Meditations on the Mountain

At Arlington National Cemetery, you will find the tomb of the the unknown soldier.  This   tomb is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year rain, snow, or shine.  The strength represented by the "Old Guard"  is unsurpassed as they stand vigilant over our most honored memory of those who gave their lives that this nation might live.  The movements of the "Old Guard" are so precise, and the stature is so rigid that respect and admiration are given regardless of ones political leanings.  I can only imagine that something like this is what Paul the Apostle had in mind when he penned the words of Galatians 5:1.  "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."  The guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier never shirk their duty.  They stand with back rigid and arm pivoted in the perfect angle for a salute at each changing of the guard.  They are unmovable.   When hurricanes and storms threatened the monument, those guards refused to move.  They stand fast in their duty.  The holy Scripture is pleading for believers in Christ to stand fast in the liberty, freedom, they have been given by the precious sacrifice of their captain, Jesus Christ.  There are two basic tenets learned from this passage.  We will examine these two truths separately.  

1.  We are free in Christ!  What an amazing truth it is that those who have placed their faith in Christ Jesus are free.  We are not bound by the law.  Paul goes on further in Galatians chapter five to tell us that if we seek to find our justification by keeping of the law, there is no profit in Christ (3-5).  Why then would a Christian who has been set free from the regulation and penalty of the law, seek to entangle himself back in it?  A prime example of this is seen in what is called legalism.  The term "legalism" literally means keeping the law to obtain God's favor.  Many false religions teach that we must do this ordinance or keep that sacrament to gain God's pleasure.  That kind of teaching is not Biblical in any way, shape, or form and is heresy in its highest degree.  However, many Christians who would never say that about salvation, tend to think that by living a good life after salvation they can gain more of God's pleasure on their life.  This perversion of God's grace is very subtle, but it even existed in the Galatia church.  In chapter three Paul is very serious about this heresy.  He calls the Galatians foolish, and says that they have been bewitched.  He goes on to ask them a rhetorical question.  "Having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect (mature) by the flesh?"  Many had fallen prey to this horrible heresy that teaches that Jesus saves us by his Spirit, but we have to put out the effort and energy to be sure we grow and are holy people.  Yes, there is human responsibility, but the growth of a Christian is just as much a work of God as salvation is.  Some Christians get it in their minds that once they have gotten saved they must try "really hard" to not sin so that God doesn't get angry or displeased with them.  I ask a question.  If God's grace can overcome the horrible sin of a pagan; can not his grace overcome the sin of a saint?  We are free in Christ.  It is so important that we do not look at our own efforts, our own works, and our own motives to keep God pleased with us.  He is pleased with us because (and only because) he is pleased with His precious Son's sacrifice in our place.  Therefore it is of the utmost foolishness to take the commandments of men and make them the commandments of God.  There is a place for standards in our lives to help us walk closely with our Lord, but those standards must be derived from Biblical principles, and we must not teach our standard on a particular issue, as the very commandment of God.  Stand fast in the Liberty!