Freedom in Christ, part 10

Part 5: To secure these rights: Economics, religion, and character.

This is like the free market in which citizens can exchange what they produce, goods and labor, for the production of others. The government is to secure that the rights of both the buyer and seller are protected so that they may sell anything to anyone at any price and that the contracts of clearly defined and enforced and that all have equal access to move about as they please. To the founders a monopoly was the government granting a particular person the right of commerce while excluding others. They would not have seen Microsoft as a monopoly but rather as an excellent company who was able to corner a market.

1Co 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

1Co 12:5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.

1Co 12:6 And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.

1Co 12:7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

No other believer has the right to tell you how to exercise your spiritual gift when it is within the confines of the word of God.

Today it is customary for government to establish monopolies through licensing requirements in a variety of areas. Licensing has the effect of limiting small businesses and start ups to compete. Freedom of contract and adequate judicial enforcement of them are what prospers an economy. There has to be clear legal conditions about contracts. At the founding a contract was a sign of equality between the two in an exchange of property, labor, price, and free choice of occupation. Today we have minimum wage laws, unionized collective bargaining, a violation of the right to hire and fire as one chooses, affirmative action and discrimination laws.

Equal access to transportation, according to the founders, was not giving everyone a horse, but allowing everyone to travel as they please on public roads and lands.

The believer is given freedom through the word of God and the Spirit to exercise his spiritual life freely, in the privacy of his own priesthood.

3. Stable money: Paper money scams almost bankrupted 12 out of the 13 states. The government decided to mandate a gold or silver standard.

What is the standard of exchange in God's plan that guarantees freedom? Love is the gold standard. Under love I exchange that which is of value and not just words which is like worthless paper money.

Eph 4:29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.

The standard of exchange in providing Christian service to others is love. We are to lay down our lives in agape love for one another.

Gal 5:13For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Character: It seems silly today that the government should even concern itself with character of morality.

Harvey Mansfield forms the paradox: "Liberty and virtue are not a likely pair. At first sight they seem to be contraries. Liberty appears to mean living as you please and virtue meaning living not as you please but as you ought."

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." [George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796.]

President Washington is referring to morality, which is indispensible in a nation and in any community or organization. God, however, has given the Church a code that we term the royal family honor code found in Rom 12-15.

Early in America there were laws on sex and marriage, which are badly understood now. All of these laws had one object, and that was to protect marriage and the family. Laws encouraged people to get married and stay married. The love of married parents for their biological offspring was judged the most reliable motivation for the sometimes unpleasant duties of providing suitable care for children.

God's royal family honor code supersedes all moral law while including it. This code is the greatest potential for prosperity amongst believers in all types of relationships.

In love we are to treat one another with surpassing grace. This gives everyone the freedom to make decisions and not be judged, maligned, gossiped about, put down, made jealous of, etc. It gives all the freedom to succeed with rejoicing or to fail with restoration. It gives the freedom to be ignorant or wise in the word of God with the full knowledge that it is God who is going to correct, discipline, or bless.

We will look at a few portions of the code that deal with the liberty of others.

Rom 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

Rom 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;

Rom 12:11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

Rom 12:12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,

Rom 12:13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Rom 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not.

Rom 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

Rom 12:16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

Rom 12:17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men.

Rom 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

Rom 12:19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.

Rom 12:20 "But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head."

Rom 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Rom 13:8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Rom 13:9 For this, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Rom 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.

Rom 14:1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.

Rom 14:13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this — not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.

Rom 14:14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

Rom 14:15 For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

Rom 14:16 Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil;

Rom 14:17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Rom 14:18 For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

Rom 14:19 So then let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

Rom 14:20 Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense.

Rom 14:21 It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.

Rom 14:22 The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.

Rom 14:23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

Rom 15:1 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.

Rom 15:2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.

Rom 15:3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached Thee fell upon Me."

Rom 15:7 Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

Rom 15:14 And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another.