True Love Liberates

· Much of Christianity is about creating rules out of fear that our deeply sinful nature would get out of control.

o The only way to the good life is to create rules and then hope that our guilt function was deep enough to police our behavior.

o It becomes a religion of fear.

· When there is fear, there is control but there is little freedom.

o Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18)

o Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17)

o You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free (John 8:32)

Breaking Free From Fear

• There is a way of being Christian that is suffocating.

• It can suck the life out of us and a lot of people around us.

• We are often sold a brand of Christianity that taught “if you believe the right things, you will find freedom”.

• The more we try, the more we feel trapped.

• What if truth is not a dead set of facts. What if it is active? What if it is an agent?

• If it doesn’t set you free, it is suspect.

• We must “test everything, hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

The Thing That Sets Us Free

• We tend to privilege truth and focus on it as the way to freedom.

• We must recognize this path has betrayed us.

• We thought getting the facts right would set us free, but instead we started policing the facts.

• Love then becomes about criticizing other people for what they do and don’t do.

• If we privilege facts, we often do not find our way to love.

• If we privilege freedom and focus on it as the way to truth, we might find both.

• The Spirit of God brings freedom (Luke 4:18-21)

True Love Liberates

• It creates space for freedom and does not resent that freedom.

• It allows people to make choices without getting our feelings hurt that people didn’t make the choice our opinion pointed them to.

• True love doesn’t say “I told you so” but says “you know the difference between right and wrong, I trust you”.

• Are we treating people in our lives in such a way that they themselves come to believe they are free and loved.

• Liberating love is letting people grow up and be free.

• Only the unloving person tries to control the other person.

• Rapunzel may be safe in the tower, but she is not free.

• Even if you “know” what’s best for someone, often the most loving thing to do is not control but to help them avoid harm.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbecKv2xR14

Examples of Liberating Love

• Liberating Love Allows Change and Newness

• The story of the Exodus is about liberating love (Exodus 1-12)

• Liberating Love Allows Risk and Reconciliation (Luke 15:11-32)

• Liberating Love is Built on Grace not Law (Galatians 5:1-15)