Rooted In the Spirit, Part 3

A couple of weeks ago I shared with you how my frustrations on the golf course got the best of me, and led me to say something that I shouldn’t have.  As a result, I decided to set aside the game for a while. That was a nice break.  But it didn’t take me long to realize that not playing golf was not going to fix what caused me to loose my temper. So I started thinking, what can I do so that I never do that again?  How can I change so that the next time my game goes south, I don’t go south with it? And it was interesting, because a few well-meaning friends gave me some advice, telling me to “Just go have fun.” “Don’t take it so seriously.” “Try to make sure your partners have a great time.”

And as good as their advice is, those behaviors don’t get to the root of my problem/ my sin. After all, Jesus was pretty clear about that.  He said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.  For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come.” Mark 7:20-21 So over the process of my self-examination, what I re-discovered is this truth:  Even though I want to honor Christ in every area of my life, there are still parts of my old nature that keep me from doing what I want to do. Sound familiar?  It should.

For we all struggle with the same reality: Even though God gives you a new nature when you came to faith in him – the old nature still wants to call the shots.   Even though Jesus defeated sin on the cross and gave you a new life in Him, this has not stopped your old nature from waging war and trying to get you back under its rule.

This is why you will sometimes say or do things that aren’t very Christ-like; why you will occasionally struggle with sin that you thought you had overcome.  And why sometimes you’ll feel like there’s a spiritual battle going on inside.  So if you’ve ever wondered why you still say or do things that aren’t very Christ-like or are tired of struggling with certain sinful attitudes or behaviors, then what God’s Word has to say for us will be life changing.

For God never meant for you to try to overcome sin on your own.  That’s why He gave us the Holy Spirit.  So if you brought your Bible with you today, let me encourage you to find Galatians 5:16-25, where God’s Word shows us the Holy Spirit’s role in helping you put an end to sin’s influence in your life.  So, if you’ve found Galatians 5, lets look at verses 16-18 where Paul introduces us to…

A New Way of Walking… A new way of living by the Spirit that is meant to keep sin at bay.  Look at verse 16 with me:  So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with eachother, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:16-18

What we see immediately in these verses is the inner conflict between our old nature, what Paul describes as the flesh, and the new nature: our spiritual nature that God put in us by uniting us with Jesus.  Before we look at this new way of walking according to the Spirit, we need to understand why your ‘old nature’ still wants to call the shots in how you live. One way of looking at the influence of your old nature is this: your old nature, is your old motivational system. Before Jesus, you only knew one way to live: to fulfill the desires of your sin nature. So your old motivational system told you to look out for number one; and it persuaded you to be ‘your own’ Savior and Lord.

How that worked was to have you focus on some object that was in itself good, but which turned into an idol by which you sought your own salvation: “I can have worth if I am loved… People will think well of me if I have a successful career… “I will feel validated if my children love me… People will admire me If I’m a good golfer, a good citizen, a good father, and so on.”  None of these things are bad pursuits in and of themselves.  They are worthy pursuits.  Its only when we are looking for our worth from them rather than from God that they become idols.

Here’s the thing: the flesh’s desire is strong. It’s powerful. The flesh always wants what is contrary to the Spirit, because the flesh only wants what it wants. It doesn’t want to surrender to God, doesn’t want to trust God or obey God. The flesh wants us to seek our value and worth apart from God.  The flesh wants you to be your own God. This is also why so many good people have such a hard time coming to faith in Jesus.  They have worked so hard to seek their own salvation in this life, that they can’t imagine the life God has made possible for them in Jesus.  So the flesh is a powerful force inside of us.  It fights against trusting God. That’s why you and I still struggle with sin.

