Freedom of a Christian

Giving this week is 4th of July, I figured I would spend some time writing about freedom as a Christian.  There are many takes on this freedom, mostly saying similar things.  But to the one who wrote the tract "Freedom of a Christian", I now turn to Martin Luther, our church founder.

Luther once wrote: "A Christian [person] is the most free lord of all, and subject to none..."  Great!  We can do anything we want, right?  Because we have been saved by grace and sin can't hold us down, we can and really are encouraged to live however we want.

But, Luther doesn't end there: "...a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone."  Wait.  We're free... and yet, we have to be a servant (which in Greek is the same word for slave) to all?  Luther's point is that, even though we have been given the good news of the gospel, we should live into Jesus' footsteps, who on the night of his betrayal called us to be the least and servant of all; he ministered to those in need and not fearing illness himself; and he gave the kingdom to those who traditionally had been outside of the pearly gates.

We are free in Christ to make any decision we like, although Paul has an empathetic no about sinning just so we can see grace all the more clearly (Romans 6:1-2).  Our freedom in Christ puts us in line with certain expectations, and those expectations are to serve others.  For Paul, after realizing that some of those who weren't as strong in faith as he was saw eating meat sacrificed to idols as idolatry (Paul clearly states that food offered to idols is null since there are no idols), Paul writes: "Therefore, if food is a cause of their [other Christians] falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall" (1 Corinthians 8:13).

To be a Christian means freedom from condemnation and service to those whom God calls us to care for.