INTRODUCTION

Many of us are familiar with the verse from John 8:36 that says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Indeed, we are told that when we put our trust in Christ, we are set free. However, do we understand what we are freed into? Are we living in the fullness of this gift that we have received? In this week’s curriculum, we examine what scripture says about freedom.

DISCUSSION

1. Share a time when you made a mistake but were pardoned from facing the full consequences.

   a. How did you feel about the person who extended that grace? 

   b. How did you view the mistake you had made after that?

2. Read Galatians 4:3-11 and 4:21-5:1.

   a. What does Paul say the church in Galatians has been freed from?

   (i) How has Jesus freed those who follow Him?

   b. What then, does Paul say the church is freed into? How does he describe their relationship with God now that they are free?
   
   c. How do you respond to what Paul is saying?

   (i) How conscious are you of your free status in everyday life? What have been its implications?

3. Read Galatians 5:13-26.

   a. How is freedom in Christ different from your own conceptions of freedom?

   (i) Given what Paul wrote to the Galatians in earlier parts of his letter, why do you think Christian freedom is different?
   
   b. How can we know that we are walking in the freedom that Christ has given us?

   (i) Likewise, how can we know we are walking by the Spirit and not by the flesh?

   c. Paul urges the Galatians to use their freedom to “serve one another humbly in love” (v13), which is closely parallel to his exhortation to the Romans to be willing “slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:15-18).

   (i) How do you feel about living as free servants and willing slaves?

   (ii) If you sense a degree of resistance within yourself, where do you think it resides? 

   (iii) Looking at our lives today, how might we use our freedom to serve in love?

WHAT WILL YOU DO

The beauty and wonder of Jesus’ death and resurrection are that the world has received the opportunity for true freedom—freedom from the bondage of sin and death through Him.

Galatians 2:15-16 perfectly summarises this truth: “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” No amount of human effort to abide by the law or practice good works would grant us that freedom. Only Jesus can.

Now that we have been set free, let us walk joyfully in this new life, and no longer turn back to the ways of the old self.

MEMORY VERSE

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. – Galatians 5:1 (ESV)

AN E1R1 REFLECTION

The book of Galatians shows us how the Torah law could not save the Jews and make them righteous before God. Yet among Jews today, there remains a blindness and inability to see Jesus as the only way to righteousness and freedom from sin and death. 

In Luke 19:28-44, Jesus partially fulfils the prophecy of Zechariah by entering Jerusalem on a colt. Though the Pharisees knew the Old Testament well, they still rejected Him. In response, Jesus wept over Jerusalem, grieving the judgment that would come upon it.

As we embrace Jesus’ love for the world and rejoice in the righteousness He has given us, let us remember those still under that veil of blindness and join Jesus in His grief over their inability to see the truth. May we pray that their eyes will be opened to see Jesus as their Messiah, so they will escape judgment and enter eternal life with Him.