For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.
I want to begin by talking about a film this morning. It’s a film that seems to stir the heart of every male, while causing most women to wonder what’s wrong with us that we men are stirred so much by this film. The film is Braveheart, a film that chronicles the life of one of Scotland’s most revered heroes: William Wallace. Wallace lived at the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries. He managed to do something that no Scot had been able to do prior to him: unite the Scottish clans to drive the English out of Scotland.
While the film takes quite a few liberties with the way that the historical events actually took place, we modern American men don’t care that much because the film is really about modern American values. There’s one scene in particular that stands out in the film, one that has become one of the great scenes in the history of film. The Scottish nobles, balking at the dominance of the English king, Edward, gather their rag-tag army of farmers, shepherds, and other clansmen on the fields outside of Stirling castle. The English army marches onto the field of battle, and it is large, disciplined, and well armed. The clansmen lose heart. They aren’t sure that they want to fight against this army, knowing that they will probably lose. Even though they are fighting for their families, they are also well aware that the nobles may be easily swayed by offers of land and titles from the English king. Many decide to turn and walk away, complaining that they didn’t come to fight for the Scottish nobles, whom they consider to be as bad as the English. As many start to leave the battlefield, they hear a rumbling in the crowd. Suddenly, out of the crowd emerges a group of men on horseback, led by a longhaired man with his face painted half-blue, carrying a large claymore sword. It is William Wallace.
Showing disdain for the fact that the nobles are in charge, he quickly takes over the army with his commanding presence. He rallies the troops. He rides his horse along the line of men, shouting, “Sons of Scotland, I am William Wallace!” A man shouts back, “William Wallace is seven feet tall!” Wallace replies, “Yes, I’ve heard. Kills men by the hundreds, and if he were here he’d consume the English with fireballs from his eyes, and lighting from his [uh,… here I can’t repeat what he said]. I am William Wallace, and I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You’ve come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom?! Will you fight?
A man answers, “Fight? Against that? No! We will run, and we will live. Wallace replies, “Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you’ll live,… at least for a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day until that for one chance, just ONE CHANCE, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they can never take OUR FREEDOM!!!
I get stirred up just repeating these words. They are truly inspiring. What is inspiring about this film is that even though it is about events from almost 700 years ago, it is very much about American values today. That is why it became so popular when it came out over ten years ago, and why it seems to be on television almost every weekend. At its core the film is about freedom and liberty, which are essential American values. And what could be more American than talking about freedom and liberty on the eve of the 4th of July, when we celebrate our hard-fought freedom?
So, reflecting on William Wallace’s speech, and the fact that we are on the eve of celebrating our country’s independence and liberty, I have a question for you: what does it really mean to be free? Listening to Wallace’s speech, we think we know, but do we really?
When we Americans think of freedom, we tend to think of the Constitutional Congress of 1776, and it’s product, the Declaration of Independence. You remember the beginning of the Declaration, don’t you, where it says,
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...
I grew up with the Declaration of Independence engrained in my mind and soul. I grew up in the Philadelphia area until age 12, and it seemed as though every year we visited Independence Hall, whether through a school field trip or being taken there by my mother on a family field trip. Many times my older brother and I came home with a copy of the Declaration of Independence, printed on a paper that looked just like real parchment. It had a wonderfully crinkly sound as you folded it, and a musty-sweet smell, as though it had just come out of some ancient library. My brother and I were so inspired by this old-looking copy that we tried to create our own declarations. We would write out our own declarations (something about the freedom to be kids) on paper. Then we would burn the edges, and lightly rub brown shoe polish all over to give it that ancient look. It was impossible for me not to be inspired by the Declaration of Independence’s call for liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The words of the Declaration influenced me in tremendous ways, and its words still inspire me. Still, as I’ve grown as a Christian I’ve come to realize that the freedom that the Declaration of Independence speaks about is not the deepest kind of freedom there is. Don’t get me wrong, it is a crucially important kind of freedom. But there is a deeper kind of freedom that the Declaration of Independence does not recognize—a kind of freedom that is not only endowed upon us by our Creator, but one that God calls us to choose over our natural tendency to choose a path other than true freedom.
