MPC, 21st May 2000.Galatians 5 - Free to be Fruitful
Phil Campbell MPC, 21st May 2000.
Forget about those 21 tourists who have been kidnapped in the Philippines. I reckon someone has KIDNAPPED THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Because there's the IDEA AROUND that you only really get to meet the Holy Spirit in a certain type of church. And not in others. There's even a church that advertises... HOLY SPIRIT PRESENT HERE EVERY SUNDAY. As if the Holy Spirit might not be at the church round the corner. Especially, I guess if you asked them, especially if it's a Presbyterian Church.
And maybe there's a bit of a feeling with some of us, that because these days the Holy Spirit has been kidnapped, because there's the idea that the Holy Spirit is only there when there are people SPEAKING IN TONGUES or being MIRACULOUSLY HEALED or being SLAIN IN THE SPIRIT and falling over, or LAUGHING IN THE SPIRIT...- then we more cautious Christians don't talk about the Holy Spirit at all.
And I've been accused of that. YOU PRESBYTERIANS... you have a TWO PERSON TRINITY. No Holy Spirit. Because they say we don't have the healings and the slayings and the laughings on tap on a Sunday morning. Well, I want to ask you this morning, do you REALLY BELIEVE in the HOLY SPIRIT? And particularly... when you get rid of all the smoke and mirrors that some churches are so good at, when you clear all the RUBBISH... have you appreciated that God has given us the Holy Spirit... to make us HOLY PEOPLE?
I mean, it's no accident, is it... there's a pretty good hint in the name... HOLY spirit. And yet so many of the churches that say their FOCUS is on the Holy Spirit, you see claims of healings and prosperity, people literally FALLING OVER by what they say is the power of the Spirit. And yet there's not so much interest in being HOLY by the Power of the Spirit. Which says to me, there's something very WRONG.
My friend Chris was pastor of a church like that. He was kind of competitive. Kind of condescending. Kind of felt sorry for me, because I was the pastor of a CONSERVATIVE CHURCH that didn't have the Spirit. Whereas they did. And he'd often tell me about the dozens of people who he'd brought to the Lord that week. About the GREAT HEALING last Sunday night. About the people he was seeing set FREE FROM EVIL SPIRITS as they worshipped by speaking in tongues. And he'd tell me this stuff because he wanted me to know that HE AND THE SPIRIT WERE MATES. PARTNERS - in a way that a Presbyterian couldn't even begin to understand.
Chris came to see me one day and there was a change of tone. And he said, "You've probably heard some rumours about me. He said as he looked me in the eye, "They're not true. I'm not having an affair at all. Let people know it's all lies." Two weeks later Chris left town. With the woman the rumours said he'd been having an affair with. Leaving his wife and kids.
A tragedy. But it left me wanting to ask the question, if it's really TRUE YOU'VE BEEN SUCH GOOD MATES WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.... where's the HOLINESS? Where's the HOLY LIFE? Because as we're going to see this morning, FIRST AND FOREMOST, that's what the Holy Spirit is about.
And as we've been grappling with what Paul's been saying about NO LONGER LIVING UNDER LAW, as people have been asking the obvious question, well if we're not under the law, how are we meant to live... Paul has a simple answer. We LIVE... by the HOLY SPIRIT. Who changes us from the INSIDE. In a way laws NEVER COULD. And never can.
I heard someone say it about cricket a couple of weeks ago. In the middle of the betting scandal. They were saying, we'll bring in TOUGHER RULES. And somebody said on TV, the problem goes WAY DEEPER than that. You've got to deal with the PROBLEM ON THE INSIDE. And it's true, isn't it.
And so Paul here in Galatians 5, he's been saying to the Jewish Christians, DON'T IMPOSE THE LAW on these newcomer non Jews. Because the law could NEVER BRING RIGHTEOUSNESS. Only condemnation. He says, don't be confused. What you need to become righteous, what you need to be HOLY... it isn't the law. It's what they've already been given. The HOLY SPIRIT.
So don't trade your FREEDOM... for slavery again. That's what he's saying at the start of the chapter. It is for FREEDOM that Christ has set us free. STAND FIRM. And don't be yoked again by the slavery of the law. In for a penny in for a pound. He says, don't even let yourself be CIRCUMCISED. Don't fall for ANY OF IT. Because if you take on PART OF THE LAW you're taking on all of it. At which point CHRIST IS NO VALUE TO YOU any more.
And pick up verse 4; here's where he puts his point. You who are trying to be JUSTIFIED... remember, justified means DECLARED RIGHTEOUS; in the greek it's literally the same WORD as RIGHTEOUS.... righteousIFIED... you who are trying to get your righteousness BY LAW... have been alienated from Christ. You have fallen away from grace. BUT BY FAITH... here's the point... we eagerly await THROUGH THE SPIRIT... the RIGHTEOUSNESS for which we hope.
