Welcome to this week’s episode, a special rerun from our Speaking of Life archive. We hope you find its timeless message as meaningful today as it was when it was first shared.
Watch video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntTCrJYwJnc
Program Transcript
Speaking Of Life 4031 │Unseen Footprints
Heber Ticas
You’ve probably heard the old hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”
The lyrics go like this: “Have you trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.” The idea of taking our problems to the Lord in prayer is a well-known prescription in Christian circles, but sometimes it doesn’t seem like it’s enough to steady us. Sometimes we need a new angle on taking our problems to the Lord in prayer.
Let’s consider Psalm 77 where the psalmist Asaph is in trouble. He’s taking his problems to the Lord, but it’s not comforting him this time:
I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, that he may hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. I think of God, and I moan; I meditate, and my spirit faints.
Psalm 77:1-3 (NRSV)
Asaph goes on to ask questions, the same questions you and I ask when we’re at the end of our ropes. He asks: “Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” (Psalm 77: 9, NRSV).
Asaph initially concludes that he must have done something to turn God’s heart away, or that God has changed. But then he makes an important decision, one that is just as important as praying in the first place. He looks to the past for evidence of God’s faithfulness and remembers God’s deliverance of the people of Israel through the Red Sea:
Your way was through the sea, your path, through the mighty waters; yet your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Psalm 77:19-20 (NRSV)
Asaph remembered a situation when the Israelites were fleeing Egypt with the Egyptian army in pursuit. They could see the Egyptian army on one side and the Red Sea on the other with no apparent way out. God opened the sea.
He answered their cries for deliverance though his “footprints were unseen.” As is often the case, God chose to resolve the situation with a completely different solution than what was expected. Has that happened to you? Like Asaph, we can trust that God’s solution to our problem will be the best outcome for everyone.
While taking our cares to the Lord in prayer is still a good idea, it also helps to remind ourselves of stories of God’s faithfulness. When we are faced with trials and temptations, we can choose to think about God’s past provision in our lives and in the lives of others. God’s faithfulness in the past gives us hope that God will be faithful to us now.
Today, let us rest securely in God’s faithfulness. Even if you can’t see his footprints in your current circumstances, just like he has in the past, he is carrying you through.
Mi nombre es Heber Ticas, Hablando de Vida.
Program Transcript
Speaking Of Life 4031 │Unseen Footprints
Heber Ticas
You’ve probably heard the old hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”
The lyrics go like this: “Have you trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.” The idea of taking our problems to the Lord in prayer is a well-known prescription in Christian circles, but sometimes it doesn’t seem like it’s enough to steady us. Sometimes we need a new angle on taking our problems to the Lord in prayer.
Let’s consider Psalm 77 where the psalmist Asaph is in trouble. He’s taking his problems to the Lord, but it’s not comforting him this time:
I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, that he may hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. I think of God, and I moan; I meditate, and my spirit faints.
Psalm 77:1-3 (NRSV)
Asaph goes on to ask questions, the same questions you and I ask when we’re at the end of our ropes. He asks: “Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” (Psalm 77: 9, NRSV).
Asaph initially concludes that he must have done something to turn God’s heart away, or that God has changed. But then he makes an important decision, one that is just as important as praying in the first place. He looks to the past for evidence of God’s faithfulness and remembers God’s deliverance of the people of Israel through the Red Sea:
Your way was through the sea, your path, through the mighty waters; yet your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Psalm 77:19-20 (NRSV)
Asaph remembered a situation when the Israelites were fleeing Egypt with the Egyptian army in pursuit. They could see the Egyptian army on one side and the Red Sea on the other with no apparent way out. God opened the sea.
He answered their cries for deliverance though his “footprints were unseen.” As is often the case, God chose to resolve the situation with a completely different solution than what was expected. Has that happened to you? Like Asaph, we can trust that God’s solution to our problem will be the best outcome for everyone.
While taking our cares to the Lord in prayer is still a good idea, it also helps to remind ourselves of stories of God’s faithfulness. When we are faced with trials and temptations, we can choose to think about God’s past provision in our lives and in the lives of others. God’s faithfulness in the past gives us hope that God will be faithful to us now.
