Christian Liberty

Where do we get our notion of liberty? As a Christian it is a birth right; we have been rescued from the bondage and eternal damnation of our sins. Our liberty, either as a Christian or an American (or both for some) is something we are to defend. We should be continually defending our freedom. This past weekend in Sunday school we studied about Apostle Paul writing the Galatian church:

    “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1)

The Greek word for stand fast is a strong term that has the force of tenacity, of persistence. We should not be easily giving up our freedoms. And just as Paul defended Christian liberty and exhorted the church to do the same, we as Americans should do so. Jesus Christ’s mission on earth can be summed up as: “For freedom Christ has freed us.” It cost God the life of His only begotten son:

    “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Our Founding Fathers paid the price for our freedom and one of them left a message for us:

    “Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.” (John Quincy Adams)

The bondage the Apostle Paul wrote of to the Galatian church was about legalism with its most obvious manifestation being circumcision. Paul said this about circumcision:

    “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6)

In America our bondage is founded in the very entity that was founded and established by the people it is supposed to defend:

    WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish JUSTICE, insure DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY, provide for the COMMON DEFENCE, promote the GENERAL WELFARE, and secure the BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY to ourselves and our POSTERITY, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” [(Preamble of the US Constitution), emphasis added]

Is that what our government is doing? Does our government establish justice as our courts at all levels partake in judicial activism? Has America ever lacked more than today domestic tranquility any less since the Civil War? With our open borders and political correctness in dealing with Islamofascists is the government providing for the common defense? With high taxation, and more on the way in the form of cap and trade legislation and proposed government-controlled healthcare, is the government promoting for the general welfare? Do you see the blessings of liberty being secured or given away? And when it comes to our posterity, my grandson and all of America’s grandchildren owe the US government at least $31,000!

“While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer. ”

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.
Words and music by Irving Berlin
© Copyright 1938, 1939 by Irving Berlin

What would Irving Berlin think of his home sweet home today?

What would the Lord Jesus Christ think of His Church in general and American Christendom in general?

We as born again Christians have liberty in Christ; we as Americans have liberty because of our Charters of Freedom, among them the US Constitution. Both liberties are being trampled upon by a people who are a harlot like Gomer and citizens of the dying Roman Empire.

What would John Quincy Adams think, a godly and righteous man…the type of leader the Founding Fathers had in mind.

Clearly he would not think we have made good use of our liberty.

Would Jesus think you have made good use of the liberty He has provided at the cross?

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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