Embracing Grace: Freedom

First century Jews longed for the freedom deliverance would bring. They actively looked for the long-awaited Messiah to arrive – to save them from their oppressors, to free them from all that the Romans held them captive to. Social control. Religious restraints. Political autonomy. And who can blame them? Isn’t that a core longing of all humans – to live freely?

The irony, of course, is that the religious leaders of the Jewish temple in Jesus’ day imposed a form of slavery upon their own people – a slavery to the letter of the law (2 Corinthians 3:6). They took what God had given for the good of people and made the law an instrument of captivity, binding God’s people to their interpretation and implementation of said law (ie: Mark 2:27). They completely missed the heart behind the laws God handed His nation and neglected the overarching point – to love God and others well. 

Such legalistic ways blind us to the heart of God. Bound by laws and rules, we, too, can focus on behaviors rather than heart postures. We can miss the love and goodness God has freed us to enjoy…and share.

Many Jews of Jesus’ day couldn’t see the kind of freedom He, the Messiah they’d been looking for, came to usher into the world – freedom from sin – because they didn’t see their need for it. And aren’t we so often the same? We long for freedom but never find it because we fail to see our own sin and the way it entangles us. 

Such blind pride prevents us from moving toward God with true repentance that longs to be free from the bonds of sin. Yet that’s exactly what Jesus came for. By His blood, shed on a cross, all who come to Him with repentant hearts are cleansed and set free (John 8:36)! And with that freedom we are released to move through the world with love and grace, both of which we’ve been given for freedom’s sake – and for God’s.

Freedom From Sin

In Acts 15, we’re brought into a debate among believers of the early church over the idea of circumcision. It’s in this conversation that we are given a clear picture of the way Jesus-believing Pharisees were “still entangled in their former thinking.”¹ 

“They accepted the atonement of the cross but had not embraced the emancipation of grace.” 

Tabitha Meglich¹

Because they still carried with them long-held beliefs bound up in behaviors as a measure of righteousness, they clung to circumcision as an outward sign of salvation. Living under the new covenant, they not only needed “their thinking transformed by the Truth” but their hearts freed from the bonds of the law.¹ 

And the leaders of the Church responded to these Messianic Pharisees, saying:

“Why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” 

Acts 15:10-11

If we’re tempted to question whether this law-soaked way of living is sinful, Paul answers with clarity in his letter to the Galatians:

“For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.”

Galatians 5:4 NLT

Sin has lots of looks, so many layers. But this is no ‘fire-and-brimstone’, guilt-laden sermon. This is a truth-and-grace-saturated encouragement for us to see sin for what it is. Bondage. Like an addiction that keeps a body in chains to its unending demands for ‘more’, sin hooks us in while keeping us blind to its hold on us. 

God, our Father, looks upon us with eyes of compassion – not condemnation (Romans 8:1). He longs for His children to be set free from the slavery of sin, whatever that sin might be. Murder or jealousy. Theft or fear. Idolatry or pride. Adultery or slander. Greed or gossip. Neglect or apathy. Jesus died for it all. He chose crucifixion for us – for every sin for all time. There’s not one we could name that would be disqualified from His grace. Not one.

In Christ, sin is no longer our master. Yes, capital-S ‘Sin’ dwells within us and we’ll always need more grace, but by the blood of Christ and the power of the Spirit we “live under the freedom of God’s grace” (Romans 6:14 NLT). That means we can take any sin to God, confess it, find forgiveness…and freedom from sin’s hold (1 John 1:9). 

What good news indeed!

But the news keeps getting better. Grace sets us free from striving in our efforts to remain sinless! Hear it this way – the grace we live in as Jesus-followers means “our freedom isn’t dependent on circumstances or our own performance. We need not return to a burdensome yoke of striving and condemnation; instead we run…and collapse in the field of grace that welcomes us into true freedom.”² 

Embracing such grace gives us the ability to walk this life with the lightness of being yoked with Christ – because His burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30). True repentance frees us, friends, because of the work of grace.

Living From Freedom

To say we are freed from sin by Christ’s blood is TRUE; it is awesome and holy, unmerited favor – life for death. Sacrifice for redemption. And while there is freedom in forgiveness, freedom is also the state we live in once we’re disentangled from that sin. Think about it – our constant need for approval or perfection chains us to outward appearance and performance. Our insecurities lock us up in a prison of anxiety and fear. Our pride and shame hold us captive to a limited self-view. These states of living in the strongholds of sin keep us from freedom. 