Today, let us rest securely in God’s faithfulness. Even if you can’t see his footprints in your current circumstances, just like he has in the past, he is carrying you through.
Mi nombre es Heber Ticas, Hablando de Vida.
Psalm 77:1–2, 11–20 · 2 Kings 2:1–2, 6–14 · Galatians 5:1, 13–25 · Luke 9:51–62
This week’s theme is called to freedom. It’s the third Sunday after Pentecost, and we’re thinking about what the phrase “passing the mantle” means. Our call to worship celebrates the perseverance of the psalmist who follows God’s leadership during difficult times. We read in 2 Kings 2 about the passing of the prophetic mantle from Elijah to Elisha. It gives us the opportunity to think about how we might engage in passing along our faith through discipling others. In the Gospel reading in Luke 9, Jesus calls his disciples to move forward with faith, offering sometimes unconventional challenges to cultural customs, such as not going to a father’s funeral or not destroying one’s enemies with fire. Our sermon text in Galatians 5:1, 13–25 talks about the fruits of the Holy Spirit and indicates that the way to true freedom is by living our faith daily. We’re challenged to consider how we approach the concept of freedom and what “freedom for” might look like.
How to use this sermon resource.
The Freedom to Be Free
Galatians 5:1, 13–25 NRSVUE
The United States (U.S.) will be celebrating the Fourth of July later this week, and it will have been 249 years since July 4, 1776, when the United States of America was born. You might be surprised to learn that in the foundational document of the U.S., the Declaration of Independence, the word “freedom” can’t be found. Instead, you’ll find the word “liberty,” along with “life” and “the pursuit of happiness.” In the years since our nation’s beginning, the word “liberty” has been replaced with “freedom,” which is typically defined by most people as the ability to do what one wants without hindrance.
NOTE: This introduction is based on a U.S. holiday. You may want to begin with something more relevant to your culture or country.
This definition gets us into trouble. Here’s an example from the Fourth of July celebration. Some people want the freedom to set off lots of fireworks in their driveway or yard while others are concerned about safety, noise, or the potential for fire and other property damage. Freedom is one of those words that can’t be experienced in its fullness except in solitude when we attempt to live it as it’s typically defined. Living in community requires a tension to express freedom without jeopardizing the freedom of those around us.
Our sermon text, in Galatians 5:1, 13–25, talks about a freedom that is much older than the United States:
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 NRSVUE
The yoke of slavery referred to is that of sin and legalistic rule-keeping, which keeps us in a cycle of discouragement, shame, and failure. As we grow in Christ, we are freed from the desire to control others. Instead, we are free to love and be reconciled to them, even those who are our enemies. Let’s read the sermon text.
The context of Galatians
One of the main themes in Galatians is unity within the church. Theologian N.T. Wright says this: “Having argued for the theological singularity of Abraham’s family, Paul is now arguing against behaviors that would break up that single family. The whole letter is about church unity” (p. 432). Based on Galatians 5:15, Wright infers “that Paul is addressing a situation where angry factionalism, fueled by sociocultural pressure and threats from the outside, is threatening to tear the little Christian communities apart and that this is the real point of chapter 5” (p. 432).
The second unexpected aspect of the passage is found in verses 19–23 where Paul mentions issues of conceit and jealousy, which seem out of context for the argument about theological ethics. Wright says:
Paul again seems to be addressing a particular problem: people are bringing a competitive sociocultural mentality into the church … Perhaps there were small groups arguing for subtly different positions, which would then splinter again … as people shunned one another or threatened not to do business with one another, teaching their house church and their children that this was the ‘right’ way to follow Jesus (p. 432).
Wright’s point again emphasizes that unity was Paul’s intent, and that to achieve such unity and harmony, the Holy Spirit was necessary. The Galatians needed to practice allowing the Spirit’s fruits to be produces within their midst, and v. 13–25 pertain to Paul’s practical application of this.
