"Meant to be Free"

Sermon outline from our Saturday evening service of July 4th weekend.

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"Meant to be Free"
Galatians 5:1-6, 13-15

-Christ has freed us to be free
-This is something that has already been done, we must choose to live in that freedom (4:4-5)
-Stand firm in this freedom (Philippians 1:27)
-“Yoke” is typically used in the positive sense, as a set of guidelines (Matthew 11:29-30)
-Because we have been set free, we should never tolerate being enslaved again (4:8-9)
-This is not about individualism or inner liberty but about the freedom of Christ coming alive in the forming of community
-It is not “autonomy” which literally means “self-law”, meaning we are at the mercy of ourselves but instead this is a freedom that says “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (2:20).
-This is freedom for life in community, for mutual service in love embodied through the corporate life of the church
-This freedom is a gift, not an achievement which leaves room for genuine diversity
-We are free to interact with those who disagree with us, to love those who are difficult to love
-Freedom in Christ points us to something new