Sunday, December 2, 2012
WHY WALK IN
THE SPIRIT?
Gal. 5:13-17
Do we not long for freedom? From the time we are little, we wanted to be
out from under authority. We think
thought that if we could just get rid of
authority, we would be free. Of course,
that was not the case. Because of the
effects of sin in this world, when human authority is removed, the result is
chaos, not freedom. The Judaizers feared
that was the kind of freedom that would result, if the restraint of God's law
was taken away. Without the law to
restrain them, people will just do whatever they want to do. They will go wild. Sin will prevail.
But there are legitimate freedoms for which we long. Before we come to God through the death and
resurrection of Christ, we begin to long for freedom from the power and penalty
of sin. We begin to realize that even
when we try to do better, it's of little use.
Even if we conquer one sin, several more seem to crop up. At the same time, it begins to dawn on us
that the Bible tells us the penalty of sin is death, even eternal death. Sin weighs us down and will ultimately send
us to hell. We long to get the monkey of
sin off our back.
I. In Christ We Are Called to
Freedom
In that context, we read in Gal.
5:1, "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (ESV). Then again in 5:13, "For you were
called to freedom, brothers. Only do not
use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one
another."
When we were justified through the death of Jesus, we
were set free. Listen to Jesus' words in
John
8:30-36...
As
He spoke these words, many believed in Him. 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews
who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 33
They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in
bondage to anyone. How can you say, 'You will be made free'?" 34 Jesus
answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a
slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son
abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free
indeed."
Ultimately, Jesus Himself is the truth, for He also said,
"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but
by me" (John 14:6). After
saying that the truth would make us free, Jesus then said, "If the Son
therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). There is freedom in Christ. That is what Paul meant when he said,
"For you were called to freedom, brothers."
We might ask the question, "Freedom from
what?" Did you notice that in the
John 8 passage we just read Jesus talked about being a slave to sin. Before coming to Christ, we were indeed
slaves to sin, but in Christ we have gained our freedom. Not only are we free from the penalty of sin,
which is no less than hell itself, but we are also free from the power of
sin. Jesus died and rose to break sin's
power in our lives. Yes, we have been
called to freedom, freedom from the power of sin.
Now come back to Gal. 5:13. Notice that Paul doesn't stop with the
affirmation that we have been called to freedom; he follows it immediately with
a warning which serves as an explanation.
"Only don't use your freedom as an opportunity for the
flesh." What does he mean by that? As you know, "flesh" is a term that
is used often in the New Testament, especially in the letters of Paul. While it sometimes refers to the physical
skin that covers our bones, that is not the usual meaning of the word. Normally, as is the case here,
"flesh" refers to that tendency toward sin that remains in the
believer. Though we are free from the
power of sin, that doesn't mean that we never sin. And the truth is that our flesh becomes the
beachhead of sin. We often think of our
enemy as Satan, and he certainly is, but that is only part of the truth. The flesh is the enemy within, which works in
close association with Satan and the world.
One author defines "flesh" like this...
The meaning
of "flesh" in the book of Galatians is not the physical part of man,
but man's ego which feels a deep emptiness and uses the means within its own
power to fill that emptiness. If it is religious, it may use law; if it is
irreligious, it may use booze. But one thing is sure: the flesh is not free. It
is enslaved to one futile desire after another in its effort to fill an emptiness
which only Christ can fill. (John Piper, sermon on Gal.
5:13-15).
Paul is telling us that our freedom in Christ should
never be used in such a way that it gives an opportunity to the flesh. I know of no better illustration than what
happened to a friend of mine when I was in seminary. Andy was also a seminary student. In one of his classes he was fed a heavy diet
of how free we are in Christ. That is
certainly the truth, and that is what Paul is emphasizing here. But somehow he failed to hear the warning
about not using freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. It began small, but it ended up with Andy
committing adultery. He cast off all
restraint and yielded to the desire of his flesh.
Understand that in the pagan world of the first century
sin was rampant. Don't ever get the idea
that sin has only been a major problem in the past century or two. Large cities of that day were no different
than what we find today. Some of the
most corrupt practices, including sexual immorality, were associated with the
pagan religions. Paul was dealing with
the teachings of the Judaizers, who were concerned about what would happen if
the constraints of the law were taken away.