Paul seeks to convey that while the law (i.e., the Torah) might seem to provide a legalistic answer about how to live a moral life, it falls short of bringing God’s vision of love to earth. Sure, it gives a sense of certainty to have a detailed list of acceptable practices, but with the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Galatians are called to live and “inhabit the dangerous social space as a new kind of community in a suspicious and hostile world … within the risky open-ended moral space as a new kind of human being” (Wright, p. 456).
Let’s consider what freedom requires of us and what living by the Spirit means.
What freedom requires
Paul begins in v. 1 reminding the Galatians that they are free from the law, as are all of Abraham’s children, including us. Freedom is our birthright in Christ. But Paul quickly follows that up in v. 13 with a reminder that freedom doesn’t mean being able to do whatever you want. We find that verses 13–25 explain the practical application, including the placement of appropriate boundaries.
Paul writes of our freedom within the context of being chosen by God. New Testament Professor Emerita Sarah Henrich writes this:
To be chosen by God for freedom, to have been freed by Christ is to have been freed from the dire results of life lived apart from God. It is also a call into freedom that in some ways mirrors God’s own, that is a freedom dedicated to serving others in love.
This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17 NRSVUE). In our freedom through Christ, we are living the law laid out in Galatians 5:14 and echoed in Leviticus 19:18: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” By positioning an individual’s freedom as subservient to that person’s responsibility to the community, we can be agents of change in the world, promoting love and service.
In verses 16–21, Paul elaborates on some of the areas with which human beings frequently struggle. If we consider those various problems, we can categorize them mostly as interpersonal issues we wrestle with. We compare ourselves to others, forget our unique status as a beloved child of God, or seek power and control over others rather than their highest good. N.T. Wright points out that Paul is likely referring to actual problems that the church of Galatia was facing. These issues “are producing such anger and tension that things are turning nasty, with the threat of actual violence, mixed with a social point-scoring whose specifics are lost to us but whose reality comes across clearly in verse 26” (p. 458). Wright also clarifies the use of the words “works,” saying:
… we should not suppose that Paul thought the ‘works’ were only surface effects while the ‘fruit’ came from somewhere deeper. On the contrary: the ‘works’ proceed, as he indicates elsewhere, from the deep recesses of the fallen human personality (Wright, p. 458).
The “works of the flesh” Paul refers to have destructive outcomes.
In their efforts to solve the tensions they faced, the Galatians erroneously thought that keeping the Law (i.e., Torah) would help them restrain selfish and self-serving impulses. Paul reminds them in Galatians 5:2–12 that keeping the whole law, including the practice of circumcision, was not following the Holy Spirit within them. Barclay’s Commentary writes:
It was Paul’s position that the way of grace and the way of law were mutually exclusive. The way of law makes salvation dependent on human achievement; the man who takes the way of grace simply casts himself and his sin upon the mercy of God. Paul went on to argue that if you accepted circumcision, that is to say, if you accepted one part of the law, logically you had to accept the whole law … To Paul all that mattered was faith which works through love. That is just another way of saying that the essence of Christianity is not law but a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. The Christian’s faith is founded not on a book but on a person; its dynamic is not obedience to any law but love to Jesus Christ.
Thus, the freedom we enjoy in Christ requires us to refocus on becoming more human in the way we treat ourselves, our bodies, other people, and their bodies. Since the purpose of Paul’s letter to the Galatians was the unity of the church, this unity requires church members to conduct themselves in certain ways. Wright says that “unity can never be purely a theological truth with no real effect on the way church members behave toward one another” (p. 463). Rather than our human lives being “all about me,” we shift our viewpoint and interactions to include our collective responsibility to the wider world.
Living by the Spirit
As we consider v. 22–25, we learn what becoming more human means. Wright refers to this as “rehumanization,” or “becoming more fully human together” (p. 469). He points out, “One of the glories of the gospel of the crucified Messiah is that there is a different way to be human” (p. 463). Notice that this isn’t a solitary activity, but a way of living and being in community.
