2022. 6. 26, Yonsei University Church

God' s Love Sets Us Free 

It seems that we are bound by so many things. Some people are bound by their work life, others are bound by taking care of their spouse or children. Sometimes they are hung up on money, success, or career, and sometimes they are obsessed with new businesses, golf, stocks, real estate, and things like that. Especially these days, everyone from young children to the elderly seems to be hooked on smartphones. Whenever they have time, they look at their smartphones, and if they don't have thier smartphone, they get anxious, and they can't do anything without it. Even when having a meal with family or lovers, it is no longer unfamiliar to see the conversation cut off while each looking at their smartphone.

No matter what we are bound to, when we are bound to something, it means that it is the most important thing in life. Those who are obsessed with work think work is the most important thing in life. If you are tied to the support of your spouse or children, it means that nothing in your life is more precious than your family. Whether it's money, fame, golf, stocks, real estate, or a smartphone, it's all the same. Whatever it is, we live it as the most precious thing in life.

Being tied to something like this is a serious problem, but there is a more serious problem. It is never easy to get out of the shackles. Let's think carefully. How is it? Do you think we can easily break free from the things we are bound to now? Do you think you can put it down right away if you want, whenever you want, whether it's at work, worrying about your children, greed for money, or your smartphone? Do you think you can let go of everything and live comfortably? Perhaps we are not so free from those that hold us tight.

It's a problem to get away from the things that tie us down, but there's one more problem. You don't even know you're tied to something. Obviously, they are obsessed with something, and they are living like an addict, but they are the only ones who don't know the seriousness.They think they are fine, They are doing well. Perhaps there is a more serious problem than this. It's about being stuck in something wrong, something bad, and not even thinking about getting away from it, or giving up on getting away from it at all. I think this is something that everyone goes through. At first, we didn't intend to do this, but as we just live, we're forced to live like that, and at some point, we get used to it and feel comfortable. So, you don't feel the need to get away from it, you don't feel the need to put it down. Or you know you have to get away from it, but you're just holding onto it like that's how you live.

It's from some movie. A prisoner sentenced to life in prison is released on parole only in old age after decades of imprisonment. Even on parole, he is not in prison, so this prisoner is obviously free. He has the freedom to go without telling anyone if he needs to go to the bathroom, and he has the freedom to stop by the store and buy anything he wants on the way home. Now he is a free man with no restrictions in his daily life, as long as he does not leave the established area. But from one day on, this prisoner can't stand this free life. And then he starts to miss the prison life. He misses his fellow prisoners with whom he has been and misses the jailer's orders from hour to hour. Longing for the old life he was familiar with, the old life he thought was comfortable, he could not accept the free life and unfortunately made an extreme choice.

However, there is one more prisoner in this movie. This prisoner, who is also a colleague of the previous prisoner, was sentenced to life in prison and served several decades before being released on parole. And he stays in the same house where his fellow prisoner, who passed away recently, lived, and works at the same job. And he goes through the same situation. He makes the mistake of asking his boss if he can go to the bathroom, and on the way home he also realizes that he can buy whatever he wants. Then, in the same way, the freedom to live is starting to become unbearable. And in the end, this prisoner also decides to make an extreme choice. But just then this prisoner recalls what his friend said. He told me to come find him when he comes out on parole, to come and have fun together, that's what he said. So he breaks the parole rule and boards the long-distance bus to meet his friend. He set out on a journey to find true freedom.

How about us? Do you prefer to be tied up somewhere, so that you don't know that you are deprived of your freedom, but you don't live with what's comfortable and familiar? Or are you hesitating to take a step toward freedom because you know you're bound, but you don't have the courage to escape it? Even though God has given us freedom, aren't we tied to work, children, money, or smartphones and not enjoying a free life properly?

People often think of freedom when they say that they do not receive orders or instructions from anyone. We consider freedom to not listen to what someone next to us tells us to do this way or that way. In the end, we think of freedom to do whatever we want without interference from anyone. However, the freedom God has given is a little different from this freedom. The freedom God has given us is, ironically, the freedom to do everything but not to do everything we want, and the freedom to do anything but not do anything. In a way, it's a very unusual freedom. To be more precise, the freedom God has given us is that freedom that is achieved when we live according to the Holy Spirit, not our own heart. When you do what you want to do and live not as you wish, but live as God wants you to and live as God pleases, only then can you truly be free.

That does not mean, however, that we have no choice. Some people think that we are like marionettes, with ropes on our arms and legs, and when God moves like this, we move like this, and when God moves like this, we move like that, but that's not right. Because, obviously, God has given us true freedom. We are not like dolls to God, and our arms and legs are not tied with any strings.

