Fruit of Freedom

Text: Galatians 5:13, 16-23

Freedom is not free. According to Wikipedia, this is a phrase used in
America to express gratitude to men and women in the Armed Forces who
give of themselves to give us the freedom we enjoy. We as Christians
know this all the more because the freedom Paul says we are called to
have comes from the death – and resurrection – of Christ. However,
knowing where freedom comes from, and the cost it entails, some would
ask why be free? If freedom is really about giving up something why
would you do it? What is the reward of freedom? When we look at the
bible, with the freedom we receive, we are called to bring others to it
– to be salt and light and to spread it around. In the midst of that
however, we face the challenges both of confusion and pain. The
confusion of not understanding what freedom means, which comes from
jealousy sometimes, makes it difficult to stay and enjoy your freedom
because people bug you about it. Pain simply seeks to take it from you
forcefully.

Freedom, which Paul (and don't forget Christ) says calls us to use in
service, not in indulgence, does have its rewards. Sure all the evil
stuff seems fun – I mean, look at the people who are living in it not
seeing anything outside their lives. I see shows like "Secret life of a
teenager" which wrestles with some difficult topics facing the youth of
today. In "Secret Life" a young girl gets pregnant in high school, and
we see all the convoluted webs of what happens when people fail to
follow the simple, common sense things of not having sex before
marriage, or not gossiping. While the moral of avoid these things is
more or less broadcast throughout and after the show, only more recently
has it begun to make a point I believe. Most recently in the show, the
young mother is finding out how much freedom she has lost since the baby
was born. Her free act of indulgence brings about another free life that
must be cared for. Here we see the clear point that indulging in the
acts listed by Paul in verses 19 through 21 have a high cost – they take
away the freedom we are called to. They take freedom away by removing it
from us physically – incarceration and incapacitation being the chief
means of that; or by forcing us to care for another. What Paul says is
simple, "You are called to be free." That sounds great, who doesn't want
to be free? He adds to this "…do not use your freedom to indulge the
sinful nature…"The Amplified bible says it this way "only [do not let
your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh /and/ an opportunity /or/
excuse [for selfishness]. . ." Most of us think of freedom as a form of
autonomy – I can do what I want how I want when I want. This freedom,
even as Paul says, is rooted deep in selfishness – the pronoun I was
just used 4 times in that statement.

But we see the fruits of this in every day life, and amplified in pop
culture and shows like the one I mentioned before. But what fruit is
produced by this freedom? We see divorce rates skyrocketing, children
facing greater exposure to harmful drugs, promiscuous lifestyles and the
resulting broken lives. Doing some looking on the internet, I came upon
familyfirstaid.org which had a wealth of statistics. The one I found
most interesting dealt with suicide – it's the 11^th leading cause of
death in the US. Looking at the WHO statistics, the US has the 32^nd
highest suicide rate amongst men. If autonomy is freeing, and we are so
free, shouldn't we be less likely to lose hope? One of the leading
causes of suicide is depression, often characterized as a loss of hope.
Hearing how great all of the things the world says is "freeing" wouldn't
you think that there would be great hope? I mean, doesn't having 'sexual
freedom' or the freedom to drink as you please or imbibe mind altering
drugs mean you shouldn't have a care in the world? The search for
freedom and power through witchcraft, or even just replacing any thought
of something above us that can empower us, right? Shouldn't plain out
declaring "God is dead" give us the hope of a freedom that wipes out all
traces of despair from our lives?

All of those things I just mentioned are the sinful indulgences that
Paul warns us against squandering our freedom on. But where is the hope
of freedom – the promise of the liberty we're called to? Paul says
"rather serve one another in love." or "but through love you should
serve one another." (Amplified) Christ said the same thing. "For even
the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his
life as a ransom for many." (Mk 10:45) Service however does not sound
like freedom, does it? Most of the time especially in the Church – all
denominations – service is viewed as a requirement. I was talking with
one of my best friends about how things were going for him, and we began
to converse about his Mormon neighbor. He mentioned how the Mormon faith
is very centered on works. And works is a good thing – don't get me
wrong. But what the issue my friend's neighbor isn't the works – it's
the motivation for the works. She couldn't grasp the idea of doing the
works because of being free. For many the whole concept of being good
not out of fear but out of gratitude. That is why Paul urges us not to
indulge, but to serve in love. By choosing to serve, we exercise our
freedom and thereby reap the rewards of our freedom.

Joseph Girzone wrote a wonderful novel in the early '80s titled /Joshua:
A Parable for Today/. In it he tells the story of a man who shakes up a
small town simply by serving. Now, a reader of the books knows quite
plainly that Joshua is a characterization of Christ himself, but the
people don't know this. In it we see a man serving out of love and we
see the fruit of the freedom he knows and enjoys to the core of his
being. This are the fruit – Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness,
Goodness, Faithfulness and Self-Control. All of the fruit of the Spirit
– these are our fruit of freedom. The build upon one another – if you
start lacking in one of them, you will begin to lack in the others and
see a diminishing of the freedom of grace. This is why Paul, who says we
are called to freedom, so strongly says, "So I say, live by the Spirit.
. ." The Spirit is freedom, he, the third part of the godhead is the
embodiment of freedom. God the father is from whom we receive freedom,
God the son is by whom we receive the freedom and God the spirit is
through whom we live it. And when we live that spirit of freedom in
service we begin to grow that fruit of freedom.

