Well, good morning, Mission Grove family, both here in the room and watching with us online here and join this Sunday after Thanksgiving. Do we have to get healthy again or can we just wait till the new year? Like, like are we in the holiday season now? Right. Is there any point in turning back? We just kind of commit the rest of the year to eating pies and leftovers and just say we start January 1. Anybody with me? Yeah. Ok. All right. There's a lot of hands up there. It scared me actually that how many hands went up and joined me for that in Denver. But yes, it is a Sunday after Thanksgiving and it is a time where we are grateful. And one of the things that I am grateful for is really the, the freedom that we have to gather and to worship the name of Jesus. And so what we're gonna do today as we continue our series through the study of the book of Galatians is that we are gonna talk about where our freedom comes from, from where, what is freedom and, and how do we use it? And so to really start things off. I want you to think about freedom in a different way. See, we like to think of freedom as no boundaries. We like to think of freedom as no attachments. But what I wanna offer to you today is that freedom is not about being not attached to anything, but rather being attached to something or someone that brings out your intended purpose. Think about it this way. So here in this little bag, I have a guitar string. Ok. So based on how the world teaches us about freedom, this string as I'm holding it is technically free. Like it's, it's free, it can do anything it wants. Go. Ok. It's free. It, it, it doesn't really accomplish much here. Why? Well, a string by itself is not fulfilling or meeting its intended creation or purpose. And in the same way, our freedom as Christians comes not from when we are detached from everything, but rather when you are attached to the gospel attached to the God who made you to help you achieve or accomplish your intended design or purpose. Go ahead and turn to your neighbor. I, if you're willing, ok. If you're willing, if you're feeling sick, just keep it to yourself. Ok? Don't, don't turn to your neighbor uh and turn to your neighbor right now and just, and just tell them just nicely, you are made for more. All right. Ok. Some people had a little bit of a little extra in that. I heard that. Right. Maybe that was a parent to child. I don't know, like a little, no, you were made for more. This is not a sermon about not living up to potential. Uh, that could be next week. But, uh, there's some spouses leaning in. You're like, no, really? You were made for more. And, uh, unless after Thanksgiving, maybe we should be, we were made for less. Right. Like, I don't know, we've eaten too much. But you get the idea here is that this thing is just flopping around and it really serves no purpose right now as is. But this is what the world will try to teach you is freedom. This is you be, you, love is love is love. Believe what you want be, you be free. Ok. So that's this, yay. This is the version of the, of the world that's trying to teach you as freedom. So what does the Bible actually teach us about freedom? Well, if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down is that freedom has a price and a purpose. Freedom has a price and a purpose. This comes directly from the theme verse of Galatians. It's a letter written around 50 ad by the Apostle Paul to a church, uh a group of churches in Galatia that he helped start. And the theme verse for this entire letter is found in Galatians chapter five. And even the very first part of it. And that's where this teaching comes from today. We're gonna actually go through 12 verses. But, but the entire letter can be summed up in these short words. And it's this for freedom, Christ has set us free. For freedom. Christ has set us free. What he's saying here is that freedom has both a price and a purpose. Paul's not just simply repeating himself here, he's actually using different words. And actually in the Greek, you have the noun and the verb. So freedom is both the verb and the noun. And specifically when it says that Christ has set us free, it is a tense that is, is saying that it's an action that was done once and is completed. So Christ has set us free. So what is the price of our freedom? Well, it was the sacrifice of Jesus. It, it's a pretty powerful principle to understand that the cost of freedom is sacrifice. The easiest way that we can understand that as Americans is when we think about being proud of our country, what do, what do we sing about? What are we excited about? Well, it is a sacrifice of those who fought on behalf of our country, many of whom laid down their lives for the freedom that you and I enjoy today. And so it's not that freedom is free. It's that somebody paid that price. In our case, Jesus paid the price, he died on the cross. So that we could be free. And so it is the action, it is the verb. So why did he go through that? Well, he actually went through all of that for freedom. In other words, it is the, there is a purpose behind our freedom that there is so much more than religion that it's a relationship with the God who made you such an incredible verse to think that for freedom, Christ has set us free. He died for this. So it, you would think that as Christians, as believers, that if we're gonna study the word of God, it would make sense that we figure out what it is exactly. Jesus died for, that's what we're going to talk about today. And what I think we see in this passage is that he died for two