In their view, a man without the law would be ruled by the evil vices of
the flesh.
The Judaizers saw the evil of the flesh in the outward
corruption of the pagan world and the failure of many Jews who were not serious
about keeping the law. What they failed
to recognize is how the flesh can rule in the lives of those who appear to be
the most moral. Writing by the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul would warn us of both dangers. Often these two dangers have been summed up
with the terms "license" and "legalism." On the one hand, freedom in Christ can be
corrupted by those who turn it into a license to do the outwardly evil deeds,
as was true of my friend Andy. Others
twist this freedom God longs to give by smothering it with a legal system that
feeds inward pride, as was the case with the Judaizers.
II. Freedom in Christ Is the
Freedom to Love
Now let's read all of verse 13, "For you, brethren,
have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the
flesh, but through love serve one another." Rather than giving an advantage to the flesh,
he urges us to serve one another through love.
So we see that there is another option.
Understand that Christ has not set us free to indulge our fleshly
desires, whether in the direction of license or legalism, but to lovingly serve
one another. That implies that before
Christ set us free, we weren't able to serve one another through love. Is that true?
Didn't you love other people before you were saved? Maybe we can do it a little better now, but
surely we were able to do this even as non-Christians. Don't you think so?
Do you see what's missing here? We must define what we mean by serving one
another through love. His definition is
in the words which immediately follow:
"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"
(5:14). This is what it means to serve one
another through love -- love your neighbor as yourself. If you love your neighbor as yourself, you
will indeed serve him.
Let me remind you of the lawyer (an expert in the law of
God) who came to Jesus and said, "What must I do to inherit eternal
life?" Jesus replied, "What
does the law say? How do you understand
it?" The lawyer gave an amazing
answer: "You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength
and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." You will recall that on another occasion,
when a man came and asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment, Jesus gave
this exact same answer that the lawyer gave.
So to this expert in God's law, Jesus said, "You have given the
right answer; now go do it and you will live -- that is, you will have eternal
life." But then we read these
words, "But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, 'And who is my
neighbor?'" Jesus answered with
what we call "the story of the good Samaritan." You know the story. A man was traveling from Jerusalem to
Jericho, and on the way he was attacked by bandits who robbed him and left him
for dead. A priest came along, saw the
helpless man, and quickly passed by on the other side of the road. When a Levite came upon the scene, he did the
same thing. But then a Samaritan (whom
the Jews hated) came along and had compassion on this stranger. He bound up his wounds, set him on his own
donkey, and transported him to the closest inn.
Before he left the man with the innkeeper, he pulled out two days' wages
(something like two or three $100 bills) and said, "Please take care of
him. If it costs more, I will pay you
when I get back." So who was a
neighbor to that helpless man? The one
who had compassion on him and helped him.
Our neighbor is whoever is around us with a need.
At this point we need to simply pause and let this sink
in. We have heard this little command so
many times that we are in danger of losing its effect. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. When you got up this morning, did you want to
have a good day? Did you make sure that
you got yourself dressed and had some breakfast before you came? Some of you were especially careful to make
sure you had your coffee. Now here is
the question: Were you concerned that
others have a good day? Did you think
about whether or not anyone else had breakfast?
Most of you got in your car and came to the meeting this morning. Did you have any thoughts at all about those
who didn't have any car to transport them?
You came here openly without fear of being arrested? Did you think about those who risk their
safety and maybe even their lives to meet together in the name of Christ? Do you see? Loving your neighbor like you love yourself is
no small thing.
Consider our prime example, Jesus Himself. He knew the truth: He is the truth. He had fellowship with the Father. He could say, "I am in the Father, and
the Father in me." Jesus was certainly
content and secure in who He was, but that wasn't the end of the story for
Jesus. He longed to see others have that
same relationship with the Father that He had.
Jesus had the truth, but He longed for others to understand that
truth. So what did He do about it? He served others through love. Instead of secluding Himself in a place of
safety, He mixed with the people, spoke the truth about His Father, and
expressed genuine concern for everyone He met.
