Find your freedom in Christ!
Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Very likely over the last few weeks or perhaps even months you’ve seen or heard things about “Reformation 500”. So what exactly is this and what does it mean for us?
The Lutheran Reformation begin in 1517 when Martin Luther took advantage of the custom of that time and posted 95 theses or statements on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. By posting these theses, Martin Luther was saying he wanted to start a conversation about the statements he posted. This year is the 500th anniversary of that work.
Martin Luther had been a monk and he wrote later that in his time in the monastery he really struggled to understand who God was and how God felt about him. This caused him to dig into the Bible and in so doing he found out that God was not the angry judge that he had been led to believe during the time from his childhood until 1517. Luther instead found out that God loved him and all people and wants to give us freedom from our sins and the hope of heaven because Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins.
Our Bible verse for this week is one of those Bible verses which Martin Luther read and studied which brought him to the knowledge and understanding of the freedom he had in Christ and which Christ wants to offer to all people.
Reformation 500 is not about glorifying or praising Martin Luther for what he did, but rather thanking God for what Martin Luther discovered and how he shared it for the whole world to know. This freedom in Christ had been taught since God first gave the promise of the Savior to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but that teaching had been lost and was not being shared when Luther lived.
Our Bible verse for this week really has 2 main thoughts:
- Know the freedom that you have in Christ – “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”. This is a reminder of what that cross of Jesus, which we know so well, means for us. It is not just an object hanging on a wall or around our neck – it was the tool God used to pay the price of our sin and set us free from sin. Treasure that freedom and live in the comfort it gives!
- Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t have that freedom in Christ and also do whatever you can to make sure that everyone around you – “Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”. The devil constantly tries to hide that freedom from us and rob us of it as had happened at the time Martin Luther lived. Losing that freedom can happen in a number of ways: a) thinking you can solve your sin problem on your own, b) getting distracted from your faith life and becoming consumed with other “things”, c) despairing over what you are or what you have done and others.
The freedom we have in Christ is part of the hope which is at the root of all we do at TLHA. We base our work on that hope and freedom. We share that hope and freedom with all whom we care for or help minister to. We strive to make that hope and freedom known to as many as possible, even those who might just casually come into contact with us or our ministry.
Rejoice in the freedom you have in Christ, live in that freedom and do all you can to help share it!