My old church is currently doing a series on those issues that the Bible is somewhat silent on and how we can live as Christians in all areas of our lives - marriage, parenting, work/study, money matters, the environment and politics. You can listen to the sermons online here if you're interested.
An issue that I (and many other Christians) have is that how I follow Jesus looks very different to how following Jesus is for someone else in the same area of life. It's from these differences of opinion and lifestyle that judgemental attitudes often form and divisions between brothers and sisters in Christ are created. The trouble is, we both think our way of following Jesus is 'correct' in that particular area.
Not so long ago, I read an excellent post on the Womanly Pursuits blog about this issue. Kimi (the author of the blog) refers to the teaching of her father-in-law and what he calls 'liberty gardens'. You can read the post here. Basically a 'liberty garden' is how we put our freedom in Christ to work in our own lives. Two people may have very similar understandings of scripture but the outworking of it in their individual lives may look very different. For example, we are told to 'flee sexual immorality' in the Bible but the steps a person takes to obey that command will differ depending on the person's individual convictions and temptations. Liberty gardens are not so you have the freedom to sin but rather to develop responses to scripture that nurture and grow your spiritual life. And of course, that makes it hard to get on with others who have such contrasting liberty gardens to our own and it's easy to slip into accusing one another of legalism or sin.
Kimi uses the example of two single girls who had very different views on dating, both of which they claimed to have derived from scriptural guidelines. One girl had decided she would only see her male friends in mixed groups and never meet a male friend alone, even in a public place. Another girl, her best friend, had decided she would meet up with male friends alone but only ever in public. The girls' friendship became strained as the first girl struggled with not judging her friend and the second girl struggled with not accusing her friend of legalism. So who's right? Does one have to change? Can the friendship survive despite having such different liberty gardens?
I'm sure we can all think of issues where we have different opinions to our Christian friends. But not all issues fall into the liberty garden. Murder, for example, is clearly forbidden in the Bible. Some examples of liberty garden issues may be public education v Christian education, politics, modesty in clothing, food and diet, birth control, music and dancing.
We have freedom in Christ to apply his commands in our personal circumstances and live for him in all aspects of our lives. We are all different and have the privilege of experiencing the wonderful diversity God has created among us. The conservative can get along with the hippie, the person who 'courts' can be friends with the person who 'dates'. We all have the freedom to learn from one another and sometimes we may even change our stance on certain issues after observing a fellow Christian tend to his/her liberty garden.
The point of the post was to observe the fruit our liberty gardens are producing. Galatians 5:19-23 outlines the difference between good fruit and works of the flesh. We are not free to serve ourselves, rather we are called to serve one another in love. So if someone's liberty garden is causing them to become sexually immoral, angry, jealous or drunk then there may be weeds in their garden they need to address. For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Kimi also mentioned that it's good to observe the lives of godly people and their liberty gardens.
I found this post extremely helpful in how to relate to fellow Christians who disagree with my liberty garden and if disagree with theirs. What about you? How do you differ with your friends on liberty garden issues yet still maintain a friendship? Remember, it's all about the fruit!
3 comments:
Good post Sarah.
It definately is difficult to respect other peoples 'liberty' gardens. But I like your last line, 'remember, it is all about the fruit'.
There is a level of tolerance, for want of a better word, that needs to be built into friendships, to allow somebody else to have a different viewpoint on something.
In your example, it is easy to see how difficulty arose. I have a friend who has a very different view on something than me and I have had to learn to accept this, even if I don't agree with it.
The difficulty lies, of course, in that as Christians and brothers and sister in Christ, we are called to speak into the lives of our friends 'when they are in error'...but that can be difficult when 2 people have very opposing views on the 'error'. It can't be about a 'free for all' but there does also need to be liberty gardens. It is a fine line that we have to learn to walk!
I agree, it's a very fine line. I know some Christians don't agree with going to nightclubs for whatever reason but I'm okay with it and quite enjoy it occasionally. They assume that I'm going to end up drunk or will be wearing inappropriate clothing but it's nothing like that. I struggle with not accusing them of legalism as they probably struggle with not judging me.
On the other hand, I read a Christian blog that suggested strapless wedding dresses were immodest. Guess they wouldn't have liked my dress then.
I find the trouble is not only disagreeing with each other's liberty gardens but sometimes even disagreeing with what issues are liberty garden issues in the first place.
Thanks for your comment!
"I find the trouble is not only disagreeing with each other's liberty gardens but sometimes even disagreeing with what issues are liberty garden issues in the first place."
Too true!
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