I Corinthians 9:18-21

Please turn over to I Corinthians 9, verse 18. We are no longer under the penalty of the law for salvation, but we are not without law toward God, as interpreted and exemplified by Christ Jesus. The divine law remains a standard expressing God's will for us, the freed bondservants. So we are under the law of Christ.

The law of Christ, the law of liberty, and the law of love are all the same law. And the principle is the voluntary and selfless sacrifice for the good of humanity and the glory of God. So this life of love is the response of gratitude that the liberating gospel both requires and stirs up in us. Christian liberty is precisely freedom for love and service to God and mankind. And it is abused when it is made an excuse for an unloving license or irresponsible consideration. Paul wrote,

So we must use our liberty responsibly with an eye to what is excellent and expedient and edifying and tender regard for others.

The limits that permit even enhanced true liberty are those of a covenant between God and man.

To serve the Creator God is not as much servitude as liberty. It is not servitude if the one that we serve is the very One who, in being served, makes us free. John 8:36 states, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

In the spiritual adherence to the word written in the heart through the Holy Spirit, we can be part of a glorious Kingdom in which chaos does not need to be restrained by change because chaos will not arise. Paul wrote in II Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Our liberty is best utilized through the responsible fulfillment of the law of love toward God and toward one another.

I Corinthians 9:19-23

Now Paul, in saying that he has become all things to all men is another way of saying that he was meeting people where they were at, and he did it with purpose. He desired that everyone should partake in this wonderful opportunity.