26/3/17 Holy Freedom Galatians 5:13-26
Living, breathing, flesh and blood people just like you and me are personally addressed in today’s passage Galatians 5:13-26. Addressed with affection, spiritually related to the writer. ‘my brothers and sisters’. Writer and recipients united to Christ, members together of a unique family, the body of Christ, the church. Our sisters and brothers also. Separated by nearly 2000 years of history yet living in the same new age. The age of Christ and of the Holy Spirit. Of spiritual freedom knowing God as Abba Father. The Holy Spirit taking the place of the law in the life of a believer fulfilling and replacing the law as God’s means of moral direction. Though primarily addressed to the Galatians these words also addressed to us, the body of Christ, applicable to our life and our church. The context of our lives poles apart. 21st century external challenges and pressures unheard of in Galatia around 48AD. No issues with keeping mobile phones charged or correctly doing internet banking. Yet internal tensions and struggles exactly the same. Fear of failure, struggles in relationships, self-worth, stress, temptation. May we have ears to hear the Lord speak to us this morning through his servant Paul. Speaking about Christian living. Living out true freedom in Christ. Freedom from judgement for failing to fully obey the law. Living out the life of grace. Freedom freely given to us as children of the living God. Freedom that comes with responsibility. Paul begins, ‘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.’ v13 How then do we live with the freedom Christ won for us? Live by the flesh. Live by the Holy Spirit. They stand in opposition. ‘For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.’ v17a Living by the flesh is living in opposition to the will and ways of God. A life shaped by self-interest and self-focus. Living by the Spirit is a life directed and shaped by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. Seen in phrases Paul uses in the passage: ‘Walk by the Spirit, led by the Spirit, live by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit.’ The Galatians under pressure to turn back from the gospel face a spiritual dilemma. Their Christian faith beginning with the Holy Spirit induced response to the gospel: Jesus is Lord. Will they allow the Spirit to grow their faith? Will they fall back into the grip of sin? Trying to keep the law independently of relying on the Spirit’s work. The dilemma captured in Paul’s question to them in 3:3, ‘After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?’ Paul’s exhortation urges life by the Spirit as he speaks of what the contrasting paths look like. The starkness of life by the flesh revealed in the catalogue of vices Paul lists in v19-21. Not exhaustive but comprehensive. Sexual, religious, social sin possibly indicative of the culture in which the Galatians lived. Certainly indicative of ours. Excluding people from the Kingdom, destroying relationships, destructive of the ethic of love, the foundation of Christian living and fellowship. Going by Paul’s warning in v15, ‘If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.’ life in the flesh already damaging the local church. In contrast, life by the Spirit characterized by humbling serving one another in love. Fulfilling the second of the two great commandments, love your neighbor as yourself. The nature of love unpacked throughout the Letter. Love: defined by the sacrificial, other person centred, life giving death of Jesus; exhibited only in the life of one saved by faith; produced by the work of the Spirit in us; expressed by sacrificial serving of one another. Life by the Spirit evident in the fruit of the Spirit, ‘love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’ Character traits God makes possible by the work of the Spirit in the believer. Growing from the profound two way relationship Christians have with Jesus. The Christian in relationship to Jesus by faith. Jesus’ relationship with us through the Holy Spirit. Paul encourages the Galatians to recognize that giving the Spirit control through obedience to Christ is the best defence against life by the flesh. ‘So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.’ v16 ‘But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.’ v18 Sisters and brothers is your life a picture of life by the flesh or life by the Spirit? A stark but important question. Are you living in your own strength in trying to be morally upright and pleasing to God or are you depending on the gospel and cooperating with the Spirit for Christian living? A converted heart will seek to live by the Spirit. Three personal encouragements to help us live fruitfully by the Spirit. First be realistic about the spiritual conflict we face this side of heaven. No complete victory over sin in this life. Living out our freedom in Christ will include tension, struggles, failures and victories. As Christians there is ongoing conflict within us between the flesh and the Spirit. Speaking of his own experience, and summing up our own, Paul wrote in Romans 7, ‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out…. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.’ v15, 18b, 21 Take heart brothers and sisters the good news: in Christ we are delivered; the flesh will not prevail; our citizenship in heaven not at risk. Second, the conflict within does not negate our responsibility to walk in the Spirit. The freedom we have in Christ as forgiven people is not a licence to do whatever we please. Not an excuse for slackness in personal godliness or sharing Christian fellowship. Paul’s exhortation in v25 expresses that responsibility, ‘Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.’ Literally it is a call to move forward in line with God’s rule under the control of the Spirit. Third, walking in the Spirit is active not passive. Not let go and let God but trust God and get going. Active commitment to the formation of godly habits and Christlike character. Grounded in prayer, built by obedience. Sisters and brothers, in your bible reading stay tuned to commands and exhortations directed to your behaviour and attitude toward God and others. Identify them. Pray for the Holy Spirit to grow them in you and empower you to practice them. Prayer and practice is instrumental to living by the Spirit. A good place to start is with the fruit of the Spirit. Brothers and sisters take a moment to recall the joy of coming to Christ. The reality of proclaiming with conviction that Jesus is Lord. Having begun with the Spirit are you still walking in the ways of the Spirit? Loving the Lord, loving your neighbor, turning away from behaviour in opposition to the will and ways of the Lord, cultivating the fruit of the Spirit, obeying the Spirit inspired Word. ‘Whoever has ears let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’