So then, what does it look like when we are freed from such bondage?

The power of grace and forgiveness releases us into a place of being able to live from freedom. “Free to obey. Free to forgive. Free to draw near. Free to walk in grace.”² Free for compassion. Free for hope. Free for faith. Free for love. Free to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles”…so that we can “run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).

Do you hear the way this gift of grace releases us to live freely?² 

Y’all, this is an aha for me, this way of living from freedom. And it has helped me to understand more clearly what Paul meant when he said, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1 NIV). He goes on to exhort us not to use “this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows” (v.13 MSG). 

That “field of grace” that we’ve been set free to roam and run through, it’s our place to live in. It’s also our place to live from. Paul goes so far as to say the act of true freedom is to love others as we love ourselves (v.14 MSG). 

My friends, we don’t look at grace as a free ticket to keep doing whatever we want. And we don’t enter into freedom with only ourselves in view. We have been set free for our good, yes! But even more so for God’s glory and others’ gain.

We live from freedom with the grace and love we’ve been given – which we can then extend to others! 

The Glory of Freedom

Those Messianic Pharisees in Acts 15 had a belief-blindspot because of the law. Like a veil covering their eyes, they couldn’t see past the rules they’d always lived by. Paul picks up similar language as he connects such spiritual blindness to the veil Moses wore after spending time in God’s presence so that he could hide glory’s shine on his face (2 Corinthians 3:7). Veils keep things hidden, but Christ died to remove veils so that God’s fuller purposes could be revealed, so that God’s Spirit could be sent into the world by way of every single believer.

In this way, Jesus allows us to see ourselves and others through His eyes of glory-grace!

Therefore, we can have hope that the believing Pharisees came to have their veils lifted as they confessed their grip on the old ways – and the grip the old ways had on them.

We can also put our hope in God’s Word for our own veil-removals – because it tells us that when we turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away (v.16). Filled with Christ’s Spirit, we are free to see Him more clearly, glory and all. We get to draw near to our Father!³ And with nothing separating us from God, we are given the grace to live in the Spirit – and that’s where freedom is (v.17). 

As such, we have been made free to “see and reflect the glory of the Lord” (v.18a). Unlike Moses, this close proximity to God gives us glory that never fades (v.11). And it changes us; we come to be more and more like our Maker, transformed into His glory-filled image (v.18b). 

All this makes me think of the Chris Tomlin song, “Be the Moon,” in which he captures the reality of the moon’s way of reflecting the sun’s light. This image helps us understand that, like the moon, we’re created to reflect God’s glory to others.⁴ But there’s no access to God or His glory without Christ’s redeeming blood. There’s no freedom to soak in the Son’s rays and reflect them to the world without grace.

In this way, the freedom we’ve been given – by Jesus and His Spirit – is not simply for freedom’s sake. It’s also for His sake, for His purposes. Living free in the Spirit is a gift of grace; it’s the gift of nearness to our Father; and it’s a gift to the world. We are freed from sin by the blood of Christ for our good while the absolute glory of freedom is God’s children then shining His light in the world. He gets all the glory. And those living veiled and held captive by sin gain the ability to step into grace and freedom — just as we did.

May we accept the atonement of the cross and embrace the freedom of grace.
May we run unhindered into the field of grace – and into the true freedom of Christ.
May we learn to live from the freedom we’ve been given by serving others with love.
May we put our hope in God and His Word, believing that in the Spirit we are free indeed!
May we soak-in God’s glory by the grace we’ve been given, then reflect it right back for God, for the freedom of others.

