For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Christian liberty
I. The nature of that liberty of which the apostle here speaks. There is a charm in the very sound of liberty; it awakens many grateful recollections. But the word is employed in various acceptations. Civil liberty is that freedom which is our birthright as men. Spiritual liberty is that freedom, which belongs to us, not as men, but as Christians.
II. The great value of that spiritual liberty to which all believers of gospel truth are called. Political freedom, important as it is, may be overrated. It is highly advantageous to a nation, but not essential to the happiness of individuals. Good men have been happy in exile or in prison, and bad men cannot be so under any circumstances however favourable; the cause of the difference is to be referred to the state of the mind.
1. The measure of spiritual liberty, which a Christian even now attains, removes or alleviates some of the keenest and heaviest sorrows to which man is subject.
2. The measure of spiritual liberty, which a Christian now possesses, greatly heightens and refines all his enjoyments. Countermanding the original curse, it brings back some of the productions of paradise. It opens the noblest faculties and animates the best feelings of the mind.
3. It is but the beginning and pledge of that complete deliverance from all sin and sorrow, to which he is looking with lively hope. The best state on earth bears the marks of imperfection. Even where grace reigns, sin, like a rebel dethroned but not destroyed, is too near to leave any long interval of peace. In that kingdom to which we are hastening, no tumults or temptations will rise; no sickness or sighing, death or danger, will be known. No law in the members will be found warring against the law of the mind, or bringing us into captivity to sin. Even creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God (Romans 8:21).
III. The way in which the liberty to which the believer is called may be duly improved. All the principles of our holy religion have a practical bearing. We see a beautiful harmony in its doctrines and precepts. This is one of the great excellencies of Christianity. Paul was a wise master-builder, equally concerned to lay a good foundation, and to carry up the superstructure.
1. He gives a word of salutary warning--“Use not liberty,” etc. There is hardly any good but is liable to abuse. Every sacred privilege has been and may be perverted. We must be on our guard against this. To use Christian liberty for an occasion to indulge the flesh is the best thing in the world turned to the worst purpose.
2. The apostle, in our text, gives a suitable word of direction--“By love serve one another.” Love is the first and best of all the Christian graces. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc. Love finds out many means of serving our brethren. It prompts and animates the mind-it makes us cheerful, active, tender, kind, forbearing. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
By love serve one another--Christianity a system of love
Look at the operations of charity, or the love of benevolence. It was this which existed in the mind of Deity from eternity, and in the exercise of which He so loved our guilty world as to give His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It was on the wings of charity that the Son of God flew from heaven to earth, on an errand of mercy to our lost world; it was charity that moved in the minds and hearts of the apostles, and urged them with the glad tidings of salvation, from country to country. The whole missionary enterprise is founded, not of course on the basis of brotherly kindness, but on that of charity. All those splendid instances that have been presented to us of the exercise of philanthropy are the operations of this Divine charity. See Howard, leaving the seclusion of a country gentleman, giving up his elegant retreat and all its luxurious gratifications, pacing to and fro through Europe, plunging into dungeons, battling with pestilence, weighing the fetters of the prisoner, gauging the disease of the pest-house--all under the influence of heavenly charity. See Wilberforce, through twenty years of his eventful life, lifting up his unwearied voice, and employing his fascinating eloquence against the biggest outrage that ever trampled on the rights of humanity. What formed his character, sketched his plan, inspired his zeal, but charity? See that illustrious woman, lately departed, so ripe for glory and so richly invested with it, who interested herself amidst the prisoners of Newgate--to chain their passions, to reclaim their vices, and to render them more meet for society, which had condemned them as its outcasts. What was it that gave to Mrs. Fry her principle of action, what indeed was the principle itself, but charity? (J. Angell James.)