Was it easy? No. Most people didn't understand. They gossiped about Him; they despised Him;
they plotted against Him; they accused Him of having a demon; they crucified
Him. Ultimately, Jesus laid down His
life for others. Yes, serving others
through love cost Jesus His very life.
No, the unbeliever cannot love his neighbor as
himself. The good news is that we who
are in Christ now have the freedom to do it.
It isn't automatic, but it is now a possibility. The Lord never asks us to do something that
He cannot do through us. Of course,
there is also another possibility, which Paul expresses in verse 15, "But if
you bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed of one
another." This kind of behavior
goes along with using freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.
So let's review:
Christ has set us free for freedom.
He has not called us live in a straitjacket, where we are continually
hemmed in by rules and regulations. No,
He has called us to a life of freedom.
In Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin. No, we have been called to freedom. It is freedom to serve one another through
love. We didn't have that freedom
before, because we were in bondage to our own selfish desires. We were so stuck on ourselves that we could
not break out of that bondage to serve others through love. Yes, we are now free to love our neighbors as
ourselves.
III. How Do We Love Like
This? By Walking in the Spirit
Now comes the big question: How do we do it? So we have the freedom to serve one another
through love, but we have discovered that is a tall order, involving loving
others as ourselves. How on earth are we
going to accomplish that? Before we
explore how we can indeed love our neighbor as we love self, let me remind us
of how NOT to do it. I mention it
because it is so prevalent in our society.
There are well-educated people, including many who profess Christ, who
tell us that the secret to loving our neighbors is to learn to love
ourselves. They would say, "I am
told to love my neighbor as I love myself.
Therefore, if I don't love myself, then I can't love my neighbor. Then it follows that the first step in loving
my neighbor is to learn to love myself."
That may sound logical, but it is built upon a lie. The logic crumbles when we understand that we
already know how to love ourselves.
Jesus never told us to love ourselves, but to deny ourselves. If we follow the philosophy that tells us to
learn to love ourselves, the focus of our lives will be on self. That is the very thing from which the Lord
can set us free. The key to proper
attitude toward self isn't thinking I am bad, or thinking that I am good, but
being free to not have to think of myself period. That is what we see in Jesus. He didn't go around putting Himself down or
building Himself up. Jesus wasn't occupied
with Himself. Instead, He spoke these
words and lived them out: "My will
is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work" (John
4:34). That's freedom.
Come to the positive.
How do we serve one another through love? How can we love our neighbors as
ourselves? The answer is in the very
next verse: "This I say, then, Walk
in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (5:16). The answer is not in self, but in the Spirit
of God. This is a great and wonderful
promise: "Walk in the Spirit, and
you will not gratify the desire of the flesh."
Let's pause for just a minute to look at the meaning of
some of these words. When Paul uses the
word "walk," which he does many times, he is speaking of more than
just moving from one place to another by the use of our legs. The word literally means "to walk
about." It is a metaphor for the
way we live our lives. He could just as
easily have said, "Live in the Spirit." The walk speaks of the lifestyle. Some of your translations will have "by
the Spirit" instead of "in the Spirit." Grammatically, it can be translated either
way. Certainly included in this phrase
is the idea of living by the power of the Spirit. He is the One who must empower us to live out
the will of God. The word translated
"fulfill" is not the same word we found in verse 14, "For all
the law is fulfilled in one word..."
The word here means "to complete" or "to
finish." That is why some
translations read, "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify
the lust of the flesh."
That is a good translation, especially since it helps us realize that
this is a different word.
"Lust" does not always speak of sexual sin. It simply speaks of strong desire, but most
often it is used with a negative connotation, denoting evil desires.
You notice the contrast between the Spirit and the
flesh. We are told to walk in (or by)
the Spirit, but the flesh has plenty of desires of its own. We see this conflict spelled out in verse
17: "For the flesh lusts
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to
one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." Within the believer there is a battle
raging. The desire of the Spirit and
that of the flesh are diametrically opposed to one another.
Though a person is a Christian, redeemed by the blood of Christ, that
does not mean that the flesh is going to give up. It is that principle within us that continues
to fight for control, opposing the Spirit at every opportunity.
