Land of The Free, Home of The Brave

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Lisa sent out a message earlier this week. As we get into July, there are so many of our tribe fam that want to, like, get a jump start on the day for their weekend get out and enjoy the beautiful surroundings and make the most of the day so we shifted our service times you guys have made it for the first service Listen sent out that text blast. I created a graphic to communicate the same information, but for some reason she didn't want to go with it, but I'll just show it to you this morning. Here's what I wanted to send out for the text blast. So that you could be go to church at 08:30 and then get it for the rest of the summer.

I don't know why she didn't go with my graphic, but nevertheless you get to still see it anyways. Alyssa is actually filling in at first B this morning. She's not preaching but she's leading worship and I love our I love that our church families are close enough that they could ask us and how about River this morning? Hello. So, our young adults get River all the time on Tuesday, but it's so great that we would have you here this morning.

And I know that you're serving in tribe kids at the 10AM, but, like, we gotta get you, like, at a 08:30 and a a ten soon. Can you do that? For sure. Yes. Okay.

Yes. That is that is true. I'll let my people talk to your people. So Lissa's leading worship, and then she'll be sliding in towards the end of service. I can't wait to hear how that went.

If you have your bible with you this morning, would you please open to the book of Galatians? The book of Galatians, and we are going to have a conversation that I am titling. I'll go ahead and put the title up here. The title of this morning's conversation is land of the free, home of the brave. Normally I'm not too much of a like holiday preacher kind you know like like preach along with the holidays but I mean how could you not use a famous slogan of our country to talk about something even way more important than our nation.

As great and wonderful as it is and all that we need to do to continue to make it better. Galatians chapter five and we're going to read verses one through six and the address is up here Galatians chapter five verses one through six we'll read that one of the unique distinctives about our tribe family here is that instead of just being a monologue, I would like this to be a dialogue where we can talk to one another. We can engage with the text. We can engage with one another. We can discuss things.

And so Aaron has the mic and I know that it may seem like superfluous to have a mic in in this room, but there are a lot of families that are traveling and gone. They they go for sports or camps or it's weird if you live here why you would go anywhere else for vacation, but we still leave town for various reasons. And so the mic, we have the mic so that your questions, comments, or connections, you can say them into the mic and then all of our families that are watching the livestream or that will catch up on the livestream, they still get to participate. So all you have to do is raise your hand and we'll get the mic to you. Would somebody please be willing to read Galatians chapter five verses one through six and part of the conversation includes people that have my number and text me during service and I just got one of those texts and the request is if we can turn the livestream volume up Connor.

I don't know if you like beep beep beep beep have a little button. How about this? Alright. Okay. And it got deeper somehow.

Galatians chapter five. Would somebody please read verses one through six?

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm then. Do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. Listen, I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all. And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have been alienated from Christ. You have fallen away from grace. For through the spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight. The only thing that matters is faith working through love.

Woah.

So if you're familiar with the book of Galatians, it's a beautiful book written by Paul to the church in Galatia. And the whole book is essentially one topic, one subject. He touches on other things here and there. Some of his letters cross a broad range of topics and subjects about theology, about Christian living, about conducting ourselves in a pagan society, church issues, but Galatians is a beautiful book because it deals almost exclusively with one topic, the law. And comparing and contrasting the law with freedom in Christ.

And if you read all of Galatians, which you really should, it doesn't take you much more than about twelve minutes if you have like your audio bible to just put on Galatians one and get all the way through the end of the book of Galatians. It's really not that long at all. Galatians chapter five would be the the the pinnacle the Everest of what Paul is trying to show us the difference between the law and what it's like to live under the law compared with what it is like to live in the freedom that a relationship with Jesus brings to the human heart. And so in these few verses here, we're going to be talking about the land of the free and the home of the brave. And so let's just look at the text and I wanna pose this question to you.

