Are You Really Free?

Coming off this July 4th weekend and reading several Christian blogs on freedom, I decided to jump into the fray.

And I'm not going to be nice.

You and I are not free.

There, I said it.  I suppose I must defend it.  Not too difficult.

If you think you are totally free, tell the folks at the airport you refuse to go through airport security.

If you think you have absolute freedom, tell the car dealership you are going to take a desired car off the lot without paying for it.

If you think you have freedom, drive that sports car through a school zone with a sheriff's deputy clocking your speed.

Need I go on?

The truth of our lives, at least in civilization, is we are bound by certain laws and boundaries.  Cross them, and you get in trouble.  Stay within them, and you are basically left alone.  But, a boundary means a reduction in freedom, plain and simple.

Some might argue this is a bad thing.  We should strive to be completely free so that we achieve self-fulfillment.

Really?  Is this how we are truly supposed to operate?

Should I drop my rule about letting my kids run in the street so that they can be self fulfilled and be completely free?  Should I allow my kids to hit and hurt each other as they try to "share" their toys?

No.  In order to have some sort of safety, we must have rules.  We must have boundaries.  Within those boundaries, we have freedom to grow and thrive and experience joy.  Without those boundaries, we must be constantly looking over our shoulder to see who or what is going to get us next.

As a Lutheran Christian, we hold the dynamic of freedom and boundary in dynamic tension.  We know and understand there is nothing we can do to earn God's favor or love.  We know and understand there is nothing we can do to earn salvation.  These things come freely as a gift from God through Jesus Christ.  There is something tremendously liberating in knowing this.  I no longer have to worry about following every jot and tittle in the rules.  I no longer have to worry about being good enough.  I don't have to burden myself with guilt or anxiety wondering if God's going to strike me down at any particular moment because I have erred--the good German, Lutheran word for that is angst, btw. 

St. Paul writes about it this way in the book of Galatians chapter 3 verses 24-26: ²⁴Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, ²⁶for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

If you read that as I do, you see that the law no longer condemns us or threatens us or will cause us any harm.  God no longer will zap you if you stray outside the boundaries.  Therefore, we are free!  Completely and utterly free!  We no longer have to follow the law or adhere to the boundaries!

But is doing so such a good idea?  Just because we can, does that mean we should?

Some argue that because we have this freedom, we no longer worry about the law (God's boundaries) what-so-ever.  But that is not the case.  In the history of Christianity, this is called anti-nomianism--against the law.  It is a heresy of monumental proportions.  For the law still has a place.  The law still helps to govern and lead us in the right pathways.  And we follow it, not out of fear but out of obedience.

That's a word which strikes fear into some: obedience.  Giving up one's own self-determination.  Giving up one's own destiny.  Subjecting one's self to another.

But isn't this what we do when we bind ourselves to Jesus Christ?  Isn't this what we do when we call ourselves Christian?  Don't we give up the freedom we know we have to serve, to follow, to proclaim the one who freed us from condemnation? 

This is at the heart of Luther's comment when he said, "A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all."
So, are you really free?

Yes.

And no.

At least if we are truthful with ourselves.