We notice that the first fruit of the Spirit listed in v. 22 is love, echoing the wording found in Galatians 5:13–14. The gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost “fulfills what the Torah wanted to do but could not” (Wright, p. 460). Our “rehumanization” begins with love: love for God, for self, for others, and for the earth, God’s creation.
As we read further, the fruits of the Spirit listed in verses 22–23 don’t happen naturally or without effort. Like a fruit tree must be watered, pruned, and protected from pests and strong winds, so we must think about and practice the fruits of the Spirit. We must consider how we nurture the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. For Paul, character mattered, and “the gospel was designed to bring healing and hope into distorted and disfigured human lives” (Wright, p. 468).
Merely viewing Jesus as a good person who’s example we should follow, has led to a religion of belonging to a church (like membership in a social club) and believing a set of tenets, without any outwardly demonstrate fruit. Discipleship is a lifelong journey of Jesus, by the Spirit, conforming us to his image.
Franciscan priest and author Richard Rohr writes this about the true freedom of the gospel:
Without God’s definition of freedom, we will continue to use the gospel as if it were a product that can be bought, sold, imposed, or attained. The gospel is not a competing ideology that’s threatened by anything outside itself. It is the light of the world that illuminates the whole household; it is the yeast and not the whole loaf; it is the salt that gives flavor and nutrition to the much larger meal … Once we can accept that Jesus has given us an illuminating lens by which to see and measure all things, we can no longer treat Christianity as a threat — or allow it to be a threat — to human or cultural freedom … The gospel is a process much more than a product, a style more than a structure, a person more than a production. It is a way of being in the world that will always feel like compassion, mercy, and spaciousness (p. 14–16).
Verse 24 speaks of the crucifixion of the flesh with its self-absorbed desires, and we can rightly interpret this as an ongoing outworking of Christ’s crucifixion. We read in Colossians 3:5–11 that we must participate routinely in Christ’s “putting to death” of the works of the flesh to permit the flourishing practice of the fruits of the Spirit:
Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all! Colossians 3:5–11 NRSVUE
Verse 25 concludes by challenging the Galatians to not only live by the Spirit but also to be guided by the Spirit. In this instance, Paul’s usage of the word “live” (stoicheō) can be rendered “line up.” Wright explains it this way: “A stoicheion is a ‘row’ or ‘lineup’: the Spirit is telling you how to get in line, the line in question being the line of life and to life. Your task is to see the line and stick to it” (p. 472). As we reflect on love as the primary fruit of the Spirit, we can evaluate our thoughts and actions through that lens to determine whether our focus is inward or outward.
We are called to freedom in Christ, but the way that freedom is understood and expressed in community is quite different from what most people think. Rather than self-indulgence, we’re challenged to develop appropriate self-love and love for others. Our calling is to grow into the fullest expression of freedom so that we all may become whom God has made us to be.
Call to Action: The book of Galatians focuses on church unity and loving our neighbor in the broader community as ourselves. Prayerfully ask God what practical actions you might take this week to encourage church unity as well as love within the community.
For Reference:
Rohr, Richard. Jesus’ Alternative Plan: The Sermon on the Mount, 2nd ed. Franciscan Media, 2022.
Wright, N.T. Galatians. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2021.
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dsb/galatians-5.html
John Rogers—Year C Proper 8 in Ordinary Time
Listen to audio: https://cloud.gci.org/dl/GReverb/GR064-Rogers-YearC-Proper8.mp3
June 29, 2025 — Proper 8 in Ordinary Time
Galatians 5:1, 13-25 (NRSVUE)
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Program Transcript
John Rogers—Year C Proper 8 in Ordinary Time
Anthony: Our final pericope of the month is Galatians 5:1, 13–25. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 8, in ordinary time, which is June 29.
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 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 enslaved to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. 16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 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. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 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. 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
John, for me, freedom is one of those kinds of tricky words, because the definition …. Many attached to that word don’t look like freedom that we see in the Bible. Freedom does not mean we can do whatever we want, as the Scriptures testify, and yet Christ has truly set us free. So, what should Christians make of this Christological freedom?