very specific freedoms. That's why this morning's message is entitled to freedoms. And the first freedom that we have as Christians through belief in Jesus is this that as a child of God, you are freed to live, you are freed to live. Another way I would place it is this is that we are freed from the burden of performance. You know, achievement is the only addiction that gets awarded and rewarded, isn't it? Like if someone's addicted to drugs or, or drink or something, they're like, oh, you need to join a group. But if someone's addicted to performance, they get promoted, don't they? How many people are celebrated for their achievements in the boardroom on the field. Meanwhile, their character and their family are just thrown to the way wayside because we think that if I, if I just work harder, if I just do more, if I just stay busy and while work ethic is healthy, performance does not equal your identity. And this is what Paul is saying here. So the context of this letter, I think if you're just joining in with us, I encourage you and invite you to go back and watch some of the other messages. They all tie together. It's on youtube, it's on Spotify Apple podcast, wherever you wanna watch or listen. So it all ties together here. So he's writing to this group of Christians who are now being influenced by these guys named Judy ISR who are now trying to add to the gospel. They're trying to add a list of rules and traditions to people who are being set free from the gospel. So you had master and slave, you had man and woman, you have rich and poor. You have all these different groups gathered together and together as one body are freed. And that doesn't work well in a div divided kingdom and system, right? That doesn't play well because in human standards, it's all about power and authority and structure. And so the fact that everyone is treated the same and given the same freedom and value and dignity threatens people of power. And so they try to add these rules and regulations. Now, in this case, it's not the same struggle that we would have today. They're trying to add to the gospel, the practice of circumcision. Now, that practice is in and of itself not bad. I mean, it's common health practice today for, for babies to be circumcised, but it's not right or wrong here. But in this day, it was seen as a sign from the abrahamic covenant. And so if you wanna honor the early church fathers, if you wanna really be saved, you have to be circumcised. So you have adults getting saved believing in Jesus, trusting him as Lord and Savior. And this is OK, but it's time you really wanna be saved like that, that seems like that would drastically limit the evangelistic strategy and right if that was the case and Paul is like, what are you doing? Like you're trying to add rules. And so while the I want you to think anywhere you see the word circumcision today, understand this. That what that represents is tradition is religion, is performance and you can substitute that word in here for modern day application to have the same truth applied. So let's go through this scripture together. So the 1st 12 verses here we see that we are freed to live. Verse one for freedom. Christ has set us free, stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. He says, look, I Paul say to you that if you accept circumcision, that Christ will be of no advantage to you. In other words, he will be of no value, right? No, no value to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. Like if you really are gonna go to the old Testament, if you're really gonna go to all of the rules, then judge yourself based on all the rules because God demands perfection. You cannot keep all the law. He's saying it. So go ahead and try to keep all of it. You can't, we haven't done it for thousands of years. You're not gonna be able to do it. Now, that's what he's saying. Verse four for you are severed from Christ. Notice the words you use, I, I love Paul. Paul is sarcastic. He is angry at times and he's going through like the words he says here is just like the the word choice there come on. OK. Severed, cut off from Christ. All right, you would be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. Now, pause here for just a moment in verse four, fallen away from grace. Some might interpret that. Oh, you can lose your salvation. Well, he's not really saying that right? Because the very first verse he says, for freedom crisis die to set us free. And so this idea here and, and all throughout the letter, he's referring to them as brethren brothers in Christ. You're doing great what happened? And so he's not saying that you can lose your salvation in this passage. What he's saying is that you can lose your experience, right? There's a difference between being legally married and a healthy, thriving marriage, right? And so there's a, there's a difference between just being legally set free and then in bondage, how many people do you know today are technically and legally free roaming around our city, but they're in bondage to something, right? How many people do you know, are walking around the streets free today? But they are addicted. They are, are locked into a way of life, into an addiction, into an, a substance abuse, into a pursuit of greed and power. And so they might be free, but they're not living free. Does that make sense? That's what he's saying here. OK, verse five, for through the spirit by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision, nor uncircumcision counts for anything but only faith working through love. Now, this