Bulletins - Southside Baptist Church JC

Battle Hymn of the Republic
- - Luke 9:23–24NKJV
God Bless America
A Song of Peace
Galatians 5:13 ESV
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Introduction: The American Illusion vs. The Kingdom Reality
If you were to walk out those doors today and ask the average person on the street to define the word "freedom," you would get a highly consistent answer. In our cultural imagination, freedom means total autonomy. It means nobody tells me what to do, nobody tells me how to live, and nobody has the right to restrict my choices. We define freedom as the absence of restraint. We think of it as a blank check to pursue our own happiness, on our own terms, without any external interference. As Americans, and particularly as folks living in the South, we prize this concept. We build monuments to it. We sing songs about it. We are conditioned to believe that the ultimate goal of human existence is to be completely independent.
But when we open the pages of the New Testament, we find that God’s vocabulary is radically different from the world’s vocabulary. In Galatians chapter 5, verse 13, the Apostle Paul stands before the church and issues a declaration of independence that sounds completely backward to the modern ear. He uses a word—eleutheria, freedom—that caused the hearts of first-century Romans to beat faster. But then, in the very same breath, he flips the concept entirely on its head.
Look at what the Holy Spirit says through the Apostle Paul: "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."
Church, this is the grand paradox of the Christian life. True Christian liberty is not the right to do whatever we want; it is the supernaturally empowered capacity to do what we ought. It is not freedom for the self; it is freedom from the self.
As Southern Baptists, we belong to a tradition that has historically championed religious liberty and the freedom of the local church. We believe in the priesthood of the believer. But we must never mistake our political or cultural freedoms for our theological freedom. Our text today provides us with an expository blueprint for understanding what Jesus bought for us on the cross. If you are taking notes this morning, we are going to look at this verse through three distinct movements: The Sovereign Calling, The Carnal Perversion, and The Cruciform Expression.
I. The Sovereign Calling: Freedom Established
Notice how Paul begins this verse. He starts with a definitive, unshakeable theological indicative: "For you were called to freedom, brothers."
Before Paul gives us a single command, before he tells us what to do or how to act, he establishes who we are. He anchors our identity in an accomplished historical reality. You did not free yourself. You did not break your own chains. You did not stage a jailbreak from the kingdom of darkness. You were called into this freedom by a sovereign God.
To understand why Paul is emphasizing this so fiercely, we have to look at the historical context of the Galatian churches. Paul had spent months preaching the pure gospel of grace in this region. People were saved, churches were planted, and the joy of the Holy Spirit was evident. But after Paul left, a group of false teachers—theological legalists often referred to as Judizers—snuck into the congregation. They didn't explicitly deny Jesus; they just tried to supplement Him. They told these young Gentile converts, "It’s wonderful that you believe in Jesus, but if you want to be right with God, you also need to keep the Mosaic Law. You need to be circumcised. You need to observe the dietary codes. You need to earn your seat at the table."
Paul writes this entire epistle with a pen dipped in holy fire to combat this heresy. He tells them in chapter 5, verse 1, "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."
The legalism the Galatians were facing is the exact same legalism that creeps into our pews today. Legalism is the exhausting, soul-crushing treadmill of performance-based religion. It is the voice that whispers, "If I read enough chapters of my Bible today, God loves me. If I drop enough money in the offering plate, God is pleased with me. If I perform well enough, I am secure."
Paul says, "Stop it!" Christ did not die to put you back on a treadmill. He died to set you free.
When Jesus cried out from the rugged cross of Calvary, "Tetelestai"—It is finished—He paid the legal debt of your sin in full. You have been liberated from the guilt of sin, the condemnation of the law, and the terrifying fear of death and hell. If you are a child of God this morning, your standing before the Father does not fluctuate based on your performance. It is anchored in the perfect performance of Jesus Christ.
This is our sovereign calling. Holiness is not the price we pay to get God to free us; holiness is the natural fruit of a life that has already been made free by the blood of the Lamb. You cannot live out the Christian life until you rest in the reality that you are already radically, totally free in Christ Jesus.
II. The Carnal Perversion: Freedom Guarded
But the human heart is a factory of extremes. Whenever you preach a gospel of pure, unadulterated grace, a second danger immediately rears its ugly head. If legalism is the ditch on the left side of the road, license is the ditch on the right side. And Paul, being a master pastor, anticipates this immediately.
Look at the middle of verse 13: "Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh."