John: Yeah, I think when we often think of the word freedom, we feel like we’ve been loosed. We’ve been set free from something that bound us in some way. And the irony here is this Christological understanding of freedom, as I understand it, is still bound, right, but appropriately bound to finding our greatest freedom in tying ourself to our Savior Jesus. And I think we confuse and we kind of have these conversations around agency and around wanting to make sure that my opinions are being heard, that I feel like that that I matter in this world, that I’m not being crushed by someone else’s definition of me or having a stereotype of me, and I want to feel free. I feel like that is like a wonderful place to be. We even think of it within the context of our American history about what freedom means. But when we say we’re followers of Jesus, and we’re talking about freedom, what I hear here from Paul is, and it’s one of the biggest topics for Paul, bar none, right?
Anthony: Yes. Right.
John: And you, and I feel like you got to get it right. Be very careful to not lose yourself so much, to not tie yourself being obedient to the person of Jesus, not the one who will restrict you from who you are meant and created to be. But it is only in him where you will be free. Right?
Anthony: Yes.
John: And I feel like I’m, as I’m saying this, and I’m sitting here in the middle of it as we’re recording it, and I’m imagining when this is going to be. People are trying to figure out what to preach on this summer, like in the heat of summer, where a lot of people aren’t even showing up to church. They’re on vacation; they’re all over the place. It’s what are, how are, we fooling ourselves to think the bill of goods that we’ve bought is something that makes me think that the freedom, total freedom is a good thing, when …
Anthony, I think as a parent of some young kids, I think total freedom can be crushing. And so, I think having a good understanding here of … we need to clarify what are we being freed from … the law, right? Freed from the impact of the first century culture, which would define me within a Greco-Roman context. Free me from the Judaizer controversy that is telling me I needed these other things. I need to be freed from that.
Like freedom does not pull me away from taking Jesus as I need him, but saying I want to be freed from these other things that are like barnacles, right?
Anthony: Yeah.
John: That are like these things under the boat. And I’ve cleaned them from my father-in-law’s boat before. And it stinks. It absolutely stinks, and you don’t want to have to do it, but you’re sitting there with a spackle knife chipping it all away to get to free the boat for it to be able to be used the way it’s intended to be used. It’s like I think about that image of what needs to be cut away for me to be the one who is designed by my God to be freed, to be in that kind of relationship with God in the first place.
Anthony: Yeah. And under the inspiration of the Spirit. Paul understood the things that you think are free, these desires you have, they actually bring about bondage. And so, this freedom is real freedom. It’s freedom from death and sin, but it’s freedom for God and his good purposes for your life that will ultimately set you free and free indeed. It’s such a big topic. Anything else you’d want to say about it before we move on?
John: Yeah. I think — and you may be going to another question here, but I may beat you to it — is when I hear this text of this freedom in Christ, this sort of relationship that I get that actually gives birth to a better way of living, like we think about the praxis of our faith. And I love … that’s one of the things that Eugene Peterson said a lot. He actually said, “I think this is livable. I actually think following Jesus is livable. You can do this stuff.”
Anthony: Yeah.
John: And we fool ourselves. And this … I don’t want to say the “we” is other people — I’m included in that. What is it about the works of the flesh, whether we call it impurity, debauchery, or any of the others — like even the good things that I turn into ultimate things, like when we think about Tim Keller and his counterfeit gods is like, why do I keep feeding myself these other things when they don’t satisfy me? When, if I live in communion with my Savior in a way that’s available to me, it produces something that is so dang gratifying.
Anthony: Yeah.
John: And it produces the fruits of the Spirit. Who doesn’t like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Maybe one there you could do without. I don’t know. But, it’s like, I think these fruits of the Spirit — this is a better way to live, that it’s not driven. And Anthony, I think, as a parent, what is it about the marketing of the things of the world that is fooling my children and others to believe that it will satisfy them?
And I see it all the time. I see it in people in my neighborhood when they’re trying to do any number of things to fix themselves, to heal themselves. And I’m just thinking to myself, there is only one thing that’s going to set you free from, and not just set you free to feel confident about your sort of salvific future, but really set you free to bear fruit in the world in these qualities of the Spirit that is so attractive.