is a great verse because this is a gospel verse here. And you include even with the verse before it, but we through the spirit are eagerly awaiting. That is hope. That's the definition of hope to eagerly wait or expect for God to do what he promised. And so we have this hope, we have this living hope that then now is saying that neither and again, remember, you can substitute these words here. So neither religion nor irreligion or we'll say rebellion. So in Christ Jesus, neither religion nor rebellion counts for anything but faith working through love in Christ Jesus, neither success nor failure counts for anything. Only faith working through love, neither performance or your shortcomings count. It's not that they're not important but it's that they will not save you, they will not save you. It is not your identity, the things of this world, the things of religion is not how someone is saved because if it's on performance, you will never be good enough. Right? If you and I both try to jump across the Grand Canyon, you might make it a little bit farther than me, but we're both going to the bottom. Ok. Look, yesterday's Ohio State game reminded me that we are in a fallen world and, uh, this is not heaven and, uh, and I pray for those my enemies. And, uh, so I will turn the other cheek and pray the other teams lose and we still get in the playoffs anyway. No, but like when you think about the game, right? How is the game played? Every game has rules standards, right. Well, we try to apply that to faith and we think that, well, if I am good enough, well, how good is good enough because you can be like, really honest and, and be a great driver. But if you murder someone, like your driving record doesn't count in court. You know what I mean? Like, if someone's on trial for murder. Yeah. But I've paid all my taxes. Judge. Right. Like, like if you break the law, you break the law. If you're, like, I, I haven't murdered anyone but I did steal that. Like, like those things. It's like, how many sins does it take to make you a sinner? What? Right? When the standard is perfection, the standard is holiness, it only takes one. And so none of us are good enough or can perform enough. But what Paul is saying here is so beautiful because he's saying you don't have to perform that Jesus did it, that Jesus died to remove the burden of performance, to give you the freedom to live. It's like carrying a heavy weight on your shoulders and you're just carrying all this weight and then you finally set it down. This is a really stupid example, but I'm just gonna run with it. Ok? Anyone when they take unload groceries, do they play this little game? Because everything is a game for me where you think, how many bags can I carry at one time? Do you know what I'm talking about? Right? You, you put the bags in and it's like the plastic is like cutting your hands and fingers, you're like just one more, right? And then you're like carrying the, the all the stuff in and then you, you forget to leave the door open. So now you're trying to turn the handle and you're like, like you Lake gets in there right? And you finally get to the kitchen and you set the stuff down. You're like, oh, I call it now, I gotta put it away. But that's a, but that feeling when you have all this weight and you're carrying everything and you finally set it down, it's like, oh, ok, that's great. Have you ever been moving and you're carrying boxes or you're moving stuff? And you're just like this is heavy. Look, life is heavy and you were not meant you were not designed to carry all that you're carrying right now. Even something light. If you hang on to it long enough, we'll bring you down. This burden is very real. So it's not about that. Neither performance nor rebellion and problems, neither religion or rebellion, neither success nor failure will save you. The only thing that counts through Jesus is faith, working itself through love, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and then loving others the way he has loved us to express to show people that love. So it continues on verse seven since you were running well, this first hits different after the Ohio State game. Come on, you were running well, Ohio State. Come on. We had the lead. OK. Anyway. Oh, is excommunication still a thing? Is that still is that still? No, I'm just kidding you. You earned it. I don't want to say that, but you did one. Ok? But he's right here. Back to more important things. Uh You were running well. So who hindered you? What happened? How many of us can relate to this verse? Right? You were running. Well, what happened? Who hindered you from obeying the truth? So this persuasion is not from him who calls you. It's not from God. I'll tell you that God's not gonna distract you. God's not gonna die on the cross, give you freedom and then try to pull you from it. Verse nine, it says a little leaven leavens the whole lump, right? You put the wrong thing in also much of the old Testament lemon rep often represented sin. So we talked about using unleavened yeast when it comes to communion and other things there too. He says what happened to you? Verse 10 says, now I have confidence in the Lord that you will not take uh that you will take no other view. He says, I, I believe in you and the one who is troubling, you will bear the penalty whoever he is. So someone's coming in and persuading them to go back on performance and saying that guy will get what's coming to him. It says, but verse 11, but if I brother still preach circumcision, then why am I being persecuted? It's