You see the Declaration of Independence is really speaking about political freedom, not spiritual freedom. Political freedom is very important, but it is not the same thing as spiritual freedom. What is political freedom? There are several elements of political freedom:
- Freedom of Speech: this is the right of everyone to be able to speak his or her mind, especially on political matters, without having to fear being harassed or imprisoned by the government.
- Freedom of Assembly: this is the right of everyone to meet together in political groups without fear of governmental recrimination.
- Freedom of Movement: this is the right of people to be able to move about the country and live wherever he or she wants to.
- Freedom from Tyranny: this is a right guaranteed by our constitution, and through the checks and balances of government, that prevent the majority from subjugating the minority. For example, in the Senate there are rules in place that say that in many matters there must be 61 out of 100 votes in favor of it in order for a law to pass, or at least a vote on passage to be taken. Those are rules that protect the minority from being dominated by a majority.
- Freedom from Unreasonable Use of Power: This is the protection we are given by the Constitution that prevents the police or the government to unreasonably search or confiscate our property, or otherwise use force to coerce us.
When the Paul speaks about freedom in our passage for this morning, he is talking about something much deeper than political freedom. He is talking about a freedom of the soul—a freedom that is with us even if we don’t have political freedom. This is the kind of freedom the Martin Luther King understood when he taught people to fight against injustice through compassion and love rather than anger and hate. He taught them to fight with love by holding a mirror up to their enemies through their willingness to be beaten. He taught them to choose the way of peacefulness, compassion, and self-control. He taught them to choose the way of scripture that tells us to love our enemies, treat well those who treat us spitefully, and to pray for those who abuse us.
This is also the kind of freedom that Nelson Mandela understood when he emerged from 28 years of imprisonment under the South African apartheid regime. In prison, he had been beaten, abused, isolated, and treated with hate and disrespect. He could have become just like his captives, letting bitterness control his heart, but instead he chose to treat his captors with respect and kindness. It was this choice to treat well those who had treated him spitefully that allowed him to bring together whites and blacks when he became president of South Africa. Like King, Mandela understood the spiritual freedom that Paul wrote about 2000 years ago.
Freedom of the soul and spirit has to do with using our God-given freedom of choice to choose to live in God’s way. God has given us the freedom to choose how we will live, and God will never force us to live the way God wants us to live. We get to choose. We get to decide. That is the freedom God gives us. We have the power and right to choose whether to live according to God’s ways or our own.
You and I are amphibians. We live in both the animal, created world, and in the spiritual realm at the same time. We have the ability to choose which environment we will breathe in. We can choose to breathe in the animal realm, being controlled by passions, lusts, and fears, or we can breathe in the spiritual, being guided by love, grace, and the Spirit. We are both animal and spirit, and we are called to be a people who let our animal nature serve our spiritual callings. It is very easy to live according to our animal nature, allowing it to dominate us, even if we don’t recognize it as our animal nature. It is much harder to live in the spiritual. Let me show you what I mean.
How do we define our animal nature? Paul does it in our passage for this morning. He tells us that the animal nature is one that gives in to “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” When we live by our animal natures, we get easily caught up in the world’s obsession with sex, power, drugs, drunkenness, and the like. We begin to believe that having sex with whomever we want, without the need for love and commitment, is okay. We begin to believe that having power over others is the highest aim in life. We give in to the culture that tells us that getting drunk or high is not only okay, but that it is something to strive for. Paul says that when we give in to any or all of these, we are choosing to live by our spiritual natures.
In contrast, we are also given the choice to live according to our spiritual nature. What is our spiritual nature? According to Paul, it is choosing to live in “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” It is choosing to love others, rather than to be indifferent or disdainful. It is choosing to seek ways of peace by treating others with patience, kindness, and gentleness. It is choosing to be generous with what we have. It is choosing to be disciplined and self-controlled, rather than giving in to our lusts, passions, and anger.
We are truly free when we make the choice to follow the Spirit and to live by our spirit. You and I have been given a deep freedom, the freedom to choose. We can live as animals, controlled by our passions, fears, and desires, or we can live as spiritual beings guided by love, compassion, self-control, and peace. The choice is ours, God will never force us to choose God’s way. So my question for you to reflect on this morning is simple: which way to do you choose to live?
Amen.
