As Christians, we live in the world but are not bound by its constraints. Our faith calls us to engage actively in our communities, upholding our convictions while honoring the diverse beliefs and values of those around us. We are tasked with the weighty responsibility to ensure that our religious convictions do not become burdens for others. Because of this responsibility, we often encounter a tension between our roles as citizens of God’s kingdom and our responsibilities as citizens of this world. While we’re free in Christ to live without worry, we are also called to be good stewards of the society in which we find ourselves. God establishes governance for the good ordering of society, but it’s our duty, especially in a democracy such as our own, to participate thoughtfully and respectfully in that framework. As we explore this balance today, consider how we can embody the principles of our faith, how we demonstrate that our faith is a living faith, St. James might say, while contributing to a society that values and uplifts every individual. How do we navigate our convictions in a way that fosters life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all? This is the challenge and the opportunity set before us.
Let us pray. May only God’s Word be spoken and may only God’s Word be heard; in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Like every year, we once again recall the beginning of the Reformation on the last Sunday in October, the day closest to October 31, the day Martin Luther is supposed to have posted his 95 Theses in Wittenberg. But for all the good that came out of the Reformation, it also sparked confusion. One of the most tragic examples is the Peasants’ War. The peasants believed that Luther’s call for freedom from the authority of the church also meant freedom from every kind of authority, including political and social. They demanded unfettered, unaccountable personal freedom, and that misunderstanding led to bloody revolts. Luther, horrified by this, condemned it as a complete misreading of the gospel. They missed the truth: the freedom Luther spoke of was a spiritual freedom, a freedom in Christ—not a permission slip for rebellion or selfishness.
We can see the same kind of confusion today. People insist on a personal freedom that disregards the needs of others. They want to believe that freedom means doing whatever they want, whenever they want, without true, real concern for the impact it has on anyone else. This selfish notion of freedom is no freedom at all; it’s a new kind of slavery—slavery to self. And just like in Luther’s time, the real meaning of freedom in Christ is getting lost in the noise.
But Jesus makes it clear in the passage we heard earlier: “If you continue in my Word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Jesus doesn’t talk about freedom as the world does. He doesn’t offer us freedom to go about our business without any responsibility. He’s talking about a different kind of freedom. It’s a freedom that comes from knowing the truth. And the truth isn’t an idea or a concept—it’s Jesus himself. When we walk in his Word, we walk in the truth, and the truth frees us from the lies and selfishness that hold us captive. And what is that truth? It’s that in dying to ourselves, we find real life—not in false humility, but in the authentic love we show to our neighbors as we show to ourselves. We must love ourselves to love others genuinely, yet when we prioritize our own freedom—often selfishness veiled —over the needs of other folks, we abuse our freedom.
What we see as our freedom can sometimes be a privilege—an advantage available only to certain individuals or groups. Freedom for some can’t come at the expense of freedom for others. Just as we claim our rights, we must ensure that those rights don’t encroach upon the rights and dignity of other people. True freedom thrives when we lift one another up and what’s more, when we ensure that all can experience the abundant life Jesus promises. “For though I am free with respect to all,” St. Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, “I have made myself a slave to all.” And again, he says, to the Corinthians, “If one member suffers, all suffer together.” This is the truth about freedom, and it underscores our calling to embrace freedom, not for selfish gain, but as a sacred responsibility to our neighbors and to God’s peace, that’s not only for us individually, not even for us as people alone, but for the whole creation.
Paul had a lot to say about freedom, and in particular how we use it in our relationships with others. Freedom is a gift from God, to be sure, but he goes directly at false freedom in his very first letter, the letter to the Galatians—where he tells us that we’re not supposed to use our freedom for self-indulgence, but to serve one another in love. That’s the key: our freedom isn’t just for us, it’s just as much for each other. We’re free from sin, yes. Free from fear, yes. But we’re also free for our one another, the whole human family. Luther said it very, very well: “A Christian is perfectly free, subject to nothing; a Christian is perfectly obligated, subject to everything.” That’s the paradox of Christian freedom. We are free, but we are bound to live our lives in loving devotion to one another.
And how do we live out this freedom? Through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the one who opens our eyes and reshapes our hearts. She leads us into truth, reforms us daily, and shows us how to live in true freedom. Without her guidance, we’d fall right back into selfishness, back into the false freedom that only serves ourselves.
But the Spirit goes forth, renewing the face of the earth, and she reforms us along with it. She moves within us, inspiring us to extend the same grace, mercy, and love that we’ve received. And that means the freedom to make decisions about our own bodies, our own health, our own relationships, without interference from others. It means the freedom to live our lives without fear that someone else’s twisted delusion about freedom cost us our lives, or the lives of friends or loved ones. Don’t kid that that doesn’t happen close to home, or only in places like Winder, Georgia or Butler, Pennsylvania. Just a 24 days ago in Worcester, a man attempted to carjack people at gunpoint, and then later killed himself to evade the law. In Fitchburg, this week, six days ago, on Main Street, a man was shot dead by another man who was likewise injured by gunshot. Some would say it’s mental illness to blame for the rampant, captivating pandemic of gun violence, not the obsession with power, strength, and independence that is often associated with firearms. If that is the case, then let us use our freedom to seek out mental healthcare and to provide it, not just talk about it, for those who need it, in ways that work—without shame, without stigma, without roadblocks that only serve to isolate us further.
This is the kind of freedom the Spirit leads us into—true freedom, for our own sake, and for the sake of the world. The Holy Spirit reminds us that we’ve been given these gifts, not to hoard them, but to share them. Do we heed her reminder? Do we conform our own wills to the will of God?
Yet, if we’re honest, we fail at this all the time. Though God surrounds us with grace, we hold back grace from others. Though his mercy never ends, we withhold mercy from those who’ve wronged us. Though he forgives us again and again, we clutch our grudges like treasures. We are loved without condition, but we can’t help but put conditions on our love for others. But the Spirit confronts us in this failure. She doesn’t let us stay there. She pulls us back to Christ, back to the truth. She reforms us daily, reminding us that we’re free for one another.
What does this look like? It looks like grace. It looks like mercy. It looks like forgiveness. The Spirit teaches us that true freedom doesn’t build up walls, it builds up our neighbor. True freedom doesn’t say, “I’ll love you if you fit my standards.” It says, “I love you because I’m free in Christ to love.” This is the freedom the Holy Spirit forms in us—not as we deserve, but as a gift for the sake of the world that comes alive through us, through you.
And that’s the challenge for us today. Are we living this kind of freedom? Is our church, our community, a place where the Holy Spirit reforms us to serve each other? Do we heed her reminder? Do we conform our own wills to the will of God? Or are we still clinging to a false idea of freedom, where we hold tight to what’s ours, rather than freely giving to our neighbor? Do we put action behind our words as Jesus put his own life into his word—for the sake of others, for our sake, for your sake? How do you respond to the Spirit who is continually at work within you?
The Spirit is still at work. She’s still reforming us, still renewing the face of the earth. And she calls us to be part of that renewal. True freedom, the kind that glorifies God, comes when we let the Spirit lead, when we walk in the truth of Jesus and live as servants of one another. True freedom doesn’t serve just itself. True freedom serves others. One another. The world God so loved. True freedom is found in Christ Jesus, and just as he, who though God from God, emptied himself of his own freedom to set us free, we who call ourselves his disciples, who call ourselves Christians, are obligated in the same way to use our freedom to break down every obstacle, to ensure that everyone can make their own choices, live without fear, and seek and receive the care they need to be free.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Rev'd Daniel W. Spigelmyer, Jr. 