But that’s also why, Paul begins this passage with this command: “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” The idea is that you are to live this new life in Christ that God has given you, not out of your strength, your wisdom, or your desires, but by His Spirit. In other words, God put His Spirit in you so you can follow the Spirit’s leading in your life.  That’s the new way of walking: Allowing the Spirit to teach, guide and help you live this new life God has given you. And when you walk by His Spirit, the good news is this:you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Now I want you to note something here:  This is a promise. Those who yield to the Spirit daily have the promise that they will not gratify their old human nature.  When you allow the Spirit to lead you, you are not allowing your old motivational system to lead you.  In other words, there’s a change of desiretaking place.  Walking with by the Spirit means you are saying, “I want what God wants.”  Not “I want what I want.”  There is no neutral ground here.  We live in one sphere or the other. Either we follow the Spirit’s leading, or we’re caving to the flesh.  These are two entirely different ways of living.  So this command tells us how to defeat sin.  When we walk by the Spirit, we walk in the opposite direction of a life motivated by the flesh.  We pursue a whole new way of living that will produce a whole new kind of life.

That’s what we see next.  Paul now contrasts the two ways of life: life gratifying the flesh versus life walking with the Spirit.  First, The Ways of the Walking Dead This is the lifestyle of those who live to gratify the sinful nature.  Paul writes: The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 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. Galatians 5:19-21

A lifestyle set on gratifying the sinful nature perverts God’s intentions for life in four areas: In the Sexual Realm, Religion, Relationships and Indulgences.

The sexual realm: Sexual immorality refers to all forms of sexual sin, sex outside of marriage, adultery and the like.  Moral impurity speaks of unnatural sexual practices and relationships. And debachery refers to lack of restraint and unbridled passions; describing those who are ‘unawed by shame or fear’, having no regard for self-respect, for the rights and feelings of others, or for public decency.

The realm of religion: Idolatrydemonstrates how everyone worships someone or something. People commit idolatry when they look to something other than God to give them what only God can give them.  These desires include salvation, peace, security, pleasure or provision.

Witchcraft involves the practice of trying to manipulate circumstances or dark powers to bring about a desired goal rather than submitting to and trusting in God alone. The actual Greek word is pharmacia, the word for drugs.

The realm of relationships: Here are eight acts of the flesh associated with relational sin: Hatred: refers to hostility of any kind with people or communities on the basis of political, racial or religious grounds. This includes bitterness, bad blood, loathing, dislike. The flesh wants you to hold on to your feelings of ill will.

Discord means to have contentious temper.  This describes the person who likes to quarrel and create division.

Jealousy  A jealous person wants what someone else possesses. A jealous person reveals a lack of gratitude to God for His providence and a lack of love for others.

Fits of rage refers to the eruption of the person with an uncontrolled temper

Selfish ambition carries with it a mercenary spirit – or seeking office for personal benefit and not the benefit of others.  This Spirit is just out for #1 and will walk over others to get what they want.

Dissention is characteristic of those who cause division.

Factions is closely related to dissention and often stands for false teaching.

Envy is similar to jealousy.  The envious person is not happy with God’s gifts and cannot stand it when others succeed.

The realm of indulgences:In this final group of sins, Paul mentions “drunkenness, revelries and the like.”  Both of these are closely related to those who indulge their appetites their appetites that obviously demonstrate lives dominated by the flesh.

Paul concludes this section by giving a warning: I warn you, asI did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.  Galatians 5:21

Paul is referring to the habitual practices, a lifestyle that is dominated by the flesh, not an infrequent and repented of lapse of sin.  For someone continually to indulge the sinful nature without battling against it is to show that Jesus is not in them. They are the walking dead. God’s life is not in them, so they will not inherit the kingdom of God.  The warning then, serves as a reminder to us, TO NOT BE COMPLACENT in the midst of our spiritual battle.  We don’t want to give power to the flesh, because the way of the flesh is the way of death.

Now, by way of contrast with the ways of the walking dead, Paul introduces The Fruit of Walking By the Spirit But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  Galatians 5:22-23  Let’s take a brief look at what God wants to produce in our lives as we embrace the new way of walking:

Love: means to serve a person for their good, not from what the person brings to you. Its counterfeit is selfish affection, where you are attracted to someone and treat them well because of how they make you feel about yourself.

Joy: Joy is a delight in God for the sheer beauty and worth of who He is. The Spirit produces a life of satisfying joy, while living in the flesh only leads to constant dissatisfaction.  If you are lacking joy today, you may just need to spend some time looking at the majesty, the beauty of God, and remind yourself of all that you have in Him.

Peace: This fruit of the Spirit results in contentment. Peace is a confidence and rest in the wisdom and control of God, rather than your own.  It replaces anxiety and worry.