That I just I think that comment of Eugene’s of, “Live this out a while, and you’ll find that it is far more satisfying than the temporary pleasure that any of those other things will give you. What will it take, for you to come over here to live by the Spirit?”
Anthony: Yeah. And this is why just being converted is so important to have biblical literacy, because when I look at the fruit of the Spirit contained in verse 22, John, that stands in opposition to the world.
John: Yeah.
Anthony: Stands in opposition to a lot of voices clamoring for our attention, for your children’s attention. And this is why we have to keep coming back to Scripture time and time again to be fed by truth. Because the world doesn’t tell us to love your neighbor as yourself. Get yours. Yeah. And if that oppresses your neighbor, so be it. And we dress it up as accomplishment and winning sometimes. So, it’s, man, this is so important that we keep coming back to what Paul is communicating here, that this is what true freedom looks like.
John: Yeah. With without a doubt. And Anthony, at the very end, it’s not just live by the Spirit. I love that it says, be guided by the Spirit.
Anthony: The Spirit is with us. Lead us. Lead us, Lord. And it makes me think, and I wanted to get this in as we come to conclusion here, we’ve talked a lot about Eugene Peterson and he wrote a book called The Jesus Way. And I want to share a quote with you. It says, “The way of Jesus cannot be imposed or mapped. It requires an active participation in following Jesus as he leads us,” going back to what you just said, “as he leads us through sometimes strange and unfamiliar territory in circumstances that become clear only in the hesitations and questionings, in the pauses and reflections, when we engage in prayerful conversation with one another and with him, this is what the life is. This is the Christ life.”
John, I want to thank you for being with us.
John: My pleasure.
Anthony: Thank God for you. Thank God for your active participation in his ministry. I also want to thank our team just an outstanding podcast team, Michelle Hartman, Elizabeth Mullins, Reuel Enerio for the work that they do to make this possible. And to all of you as our listening audience.
John, thank you so much, and as is our tradition here on Gospel Reverb, we end with prayer. So, we’d love for you to pray for us.
John: Lord, we’re grateful for who you are. So much of this message that inspires us in the gospel, Lord, it seems wild. It seems foolish. It seems crazy. It seems upside down.
And for those that are listening to this podcast who are invited either to find creative ways to teach it in the classroom, or to speak and be inspired by the Scripture from the pulpit, Lord, I pray that your Spirit would bless each of the listeners here. Those that are seeking a good word, Lord, that they would hear where you are guiding them by the power of your Holy Spirit to speak words confidently to those who are listening to them that are giving them their attention.
But Lord, I pray that has been true in my own life and I have been thankful for your character in the way that you have done this time and time again. But I pray that the listeners, those that you have entrusted to be those who are proclaiming your good news and doing their best to set the captives free to, to give them a new story to hold onto that really will set them free, that you will begin that freedom, Lord. And the one who is wrestling with Scripture in the first place, in the first step, to even get it to the next step of communicating it to someone else, Lord, would you stir in their hearts, would you remind them of the seeds that you have planted in them, the investment, the covenant, the invitation, Lord, the maranatha that we say, “Come, Lord Jesus,” be with them. Lord, we are confident that you will do far more than we ask or imagine. We pray this in the name of our Savior Jesus. Amen.
Program Transcript
John Rogers—Year C Proper 8 in Ordinary Time
Anthony: Our final pericope of the month is Galatians 5:1, 13–25. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 8, in ordinary time, which is June 29.
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 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 enslaved to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. 16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 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. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 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. 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
John, for me, freedom is one of those kinds of tricky words, because the definition …. Many attached to that word don’t look like freedom that we see in the Bible. Freedom does not mean we can do whatever we want, as the Scriptures testify, and yet Christ has truly set us free. So, what should Christians make of this Christological freedom?