like what he's like, why if, if this is still true. Why am I writing to you letters from prison? Like why am I getting beat up from the same people who are trying to convince you of a different message? He's like in that case, the offense of the cross has been removed. And he goes, why did Jesus come to die if he gave us freedom? And then we're gonna go back into the cells and, and go back and, and voluntarily lock ourselves back in to the pressures and performance of this world. Then why, why did, why did Jesus even come? Verse 12? He says, I wish those who again, he doesn't mince words here. He says, I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves. Like look, if you're gonna, if you're really gonna focus on snipping here, let's just go ahead and go the whole way, right? And he, he's intense. So it's an interesting mix though. Notice that Christ has given us this freedom. So it's received but it's not passive, it's not passive with freedom comes responsibility. And we see that in three examples that we just read to you. So living free includes three things. Number one, it includes standing firm, says, do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. So a yoke is that thing that puts on an animal to control it. And he's saying that you have to stand firm. So freedom is something you receive. But then you also have to stand in it. And if we're given the command to stand, that means by default, we sit down, we get tired, we get passive, don't we? By default? We drift. So the challenge is not to earn freedom. The challenge is to stand in it and to not go back voluntarily into the cage that Satan trying to tempt you to go into. But secondly, it says that you were running well. So there's a race to be, had a race to be one to follow Jesus. It's active. There's a stance, there is a direction for some of us. We've just lost that. We've lost the strength to stand. We've lost the direction to run. And the last one there, it involves cooking clean. I make jokes about eating healthy and unhealthy. And the reality is though is that you, you feel different when you eat clean, don't you? Same is true. Spiritually, how many of us are just absorbing media, news feed, scrolling this and that the gospel of culture and the world come in and that this is your identity. This is your value, this is what's important, this is what's important. And he's like, hey, you were eating well, you had the word of God that lasts forever. You have the power of the Holy Spirit inside of you. What happened? This tells me that while God has gifted us the freedom to live, we have to choose to stand, we have to choose to run and we have to choose what goes in our body. What goes in our mind? In the gospel, Jesus is talking and in, in Matthew 1120 30 it says come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest says take my yoke upon you and you will learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. What he's saying is that stop attaching yourself to the world. If I were to just come and like tie this to something, tie this to a stand, it would be attached but it would not be fulfilling its purpose. Right? Interestingly enough, the Greek word for purpose or purpose of existence is Lagos, which is also translated as word. And in John chapter one in the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was with God and the word was God. So God himself is our purpose. So he's saying, don't attach to the yoke of slavery, attach to me and you will find rest. How many of us could use rest in this holiday season, right? Do me a favor. Everybody sit up for a second, everyone sit up for a second and just take a deep breath. You ever had that moment? The job is done. It went well, the presentation is over, the meal is over a game is done or the play was run and you just have this side that feeling. It's what Jesus is offering to you. But at an eternal level, I said there that circumcision or uncircumcision. So religion or rebellion don't count for anything but through our hope, we eagerly hope for the righteousness that is coming. And the only thing that counts is faith, expressing itself through love. This idea of hope, faith and love is found all throughout scripture. Let me give you another example here. Colossians uh Colossians chapter one verse three to through five says that we always thank God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ, Jesus and then the love you have for all the saints. And then where does that come from? Verse five? Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven? Does that sound familiar? Because scripture is connected? It's the same theme as we eagerly hope, a living act of hope that gives us faith in Jesus and love for each other. This is the, the burden that is light. So the first freedom we have is the freedom to live. It is the freedom from the burden and the pressure of performance. But the second freedom that we have as Children of God is that we are freed to love. What we're gonna see over these next couple of verses is that is, is the, is the pendulum swinging to the other side because if you're gonna say on one side that John, you are freed from religion and a list of rules and do s and, and don't, and all these things that it could be easy for someone to swing over here and say, oh, then I can do whatever I want. If it's not about keeping the rules, I'm not keeping any of them. He's actually saying no, you are free to love and that's different. Let's read together. It says for you were called to freedom brothers only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. But