the Jewish religious community that made up a majority of this new church movement. He was wrong in two cultures yet right in the Kingdom… it is a place we should all be targeting in our lives as well.

Much of Galatians and many other epistles deal directly with circumcision and also the generalized term ‘works of the law’ that encompassed the believer’s actions even more broadly. We now have a clear record of the metamorphosis of the church and its attitude towards these truths. But, it got real raw in the pages of our bible on this subject of how to live in liberty from this new freedom granted to us. In those days, like in ours, there was the ditch of ‘works righteousness’ and the opposing ditch of unrestrained freedom. The circumcision people were as feisty as the legalists are today.

Titus, a disciple of Paul, was an uncircumcised proselyte to Christianity and was a true example of what Jesus intended His great Gospel to do in the world. He selflessly sacrificed himself to the ministry and for Paul. He was teachable, submitted, and authentic as illustrated by the letter from Paul that bears his name in the New Testament. His uncircumcised status was what led to the high-noon showdown in Acts chapter fifteen about the Gentiles and their allowable status in Christianity. Just prior to that, the legalist Jews stirred up some stuff by sending ‘spies’ into Paul’s ministry to see if he was living up to their standards. Here is how Paul recounted it.

Galatians 2:3-5 BSB
Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

These spies were attempting to judge Paul’s (and Titus’) freedom by trying to get a Peeping Tom glance at whether there was a scar missing or not. The depths some people will go to in their fake spiritualism should be shocking to us. Notice how Paul described it as, “to spy on our freedom.” They desired to redefine and reduce Titus’ freedom.

Legalism lessens liberty. First ditch.

The other ditch is using faux-freedom as a justification for doing what you want.

Galatians 5:13 BSB
For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.

True freedom does not make you free to do your thing, it makes you free to do the right thing. This is why I can rightly declare that there is no authentic freedom outside of the one gifted through Christ Jesus as Lord. Jesus set us free to be His servants, but only as servants of Christ the High King will we ever experience true freedom.

John 8:36 BSB
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Our value for freedom was divinely created as part of our intrinsic nature, but there was no way to achieve it without the Divine One. Humanity has struggled through broken governmental systems, forced oppression, gender bigotry, and even human and child slavery. These are all the aftereffects of our pride in rejecting the sovereign rule of a gracious Savior. We need to recapture the high value of freedom, but being purposeful about avoiding the ditches on each side of that ‘road to freedom.’

The Great Awakening will be led by free people who can and will make others free. You can be one of those liberated souls who liberates a soul. I believe in you!

For the Holy Cause of Liberty!
Steve