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Freedom And Confidence
Brian Mashburn
July 6, 2008
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Freedom And Confidence
Master: The Father has sent me to free you. (Luke 4:18)
Disciple: What for, Master?
Master: For freedom itself. I set you free for freedom. (Galatians 5:1)
Disciple: I know it sounds strange, Teacher, but if you give people true freedom, will they not use it to serve themselves?
Master: You, my brother, were called to be free. Using it to sin hurts you, so don't; serve one another with it. (Galatians 5:13)
Disciple: There are many religious people who want to impose religious rules, and they claim that they bring freedom.
Master: Why should your freedom be judged by another man's conscience? Fear not, the only rules you will judged by are the ones that give freedom. Anyone who uses rules of law, rather than hearts of mercy, to change the world, still need to meet me. (1 Corinthians 10:29; James 2:12-13)
Disciple: So am I free to sin?
Master: Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. (1 Peter 2:16)
Disciple: Many who follow you engage in worldly things, claiming freedom to do so because there is not a specific word forbidding it. They are fellow followers, and invite me along.
Master: Some of them miss the point and the spirit. They promise you freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity-for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. The point, and the spirit, is to be freed into my likeness in ever-increasing glory. Anything else, however "allowable," is not from me. (2 Peter 2:19-20; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18)
Disciple: Why am I not freed from hardship, Lord?
Master: Every hardship is designed by and useful to God, in hope that you will be liberated a little bit more into the glorious freedom that He has for you as His child. (Romans 8:20-21)
Disciple: How do I know if I am truly living with a whole heart as you intend, and walking in holiness as you desire?
Master: When you live your life, and even approach the Mighty God, with freedom and confidence. (Ephesians 3:12)