One another
I. What is a Christian Church?
1. Not a club, an association of persons belonging to the same rank in life, but a Divine society embracing all classes.
2. Not a republic where majorities rule, but a society where the will of the Divine Head is the governing power.
3. Two or three, met in Christ’s name, and loyal to His will, are sufficient to constitute a Christian Church.
II. What are the conditions of happy Church life?
1. The root of all is obedience to the law. “Love one another.”
2. Love gives rise to mutuality in everything.
3. Mutual feeling branches out in various ways.
(1) Where help is wanted--“Bear ye one another’s burdens,” “Edify one another,” “Admonish one another.”
(2) Where wounded feelings prevail--“Confess to one another,” “Pray for one another,” “Forbearing one another,” “Forgiving one another.”
4. From the whole proceeds the Christian law of courtesy and etiquette--“Be subject to one another,” “In honour prefering one another,” “In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than himself.” (E. Johnson, M. A.)
Law and liberty
There is a great mistake about liberty from law. Some religious persons think it means free, so that though you sin, the law will not punish. This is the liberty of devils: free to do as much evil as you will, and yet not suffer. True Christian liberty is this, self-command; to have been brought to Christ; to do right and to love right without a law of compulsion to school you into doing it. If we have not got so far, the law has all its power hanging over us still. (F. W. Robertson.)
To preach justification by the law as a covenant is legal, and makes void the death and merits of Jesus Christ. But to preach obedience to the law as a rule is evangelical; and it savours as much of a New Testament spirit to urge the commands of the law as to display the promises of the gospel. (Bishop Hopkins.)
True liberty is only realized in obedience. The abuse of freedom is bondage, from which there is no self-deliverance. (T. T. Lynch.)
The joy of liberty
Dr. Fletcher was passing the Old Bailey one day, and saw a couple of boys turning somersaults, standing on their heads, making wheels of themselves, and all sorts of things; and he stopped, and said, “Why, boys, whatever are you at? You seem to be delighted;” to which one of them replied, “Ah! and you would be delighted, too, if you had been locked up in that jail three months. You would jump when you came out.” And the good old doctor said he thought it was very likely he should. And the man who has been called unto liberty by Christ, knows the sweets of freedom, because aforetime the iron had entered his soul. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Loving service
A train from the Far West of America was once passing through Saratoga, having among other passengers a man with an infant child. The man’s garments showed him to be poor, and the crape on his hat showed the child to be motherless. The infant was restless, and the father handled it clumsily; with all his efforts he could not quiet it. He wiped the tears from its eyes, and then from his own. All who saw him pitied him. At length a richly-dressed lady, whose infant lay in the arms of its nurse, said, with motherly tenderness in her tone, “Give me the child.” The poor man gave her his boy, whose coarse and soiled robes rested for once on costly silk; his head disappeared under her shawl, and all was still. She held him mile after mile, and did not relinquish him until her own child required attention. (Biblical Treasury.)
Liberty through love
I. The nature of this liberty.
1. This liberty is freedom from the burden of a religion of ordinances.
2. It is liberty from the moral law as the awakener of sin, and from the fear of its punishment, which is death.
II. To keep this liberty pure, we should know its dangers, and avoid them.
1. It may be so used as, to allow the lower nature to rule--as “an occasion to the flesh.”
(1) We are freed from ceremonies, but we cannot live without some forms. Spiritual life, left to silence, unsymbolized, unused, fades away.
(2) We err if we use liberty to despise those who love ceremonial; or if we bind ourselves never to use it.
2. Our liberty from coercive law is produced in us by a love which obeys the law. If we do not love to obey, we are not in Christian liberty at all. St. Paul calls such despisers of law the servants of sin.
3. The use of freedom must be in subordination to love. It is the habit of many to placard their freedom; to violate the scruples of others. What sort of Christianity is that which uses the freedom of Christ to do violence to the love of Christ? The rule is--Use your liberty, not for your own gratification, but for the good of others. Liberty is not a principle of action; it is a mode of action. Love is its principle, and love is the test which tells whether we are free or enslaved. (S. A. Brooke, M. A.)