11th November 2023

11th November 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read (Romans 14)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


The Westminster Confession of Faith is not the Bible and should never be treated as such. It is however a time tested summary of Christian belief and, as I'm sure you know, it is the confessed belief of all Presbyterian ministers and elders. What you may not know is that the Confession has a whole chapter on the subject of Christian liberty and liberty of conscience. These are the issues that Paul deals with in Romans 14 and I thought I'd take a few devotions to outline the Confession's summary of Biblical teaching around the issue of the Christian's liberty.


Here is what we read in chapter twenty, paragraph three of the Westminster Confession of Faith "They who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, do practice any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby destroy the end of Christian liberty; which is, that, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life."


Why has the Lord blessed us with Christian liberty? He has given us this gift because He has delivered us from our enemies. No longer are we dead in sin, no longer do we fear death and no longer has Satan any rule over us. In Christ we are free from our enemies and in Christ we are free to serve the Lord all the days of our life. This service doesn’t come from a fear of God’s wrath, instead the true fear of God loves the Lord as a precious Father and seeks to honour Him. The Christian isn’t perfect on this side of glory but by faith in Christ we are counted by God as both holy and righteous before Him. Therefore, Christ has set us free and in that glorious freedom we are to serve the King - this is the goal of our Christian liberty.


However, it is possible for this goal to be destroyed. How so? If a Christian claiming liberty makes a practice of sin or cherishes a particular lust in his heart, he has made a mockery of the freedom we have in Christ. Elsewhere in Romans Paul would speak this way “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6v1-2)


Our hard won liberty is not to be used an excuse for sin and this requires great watchfulness and discernment in our Christian walk. Jesus has freed us from blindly following the commands of men but we must be careful that as we exercise our Christian liberty we don't blindly follow our own deceitful hearts. The Christian who constantly says "How far can I push this?" or "How can I find a way to justify this?" is already in great danger of destroying the goal of their Christian liberty.


Beloved of God, remember the words of Peter who said "Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God." (1 Peter 2v16) This is a perfect summary of how we are to exercise our freedom as we journey through this sinful world. Thanks be to God, for in Christ we are free.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q94 What is Baptism? Baptism is a Sacrament, wherein the washing with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord’s.
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