According to the verses that we've just read, then you can go back and look at them for yourself. How does Paul describe true freedom? What does freedom look like? In the words of Paul to the letter of the church of Galatia, what do you see? What does it mean to be free?

What do you see? Take your time.

Yes

looking at verses one through six as you read Paul's words what does Paul have to say about what it means to be free? How is a person free according to Paul's words right here? What do you see? What things do you notice? Aspects or dimensions or steps to take.

Sometimes when I'm studying or looking examining God's word one of the ways that I can pull out what the author is trying to communicate is in this here in this moment it may be a little bit challenging to do because you're not necessarily in study mode, but I look at what the author is saying and then maybe I'll write out the sentence of what he's saying but in the opposite as a way to bring out the contrast of what he's saying. Does what I just said make sense or did that confuses you more? I'll answer when I get it. Okay. Okay.

On, Gretchen.

Being free is living in faith and love of in the faith and love of Jesus.

Okay. Being free means say it again?

Living in the faith and love of Jesus.

Living in the faith and love of Jesus. Valid. We'll talk more about like specifically because at if you if we were to just say that and then move on if I could be honest with you I'm not saying that you're doing this if I could be honest with you if I if I try to put myself in the shoes of a person a lost person somebody doesn't isn't a Christian yet hasn't invited Jesus into their heart to hear that I'd be like that sounds great but like it almost it almost without connecting with the reality of what you just said and there is a reality it almost sounds like you could just go on a mug and like be cute but it's actually so deeply profound. Did you have something?

I just have another

one. Come

on. Well this was my answer. The question was what does it mean to be free?

Yes.

Okay. Mine is not letting yourself be burdened by a yoke of slavery.

That's great. To not let yourself be burdened by the yoke of slavery. And so that as well is awesome and could go on a mug, but what I want and I know that I happen to know both of you and I I know that that what you just said there is a deeper truth that you live in instead of just looking for a nice answer to say but to what does it mean to live free from the yoke of the burden of slavery? Phil.

Like I'm seeing that for the first verse, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Which is amazing that it is because of Christ that we have freedom from sin, but also, it's not just that we are made enough, but that we also no longer have the need to add more. Oh. We have, yeah, there's no pressure to add more, and I feel like that's such a common piece of us to be like, well, need to add more. We need to keep putting extra thing.

Good things, but that ultimately put us back into slavery.

Okay. What you just said is really good, and I want you to keep it spun up in your memorizer because in just a moment I'm gonna I'm gonna share something with you that you'll be like ah and it'll be a great connection and it'll be almost as if we planned it. So hold tight. Hold tight. Hold tight.

So here's what I have in my notes. Look at look at verse one. So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law. So Paul, he is using an analogy that for us in our modern age and era is we can only imagine.

We can only try to guess at what slavery is like. We've read about it. None of us have experienced it actually. Maybe we've seen it maybe in in other countries or other parts of the world but for us it seems like such a far distant concept. But what does it mean to make sure that you stay free and don't get tied up again into slavery to the law?

Here's what Paul is talking about. If the word slavery sounds like like I I I don't I don't what are you talking about? You can and you can write this little note in the margin of your Bible, slavery to sin. You can replace the word law with sin. Now am I saying that the law which when we say the law it was given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai to nation of Israel and for the whole world.

You wanna have right relationship with me? Do these 10 simple things and you're good to go. And Moses didn't even get down from the mountain before people messed up and broke the law. But here's what here's what Paul is saying. He's not saying that the law is bad.

The law simply is like an x-ray machine. Adherence to the law does not make us or give us right standing with God no more than an x-ray machine can heal a broken arm. An x-ray machine just shows you where the problem is. In a similar way the law was given to expose and to reveal the natural condition of the human heart which is in rebellion to God. And that rebellion towards God, that innate rebellion that we have inherited, passed down from our mothers and fathers all the way from Adam and Eve according to the Bible that sin nature was imparted to us that we are born with it is in such rebellion to God that our hearts would be submitted to the master of sin and sin becomes our overlord for the person that hasn't invited Jesus into their heart.