I mean, that's the goal, isn't it? To be RIGHT WITH GOD. And living RIGHT lives. Filled with everything GOOD. And the law could never produce that. Well, Paul says, THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN. By FAITH... keeping our hearts fixed on Jesus... THROUGH THE SPIRIT... that righteousness comes. Not by living under laws and rules. But by living under the HOLY SPIRIT. Having a whole CHANGE OF HEART.
Now think about it for a minute. Isn't that what people REALLY NEED? I mean, you stop to think about it when you're watching the news, all you can do is despair. There are scary things happening, because it seems like everywhere in the world where repressive government gets lifted, where the rule of law breaks down, what's happening. People start killing each other. Petty wars everywhere you look. People doing INHUMAN THINGS to one another. And you've got to say, the REAL PROBLEM, it's not in a lack of laws. It's what's in people's HEARTS.
And Paul says to us here, the ONLY SOLUTION... is for the human heart to CHANGE. And the only way for the human heart to change is by the work of the Spirit who brings HOLINESS. Real righteousness. You who want to get your righteousness through the law, says Paul, you're walking away from Christ. You've fallen away from GRACE. You've cut yourselves off from the one solution on offer. As we eagerly await... through the SPIRIT... the righteousness that we're longing for.
And what's it going to look like in practice? Very simple... over and above anything else, it's going to look like LOVE. Verse 6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value - Jew, non Jew, whatever - the ONLY THING THAT COUNTS.... the ONLY THING THAT COUNTS... is FAITH... expressing itself through LOVE.
Trust Jesus. Love one another. Trust Jesus. Love one another. Too simple? Wouldn't work? I wonder if it's been tried yet? The only thing that counts, is faith... expressed through love. Keep your confidence in Jesus and his death for your sins; and EXPRESS IT... in a life of love that comes from the inside. Instead of being imposed from the outside.
He sums it up further down in verse 13. Because the thing about freedom, I guess it gives you all sorts of options as to what you can USE IT FOR. But Paul says, what a waste if you don't USE IT for what it was GIVEN FOR. That is, to live a life of FAITH EXPRESSED THROUGH LOVE.
Pick up what he's saying. Verse 13. You my brothers, were called to be FREE. But don't use your freedom to indulge the SINFUL NATURE... rather, SERVE ONE ANOTHER in LOVE. The entire law - and Jesus said this, didn't he - the entire law is summed up in a single command... LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF."
I mean, think about it. It's the one thing that, if you're doing it, everything else is easy. Don't kill your neighbour. Of course I won't kill my neighbour. I LOVE HIM AS I LOVE MYSELF. Don't ROB YOUR NEIGHBOUR. Of course I won't rob him. I LOVE HIM!
And yet right through the history of Israel, that's not the way it was. Until now, says Paul, with the coming of the HOLY SPIRIT... there's finally the possibility of SOMETHING DIFFERENT. The FREEDOM - to be something different. To express your faith in Jesus - through love. You, my brothers and sisters, says Paul, weren't called to be bound up under a pile of laws. You were called to BE FREE.... free to SERVE ONE ANOTHER... in LOVE.
DO NOT use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Rather... serve one another in love.
The next section, he goes on to paint a picture of what the two options look like. Indulging the sinful nature. In contrast to living by the spirit. And the difference is as plain as black and white. Two paths you can walk. The Holy Spirit. The human nature. And he paints a picture of a struggle that all of us know. If you've come to faith, if you're a person who's come to the point of committing your life to Jesus, then you'll know. It's not as if suddenly all your temptations go flying out the window and everything's suddenly easier. Just the opposite. It's like walking into a WAR ZONE.
Because what Paul calls your SINFUL NATURE, the selfish, self-absorbed, do-whatever-feels-good part of you is suddenly in CONFLICT... with the HOLY SPIRIT. Which is pulling the other way.
I want to say to you, if you KNOW that sort of conflict, if you LIVE WITH THAT SORT OF CONFLICT, if you've got the urge to do wrong fighting it out with the urge to do right... GOOD NEWS. That's exactly what the Christian life is meant to be like.
Verse 16. Read what he says. "So I say, LIVE BY THE SPIRIT, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the SINFUL NATURE desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. THEY ARE IN CONFLICT WITH EACH OTHER, so that you DO NOT DO WHAT YOU WANT.
But if you're LED by the Spirit, says Paul, then you're not under law.
See, here's the question. You've got the conflict going on. In the end, which side are you going to go with. Moment by moment, decision by decision; the Spirit? Or the Human nature.
