Hey Gang,
We begin a whole new series this week that's entitled Freedom: Make It Personal. This 5-week study theme looks at how we gain true freedom and how we are to live out that freedom. Now many churches will be focused on patriotism and God and country celebrations this weekend and we will applaud our freedom as Americans. But inwardly, many people wonder what it really means to be free on a personal level. We can look for freedom in different ways - political, religious, relational, financial - but still miss the mark on really feeling truly free. Only Christ offers us a permanent and lasting freedom, a freedom that touches every other aspect of our lives. We will discover over the next 5-weeks through each lesson that to be free in Christ is to be truly free!
Our first lesson in this series is about how to overcome ungodly, self-serving, enslaving, and ultimately destructive behavior that mimics freedom - we call it Personal Rights!
Really? That means I’m free to do whatever I want whenever I want with whomever I want, right?
Wrong. That’s not liberty; that’s self-indulgent slavery. There’s only one way to truly be free and enjoy the rights endowed to you by your Creator. Our lesson this week explains how this can be your “Independence Day.”
I. WHY NOT SELF-INDULGE? – 2 PETER 2:10b-14
Bold, arrogant people! They do not tremble when they blaspheme the glorious ones; however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord. But these people, like irrational animals—creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed—speak blasphemies about things they don't understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed, suffering harm as the payment for unrighteousness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions as they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and always looking for sin, seducing unstable people, and with hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!
How does Peter describe self-indulgent people?
How might you treat the holy things of God flippantly? Are you aligned with anyone who does so? How carefully do you honor God with your speaking, spending, and behaving? Are you self-indulgent?
What has happened in the past week to reveal the present state of your self-indulgence or self-giving?
II. WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DO? – 2 PETER 2:15-19
By abandoning the straight path, they have gone astray and have followed the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but received a rebuke for his transgression: a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's madness. These people are springs without water, mists driven by a whirlwind. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them. For uttering bombastic, empty words, they seduce, by fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.
1 Corinthians 1:27
Instead, God has chosen the world's foolish things to shame the wise, and God has chosen the world's weak things to shame the strong.
What foolish things has God used to rebuke you? How well have you listened?
Whom would you consider to be vulnerable to self-indulgence as a promised path to freedom?
III. WHO WILL YOU BE INSTEAD? – PHILIPPIANS 3:17-21
Join in imitating me, brothers, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself.
Where do we find examples of rejecting self-indulgence?
Who would benefit from following your example?
How can we offer that example in a humble rather than arrogant attitude?
I Want To Be Free From Being So All About Me
The first lesson in attaining true freedom in Christ is to understand and learn how to reject self-indulgence.
Prayer of Commitment
Lord, help me practice self-denial instead of self-indulgence. Amen.
I hope everyone has a blessed week as we prepare for God's message on true freedom in Christ. Happy 4th of July!
In His Love,
David & Susan
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