A slave he doesn't get to decide when he wakes up, when he goes to bed, what he what his jobs are for the day, all of those things are dictated to him and he follows those orders. In a similar way before a person experiences the land of the free, their master is sin. That comes from rebellion to God. Think of it like living under a tyrannical government that oppresses its people. Now if you were to go out to the town square take a quick survey.

Hey are are you a slave to sin? I think 99 people out of a 100 would look at you as if you're not even speaking English. They're not even aware of it. That is one of the first signs that a person is getting closer to getting saved is when they finally become aware that they have broken God's law and that they are in rebellion to him. And even by trying to earn right standing with God by being a good person.

This is exactly what you said Phil. Let me put this up on the screen. Freedom is no longer trying to earn what Jesus has already given. Isn't that kind of what you just said? If we're going to live in the land of the free, freedom is no longer trying to earn what Jesus has already given.

Jesus with his life perfectly beautifully fulfilled the law. The benefit the reward of fulfilling the law is earning that right standing with God. He was the only person to ever do it and then out of his great love for us He gives us the freedom that He earned. He ran the race and then takes his first place finish middle and puts it around your neck. You get to stand on the winners podium And as Phil said, not because of what you did, really in spite of what you did, but because of Jesus's great love for us.

He earns that freedom and then invites us to walk in it to step into the land of the free. Now here's a question for you. Phil touched on this but I want your brains to be thinking why does that sound it may sound good but why is this more difficult to walk out than to just mentally agree with? Because sometimes there's a little bit of a disparagement between like yep I see that, yep I agree with it, but then there's how you live. Why is there that difference?

What do you think? Amanda.

One way to say it is humans be human ing. But more so, think we wrestle with this because we just try to do things in our flesh. Even if we are believers, it's just, for whatever reason, it's natural to just try to struggle through and do it on our own. Maybe think it's the Lord or think it's the Lord's strength, but it's really ours. And I just have this picture of us in quicksand, and it's like the more you struggle, so they say, I've never been in quicksand, but the deeper you fall.

And it's like, well, you have to just be still and let someone pull you out. But we just always like to struggle and we always like to be like, well, I hear what you're saying, Lord, and I see this in your word, but I'm gonna go ahead and struggle anyway because I think I have enough strength to get out, like of the quicksand metaphor. And sure enough, we don't. And so there we go and we drown. And he's like, my hand is right here.

You just I've already I'm here. I'm ready. We just, for whatever reason, struggle to fully accept that as we walk out our daily life. It it's our flesh. We're scripture also says, we we have to renew our minds daily because this old earth suit flesh is always getting in the way.

Yes. Wouldn't it be great if when a person got saved that their old nature was deleted and no longer accessible to our personhood? That would be awesome. That's called our resurrected bodies when Jesus returns. So it's coming but until then we have this dual nature and we have the choice of which nature we get to live out of.

I like what Paul says here don't get tied up again in slavery. If you look at that phrase in the Greek the definition of don't get tied up don't get tangled up to translate into more modern vernacular would be don't fall for that rage bait. This is rage bait. A a a poking saying something intentionally incendiary to incite an emotional visceral unthought out just provoke you poke you to reaction and if you've ever lived life with a sibling they are experts at rage baiting you. Right?

This is what that phrase means don't let that old dirty devil don't let your old nature rage bait you into to now blend what Amanda just said falling back into the quicksand of the law. Thinking that if you say the right thing if you do the right thing then you will have in some way earned right standing with God. And just as a side note Amanda you and I we're we're like kind of close to the same age eight years apart nine I don't know but when we were kids the greatest fear that was put into us was quicksand. Like that was our as a kid that was our greatest fear like somehow some we talked about it all the time watch out for quicksand. I don't know.

You Yeah. Yeah. Movies really put that in there, and I've never never never, encountered quicksand in real. Well, did you warn your kids about quicksand? So that you that could have that could have been it?