John: Yeah, I think when we often think of the word freedom, we feel like we’ve been loosed. We’ve been set free from something that bound us in some way. And the irony here is this Christological understanding of freedom, as I understand it, is still bound, right, but appropriately bound to finding our greatest freedom in tying ourself to our Savior Jesus. And I think we confuse and we kind of have these conversations around agency and around wanting to make sure that my opinions are being heard, that I feel like that that I matter in this world, that I’m not being crushed by someone else’s definition of me or having a stereotype of me, and I want to feel free. I feel like that is like a wonderful place to be. We even think of it within the context of our American history about what freedom means. But when we say we’re followers of Jesus, and we’re talking about freedom, what I hear here from Paul is, and it’s one of the biggest topics for Paul, bar none, right?
Anthony: Yes. Right.
John: And you, and I feel like you got to get it right. Be very careful to not lose yourself so much, to not tie yourself being obedient to the person of Jesus, not the one who will restrict you from who you are meant and created to be. But it is only in him where you will be free. Right?
Anthony: Yes.
John: And I feel like I’m, as I’m saying this, and I’m sitting here in the middle of it as we’re recording it, and I’m imagining when this is going to be. People are trying to figure out what to preach on this summer, like in the heat of summer, where a lot of people aren’t even showing up to church. They’re on vacation; they’re all over the place. It’s what are, how are, we fooling ourselves to think the bill of goods that we’ve bought is something that makes me think that the freedom, total freedom is a good thing, when …
Anthony, I think as a parent of some young kids, I think total freedom can be crushing. And so, I think having a good understanding here of … we need to clarify what are we being freed from … the law, right? Freed from the impact of the first century culture, which would define me within a Greco-Roman context. Free me from the Judaizer controversy that is telling me I needed these other things. I need to be freed from that.
Like freedom does not pull me away from taking Jesus as I need him, but saying I want to be freed from these other things that are like barnacles, right?
Anthony: Yeah.
John: That are like these things under the boat. And I’ve cleaned them from my father-in-law’s boat before. And it stinks. It absolutely stinks, and you don’t want to have to do it, but you’re sitting there with a spackle knife chipping it all away to get to free the boat for it to be able to be used the way it’s intended to be used. It’s like I think about that image of what needs to be cut away for me to be the one who is designed by my God to be freed, to be in that kind of relationship with God in the first place.
Anthony: Yeah. And under the inspiration of the Spirit. Paul understood the things that you think are free, these desires you have, they actually bring about bondage. And so, this freedom is real freedom. It’s freedom from death and sin, but it’s freedom for God and his good purposes for your life that will ultimately set you free and free indeed. It’s such a big topic. Anything else you’d want to say about it before we move on?
John: Yeah. I think — and you may be going to another question here, but I may beat you to it — is when I hear this text of this freedom in Christ, this sort of relationship that I get that actually gives birth to a better way of living, like we think about the praxis of our faith. And I love … that’s one of the things that Eugene Peterson said a lot. He actually said, “I think this is livable. I actually think following Jesus is livable. You can do this stuff.”
Anthony: Yeah.
John: And we fool ourselves. And this … I don’t want to say the “we” is other people — I’m included in that. What is it about the works of the flesh, whether we call it impurity, debauchery, or any of the others — like even the good things that I turn into ultimate things, like when we think about Tim Keller and his counterfeit gods is like, why do I keep feeding myself these other things when they don’t satisfy me? When, if I live in communion with my Savior in a way that’s available to me, it produces something that is so dang gratifying.
Anthony: Yeah.
John: And it produces the fruits of the Spirit. Who doesn’t like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Maybe one there you could do without. I don’t know. But, it’s like, I think these fruits of the Spirit — this is a better way to live, that it’s not driven. And Anthony, I think, as a parent, what is it about the marketing of the things of the world that is fooling my children and others to believe that it will satisfy them?
And I see it all the time. I see it in people in my neighborhood when they’re trying to do any number of things to fix themselves, to heal themselves. And I’m just thinking to myself, there is only one thing that’s going to set you free from, and not just set you free to feel confident about your sort of salvific future, but really set you free to bear fruit in the world in these qualities of the Spirit that is so attractive.
