“The
Captivity of Control”
Summer Worship
Monday, July 01, 2013
Sermon as preached at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Text: Galatians 5:1,
13-25
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 slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up
in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." If, however, you bite and devour
one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Live by the Spirit, I say, and
do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the
law. Now the works
of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities,
strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 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. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such
things. And those
who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires. If we live
by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. (Gal. 5.1, 13-25;
NRSV).
As we approach our nation’s Independence
Day, it is all too fitting that our lectionary text has to do with freedom. In
theory, freedom sounds like something everyone would want, but that does not
appear to be the case – particularly with the Gospel. Martin Luther said, “The
world bears the Gospel a grudge because the Gospel condemns the religious
wisdom of the world.” Luther said this about
Paul’s letter to the Galatians because the people forgot that we are justified
by Christ’s free gift of grace through the cross.
The Apostle Paul talks a lot in
his letters about the flesh and the Spirit, one is our condemnation by
sin and the law, and the other is our freedom through Christ. Paul warns the
Galatians not to return to slavery. The very fact that Paul warns the Galatians
not to return to the slavery of religious law, illuminates the fear of freedom,
and the captivity of control.
I’ve said before in other
discussions on my transition into the Lutheran tradition that, “I’m a control
freak,” and this whole grace thing messes with my illusion of control. The
grace of the Gospel, the grace of Christ, the grace of the cross, and the grace
Paul talks about is defiant to “the way of the world.” God’s grace is a
constant reminder that I’m not in control, in fact, none of us are.
Maybe what I’m saying is not a
revelation to you, but it was, and continues to be a revelation to me. Freedom
in Christ is independence from the condemnation of sin and the law and complete
and utter dependence on the work of Jesus Christ. This means I’m not in
control; it means, we are not in control.
Years ago, I used to look at this
passage as a list of does and don’ts, which is easy enough to do at first
glance. But, it’s not a matter of choosing the
Spirit over the flesh; it’s a
matter of being given the Spirit
which overcomes the flesh. We’ve been
given freedom and we shouldn’t return to the captivity of control. The Gospel
message is in contrast to our human logic; cause and effect, if I do this, I
get that. And the Gospel defies that human understanding.
The
Gospel is frustrating because we’re not in control; the Gospel is liberating
because we are free in our dependence upon the grace of God.
Because of Jesus’ death and
resurrection, “you are not subject to the law” (v. 18). Freedom is a scary
thing, especially if we don’t know what it is to be free. The law is a system
of control and grace fulfills what that system fails to do.
When I was a child, the world
around me made it clear that I was different and I didn’t fit the mold of the
way things are “supposed to be.” I was born with the muscle disorder Cerebral
Palsy, my brain tells my muscles to work overtime, all the time. I was also
born without depth perception and I only see in 2-D. I’ve, actually, never seen
the world the way most, if not all, of you have.
I’ve always sought to be in
control, but my life keeps reminding me that I am, and will always be
dependent. Because the world around us generally perceives dependence as a
weakness or somehow a problem, I fought as a child, and I fight as an adult to
overcome that perception. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “perception is
reality,” well; the Gospel is defiant to perception and presents a different
reality to our world. It presents a different reality to our communities, to our
families, and to each of our individual contexts.
Dependence upon the work of Christ has set us free, it sets me free, it
sets you free, and this changes reality.
One might ask, if I’ve always
been dependent upon help outside of my own abilities, whether from CP or 2-D
vision, how am I a control freak? I’ve never wanted to be told what I
physically could or could not do, so I’ve lived a lot of my life with a “no
limits” attitude. When I was little, I would ski at Colorado’s Winter Park
Resort without snow gear because I didn’t need the help of a snowsuit – I
wasn’t going to fall. When I skied the whole mountain without falling, I knew I
could do things my way.
At the age of twenty, I severed
most of the muscle tendons for my right hand, when I shattered a window pane
that was lucky enough to break my fall, as I tripped going into my house. I was
told I may never use my hand again. At the time I was a drummer in a band and
at my church, I was also developing a love for the guitar. The last thing I
wanted to hear was, “You can’t do that.” Never mind, that the damage was so
bad, I couldn’t use my hand to write or feel a pen between my fingertips. I
first learned how to text message left handed because of this injury. The
professional, the surgeon, told me, “I couldn’t do it.” I wasn’t going to let
anyone or anything dictate reality for me. I was in control of my fate.
The illusion that I was in
control of my balance on the ski slope or my recovery from the tendon repair,
was my perception of reality. Truth be told, to be in control was more self-defining
than my dependence upon God or others. However, I couldn’t have skied down a
mountain without falling, had I not been given the tools to do so. I couldn’t
have surprised the doctors, surgeons, and physical therapists who worked with
me to recover; had they not surgically repaired my tendons, or spent countless
hours giving my recovery the assistance in needed. Reality, I was dependent
upon the work of others to give me the ability to ski or use my hand again. My
story is no exception to the independence of dependence.
The reality of our world claims,
that true freedom is our independence to control our own destiny. So we develop
systems, laws, methods, and plans to dictate our fate. In one of my favorite
films, Terminator 2: Judgment Day,
one of the main characters says, “There is no fate, but what we make for
ourselves.” By that reasoning, the weight of the world is on our shoulders.
In contrast, our reality, in
Christ, is dependent upon grace: something we do not control, something we do
not do, something we cannot earn, something we do not accomplish. But, grace is
something that has been given to us. The weight of the world has been taken
upon God’s shoulders, in Jesus, because Christ died, even, for us.
When the Apostle Paul told the
Galatians to, “Live by the Spirit,” it was because they were relying on their
own fulfillment of the law and a system that told them,”do this and you will be
free.” Like the Galatians, we have things we depend on that give us the
perception of freedom and independence: money, power, possessions, morals,
answers, plans, and structures. We are slaves to the fulfillment of these
things.
“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm,
therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (v.1).
For me, fighting, or more likely
ignoring, the fact that I need the help of God’s grace to have faith or that it
is okay to allow others to help me do things (like drive or do high-energy
activities) is where I am in captivity to control. I can’t do everything by
myself, none of us can.
Now, I’m not saying that dependence
on anything or anyone leaves me regularly content or joyful about the reality
that it’s not about what I do, but about what’s been done for me. There’s a
reason that the context in which Paul talks to the Galatians still matters
today.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ defies our understanding of reality.
The Gospel didn’t make sense to
the people of the church of Galatia, that’s why Paul was writing to them. The
Gospel flipped their system upside down; it defied their understanding of
reality. The Gospel reminds me that I am dependent upon God’s grace and the
help of others. The Gospel turns my illusion of control on its head; it defies
my understanding of reality. The Gospel doesn’t fit our action equals results
driven culture. The Gospel redefines our independence and freedom; it defies
our understanding of reality.
If, in the Gospel, perception is
not reality; what is reality?
In the
Gospel, reality is this, we are free in our dependence upon the grace of God
because Christ died, even, for us.
Amen.
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