Freedom & Fruit // Rev. Matt Kennedy // May 3 2026

Many political scientists and statesmen have observed that while freedom is the bedrock of democracy, freedom requires exercises of responsibility to keep from collapsing on itself. It's sometimes described as the difference between "liberty" and "license". License thinks freedom is for your own self-satisfaction. Liberty is freedom that we extend to others for the sake of common good.In the first 2/3rds of Paul's letter to the Galatians, he makes an impassioned case against legalism and moralism. Grace through faith is what saves the Christian, while overconfidence in "works of the law" is a kind of slavery. Yet in the fifth chapter of his letter Paul now reminds the Galatians that gospel liberty is not license to indulge our selfishness, but the freedom of grace empowers us to, "serve one another humbly in love." (Galatians 5:13). Jesus frees us from the impossible pressures of legalism, but he does not free us from the Spirit of Love who first wrote the law. Grace for sinners is the merciful invitation to "walk by the Spirit", "bear good fruit", and so fulfill the heart of the law, "love your neighbor as yourself" (5:14).