That I just I think that comment of Eugene’s of, “Live this out a while, and you’ll find that it is far more satisfying than the temporary pleasure that any of those other things will give you. What will it take, for you to come over here to live by the Spirit?”
Anthony: Yeah. And this is why just being converted is so important to have biblical literacy, because when I look at the fruit of the Spirit contained in verse 22, John, that stands in opposition to the world.
John: Yeah.
Anthony: Stands in opposition to a lot of voices clamoring for our attention, for your children’s attention. And this is why we have to keep coming back to Scripture time and time again to be fed by truth. Because the world doesn’t tell us to love your neighbor as yourself. Get yours. Yeah. And if that oppresses your neighbor, so be it. And we dress it up as accomplishment and winning sometimes. So, it’s, man, this is so important that we keep coming back to what Paul is communicating here, that this is what true freedom looks like.
John: Yeah. With without a doubt. And Anthony, at the very end, it’s not just live by the Spirit. I love that it says, be guided by the Spirit.
Anthony: The Spirit is with us. Lead us. Lead us, Lord. And it makes me think, and I wanted to get this in as we come to conclusion here, we’ve talked a lot about Eugene Peterson and he wrote a book called The Jesus Way. And I want to share a quote with you. It says, “The way of Jesus cannot be imposed or mapped. It requires an active participation in following Jesus as he leads us,” going back to what you just said, “as he leads us through sometimes strange and unfamiliar territory in circumstances that become clear only in the hesitations and questionings, in the pauses and reflections, when we engage in prayerful conversation with one another and with him, this is what the life is. This is the Christ life.”
John, I want to thank you for being with us.
John: My pleasure.
Anthony: Thank God for you. Thank God for your active participation in his ministry. I also want to thank our team just an outstanding podcast team, Michelle Hartman, Elizabeth Mullins, Reuel Enerio for the work that they do to make this possible. And to all of you as our listening audience.
John, thank you so much, and as is our tradition here on Gospel Reverb, we end with prayer. So, we’d love for you to pray for us.
John: Lord, we’re grateful for who you are. So much of this message that inspires us in the gospel, Lord, it seems wild. It seems foolish. It seems crazy. It seems upside down.
And for those that are listening to this podcast who are invited either to find creative ways to teach it in the classroom, or to speak and be inspired by the Scripture from the pulpit, Lord, I pray that your Spirit would bless each of the listeners here. Those that are seeking a good word, Lord, that they would hear where you are guiding them by the power of your Holy Spirit to speak words confidently to those who are listening to them that are giving them their attention.
But Lord, I pray that has been true in my own life and I have been thankful for your character in the way that you have done this time and time again. But I pray that the listeners, those that you have entrusted to be those who are proclaiming your good news and doing their best to set the captives free to, to give them a new story to hold onto that really will set them free, that you will begin that freedom, Lord. And the one who is wrestling with Scripture in the first place, in the first step, to even get it to the next step of communicating it to someone else, Lord, would you stir in their hearts, would you remind them of the seeds that you have planted in them, the investment, the covenant, the invitation, Lord, the maranatha that we say, “Come, Lord Jesus,” be with them. Lord, we are confident that you will do far more than we ask or imagine. We pray this in the name of our Savior Jesus. Amen.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- How does the common definition of freedom as “the ability to do whatever I want” fall short? Can you think of ways that this definition promotes self-indulgence rather than proper self-love and love for others?
- T. Wright suggests that the Galatian church was experiencing a lack of harmony where “people [were] bringing a competitive sociocultural mentality into the church … Perhaps there were small groups arguing for subtly different positions, which would then splinter again … as people shunned one another or threatened not to do business with one another, teaching their house church and their children that this was the ‘right’ way to follow Jesus.” How does Paul’s identification of “works of the flesh” found in v. 16–21 raise awareness of the lack of unity?
- The sermon suggests that we “[become] more fully human” by focusing on love. What practical application do you see for emphasizing love to “[become] more fully human?” In other words, how would this look in your local congregation?
- Promoting the growth of the fruits of the Spirit can be analogous to a fruit tree that needs to be watered, pruned, and protected. What practices have you found helpful in this regard?
