The Quest
For Meaning, Freedom, and Relationship
Many metaphors aptly describe the journey of our lives. A favorite is “The Quest.” Ancient mythology and epic poetry feature heroes embarking on perilous journeys, typically quests to find valuable treasure or to achieve some significant goal.
Our lives may not feel heroic, yet we find ourselves searching for approval and acceptance, status and security, comfort and contentment. If we get underneath those desires, we might discover deeper quests for meaning, freedom, and relationship.
Cultural analyst and pastor, Mark Sayers, describes meaning, freedom, and relationship as three reservoirs from which we derive our capacity for life. And, yet, in our cultural moment, the reservoir of meaning is almost empty, the reservoir of freedom is spilling over the banks, and the reservoir of relationship is nearly bone dry.
In contrast to this cultural moment, following Jesus on the way of the Christian Life offers an abundance of meaning, freedom, and relationship. In a society more and more skeptical and dismissive of faith and religion, this may seem difficult to accept or embrace. And yet, if you wade into these waters of Christian faith, you might just be surprised at what you discover: A meaning you don’t have to make up, but rather, a meaning that makes you; A freedom not forged through boundless escape, but more fully expressed when you bind yourself to good things; Relationships not shallow and merely transactional but deep and utterly transformational.
Though life is a quest complete with winding roads, dead ends, and unclear directions, imagine waking up most mornings with a sense of meaning that bestows purpose and direction in each day, a freedom that allows you to make good choices and wise decisions, and relationships that call you into flourishing you may not have thought possible.
Table of Contents
The Letter to the Galatians
Paul wrote this letter to several churches throughout Galatia. Many people from varied ethnicities and nationalities had come to faith in Jesus, trusting in Him as the one who could bring them from their sins and home to God through His life, death, and resurrection. And yet, the Jewish Christians present in the Galatian churches demanded an additional adherence to the customary and ceremonial laws of Torah, including circumcision, as acts of obedience to God. The insistence wasn’t necessarily ill-intended. It was a confusing moment when many new Christians were trying to figure out how to live together in unity while upholding truth.
Still, Paul challenges this “false Gospel,” proclaiming we are declared good and right before God by the work of Christ alone. In other words, we cannot work for our salvation or earn our rescue. Instead, we trust in Jesus for our healing, and are then empowered by the work of God’s Spirit to speak and act in ways that bring glory to God. In this sense, in Christ, we are not merely saved FROM our sins and ensuing judgment, but we are saved FOR a life in which we inhabit the words and deeds of the Gospel. Living in light of our redemption in Christ allows us to more fully experience the meaning, freedom, and relationship God offers to us. A section of Paul’s letter, Galatians 5, sketches out the contours of this way of living. We will spend three weeks exploring these passages under three headings: meaning, freedom, and relationship.
Who is this Teaching Series for?
This teaching series is a wonderful opportunity to introduce your friends, neighbors, family members, and co-workers to the abundant life Jesus offers. These messages are designed to be winsome and engaging for those with spiritual interest and those who may assume the Christian life and way of Jesus lack relevance in our modern world.
Our journey into these three topics will also provide a training ground for those who desire to talk about their faith in Christ with their friends, neighbors, family members, and co-workers in compelling and conscientious ways. Additionally, our exploration will create an opportunity for those who are mature in their faith to carefully consider their own experiences with meaning, freedom, and relationship—where might they be lacking, hurting, or in need of growth.
Week 1: Our Quest for Meaning
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
If we comprise a list of desired “eulogy virtues” (what is said about a person at their funeral), then it might look something like the virtues espoused here as “fruit of the Spirit”. And, yet, we tend to live out of a list of “resume virtues,” things like professional accomplishments, job titles, salaries, social standing, and education level. A life of meaning, a life full of that which is good, true, and beautiful, is a life that adheres to these fruits rather than resume pursuits. And, the capacity to live this way is given to us by the death of Christ. It is on the cross where our passions-run-amok and desires-set -askew are crucified. We then become empowered by the invitation to “keep in step with the Spirit.”
Week 2: Our Quest for Freedom
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
This passage succinctly describes the three ways to live a life: in the flesh, under the law, and by the Spirit. We often assume that living “in the flesh,” or “doing whatever we want to do whenever we want to do it,” will make us free. Yet, we become bound to unhealthy practices that often become detrimental patterns and sometimes destructive addictions. We become enslaved to our sense of freedom. Or, we assume living “under the law,” will deliver us into the freedom we crave. We say to ourselves, “If I simply abide by the right rules and say the right things, then my diligence will protect and secure me and thereby I will be free.” Yet, moral fastidious for freedom’s sake, straps us to either moral superiority or inferiority. We become smug or self-loathing; both are debilitating forms of pride. The way of freedom is the life lived by the Spirit. The Spirit of God grants us the capacity to bind ourselves to the proper disciplines, practices, and restraints, not as ends themselves, but as the means to experience true liberty in a capacious life God designed us to live.
Week 3: Our Quest for Relationship
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 …
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Experiencing meaning in the pursuit of a life well lived, coupled with the freedom that grows from living within proper boundaries allows us to love others deeply. The language around the Body of Christ is family language. We experience one another as mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. We are free, not to indulge ourselves, but to serve one another humbly in love. The underbelly of conceit, provocation, and envy that devours and destroys has no hold over relationships grounded in the self-donating, sacrificial love of Christ.