Many of us have heard the story of how they train elephants in the circus. While they are still small, they tie a strong rope around their necks and secure it to a sturdy pole. The baby elephants naturally pull and tug trying to escape with no success. They do this over and over again until they finally give in to fear and the reality of being shackled. That is why you can walk by a fully-grown gigantic circus elephant and find them standing passively with a rope tied around their neck that isn’t attached to anything at all. The elephant becomes so accustomed to being held back by the rope, that merely the rope itself and fear keep the animal in check. If only they knew their true power. If only they realized that by the time they have grown up, even a rope “secured” to a pole could no longer contain them. Then they would experience true freedom.
There is a big difference between being set free and living free. The true gospel came from Christ apart from any man-made laws. That is not to say that that the gospel does not set some demands on us. We discover in the book of James: “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26). This is not to say that anyone’s good works save, but that good works follow genuine faith. The gospel is free but sets a trajectory for our lives. Salvation brings freedom, but being free is not that same as experiencing freedom. We like a circus elephant can be snared by fear and ignorant of our power, living shackled lives, when in Christ we have been set free.
In the second chapter of Galatians, we discover that Paul is upset when he finds that Peter, who knows better, is adding to the true gospel. Paul notes: “But when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party” (Gal 2:11-12). Peter was preaching the true gospel of freedom while living as one under the law and he did so out of fear. Paul cares too much for Peter and the church to allow this to continue (Gal 2:4-14).
We discover that the gospel of freedom demands unity. Peter and others were not eating with Gentile (ethnically not Jewish) believers, because it was against Jewish cultural law. The true gospel of freedom demands unity among believers, and this unity cannot allow exclusivity. What Peter was doing was racist. When the gospel enters the picture, there are no “other” people, just people. Its like remodeling shows today. It seems the goal of almost any project is an open concept. They tear down walls to provide open living space that flows from room-to-room. Paul is doing the same thing. He is seeing people come to Christ and then enter separate rooms (Jews and Gentiles). Paul takes the gospel like a sledgehammer and begins knocking down the walls that separate God’s family. Paul will later write: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).
There is another thing the gospel demands. The gospel demands sanctification. Sanctification is the process of being made pure; changed to become more and more like Christ. Paul explains: Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law” (Gal 2:16). The sanctified life, experiencing freedom, does not occur by mere willpower, but by continuing to live by faith in Christ. Paul declares: “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:19-20). Paul shares that he failed at trying to experience freedom and sanctification through works. That does not mean we do whatever we want, but that we grow more and more like Jesus as we love Jesus and allow Him to empower us to live for Him. The true gospel of freedom does not come from anything we have done, but through placing our faith in the finished work of Christ. Experiencing freedom does not come by our self-willed power, but through the continuing work of Christ in us, as we continue to place our faith in Him. Christ died and rose so that we can be set free and experience freedom.
As we do life together, let’s encourage one another to live free. Let’s not allow ourselves to give in to life as it was before Christ. Let’s not give into fear. Let’s continue to live by faith in Christ empowered by Him to experience unity and sanctification. Now that’s freedom.