So look at this. Let's talk about circumcision really quick. We're in church. What better place to talk about it? One of your favorite topics.

Okay and then we're gonna talk about the the home of the brave. So Paul is saying like what benefit is there to circumcision? None at all. If you go back and be like if you go back on what God has already done for you. Replace the word circumcision with make give you right standing with God.

So if you fall into the quicksand of feeling like well, like let's say let's say the July 4 you know last night got a little things got a little turnt up. Okay, I'm dragging myself into church this morning oh feeling kind of hazy from last night. Well I better make up for it with you know going to the 08:30 service. I'll punish myself for the or like you know you try to make up for it. I I did one naughty thing well I gotta make up for it and try to do two good things.

That is is like circumcising yourself. That's you in your own effort and energy trying to manufacture some right standing with with with God. I have a little sticky note in my Bible that's right here right next to it Easter card that young girl gave me some years ago. Listen it's not up on the screen it's a sticky note my Bible. My sin does not change my righteous nature any more than my goodness changed my sin nature.

So as you read Paul and you come across like circumcision like just take out circumcision and replace it with anything that you have found yourself trying to do or that you see the world trying to do to earn that right standing with God. The old covenant circumcision was a sign or a symbol of having right relationship with God. You've entered into covenant with him. You had to bleed. In the new covenant Jesus bleeds and sheds his blood for you.

Live live in the land of the free. Bethany and then let's talk about home of the brave.

I was still kind of reflecting on that question of like why this is really hard for us to understand and I'm like settling on kind of two major, at least for me personally, two major things. One, I think that like as humans we're inherently transactional in a lot of ways. Like The way that we see these things, it's like okay, you do this, you earn this, you do this, maybe you unearn this. And that it's so God's covenant is super counter I think to the way that we think as humans about earning our freedom or earning love or earning whatever. And that actually to receive freedom you truly actually it's about being a recipient rather than a laborer to access freedom.

And I think that's super counterintuitive as like a human living in the world. You want me to wait on the second thought?

I'm processing.

Okay. And the second reason

I think that it's really hard

is because doing something out of freedom and doing something out of slavery can look exactly same on the outside, the same action can look exactly the same at least from other people's eyes and so and through your own right, it's like okay I love the Lord, I'm gonna do all of these things for him. And that like in that it can have a really well intentioned heart behind it, but completely like can, I find the sin of pride hides really easily

Doh?

To that guise of like feeling like we can work for God in a way that does earn us righteousness. And we can do it without even realizing it's so, so, so sneaky. And that it can look exactly the same from the outside and it can be really hard to like even realize yourself when you're doing it because it's out of a desire to do good. But is it out of a freedom or is it out of a perspective of slavery is like the really hard place identify.

A lot to respond to there beautiful thoughts. I'm so glad that Jesus is way more smarter than we are because two people can do the same outward thing and Jesus is like you're good and not you're doing this out of the wrong motives. The Bible says that the Word of God is sharper than to it to any two edged sword. It's so sharp it can slice between joints and marrow and the thoughts and intents of the heart. So that's the Word of God which applies to the logos but what do we know about Jesus that he is the Word and so Jesus knows our thoughts and intent.

Now I don't want to get you tripped up in the head like like you're trying to do something out of love for the Lord but then you get in your head, wait am I trying to do like like let be be careful this is when you just I don't know Jesus and you collapse in a puddle at his feet and you say I all could do is just say I love you and he's like it's okay, it's okay, I got you. I got you.

Even in that situation right that fear is again rooted in slavery of like oh I need to make sure that I know perfectly whether what my motives are, da da da da da da. That like even in that there's like a pride in thinking that we even know what the right thing to do is sometimes. Yes,

but it's okay to wrestle with that he knows our human brain. What's the most important redemptive element of that wrestling in our heart and our brain? Yes surrender that's the collapse in a puddle at his feet. Jesus you know my heart. How about when Jesus confronted Peter on the lake shore.