through love serve one another says for the whole law is fulfilled in one word that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. Doesn't this verse seem like it's describing our culture right now written 2000 years ago, but a culture where people bite and devour one another and is consumed by one another. Doesn't that seem like that's happening right now? Same author, different book, first Corinthians 13. It says so now faith, hope and love abide here's that theme again, these three, but the greatest of these is love. And the reason I think for that is because love shows that you have the other two that when you're motivated by hope you've experienced and lived out and lived by faith, the natural outpouring is to love. Tim Keller says this. He says, selfishness and insecurity cannot produce love because love is joyful self giving. When Jesus came, he didn't come just to do whatever he wanted says there in John 114 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory and the glory of as of the only son from the father full of grace and truth. Spiritual freedom gives us not a license to sin, but an opportunity to serve. This is what it means. When we say that we are freed to love that our freedom is not meant just for us to do whatever we want whenever we want. I mean, I guess you can. But is that your intended purpose? Is that what you were made for? Because we can show you example, after example, where someone lived for themselves and they did not find joy, but instead they found emptiness and bitterness and Brokenness. So the question is, what are you living for? Because freedom has a price and a purpose. The price tag was the sacrifice of Jesus. The purpose was for us to live in that freedom. And what are those freedoms? We are freed to live freed from the burden of performance. But then secondly, we're also freed to love. There's a big difference when you tell your child to go do something versus when a child comes up to you, it's like daddy, I love you, I and it's not that you want them to stop following rules, but rather you want them to do so, not out of obligation, but out of love. So I had had John come back up here because really to to finish the illustration here that the string by itself is not free. But if you picture a string that is attached at the top and attached at the bottom, it now is functioning in its freedom. You see, for us, it's freed to live and freed to love. Jesus was full of grace and then full of truth. You need both. If you just attach yourself to one that's nice, but you're not making any music. But if you attach yourself to the freedom to live as God intended and the freedom to love others, the way that God has loved you, the freedom to experience the grace of God, meaning that there is nothing you can do where God would love you more. And there's nothing you can do where God would love you any less that is so empowering. But then not only are we based in grace, we are also based in truth and that is accepting God's purpose for your life. Now, this sounds great. But I'm gonna ask John for just one moment. If you stop playing, this is a, this is a special melody. Hopefully we don't stop the Holy Spirit because that's usually when it comes in, right? When the music comes in. Um, do me a favor and just play one string, one note. All right. And let's just play that a couple of times. Same note. Some of you are walking through life like this. Ok. I don't need the church. Like, can you imagine if we're trying to sing? Living hope with this just like that doesn't work. Does it see what's beautiful about music? Is that when you put the strings together and that when they're in and this is, this is great. OK, when they become in tune, because there's a standard tuning when they become in tune with the same standard and in our case, with God, guess what happens? They become in tune with each other. Did you see that? And when we come together as a church and we experience the freedom to live and the freedom to love together, we can make music. See the fact that we have the same tuning, the same standard that we can make music together. And I don't know about you that I don't wanna be a church that just makes noise. I wanna be a church that makes music you. But the only way that we can do that is if we are attached to the truth of the gospel and the grace of the gospel that we're attached to in our freedom to live and our freedom to love that when we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and that when we in turn love one another as he has loved us, we can make incredible melodies and in tune and in turn change the world. Are you with me? Let's pray dear. Heavenly Father is for freedom. Their son Jesus has set us free that you paid the price on the cross. And so God, if there are people watching today and pray that we can just believe in you, trust in you attach our lives to you. We believe in you as Lord and Savior. And then God, there's some of us who are attached, but simply we're out of tune or we're trying to make music by ourselves. I got a, we come aligned to who you are and hope in faith and in love, we also become unified and in tune with each other. So help us to love you more every day, to love others the way that you have loved us to live in freedom, to remove the burden of performance. But then to use this freedom, not as an opportunity or a license to sin, but rather as an opportunity and an empowerment to serve. Because in that we find our purpose and our identity through you Jesus. It's in your sense that we pray.