The Gift of Freedom

Gary Hoikka  |  The Voice of Zion September 2026 - The Sabbath Word 4 --

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. – Colossians 2:16–23

This Bible portion, from Paul’s letter to the Colossians, explains to us the gift of a Christian’s freedom, which is the theme for the fourth Sunday in September, the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost in the church lectionary. We can ask ourselves, what is Christian freedom, and how can we preserve this freedom?

In the temporal sense, freedom can be defined as being free from debt or obligation to someone else. There are many examples of this that are familiar to each of us, no matter our age. When we are young, we are given chores to do at home, and we are obligated to be obedient to our parents and do these chores. When we become adults, we may purchase a car or a home, and we often have a loan or a mortgage to enable this type of purchase. We are then obligated to earn a wage so that we can pay this debt we owe. Freedom comes when the chore is completed or the loan is fully paid. Through reason, we can clearly understand this. We can complete work to release us from debt or obligation and thereby earn freedom.

The Christian freedom that is spoken of in our text is not a freedom that can be earned or achieved by works. This freedom is a gift from our heavenly Father through the merit work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus earned this freedom for us by coming to earth and being victorious over temptation, sin, the world, and Satan. He also achieved victory over death through His resurrection. It is only through believing our sins forgiven in the gospel message and trusting God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit to be our only Lord that we can own this Christian freedom.

Owning this freedom is not a burden; it is a grace gift and the only true freedom found on earth. Because we are flesh and blood, our mind desires reason to guide our understanding. Through reason, we can be tempted to try to earn righteousness through works. This is exactly what Paul warns about, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink” (v. 16). 

As humans, we can be tempted by the praise of our fellow humans. Perhaps we desire the compliments of others that we have been eating healthy and taking good care of our bodies. This is very prevalent in social media today, and it is an area of watchfulness for a child of God. God has created each one of us, and He has created us just as He wants us to be. God provides for our daily needs and has richly blessed us with the necessities of life. We do not want to measure one another based on outward things, such as diet or appearance, for this is contrary to God’s Word.

Paul’s letter continues: “Let no man therefore judge you…in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days” (v. 16). Here God’s Word instructs that our actions in, or even our attendance of, religious services are not works that will earn salvation. Nor should we attend church services or serve in God’s kingdom to earn the praise of others. We can simply attend church services and perform our given duties with joy in our heart that God has called us to be one of His own. Although we are imperfect people, we can do these tasks or actions with the gifts that God has given us and with the knowledge that Jesus has fully paid the price of our sins on the cross. We can believe in this to experience true Christian freedom.

In the final verses of this Bible portion, Paul writes, “(Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh” (v. 21–23). Paul is reminding the believers of his time, and also us today, that even though our mind may interpret actions of humility, open worship, and temporal righteousness to be seen as positive and good in the eyes of others, these actions, if done for the purpose of showing or elevating ourselves, will have no benefit to our soul’s eternal salvation. If done for show and praise, these actions will only puff up our own mind and cause self-righteousness to work in us. This does not mean we should not do good deeds or respect the laws of our land and the leaders God has placed in power. Indeed, God’s Word instructs us to love our neighbors and to be helpful to them, and that we need to be obedient to our leaders. 

God’s Word also instructs us and encourages us to attend services and to be with the believers for the benefit of our faith. As it is recorded in Hebrews, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:25). We do not do these actions to gain righteousness or salvation, but rather we do these things because the Holy Spirit within us guides us to do that which is right.

We can preserve the gift of living faith and the Holy Spirit in our hearts by believing the gospel message. The gospel removes all the sins, doubts, and shortcomings that we experience on this journey, strengthening our faith to take yet another step on this narrow way to heaven. We experience true Christian freedom when we believe that precious gospel message: Dear son or daughter, your sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name and blood. When we endeavor in this freedom here on earth, we will then experience the freedom and peace that no words can describe when God calls us home to heaven one day.