| Free At Last; Free At Last, Part 10; Responsibilities Toward Our Freedom (The Responsibility Not to Abuse It) |
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| Written by David Lawrence |
| Sunday, November 22 2009 00:00 |
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Secondly, we bear a responsibility not to abuse our freedom. Paul wrote “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature” (Gal. 5:13). The sinful nature remains, and we must use the divine weapons given us to restrain it. Liberty is not license; our freedom is not an opportunity to live a life that brings dishonor to the name of Christ. Our hearts should be so filled with joy in our freedom that we will be impelled to do what we do to his glory. Peter wrote “Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God” (1 Pet. 2:16). One of the arguments legalists give against grace being taught is that it will lead to wild living. They delight to point out sins in people who believe in sovereign grace. Of course, they do not mention their own sins; legalists never can, for salvation is contingent to them on the appearance of obedience, even if they know in their hearts it is not true. Nevertheless, they are unfortunately sometimes correct. True Christians can fall into serious sin. I have used the example of my friend recently released from prison, and even as I write it, I pray that I am delivered from the ignorant arrogance of thinking that I am somehow beyond it. The fact that Christians who claimed to be saved by grace used that claim to justify sin led Pelagius, with perfectly good intentions, to define one of the most heretical perversions of the Christian faith ever foisted on the church. Pelagianism remains as a curse with the church to this day. But Pelagius would never have come up with this heresy unless Christians had not been doing the very thing Paul and Peter warned against: using freedom to indulge the sinful nature and as a cover-up for evil. I recall a legalistic colleague of mine once saying of a student who got in trouble, “Well, that’s what happens when you teach grace.” We hear that if we teach that a true Christian cannot lose his salvation, he will sin without restraint. The implication is that the reason we live righteously is out of fear of hell and with the intention of earning salvation. No, we have a responsibility to use our freedom responsibly! And if we understand the cost of the purchase of that freedom, we shall be impelled from awe and gratitude to live a holy life! |
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