The Greek word Paul uses here for "opportunity" is highly specific. It is the word aphormē. In the ancient world, this wasn't a casual word; it was a military term. It referred to a base of operations, a beachhead, or a supply depot from which an army launched an invasion. Paul is looking at the believers in Galatia—and he is looking at us in this sanctuary today—and he says, "Do not let your liberty become a beachhead where the enemy can set up camp. Do not let grace become a launchpad for your sin."
There is a false gospel that plagues the modern church just as much as legalism does. We call it antinomianism—literally, "against the law." It is the attitude that says, "Well, if God loves to forgive, and if my salvation is secure, then it doesn't matter how I live. I can indulge my lusts on Saturday night because I know I can get grace on Sunday morning."
Paul says that is a tragic, demonic perversion of Christian liberty.
Notice what freedom is being guarded against: "the flesh" (sarx). When the Bible talks about the flesh, it isn't talking about your physical skin and bones. It is talking about that fallen, broken, self-centered human nature that remains resident within us this side of heaven. The flesh is that part of you that wants to be its own god. It is greedy, it is prideful, it is self-protective, and it is ravenous.
Here is the deep irony of the Christian life: antinomianism—living a life of sinful license—is actually just legalism flipped upside down. Do you see it? Both systems are entirely obsessed with the self. The legalist is obsessed with self-righteousness, and the libertine is obsessed with self-gratification. Both are completely blind to the glory of God and the needs of their neighbor.
When you use your "freedom" to indulge your flesh, you aren't actually free at all. You have just traded one slave master for another. You think you are being a rebel, you think you are being independent, but you are actually just a puppet dancing on the strings of your own corrupted desires. True liberty is not the license to do what your flesh wants; it is the supernatural power, supplied by the Holy Spirit, to say "no" to the flesh so that you can say "yes" to God.
III. The Cruciform Expression: Freedom Employed
So, if Christian freedom is not legalistic performance, and if it is not carnal license, then what on earth is it? How does it express itself? Paul gives us the glorious, shocking answer in the final phrase of verse 13: "...but through love serve one another."
Church, I want you to look closely at the language here, because Paul is pulling off a brilliant theological oxymoron. The English translation says "serve one another," but the Greek word Paul chose is douleuete. It comes directly from the root word doulos, which means "slave."
Listen to the breathtaking paradox of the gospel: Paul tells us that we have been completely, totally, unreservedly set free from slavery—in order that we might use our absolute freedom to become voluntary slaves to one another.
Think about how offensive this sounded in the ancient world. In the Roman Empire, decades were spent trying to escape slavery. People saved every denarius they had to buy their freedom. To be a slave was to be at the absolute bottom of the social hierarchy. Yet Paul looks at a room full of free men and women and says, "Take your liberty, march right back into the marketplace, look at your brothers and sisters in Christ, bend your knee, and become their slave."
How is this humanly possible? How do we move from a nature that naturally wants to exploit others to a nature that voluntarily serves others? Paul gives us the mechanism: "through love."
This isn't worldly love. This isn't a sentimental emotion or a warm feeling. This is agape love. It is a choice-driven, covenantal, self-sacrificial love. It is a love that looks at another person and says, "Your needs are more important than my rights. Your comfort is more important than my convenience. Your spiritual growth is worth my personal sacrifice."
This is the cruciform expression of freedom. The word "cruciform" simply means "shaped like the cross." Our freedom is meant to be cross-shaped.
We don't have to look very far to find the ultimate example of this. Think about our Lord Jesus Christ. If anyone in the history of the universe possessed absolute freedom, absolute autonomy, and absolute rights, it was the eternal Son of God. He sat on the throne of heaven, surrounded by the ceaseless worship of angels. He had the right to remain there for eternity.
But what does Philippians 2 tell us? Jesus did not consider His equality with God something to be grasped or exploited for His own advantage. Instead, He emptied Himself. He stepped off the throne. He laid aside His royal robes. He clothed Himself in human flesh. And He took the form of a doulos—a servant, a slave. The King of Glory picked up a towel and a basin of water and washed the dirty, calloused feet of His own disciples. And then, He marched up the hill of Calvary and allowed Roman soldiers to drive iron spikes through His hands, pinning Him to a wooden cross.
Jesus used His ultimate freedom to serve us at the cost of His own life. He was bound so that we could be loose. He was condemned so that we could be acquitted.
