For you, brethren,
have been called to liberty;
only do not use
liberty as an opportunity
for the flesh, but
through love serve
one another. For all
the law is fulfilled
in one word, even in
this: “You shall love
your neighbor as yourself.”(Lev. 19:18)
But if you bite and
devour one another,
Beware lest you be
consumed by one another!
I say then: Walk in
the Spirit, and you
shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh.
Galatians 5:13–16
Liberty: a
word that is so misused and misunderstood in many churches. Oh to be free, to have liberty, is the cry
of many and they devise many systems of thought and theology to gain this
liberty. All in the guise of being
Scriptural, or as many say: “You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.”(Lev. 19:18). Who is our neighbor?
It is someone that lives nearby. It is the one we wish to associate with
in a neighborly way; who then should be our neighbor? Who is Paul speaking too
and about? Is it not our brothers and sisters in Christ? Yes! Paul is
addressing the brethren and this letter to the Galatians is to the brethren;
therefore our neighbor is first those who are our fellow adopted sons and
daughters by God in Jesus Christ. This country, the United States, was formed
by our Constitution to provide liberty. Liberty from what? Adverse rule that
they were under in the countries from which the fled. Liberty is to be free
from arbitrary rule. Does God rule arbitrarily? NO! So the why do many churches
form a libertarian theology that is not Scriptural? Why do they allow what is clear
and plainly taught in Scripture that we are to avoid. We do we allow such things to draw us away from the truth of
Scripture? Paul nails it on the head: it is an opportunity for our flesh, our
sinful flesh to be free to do whatever we so desire. Is this love, is this
Scriptural, and is this only a veil to say that our liberty is to allow what
God condemns in our congregations? How is this showing love for our brethren?
To allow sinful yeast to mix with good yeast does not make the bad yeast good.
All it does is contaminate the good yeast making is unusable. Then there is
factions among the brethren. Why? Because we place ourselves under a paidagogos,
masters, rulers, teachers that do not live even under the law given by Moses by
God for His children to follow. The law points us to our sin, and drives us to
desire a savior, a redeemer. Causing us to desire to be free from this sin, but
the law cannot do so, even though it leads in the way of God for it requires
faith, and faith cannot reside with a paidagogos, that master, teacher, ruler,
that teaches a form of liberty that is not liberty at all only another form of
control. How sad that we fall into this error, and become bewitched by such
masters, pastors, celebrity pastors that teach a form of Scriptural, good
sounding words, yet only have the goal of lining their pockets with as much
luxury as they possibly get; but we do this because we want that too. Our lust
thirsts for fulfillment. We do not walk in the Spirit! Paul writes to the
Romans: “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and
drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts”
(Romans 13:13–14).
We say we
believe in Jesus Christ. Do we? Are we following Him, taking up our cross
daily, forgetting those things behind and pressing forward? Are we not baptized
in Christ and have put on Christ? Is it not speaking with “forked tongue” to
say that you are “Christian” and then not live according to His commands? We
are to have “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” and to become formed in His
image and this is what God predestined: For whom He foreknew, He also
predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, That He might be the
firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). So why do make provision for
the flesh? Would you take Jesus to sit with you and watch MMA, two people
beating each other to a pulp, for some sort of personal glory? Would you take
the Holy Spirit with you and then park Him outside the hotel room while you
commit adultery, or fornication? Would you take Jesus, the Holy Spirit to go
gambling with you? Are you really converted to Jesus Christ or is it just some
good sounding and desirable thing that you want but will not give up your
lustful liberty? Maybe you are just like those people in the past who would not
be baptized until they are on their deathbed, who lived a lustful libertarian
life, but believed that baptism would cleanse them from their past, so they
waited until this time believing their sins were absolved. If we have been
baptized in Christ then we have put on Christ, the One whom we are to believe,
and if you are not living according to the plain truth of Scripture, then it is
obvious that you have not put on Christ; you are under a false paidagogos, this
master, this ruler, this teacher that teaches another gospel. You are misled;
so, how can you expect God to be pleased, and to bless you if you are not
willing to give up this life the life promised to Abraham and all his children
in all the nations that believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ: eternal life. Live
now for eternity, not the temporary life we now live. Allow faith, simple and
complete faith in Jesus Christ to guide your life, to be the way you live in this
life. Care for your brothers and sisters in Christ, and then allow that love to
extend to the world, but first care for your brethren. It is our brethren we
are to be neighborly with, to associate with and as steel sharpens steel we are
kept from our lustful desire. We are not to be lone wolves.
And if Christ is in you, the body is dead
Because of
sin, but the Spirit is life
Because of righteousness. But if the Spirit
Of Him who
raised Jesus from the
Dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ
From the
dead will also give life
To your mortal bodies through His Spirit
Who dwells
in you.
Romans 8:10–11
Be the image of Jesus today
Richard L. Crumb
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