"Christian Freedom?"

I recently read a pretty powerful blog from John MacArthur. Although encouraged by many youth of today who are pursuing Christ passionately, grasping the doctrines of Grace, and motivated by writings and sermons from reformed authors of the past, he sees a tragic pattern, one in which must be addressed. To read his blog follow this link: http://www.gty.org/Blog/B110809 . I highly recommend you reading it.

Although JMac tends to speak most directly to alcohol, he is really speaking to a much greater issue... "Christian liberty"; I put that in quotes because the liberty my generation is speaking of, is anything but what the Bible speaks about when it comes to Christian liberty.

Throughout the new testament there is a clear distinction made...we are now FREE in Christ. There is no more bondage to the Law, no more ceremonial patterns that must be kept, and no more sacrifices that need to be made...the Law has been fulfilled IN and through Christ's death and ressurrection. The reality of this Truth is powerful. Knowing that we are no longer slaves to sin (once redeemed), and that grace covers us until the end is amazing to cling to.

Yet somewhere in the understanding of Christian freedom, as Paul talks about in Galatians, Romans, and other places in the N.T., something went awry. Christians began to take legalism to a whole new meaning...it became legalistic to call gray areas sin, and even some clear areas of sin, sin. What one must realize is that legalism is simply this- a reliance on oneself, keeping of the law, for a right standing before the Holy God. It has nothing to do with calling out sin among the brethren, or speaking of convictions which may convict other believers in turn.

"Christian liberty is giving up one's freedoms." (JMac) You see, Christian liberty is recognizing that we are called to bring glory to God in ALL things, and to be a light, an example, an encouragement, and anything but a stumbling block to both brethren and nonbelievers. If we are striving to do these things, many of the "gray areas" in life soon become quite clear, black and white. Selfish pride is what robs us of seeing clearly and allowing our hearts to make decisions that go against our conscience and even conviction. We begin to justify sinful attitudes and actions by our Christian freedom in order to fit in with the culture, or to even "reach" the culture. What a false perspective this is, and a damaging one at that. People will often say "Jesus hung out with tax collectors and sinners and participated in what they did", but this is FAR from the Truth. Yes, Jesus ministered to these kinds of people, sinners, but did so with one purpose, to share the Truth by calling out sin, telling them to repent and giving them the hope of the promised ressurrection. He DID NOT do what they did or behave the way they did when it came to "gray areas" or sinful behavior. Many of these things, like today, are things that were keeping these unbelievers in bondage, why would he encourage and spur on that sin? If anything he called it out. We are never once in Scripture called to become like the world to win the world, rather the opposite is true...we are to be set apart in this world, beaming brightly for Jesus.

As we grow in our knowledge of Jesus, and the Word, we must grow in our desire to glorify Him. We must be willing to lay aside ANYTHING that might misrepresent Him, entangle us, mislead an unbeliever, or criple a brother in the Lord. We MUST be willing to lay aside so called "freedoms" for the Gospel, seeing if they truly are honoring to the Lord, or rather, just honoring to our flesh and this world. JMAC says it well, "It should not take a doctor of divinity to notice that Scripture consistently celebrates virtues such as self-control, sober-mindedness, purity of heart, the restraint of our fleshly lusts, and similar fruits of the Holy Spirit's sanctifying work in our lives. Surely these are what we ought hold in highest esteem, model in our daily lives, and honor on our websites, rather than trying so hard to impress the world with unfettered indulgence in the very things that hold so many unbelievers in bondage."