Therefore, church, the ultimate metric of your spiritual freedom is never how loudly you can proclaim your rights. It is how low you are willing to bend your knee to serve your neighbor. Christ did not free you from the bondage of sin so that you could isolate yourself in comfortable autonomy. He freed you from yourself so that you could finally, truly be present for someone else.
Conclusion: The Call to the Basin and the Towel
As we close this morning, we have to ask ourselves a very searching question: Which version of freedom are we living out in our homes, in our workplaces, and in this local church?
Are you living in the bondage of legalism, constantly worried that you aren't doing enough to make God love you? If so, hear the gospel today: You are called to freedom. Christ has paid it all. Step off the treadmill and rest in His finished work.
Are you living in the bondage of license, using the grace of God as an excuse to keep playing with that secret sin, to keep harboring that bitterness, or to keep living for your own selfish ambition? If so, hear the warning today: That isn't freedom; it is a trap. The flesh is a cruel taskmaster, and its wages are death.
True Christian freedom is found only when we take the liberty Jesus gave us and channel it into love-driven service. It means when you see a need in this community, you don't say, "That's not my job." It means when someone wrongs you in this church, you don't demand your rights; you extend forgiveness. It means we look at our spouses, our children, our neighbors, and our fellow church members not as tools to be used for our happiness, but as souls to be served for God’s glory.
The cross has set us free. Let us not waste that freedom on ourselves. Let us pick up the basin and the towel, follow our Master, and serve one another in love.
Let us pray.
With every head bowed and every eye closed in this sanctuary this morning, I want to ask you to do some honest business with the Lord. No one looking around, no one rushing for the doors. This is the most critical moment of our entire morning together, because the Word of God demands a response. Scripture tells us that we are not to be hearers of the Word only, but doers.
Right now, the Holy Spirit is shining a spotlight into the corners of our hearts. He is asking us: What are you doing with the freedom Jesus bought for you?
Reaching the Legalist
Perhaps you are here today, and as we were preaching, the Holy Spirit convicted you of the sin of legalism. You have been coming to church, you’ve been trying hard, and you’ve been putting on a good face—but the truth is, you are exhausted. You are tired of trying to earn God’s favor. You feel like you’re on a religious treadmill, and you’re terrified that if you stop running, God will reject you.
If that is you, Jesus is calling you to step off the treadmill today. He wants to free you from the burden of self-justification. In just a moment, when we stand and sing, I want to invite you to come forward. Come lay that heavy burden at the altar and receive the rest that only comes through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Reaching the Prodigal (License)
Or maybe you are here today, and if you are completely honest, you’ve been living in the ditch of license. You know the language of grace. You know the right boxes to check. But you’ve been using God’s grace as a permission slip to play with sin. You’ve let your freedom become a beachhead for the flesh. You’ve been living for yourself, chasing your own desires, and you’ve found out the hard way that the flesh is a brutal master. You are trapped in a cycle of secret sin, compromise, or bitterness.
Hear the word of the Lord: That is not the life Christ died to give you. He died to deliver you from that bondage. Today can be the day you repent, turn away from the flesh, and allow the Holy Spirit to reclaim that territory for the glory of God. If you need to come back to the Lord, to confess, and to renew your walk, this altar is open for you.
Reaching the Seeker (The First-Time Decision)
Finally, there may be someone here this morning who has never experienced true freedom because you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You are still carrying the crushing weight of your own sin, and you know that if you stood before a holy God today, you would be guilty.
But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus took your guilt upon Himself. He died in your place, He rose from the grave, and right now He offers you total forgiveness and eternal life as a free gift. You don't have to clean yourself up first. You don't have to earn it. You just have to receive it by faith.
If you want to be saved today, if you want to pass from death to life and be set free forever, I want to invite you to step out and come forward. We have pastors and encouragers waiting at the front who would love nothing more than to open the Word of God and show you how to trust Jesus today.
The Call to Action
Church, whatever God is telling you to do, do not harden your heart.
Heavenly Father, we ask that Your Holy Spirit would move powerfully in this room right now. Break the chains of legalism. Shatter the illusions of sinful license. Draw lost souls to the saving grace of Your Son. Give men and women the courage to step out and respond to Your call. We ask it all in the mighty and matchless name of Jesus. Amen.
Would you stand with me? As our team leads us in our hymn of invitation, if God is speaking to you, you come.
- - Galatians 5:13NKJV
Victory in Jesus

Luke 9:23–24NKJV

Galatians 5:13NKJV