Have you caught anything? You know and then like it's Jesus and they jump out of the boat and Peter turns up and then they're cooking fish on the shore and then Jesus tells Peter like feed like do you love me? Yes Lord you know I love you. Do you love me? Feed my sheep.

Yes Lord. And then and then Peter concludes with the puddle at his feet. I I think I love you. I want to love you. I know I messed up.

I want to follow you I'm trying to follow you and then Jesus just lifts him up and builds him up. It's okay I think probably the best thing that we could do is to collapse in a puddle at his feet where we let go of our pride where we let go of all of our thinking and rethinking and checking and reaching and our plotting and scheming Lord you know. Lord you know. Land of the free let's just quickly talk about home of the brave. I have the entire passage up here put that big one up there so I want to just read verses five and six to you.

Home of the brave but we who live by the spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Jesus there is no benefit in being circumcised like Phil said adding to or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love. This is a beautiful example of the already and not yet aspect of the kingdom of God Because in this passage he says for we who live by the spirit eagerly await to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. Wait a minute if I put my faith in Jesus haven't I already been imparted the the churchy word is imputed righteousness.

Jesus ran the race got the first place medal but then gives it to us right standing with God haven't we already received that But why is Paul saying but we eagerly wait to receive that? That's a great example of how the kingdom operates. That there is this already and simultaneously not yet. So we if you've invited Jesus into your heart made him the leader of your life you have been saved. Redemption.

You are being saved That is the process of refinement or sanctification and you will be saved. That's what Paul is talking about here. And I wrote this down my notes you can you can copy it. To remain in the finished work of Jesus requires bravery. Land of the free it's available to you but to establish yourself in the land of the free it requires making a home, a settlement that requires a lot of bravery.

It's easier to go back into this performative Christianity. Oh man, especially if you've messed up and you've blown it. Oh man, I've messed up. I've blown it. I've I've I'm I'm I'm kicked out.

Well, if I try to do 16 good things then may no. No. If you're going to live in the land of the free, it requires bravery to be able to trust Jesus. If you mess up and you blow it, you just come to him. Forgive me.

And what does first John one nine said? That he's faithful and just he will forgive us of our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness, but that requires bravery. It's so much easier to sew together a a fig leaf of religious and righteous works and then then we're into this like like like performative fake Christianity and how many of you know how effective that is to winning a lost and dying world just outside of the walls of this room. They'll see right through it. They'll see right through it every time.

You claim to have the truth. You claim to live in the land of the free but a lost and dying world just sees that you're fake and religious and going through the motions and why would they want to join up with that? But in contrast when you live in the land of the free and you walk in the bravery that's required to no longer be enslaved to the law, the world sees a bright and shining light. By way of example, just as we get ready to turn the page, worship the lord one other way. Lissa and I were at a wedding yesterday and it was a great beautiful wedding.

I don't know if you've any any of you've ever been to a wedding at Split Creek Ranch. Wow. I've been to a lot of weddings. I've done a lot of weddings here in this valley. I've not done a wedding at Split Creek Ranch.

Never been to a wedding at Split Creek Ranch. Wow. And it only cost you about $200,000 or so if you wanna have your wedding at Split Creek Ranch. Save now, dad. But at this particular wedding, we weren't, like, extremely close with the bride and groom.

Obviously, them well enough. Love them so much to be invited. It was an honor for us to be invited to this wedding. But our only connection to the entire wedding was the the more the groom than the bride, but, like, I hadn't met his family. We didn't know their friends or anything like that.

So at the reception dinner, we get sat at the table with, like, a bunch of randos. And Lissa and I just being Lissa and I meeting people and saying hi. And then during the, like, mingle around part before the reception, we met an another couple. And while we were sitting down, this other couple, like, comes to try to find us, and they're like, man, we were so bummed that we didn't get sat at your table. We just wanted to talk with you guys some more, and, like, why are y'all so cool?