On the other hand, obeying God's will in order not to be punished by God is not truly freedom. It could be called legalism. God-given freedom is different from legalism. The freedom God has given us is freedom that is only completed when we voluntarily engage in the work of the Lord, when we start from our heart and do what pleases the Lord.

It's like a parent-child relationship. Which parents would hesitate to give their children freedom if they were not very bad parents? If you truly love your children, you will of course give them the freedom to choose and act on their own. It will be difficult to say that anyone who sets the shape of the child that they want and controls the child and orders the child to do so, sincerely loves the child. Therefore, children have the freedom to do anything because of their parents' love. But how much would this child hurt his parents if he or she took this freedom and went off the rails at will? However, on the contrary, if children do what they want to do to please their parents, their freedom will be a beautiful freedom.

This is also true of us as children of God. If God loves us so much, how much heartache must God feel if we do something that is not good in God's sight? How frustrating would it be if we were forced to do something because we couldn't overcome the coercion? How sad would it be to live so selfishly to satisfy our greed? Even we, who lack a lot, try to give freedom to our children and treat them with love, how much more would God, who is the greatest love, give us freedom and please God with that freedom? God is pleased with the hearts of parents when we do what He wants us to do.

Especially in the text we read today, it says that the way that pleases God is to live according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And serving each other with love and not following the desires of the flesh is the life of freedom that God desires, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

So, what does the desire of the flesh mean more specifically?

First, the desire of the flesh means selfishness. The desire of the body does not simply mean an activity done by instinct or the body, but to take care of my body first, my hunger first, and my needs first, that is the desire of the body. In other words, it is indifferent to whoever is suffering, who is sick, or who is starving. It's not about me, I'm not sick, I'm not hungry, so it has nothing to do with me. Rather than thinking about what God wants first, focusing on me, focusing on what I want, focusing on what is good for me, and taking my freedom and using it selfishly for my own sake, is the desire of the flesh.

Secondly, the desire of the body is literally to be greedy. In fact, trying to have it even though you don't need it, wanting it even if it's something you shouldn't want, wanting it even if it's harmful. It's the desire of the body to be obsessed with something we don't need, and to devote our lives to getting it by all means, and eventually not free from it.

Finally, the desire of the flesh is to hate one's neighbor. This can be clearly seen by looking at the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit in today's reading that are contrary to the desires of the flesh. In verse 14, after emphasizing the command of Jesus to love your neighbor as yourself, in verse 14, the Apostle Paul expands it again and unravels it as the fruit of the Holy Spirit in verse 22 and below. Therefore, the fruit of the Holy Spirit basically contains what we need to love our neighbor as ourselves, and what we must equip and protect to love our neighbor like ourselves. Sharing joy with our neighbors, living at peace with our neighbors, forbearing each other even when we make mistakes, and being patient with each other, are the fruits of the Holy Spirit. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit to treat each other kindly and do good, honestly do your best in the tasks God has entrusted to you, and strive for the happiness of you and your neighbors. Laying down our greed with a soft and warm heart is also a fruit of the Holy Spirit. After all, the fruit of the Holy Spirit means love for our neighbor, and the desire of the flesh is the opposite.

Although we did not read today’s text, the deeds of the flesh in verses 19 to 21 are our selfishness of putting ourselves first, our greed for what we don’t need and living addicted to it, our failure to love for our neighbor. It expresses the desires of our flesh and our lives well one by one.

God has given us freedom. That freedom is the freedom that is accomplished through love. It is the kind of freedom that becomes true freedom when we do not follow the desires of the flesh, but follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to love God, to love ourselves and our family, and to love our neighbors. Therefore, we should live more lovingly with the freedom God has given us, rather than living caught up in something we value more than God's love in our life. Rather than living selfishly to satisfy our greed, we should live a life that fully enjoys the freedom God has given us by loving our neighbor above all else.

The reason why we must cast away the desires of the flesh and love our neighbor with the freedom God has given us is simple. Because God, who is love, loves us that way. And because God is pleased that His creatures love one another.

Let us all choose to be free and live according to the will of God. Let's choose that path to walk with the Holy Spirit. Because we have received God's love, and that love is so moving, let's do our best to live according to God's will, God's will, with a heart that loves God. That is the way to true freedom.

God loves us so much that He gives us freedom. Now, with this freedom, let's live a life of true freedom to love God and love our neighbors, without being constrained by a life for ourselves or a life for our own greed. That is why God has set us free in His love.

Let's pray in silence.