Transcript:

Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to “The Kingdom Perspective”.

What is freedom?

Biblically speaking, freedom is defined by our ability to fulfill our design. In other words, we were made for a specific purpose and to the degree that we are fulfilling that purpose, and only to that degree, we are free. A fish is designed for water and to the degree that it remains in water, it is free to be a fish. However, remove it from the water, and it not only ceases to fulfill its design, but also eventually dies.

You could speak of this as the “law of the fish”. If I were to say to a fish: “Thou shalt remain in the water”, I am only commanding the fish to live according to its design.

So, it is with God’s commandments. They are not just dictates of God’s raw power, but rather statements of our design. After all, the same God who made us is the same God who gave us His law. It is for this reason that the Apostle Paul calls God’s law “holy, righteous and good” (Romans 7)—for it fits with God’s design for us and our world. If we refuse to operate according to that law, we cease to be fully human—and to the degree we begin to die, our lives begin to fall apart.

Is it any surprise, then, that Jesus sums up the law of God with two essential commandments: 1) Love God and 2) Love others? Why? Because without love we are not free to be truly human; our lives shrivel and die. We were made for obedience to God’s law, which is love.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.”

~ Romans 7:12-13 (NASB)