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Sermons

"FREEDOM YES, ANARCHY NO"
EPISTLE SCRIPTURE TEXT:
GALATIANS 5:1-6

DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS 1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 8, 2007

SCRIPTURE TEXT: 1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

MESSAGE: For the past four and a half years, our nation has been striving valiantly to build, or rather rebuild, another nation. We went into Iraq to free the people of that land from slavery to a despotic dictator, Saddam Hussein. That part of the job turned out to be the easy part. But for almost five years since, we've been trying to help the now "free" Iraqi people to effectively embrace the freedom that has been provided them. And that's proven to be the hard part. In Iraq men and women totally unaccustomed to making responsible personal decisions are, for the first time in their lives, having to do so -- on a daily basis. To Americans, democracy is a given. We understand and appreciate its values. But to Iraqi's, it's new and strange. So it's no small wonder that, lacking background and foundation for democratic processes, some Iraqi's want a return to the days of a strongman dictator to tell them what to do, while others have swung all the way over to the polar opposite of slavery -- the lawlessness of "every man for himself" anarchy.

When the first generation of disciples of Jesus Christ began to preach the gospel to the people closest to them, the Jews, they had to deal with the spiritual equivalent of the political situation America presently faces in Iraq. The Jewish people, for at least three centuries prior to Jesus' arrival, had been tightly bound in spiritual slavery. It was a slavery imposed upon them by strict Pharisaic interpretations of God's law. And so, when Paul and others like him preached spiritual freedom in Jesus Christ to the Jews, many of them found it hard to comprehend. No longer were they directed by a "cookbook" of 13,000-plus rules and regulations concerning their devotion to God. Instead, they were free, with the relatively loose guidance of the Holy Spirit, to make their own decisions concerning right and wrong, good and evil, sin and virtue. And, just like the Iraqi people regarding self-governance, they had difficulty. Some of them wanted to retreat back into the security of the old Jewish law, while others swung all the way over to the opposite pole of "anything goes" spiritual anarchy, wildly sinning and making a mockery of Christ's sacrifice on their behalf.

Contemporary Christianity in the U. S. faces something similar to the spiritual crisis that the first-century church faced in relation to former Jews - and that the Iraqi people face today in relation to democracy. Twenty-first century American Christians have thrown away the old, restrictive church norms of the recent past. We've come to understand that, in order to worship God, you don't have to wear a tie and coat, nor a long dress, to services. We realize that organ music is not the only sound that might be pleasing to the ears of the Almighty. We agree, or at least most of us do, that denominational labels have little or no bearing upon one's standing with the Lord.

But in freeing ourselves, spiritually, from the tyranny of tradition, custom and culture, we may have made the same error that early Christian Church made, spiritually, in relation to the Jews, and that the United States probably has made, politically, in relation to the people of Iraq. To put it simply, we've thrown out the baby with the bathwater. We've not only gotten rid of the trivial - but we've also eliminated the significant. Thus, today's Christians have been left with virtually no foundation. And it's therefore no small wonder that many contemporary believers are moving in two opposite directions: Some into the security of restrictive Christian fundamentalism - which is ultimately a Christianized version of the old Jewish law - and others completely outside the Church into anarchistic, so-called "personal" faith which acknowledges only those standards the individual chooses - which is actually a repeat of the "every man did what was right in his own eyes" Biblical era of the Judges.

Genuine Christian faith has always been a "middle-road" between spiritual extremes. As I say that, I'm aware that employing such terminology might make some of you uncomfortable. But you don't need to worry, for I'm not about to claim that Christian faith is "wishy-washy." Rather it's a clear channel of life-giving water which flows between the cold, dead, unyielding boulders of law-based religion and the uncharted, anarchistic swamp of "custom-made," anything-goes spirituality. As Paul said to the Galatians, Christians are truly free - free to be responsible to Christ.

Living here in the mountains of New Mexico the majority of us have limited experience with aquatic navigation. But I'm also aware that most of you have been out of Los Alamos County at least occasionally, so I won't be speaking a completely foreign language when I use the term "channel markers." They're the floating buoys which mark the path out of a harbor, keeping boats off the rocks and reefs, and out of the mud-flats and sand bars, as they attempt to leave land and proceed out into deep water.

Christians are free to launch out into the depths of faith with God. In fact, He encourages us to do just that. But lest we be fearful of getting into uncharted waters, let me make you aware that Christian faith offers some valuable channel markers. These were deliberately placed by God to safely guide us toward a deeper relationship with our Lord.

The first such "channel marker" is the Holy Bible. If it's forbidden in the Bible, don't do it. If it's recommended there, by all means get to it. But don't bother asking God for individual guidance on problems and issues that He's already addressed therein. If the Bible says, "no adultery" - which it does - then don't commit adultery. If the Bible says, "tithe," - which it does - then tithe. A lot of Christians today are clueless - because we don't read the Book. Or, worse yet, we read Dr. Phil, or Dr. Ruth, or Dr. Peale or Dr. LaHaye - instead of the Book.

The second important "channel marker" for Christians is the Church. Jesus founded the Church; according to scripture Jesus even died for the church! The Church is not irrelevant; it's not insignificant; it's not ancillary to Christian belief. Faith in Christ is always expressed in relation to the Body of Christ on earth, which is the Church.

Today, we're forced to "define" what prior generations never dreamed would require definition: That marriage is the relationship between a man and a woman. Similarly, in the New Testament, no one dreamed there might ever be anyone who would claim to be a Christian - outside the Church. Folks, there's "no such animal" as an "unchurched" Christian. It's that simple, that basic.

The third indispensable "channel marker" which I would highlight for Christian guidance is the Holy Spirit. Notice that I deliberately listed the Spirit third, after the Bible and the Church. Certainly, the Holy Spirit is not less important than either of those - but I've placed the Spirit in this order for good reason. The Holy Spirit of God will never contradict either the Word of God or the Church of Jesus Christ. Not that the Spirit can or can't - it simply won't. This is a deliberate, God-placed "check" upon free-lance, "personal" religion. If you receive guidance from a spirit that says, "Go ahead and cheat on your taxes," you're not hearing the Holy Spirit of God. If a spirit tells you, "You don't need the Church; just love Jesus on your own," you're listening to a spirit other than God's Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gently nudges Christians along the right path - encouraging us neither to veer off into the spiritual bondage of dead legalism nor into its polar opposite: lawless spiritual anarchy.

Right now, on the Christian calendar, we're in the midst of the season of Pentecost. It's the time of the Holy Spirit, and that Spirit encourages us to move ahead, in faith, with God. We're free - free to seek more and more of God -- and we aren't without guidance as to how to do so. The Word, the Church, and the Spirit combine to help us to find the right way - to deeper Christian faith. Amen.

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