And we're and we did ride our bikes to the wedding, but we just didn't that's not what made us cool. But it's Jesus in us. It's just Jesus in us. And when you live in the land of the free, which includes collapsing at his feet in a puddle quite often and regularly, and he says, I got you. And he lives his life through us.

It shines dramatically in a world that ever increasingly does not know about the freedom that's available in a relationship with Jesus. And so, as the celebrations continue of The United States' 200 birthday, take some time, be thankful that you were born and get to live in this country. But more importantly, more importantly, consider the citizenship of your heart. What is this what country is your spiritual passport of origin. Is it in a relationship with Jesus?

So, let's just take a moment, invite the person of the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts. And then we'll worship the lord one other way. Lord Jesus, thank you. Thank you that you didn't come to establish a religion. Thank you that you didn't come to burden us with a heavy moral code and wave it in our face like, I was perfect.

I did it. Now let's see what you can do. No. You lived a perfect life, and then you you're the desire of your heart is to impart that to us. How well do we receive your gift of freedom?

Take just a moment and let the holy spirit whisper to your heart. Thank you, lord. Jesus, we love you. Thank you. Thank you.

You can keep your eyes closed. Let me just read this to you. Of Galatians five just the next verse, chap verse seven says this, you are running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? Maybe the Holy Spirit would touch on just one thing in your heart this morning.

This one thing like quicksand has tried to grab a hold of you and drag you back into legalism. Or the appearance of authentic relationship All you need to do is sink, not in the quicksand of the law or of your own failure, but sink at his feet. Thank you, Jesus. Perhaps there's more that the Lord would want to unpack going do to to

to And

And be do do As you get still this afternoon, as you relax, get ready for this next busy work week, the Holy Spirit can say, hey. Let's talk about this some more. Father, I pray for my friends here this morning. We're all gonna sink. We just get to choose where we're gonna sink.

Are we gonna sink in the quicksand of the law, in our own sin and failure, or can we sink at your feet to just collapse? So, Lord, I pray for my friends here that we would collapse at your feet. Thank you for being good to us. Before I say amen, let's worship the lord one other way with our tithes and offerings this morning and I know that y'all know how to give. There's a little wooden box here which if you'd like to fill out that connect card so you either get the text blast or if there is a prayer request, you can do that.

We'll pray over those at staff meeting. You can also, if you have tithes or offering that can go on the black box right outside the building doors, you can go to the website tribe j h dot com. A lot of people are generous with their giving, their tithes and offerings with their smartphone, and you can send a text with your smartphone to this number. Would you (833) 369-7847. Let me pray over the offering, share one announcement with you, we'll get out of here.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the freedom that we have with you as a way of telling you that we love you and that we trust you. We bring a portion of our finances to you. God, I ask that you would receive these tithes and offerings. Use them to make your name famous here at Tribe, in Jackson Hole, the surrounding region, and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. We pray these things in Jesus' name, and everybody said, amen.

The Lord bless your giving this morning. The main announcement that you may have to scroll up or down to find that slide is tomorrow, we're back on for revival at the rodeo, and it's at the fairgrounds. It's a 7PM roundup if you round up some coworkers, round up some friends, if you work with students, invite students to come to revival at the rodeo. Weather's gonna be great, and I'd love to see all of you there with a friend tomorrow at the fairgrounds at 7PM. Those are all the announcements that I got.

Stand up and let me pray for you. Would that be alright? Jesus, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Lord, I ask that these words of Galatians would just stick in our minds and make that 18 inch drop down to our heart where our lives would be transformed. Help us. Help us to embody what it means to be in the land of the free and the home of the brave, way bigger than any country or government or government leader. We thank you, Jesus, for the life that we have in you. And I'm so glad that our passport representing our country of origin is as a new creation, the world, the only but but but we're not world, We pray we're these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God.

And everybody said, amen. I love you so very much. Have a great week, and you've got so much of the day to enjoy. You got this.