This battle is so fierce, we are do not end up doing the
things we want to do. There is a
difference of opinion concerning the precise meaning of this statement. Paul might be saying that we want to do the
will of God, but the flesh is so strong that we are not able to do it. Or, he might be saying that we want to do
pursue our evil desires, but the Spirit restrains us. Perhaps he has both things in view. Whichever way we take it, here is the big
question: Is there a way to defeat the
desire of the flesh? Are we at the mercy
of the power of the flesh? Does the big
"I" always have to win?
The answer is a resounding "No." That is the whole point of verse 16: "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not
gratify the desire of the flesh."
This is the victory. This is the only
way to have victory over the desire of the flesh, but it is the
way. Do you see the greatness of this
promise? We are not told that perhaps we
will not gratify the desire of the flesh, if we walk by the Spirit. It isn't a "most likely so." This is an absolute certainly. As a matter of fact, in the original language
a very strong expression is used in this promise. You will by no means gratify the desires of
the flesh. We don't use double negatives
in English, but the Greek speakers did. "You
will not never gratify the desire of the flesh." Our little granddaughter Salem gets in big
trouble when her parents tell her something and she responds with, "No
way," but that's basically what this says.
"Walk in the Spirit, and there is no way you will gratify the
desire of the flesh."
We will never defeat the flesh by determination and hard
work. Why not? Because the determination and hard work that
is not produced by the Spirit is the very work of the flesh. The flesh can never cast out flesh. Take an example: Suppose you have a bad habit of taking the
Lord's name in vain. Is that a sin? Indeed, it is. It cheapens the name of our Lord, and for
that reason it is expressly forbidden in the commandments. Now let's suppose that you decide that since
this is not right, you are not going to do it any more. That very day you take the name of the Lord
in vain seven times. But by about the
fourth day, you have it down to two times.
Within a month you can honestly say that you are no longer taking the
name of the Lord in vain. Is that a good
thing? How could it not be a good
thing? You are obeying the commandment
of the Lord. But who gets the credit for
ceasing to take the Lord's name in vain?
You get the credit. You
determined to do it and you did it. You
say, "But the Lord helped me."
The bottom line is this: You were
not walking by the Spirit, and the pride that comes as a result of your
accomplishment is more deadly than breaking the commandment in the first place. This is the deceptive trap of legalism, and
it is a gratifying of the desire of the flesh.
Conclusion: How Do We Walk By
the Spirit?
Now comes the big question: So how does a believer walk by the
Spirit? That is what I want to challenge
you to think on this week. Let's ask the
Lord this simple question: "Lord, how
do I walk in the Spirit (by the Spirit)?"
Let's ask Him to guide us in the scriptures, as we think about this
question. It's obvious that walking by
the Spirit is crucial, if we are going to do the will of God, if we are going
to please our Father, because that is the only way that we can defeat the
flesh. So it is just as critical that we
have some idea of how to do it.
Brothers and sisters, let's pray this week. And let's pray with great expectancy that God
will answer. He may not answer in the
way we want or the way we expect, but surely He will answer.
As we pray, let us understand that we are not studying
some theory which doesn't relate to life.
I remember some discussions about the study of calculus. The general feeling was, "What is the
point? Once I get out of this class, I
will never again even consider this stuff." One who had some appreciation for calculus
will quickly point out that the class can be very enjoyable, if the instructor
will make it practical, helping the student see that there are all kinds of
ways it can be used. Now there are some
calculus students who will remain skeptical about such a possibility. But when we come to the concept of walking by
the Spirit, we must be deeply convicted that we are talking about real everyday
life. Monday morning you will either
walk by the Spirit, or you will gratify the desire of the flesh. This will happen to you.
I am becoming more aware of this truth every day. I want you to know that I am not just
preaching to you about walking by the Spirit.
This is where I live too. The
Lord is giving me a renewed appreciation for how vital these truths are. Regardless of what I say to you, I am called
to freedom, freedom to serve others through love. The only way I can do that is to walk by the
Spirit. I may fool you by appearing to
serve others through love, and I may even fool myself, but I will not fool God. I don't want to try to fool God or deceive
myself. God is graciously planting within
me a deep desire to live this out in a way that will bring glory to my
Father. May we pray to that end.
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