Patience: Patience is the fruit that enables you to be slow to avenge a wrong, a temper that does not give in under suffering.

Kindness:  Kindness is the ability to serve others practically in a way which makes me vulnerable. It’s characterized by availability, usefulness, benevolence and outgoingness. Its fake alternative is manipulative good deeds, doing good for others so I can congratulate myself and feel I am “good enough” for others or for God.

Goodness:  Goodness is closely related to generosity – being generous in spirit, in welcoming, in helping and in giving of yourself and your resources.

Faithfulness: Faithfulness is the ability to rely on God to do what he says He will do, and enables the one walking by the Spirit to keep his word and fulfill his promises.

Meekness: Meekness is not weakness; it is power under control.  Meekness is the quality that helps us deal gently and humbly when faced with adversity.  And is the fruit that helps us deal gently and humbly with those who fail us or oppose us.  There’s an idea of forgetfulness of self as opposed to coming off as superior or self-absorbed.

Self-control: The Spirit enables believers to have mastery over their passions. Self-control gives us the ability to pursue the important over the urgent, rather than to be always impulsive or uncontrolled.

This is a brief overview of the fruit God wants to produce in us as we walk by the Spirit.  And if you’re anything like me, then you want to see God produce this kind of fruit in your life.  So here’s the big question: how do we do that?  Paul gives us the answer:  By Keeping In Step With the Spirit Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:24-25

First, we need to remember that we belong to Christ. All that is His, is Ours.  Our approval and acceptance from the Father rests not on our character or actions, but on Jesus and what He did for us.

Second, because we belong to Christ, we need to remember that we “have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”Jesus terminated your old nature with all its passions and desires on the cross.  Christ’s death was your death.   So the moment you put your faith in Jesus you made a clean break with your past. You turned from following the desires of the your old nature, to following Jesus.

This happened when God united you with Christ.  He put His Spirit in you.  That’s your new nature.  So now, you are Spiritually alive.  So it is only logical, that you would now walk according to your new nature: by the Spirit.  So it is here now that Paul tells us how:  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 

What does that look like? How do we work that out in everyday life so that we walk in our new way of life and keep sin at bay?  How are we to “keep in step with the Spirit?” The word here refers to movement in a definite line, like in a military formation or in dancing.  In order to move in line in the military you need to submit.  In order to let someone lead you in dancing, you need to surrender, give up control trust the one who is leading you. In other words, God wants you to align your life in line with the Spirit.  And He wants us to do this continually – to make this our new habit for living – our new lifestyle.

So what does that involve? This means that everyday you need to align your thoughts with God’s thoughts, align your heart with God’s heart, and align your ways with God’s ways.  This is more than taking 15 minutes to read God’s Word in the morning. This is about learning to walk with God throughout the course of your everyday life.  This is about praying without ceasing, about being aware of His presence with you throughout the day.  This means no more compartmentalizing your spiritual life from your everyday life.  This means walking by the Spirit in every part of your life.  Its about creating a new habit, a new relationship, learning to dance with the Spirit.

This is why we have Journey Groups, so you can learn to walk with God with others who can encourage you, help you and pray for you along the way.  This is why one of the new things we’re going to offer next Fall is a practical class on how to read and study your Bible. And this is why I’ve been preaching about being rooted in Christ.  Because this is the new life Jesus saved you for – so you can live by the Spirit!

For when you liveby the Spirit you won’t just keep sin at bay, but God will produce His fruit in your life.  And I don’t know about you, but His Spirit in me, wants what He wants to produce through me. And His Spirit in you, wants that too. God wants His life to spill out of your life.  God wants to love through you, to fill you with joy, and make you like Jesus.  And all He asks of you is to WALK IN THIS NEW WAY of life HE gave you, when HE gave YOU the Holy Spirit.

Some of you have been trying to do this in the flesh.  Some of you have been trying to fix what’s wrong in you.  But you can’t.  That’s the old life under the law.  God has given you a new way to live – by keeping in step with the Spirit.  And when you do that, it is God who will now produce the fruit in your life.  So today our challenge is to learn how to dance, to keep in line with the Spirit. So who’s ready to dance with God?