It's not something LAW's going to help with. Because it's a fight on the INSIDE. And Paul says to us, and it's an INSTRUCTION, not a suggestion, he says when it all comes down to it, what you've got to do is WALK BY THE SPIRIT. Be LED by the Spirit. And put the sinful human nature part of you to death.
And it's obvious, isn't it, which is which. Not as if we need it spelt out. Verse 19. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious. You don't need laws to point it out. 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.
That stuff. And anything like it. You've got your pleasure seeking lusts... the sex and drugs sort of life style, he calls drunkeness and debuachery; you've got spiritual - witchcraft, idolatry; you've got the stuff that breaks down relationships; jealousy, envy, selfish ambition that walks on anyone else to get ahead; you've got the urges to cause division; dissension, factions, envy. And he says it's obvious where that stuff comes from.
And if you think when Paul says you're not under the law any more he means you're free to do that stuff, that's NOT WHAT HE'S SAYING AT ALL. Just the opposite. You've been set free NOT TO. He's very clear. If you're living that way and you keep living that way, you're not heading for the Kingdom of God at all. The end of verse 21. I warn you as I did before, says Paul, that those who live like this... will not inherit the kingdom of God. Don't use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Rather - remember what he said before? - rather, SERVE ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE.
And it's LOVE that's first in the list he spells out in verse 22 of what it's going to look like when the HOLY SPIRIT is at work. Producing... not so much a dramatic stage show - but FRUIT.
Love. Joy. Things on the inside. That are going to profoundly effect the way you live on the outside. Peace. Patience. We're in verse 22. Bit the fruit of the Spirit... is those things. Growing the personality of Jesus ... IN YOU.
Do you ever notice it... you meet a Christian here in Brisbane; you meet a Christian in Sydney... you meet a Christian the other side of the world... and there's something THE SAME about them. Something about their PERSONALITY that gives a family likeness. And let me tell you, it's not THE LAWS they keep, is it? It's something way deeper. The marks of the Holy Spirit at work on the inside... producing love. And joy. And peace. And patience. And kindness. And goodness. And faithfulness. And gentleness. And self control. Qualities, says Paul, against which there is NO LAW.
The Christian life is a life lived OUT FROM THE INSIDE. Rather than under laws pushing IN from the OUTSIDE. And that's the difference. That's the difference Jeremiah looked forward to in the Old Testament. Jerremiah 31:33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Now can I ask you to think for a minute, is that how it is with you. Not that you're suddenly perfect when you become a Christian. But that there's FRUIT GROWING. That maybe brings a tension with the way you were. Because now your hearts GREATEST DESIRE is to walk by the Spirit. And not just be at the beck and call of your built in sinfulness.
Paul says, it's a fact. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have CRUCIFIED the sinful nature with its passions and desires. And so since we LIVE BY THE SPIRIT he says, let's keep IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT. And not give into the urges of conceit. Provoking. Envying. Which it seems like were pulling the Galatian church apart.
Nothing more comical, is there, that a marching band... with someone out of step. When they had that big fiasco about the Olympic marching bands, they showed a local band on TV they reckoned could do the job. And you had to laugh - it was so awful. Not just out of tune. But half of them out of step, running into each other. Paul says, it's a fact - you're in the band. You've decided you're going to LIVE BY THE SPIRIT. But that means EVERY STEP... every DECISION... make sure you keep in step with THE SPIRIT. And not your sinful desires that have got no place in the Kingdom of God.
So if you're someone caught up in sexual immorality - and it may be that some of you are - you need to get back into step. If you're caught in a spiral of drinking too much maybe - you need to get back into step. And you say, but I can't. Paul says, BUT YOU CAN. With the help of the HOLY SPIRIT. Specialist in making people HOLY. Maybe you're consumed by ENVY. It's not fair, is it... that someone else gets to enjoy so much; and you don't. That someone else gets so much attention. And you don't. Paul says that's the sinful human nature talking. Selfish ambition. KILL IT. Or the innocent sort of stuff, just sharing a complaint with someone, just passing on to someone else something you heard about someone not happy with something. The seeds of dissension. The seeds of discord. Paul says, WALK AWAY FROM IT... and keep in step with the SPIRIT instead. Which produces patience. Kindness. Gentleness. Self control.
Friends, no matter what you might have heard from your friends who go to other kinds of churches, if that's the way you're heading, if you're step by step walking with the Spirit, then you're living the Christian life. I was talking to someone last week, she said she used to go to a church, and they said to her, because she wasn't babbling in tongues she didn't have the Holy Spirit. Well, don't listen. The question is, how's your love. How's your JOY. How's your peace and patience. How's your KINDNESS. And your GOODNESS? How's your FAITHFULNESS. And gentlesness? How's your self control?