| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “You have been set free” Our Bible verse for today: “We must obey God rather than men!” Acts 5:29 (NIV) Our thought for today: “Your freedom in Christ will sometimes get you in trouble.” This morning I want to talk about how our freedom in Christ allows us, or perhaps even requires us, to refrain from certain actions, and how the decision to refrain may actually put us crossways with the society in which we live. Christians correctly believe that as citizens of the USA we have all the same constitutional rights that any other citizen of this nation has. That is correct. However, we don’t have the Biblical freedom to act on those constitutional rights if doing so would in anyway conflict with the law of God. In fact, there are occasions when our freedom in Christ will require us to actively oppose and defy a constitutional right. For instance, legally every woman in America has a constitutional right to an abortion. But it would be wrong for a Christian woman to get an abortion because it would violate God’s Biblical principle regarding the sanctity of human life. So, this is a situation where you might have the constitutional freedom to do something, but you don’t have the Biblical freedom to do it. Beyond that, as Christians we have a Biblical responsibility to actually oppose this constitutional freedom and attempt to get it overturned. Likewise, the issue of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Constitutionally every citizen has the freedom to engage in homosexual behavior and to enter into a same-sex marriage if they want to. But even though Christians have the constitutional freedom to do so, they do not have the Biblical freedom to do so because it violates God’s principles of human sexuality. Just because we have the constitutional freedom to do something doesn’t mean we have the Biblical freedom to do it. We may even find ourselves in the position of having to oppose that constitutional freedom in our society precisely because it does violate Biblical principles. And that of course, will put us crossways with culture. Others will feel that we are attempting to infringe on their liberty. However, our freedom in Christ liberates us from that concern. We are to obey God rather than men and, we are to try to help our society to obey God rather than men too. However, a word of caution: Before taking such a stand we must be certain that the position we are taking is solidly Biblical and the one we’re opposing is not – and we have to be able to prove it. Be sure there are passages of Scripture and Biblical principles which speak clearly and directly to the situation. Base your actions on clear guidance from the Bible. Our freedom in Christ gives us the courage and boldness to take stands that might be unpopular, and that sometimes might even get us in trouble. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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