The Hub, July 3, 2019
As July 4th rolls around again, we as a nation look forward to celebrating our freedom. We primarily tend to think of that freedom in terms of our historic liberation from Great Britain or our individual rights especially as defined and preserved by our Constitution. Yet, what does freedom really mean for us as Christians? After all, it is Jesus who says, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
In context, Jesus was speaking in terms of sin having the power to enslave all humanity. If sin no longer has control over our lives thanks to Jesus’ death and resurrection, God’s grace now has the ability to transform them. Martin Luther addressed this in his work, On the Freedom of a Christian (1520). He begins with two seemingly contradictory opinions:
A Christian is an utterly free [human], lord of all, subject to none.
A Christian is an utterly dutiful [human], servant of all, subject to all.
Here, we are not just “free” for the sake of our own whims or happiness. God has set us free in Christ. Our lives are meant to reflect Christ’s own. We are transformed by grace through faith into free lords where not even death has power over us, yet we are saved for a purpose. God intends us to become vessels of the grace we receive. Sacred love now binds us to our neighbor, and thus, we are subject to everyone through works of love much as Christ was himself.
Still, we are not saved by these works. Jesus alone accomplished our salvation. No, these works will be the holy consequence of God’s own loving Spirit at work in us. When we cooperate with the grace offered us, faith conforms and binds us to the image and activity of God. As the ELCA refrain goes, it is always “God’s Work – Our Hands.” We practice self-discipline, service and charity because God’s love is alive in us.
True freedom can be found only through our submission to Christ through faith. Yet in seeking to exercise that freedom, we will become linked ever more deeply to God and others. It will prove both our duty and our joy.
Originally published in The Hub, a weekly email of Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, VA.
Scripture text from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
© 2019 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.
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