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Back to Sermons Index Back to Home Page 13th November 2005 AMSET FREE TO SERVE ! Pastor Colin Meadows Main
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Set free by faith in Christ alone:
That is the essence of the Good News of Jesus. We are justified or placed in a
right relationship with God by faith in Christ as we hear the truth of God’s
Word – nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Set free by faith in Christ
alone. That was what Martin Luther discovered to his joy as he read through the
letter of Galatians. In particular as he read… Gal 2:16 “Know
that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith
in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will
be justified.” The
only way to enter into a relationship with the living God is by faith as we
submit to his Son Jesus as our Lord and Master. We don’t earn salvation points
by being circumcised, by keeping certain feast days, by performing rituals, by
doing good needs. We come naked before God, pleading for his mercy and accepting
the gift of forgiveness that Christ has earned for us. Justified and set free
from our sins by faith in Christ alone. Luther
struggled for 16 years as an Augustinian monk to find peace with God. To be a
monk was in those days, this was seen as the way par excellence to seek to reach
heaven. He thus became a monk he said to save his soul. At the age of 21 he took
the vows that would lead to poverty, chastity, renunciation of self-will,
prayers seven time a day, each of 45 minutes, the saying of masses. Luther took
his monastic life to extremes – often fasting for days on end until his health
was affected, sleeping on the floor of his cell without a blanket until at times
he almost froze to death. At one point he said “If ever a monk got to heaven
by his monkery it was I”. He further took part in holy pilgrimages to It
was then that his study of the bible became more intense as he sought to
understand God’s truth. He came to see that God ‘justifies us through faith.
There upon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into
paradise.’ Justified by faith in Christ alone! Saved
by faith, now we are to live by faith… But
as we come into a relationship with God by faith, we find that such faith never
remains alone. It will draw us on to obedience to follow Christ. Faith leads to
action… Ø
Faith produces love:
Faith in Christ will lead on to obedience to him. As we reflect on his great
love for us, we will submit our wills to be guided by the Holy Spirit to live a
life that honours God. As John Stott notes ‘The faith which saves is a faith
which works.’ In respond to the great love of Christ, we will seek to express
our faith in love. Paul puts it very concisely in Galatians… Galatians
5:6 “…The
only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Faith, by its very nature, cannot remain invisible.
It will come to the surface in loving obedience. That is what faith is. James in
his letter sought to flesh this truth out. James
2:17 “In
the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” Faith, by its very nature, leads to action. There is
a strong flow on effect. Faith is a firm conviction based upon hearing the truth
of God’s revelation. This firm conviction then leads to our personal surrender
to God. John
1:12 “Yet
to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to
become children of God.” As we surrender to God in response to his love, the
Holy Spirit begins to bring about change in our lives. That is what Paul seeks
to teach in the latter part of chapter 5. We are to live and be lead by the Holy
Spirit. As we do this, so we will produce fruit in our lives, the fruit of the
Holy Spirit. When a tree produces fruit, such fruit is the outward manifestation
of an inner activity. Through the processes of energy capture and
transformation, so fruit is produced. The same is true in our lives. As the Holy
Spirit energizes us so transformation begins to take place. We begin to slowly show the fruit of the Spirit of
God, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. In other words, we begin to display the character
of Christ in our lives. We are slowly being transformed by the indwelling
energizing presence of the Holy Spirit, displaying glimpses of the character of
Christ. A few years ago, our youngest son did extremely well
at high school and we said we would like to reward him with something special.
He asked if he could go skydiving! That wasn’t what we had in mind but in the
end agreed to allow him to do it. Thus he did a tandem jump from 14,000 feet
over That was all remedied yesterday when we went to
Busselton airport. I had a long session of instruction about what would take
place, suited up to look like a court jester and with great apprehension climbed
into a small aircraft with a close friend who had agreed to do a tandem jump at
the same time. At 10,000 feet, the door of the plane opened and wind
tore at our clothing! The moment of truth – one part of me wanted to hold onto
the safety of the plane but I knew I had not come this far to wimp out. With
reluctance, I dropped my legs out of the plane and dangled in space while my
instructor did the same. After the count of three we were spiraling into space! Talk about the leap of faith. As we tumbled before
the steadying drag opened to stabilize our freefall, I started to think about
faith in a new way. I had listened to the instruction and even seen the video of
it, but until I personally committed to the jump and fell out of the plane, it
was all just theoretical. Now I had made the commitment. This is so like our
step of faith into Christ, of hearing the truth and then committing to the
truth. It involves surrender and submission. As the main chute opened, my instructor then gave me
the two cords to take control of the descent. I could pull one way or the other
and thus direct where I was going. I felt however his restraining hand on the
cord, reminding me that if I tried to do something outside the safety zone, then
he would overrule it. That to me is much like the work of the Holy Spirit’s
guiding in our lives as we seek to produce the fruit of Christ’s character. As a pastor, I hear great stories often of how God is
working in people’s lives. As I have listened to the stories of many people
over the past months, I felt it important that we have the chance to hear some
stories of God’s transforming power at work, of faith being lived out in
various ways. I have asked some people to share their stories
briefly of how God has moved them to express their faith in various ways. Let us
hear some personal stories.
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Some personal stories:
Stories from Pat, Narelle and Rob. Ø
Set free to serve: As
we draw this together, let us never lose sight of where we started. Jesus is the
foundation of our faith. We have been set free by the death of Jesus on the
cross. By faith we receive this truth into our lives. Remember the words that
started our readings this morning: Galatians
5:1 “It
is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Christ has set us free, free now to serve him, free
to be transformed by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, free to begin to
produce the fruit of the Spirit, free to display the character of Christ in our
daily lives! The story is told during the days of the slave trade
in the As the auctioneer opened the bidding, the man shouted
out a bid that was twice the going rate of the day. Silence fell upon the group
as the auctioneer cried out “Sold!” The girl was led to the man and he was
handed the rope that bound her, who accepted it without saying anything. The
young girl stared at the ground for a moment then suddenly raised her head and
spat in the man’s face. He wiped his face, smiled at the girl and said
‘Follow me’. Reluctantly she shuffled off with him to the nearby booth where
the sales were settled.. He paid the purchase price and signed the necessary
papers. He then did something very unexpected. When a slave is to be set free,
legal documents called manumission papers were necessary. He had procured these
papers from the local office when he had first seen the girl and now he signed
them. When the transactions were complete, he turned to the young girl and gave
her the release documents. Started she looked at him and said “What are you
doing?” He replied “Here, take these papers. I bought you to make you free.
As long as you have these papers in your possession, no man can ever make you a
slave again.” The girl looked into his face with total confusion! “You
bought me to make me free?” she exclaimed and then went on repeating the
question… “You bought me to make me free?” By now the significance of the
papers she held in her hands was sinking in. A total stranger had bought her to
set her free. She would never again be held in bondage! She fell at his feet and
through her tears of joy and gratitude said “You bought me to make me free!
I’ll serve you forever!” Christ has bought us from the slave market of sin,
out of bondage to the enemy of us all. He bought us to set us free. As we
reflect on God’s incredible love, let our response be like that of the young
girl. I will serve you forever! Not out of guilt or out of a misguided attempt
to earn God’s favour, but out of sheer joy and gratitude of being set free, as
that young girl did. Set free to serve.
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