The fruit grows in a specific way, because it must. Just like the grape
must come from the vine which came from the seed, so also our fruit
grows from a seed. The seed is Love. Love of God, and a recognition that
He loved us first. Oh how He loved us first! He loved us so much He made
us, gave us the choice to love Him, was so hurt when we chose not to
that He gave Himself that we could join Him again. If that is not love,
what is? How can you not love him back? How does the old chorus go? "Oh
how I love Jesus, because He first loved me." Love is the seed, and the
soil from which all the other fruit grows. And when we get absorbed into
that Love, and it overtakes us is that not when things start to sprout
and go? When you love the Lord as the greatest commandment says "with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and
with all your mind" that imparts a sense of Joy. Joy springs from that
all consuming love of God because that love runs so deep the enjoyment
of all situations, of all happenings makes happiness seem absurd and
superficial. That old Sunday school chorus had he order backwards. We
need to have Love like an ocean before we can have Joy like a fountain.
The water that flows from that fountain of Joy is pulled straight from
the ocean of Love. And when that love is so limitless like the ocean, a
fountain of joy will overflow and create a river – a river of peace.
Peace is best defined, I believe, as the ability to sleep amongst the
greatest storm. Jesus did it – he epitomized peace when he slept as the
boat crossed the Sea of Galilee. Peace is born out of joy because joy
permits us to be ok with any situation – and that's what peace is. The
other important thing to note about these first three fruit is that they
originate from God himself. We cannot and must not take credit for
creating these first three fruit of freedom, and therefore we must not
take credit for the other six, for they are formed from the base of
these three – Love, Joy and Peace.

The next three make sense to follow, and they all have the unique tie
that they are all exhibited traits toward others. They come out of the
overflow of love, joy and peace because we are so full we must share
them. Peace shown to another person is also called patience. Patience,
that "capacity to tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without becoming
angry or upset" is always a kindness to the ones we show it to. Those
who are kind to others are always referred to as being good, or showing
goodness to others. What is also interesting to note, is that these
three fruit are also the same three fruit that God shows us when we are
away from Him. Three of God's greatest traits are his abundant patience,
his unfailing kindness, and his goodness to all generations. How fitting
that we should see modeled to us the same fruit of freedom by the one
who gives it to us.

The final group of three – faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control
are certainly not the least. While they, like all the others, are
exhibited to people outside of ourselves, it would be wise to note how
they also impact us, and bring the circle complete. If a farmer does not
take some of the seed from the mature fruit, how can he make more? In
the same way if we do not exhibit the faithfulness that comes from the
first six fruit how can we stay connected to that ocean of Love? That
faithful farmer who takes the seed from the maturing plant is gentle
with it. Some scrapes and scratches are necessary so the seed can
germinate, and branches and leaves must be pruned from time to time, but
always it is done gently to promote a new growth and a fulfillment of
that faithfulness. This is all also done with great self-control, and we
need that self-control to maintain that faithfulness and gentleness.
Thus the growth of the full fruit is complete. The soil and seed
producing the vine, which is held up support system which produces the
grape, which is seen and enjoyed by others – hopefully to grow into
another vine.

Paul finishes the list of the fruit of the spirit – the fruit of freedom
by saying, "Against such things there is no law." Why is there no law
against them? It is because man cannot put a law on that which God
gives. I find it fitting that a month after we have celebrated our
freedom in this country we should look at the results of the true
freedom we talked about then. We saw that true liberty comes from the
Son of God, who can set us free. We listened to a plea to do what we
must – share that freedom with others as the salt and light of the
earth. We were reminded that there are those who are jealous when they
see our freedom and wish to enslave us in confusion about true freedom.
Last week we learned about one of the keys of how to live in freedom –
praising at all times. And now we see where it all leads to, the Fruit
of Freedom.

Do you now posses this fruit, even if in part? Or is it something that
you find you lack? Who here today knows what it is like to be enveloped
in God's love to overflowing, and the joy and peace it brings with it?
Would you want to have that same feeling, to know freedom and the fruit
that it brings? We know only one way to become free to begin with and
that is through Christ. Come now, if you don't know him, why settle for
the false freedom of sinful indulgence? Come, taste and see that the
Lord is good, the fruit of His vine, none can match. If you know him and
want to express and grow more in your freedom, remember what Paul calls
us to do, "through love, serve one another." Come, dedicate yourself
again to service, be willing to serve in whatever way possible. The
altar is open, as it always is.