Father God, we are so grateful that You are not a God of condemnation – but grace! Release us from old ways of thinking that are anchored in legalism and behavior-management. Saturate us with your grace so that we might better see the fuller picture of the freedom we have been given by Christ. Lord Jesus, we confess that for too long, we have lived blind to sin’s hold on us, so today we name that sin; we ask that You would remove it as far as the east is from the west. We ask that Your atoning blood cleanse us and that your grace would free us to live this life unhindered by sin’s blinding grip. We now stand before You with veils removed, seeing your glory shine and your grace abound. Holy Spirit, thank You for being the conduit of more grace, each and every day – for each and every sin. We willingly come into your presence seeking the grace that sets us free. And with your help, we know that we will learn to live from the freedom we’ve been given – for our good, for sure! But also for God’s glory and for others’ gain. Help us to live freely as Christ’s reflection of glory to the world! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
(Romans 8:1; Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 5:1, 13-14; John 8:36; Hebrews 12:1; Psalm 103:12; Romans 6:14; 2 Corinthians 3:13-18) 

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

• 1 – These are thoughts from the study page on Acts 15 in The Devoted Collective’s deep dive study, Reading Through Acts,^ written by Tabitha Meglich.
• 2 – Quoted or paraphrased from Ruth Chou Simons’ book, Gracelaced.^ 
• 3 – In his post on the Wake Up Call on 10/29/24, JD Walt points out what God says to His people, whom He just delivered from slavery: “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Exodus 18:4, emphasis mine). It’s a beautiful thing to realize that God saves us, delivers us, frees us so that we can be with Him! JD points out that God doesn’t just free us for what we can do for Him, but to be with Him! That said, it has always been His plan to “make himself known to the rest of the world through the way he loves and lives in relationship” with His people. JD ends with this quote that ties up this entire post rather nicely: “In order for us to become the fullness of his presence in the world, He will transform our sin-sick, broken nature to become like his love-filled, holy nature.” 
• 4 – Chris Tomlin’s song, “Be the Moon,” has some great lyrics that speak over us the reality of our redemption – we have access to God and His glory, and we’re meant to reflect that glory into the world:
  
  You’re the Lord of all creation, God, You made me in Your image
  And I’m just a reflection of the love that I’ve been given
  Everybody wants to be somebody
  I wanna be somebody too
  If I’m gonna be known for something
  I wanna be known for You
  I wanna be the moon, up among the stars
  Fly around the world
  Lighting up the dark at night
  I’m nothing without the Son’s amazing grace
  On everything I do
  If You’re shining on me, I’m shining right back for You
  I wanna be the moon
  Lord, I wanna be the moon for You
  
• There are so many songs on our playlist, Embracing Grace. That speak of freedom in a round-about way. But Phil Wickham’s song, “This Is Amazing Grace,” comes right out says — “You laid down your life that I would be set free!” And isn’t that just the sum of it!?! Hillsong’s anthem, “As It Is (in Heaven),” beautifully says what free hearts feel: “Oh I will sing like a man with no sickness in my body, like no prison walls can hold me. I will sing like I am free ’cause I know You love me. I know You found me. I know You saved me. And Your grace will never fail me.”
• Each Wednesday I upload a “Teacup” teaching video that carries on the topic here. You can find all the videos on my Facebook Author Page, Instagram, and YouTube.
• Many of you have found me on Substack. Thank you so much! And, if you’d like to listen to (rather than read) these weekly posts, you can do so on Substack, as well. It’s easy to see and use the audio bar across the top of each post. While you’re on Substack, check out the ministry I’m blessed to be part of, the Devoted Collective.
• My monthly newsletter, The Abiding Life, goes to email inboxes the first week of each month to those who have subscribed on my website. I also post them on Substack. My most recent edition can be found there, and you can subscribe for future newsletters on Substack, here.

Rhythms: As my newsletter’s title infers, we seek to develop an abiding life in this space — a place where we can get informed but also be transformed as we learn to abide in God’s presence throughout our days. I like to think that developing rhythms is one way to aid us in our desire to become more Christlike. There’s nowhere better to know Christ than in His Word, so throughout this series, we’ll grab hold of one passage each week and embrace the rhythm of starting our day with God and His Word every morning.

• This week our passage is Romans 6:14 NLT. I think the fact that we are set free is a key idea of God’s saving grace — a fact that too many believers neglect to take hold of. Too often we receive grace for the gift of eternal life while remaining in captivity to sin. Jesus died to set us free — for now and forever!
  
  “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.” –Romans 6:14 NLT
• We’re all called to share the truths about the work of Jesus. One way you can do that is by sharing this site and telling others your own stories of faith experiences. Believe it or not, we worship God each time we share our stories of faith! We use our whole selves to tell about our holy God!!

Featured Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash. “All the Bits and Pieces” Photo by Arjun Kapoor on Unsplash.
^Denotes an affiliate link, with which this ministry earns a bit to help it keep going. 😉