Sermon Notes — July 6, 2025
Galatians 5:13-15 & 22-23 (The Message)
July 6, 2025
Rev. Terry Carty
Reflection on Freedom in Galatians 5
Scripture text: Galatians 5:13-15 [The Message]
13-15 It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out — in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
Communion Meditation: “Reflection on Freedom in Galatians 5”
According to your pew Bible, the opening verse of Galatians chapter 5 reads, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” I like the way Eugene Peterson unpacks Paul’s word in his translation/paraphrase, The Message “Christ has set us free to live a free life.” He emphasizes, “Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever YOU want to do and destroy your freedom.”
We often destroy our freedom by feeling free to do anything we want to do. Paul helps us understand that if we use our spiritual freedom to justify our selfishness, we spoil the life that God intends for us. Being self-centered makes us anything but what God intends for us.
Freedom is intended to enable us to live as God lives: for the greater good of creation.
This week, we have celebrated the national freedom that has been insured by the lives of many who have served and sacrificed. And we can celebrate a much greater freedom that was insured by the life and sacrifice of Jesus. As we come forward take the elements of Holy Communion, remember that in this act we commit to participate by seeking to live as Christ lived. We commit to using our freedom to win freedom for others. We commit to loving even as God loves.
It is in Galatians 5:22-23 that we hear the familiar words: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.”
Again, I want you to hear the words of Paul as Eugene Peterson [The Message] translated: “what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”
On Independence Day, people recognize us as American citizens by our fireworks, our flags, and by wearing the red, white, and blue. I challenge each of us to also be recognizable as citizens of the Kingdom of God. This will happen not by how we dress but by how we live. I challenge us to let our families, our neighbors, our co-workers recognize Jesus in the way we live. I challenge us to make sure they hear the word of God in our conversations with them. May God ‘bring gifts into [y]our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard.’ [The Message]
