Let's look now at Gal 5. We will start at v 13 and read through verse23. Gal 5, verse 13

Transcription

1 Galatians: Living in Spiritual Freedom Peter Lim Intro: I was driving my car through town... i am so happy to be able to say that " I was driving" (because my car had been broken for awhile). I was driving through town and several times I saw these people with these blue and white shirts, waving flags. It was people campagning for the election here. Sherry and I were visiting friends at marina palmira and there was a whole bunch of them with the blue and white shirts cheering, chanting, and waving flags. Here, as well as in the states, people look forward to elections. it is a chance to exercise our freedom ---- to vote, to help determine our future. During these election cycles, there is a hope that the future can be made better. However, when a candiadate does get elected, they may or may not use their power and authority in the right way. We hope they will use their authority and their freedom to make decisions that will benefit the people. Probably all of you have lived long enough to experience some elected people who used their freedom and power in a good way, while others used it in a bad way. Today, as we continue in the book of galatians, Paul brings up the subject of Freedom. But it's not about political freedom or economic freedom or social freedom. It's about spiritual freedom, our calling to be free in Christ. Let's look now at Gal 5. We will start at v 13 and read through verse23. Gal 5, verse 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. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: Love your neighbor as yourself. 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 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. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. This is God's word.

2 In this letter to the Galatians, Paul has talked a lot about a false Gospel. It is was a false Gospel of salvation by faith in Christ AND obeying the Jewish traditions and rituals. This false Gospel required MORE than just simple faith and trust in Christ. So in v.13, Paul says we are called to be free. Christian spiritual freedom. Paul should have been able to end his letter right there. No to the Judiazers. No to their legalistic approach to salvation. No to trying to be saved by the OT law. And Yes to the Freedom that the Gospel brings. But leave it up to good old human nature or rather I should say bad old human sinful nature to twist and distort even this message of spiritual freedom. So Paul has to write some more. He has to go into more details, so it will be clear what he means and what he does not mean when it comes to being free in Christ. Just like the elected government officials ---- when they make decisions on behalf of the people, how will they use their position and their freedom? What will guide them? For us, how will we use our freedom? What should guide us in our spiritual freedom? In this passage, Paul tells us what should guide us and what should not guide us in using our spiritual freedom. 1. First of all, Paul tells what should NOT guide us. He says Christians should not be guided by the FLESH. In v. 13, Paul says "do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh". What does he mean by "flesh"? Well, our flesh, our body in and of itself is not bad. God created our us and our flesh and bodies are really amazing in how it all works together. But when Paul is referring to our "flesh", he is referring to our human sinful nature. He says not to indulge our sinful nature, not to satisfy it, not to nourish it and help it grow. Otherwise, it be turn on you and over take you. One time my brother was at a friend's house that friend had an guana lizard. It's body, without the tail was about 6 or 7 inches long. It lived in a fish tank but here no water, or just a little bit. My brother wanted to handle the lizard and asked it that was ok. Our friend just recently got the lizard but he had taken it out and had held it. So he said it was ok. So my brother took it out and was letting it crawl on his arm and hand. Then my brother starting try to pet the lizard's face and mouth with his thumb. The lizard suddenly snapped and bit my brother's thumb. The thumb was stuck in the mouth of the lizard. The lizard would not let go, it would not open it's mouth.

3 My brother started trying to shake the lizard off and it wouldn't let go. Then they went to the toilet and my brother stuck his thumb with the lizard on it into the toilet bowl, so the lizard was under water. After a few moments, the lizard opened his mouth and let go. My brother's thumb hurt and he went to the hospital. They gave him some pain medicine and rabe shots. My brother and his friend don't know why the lizard bit him. But the lizard has it's own lizard nature and instinct. The sinful nature is like that. When you play around with, it can bit you and it won't want to let go. The sinful nature seems harmless. But it is dangerous. Paul even says, in v. 15, be careful not to bite and devout each other. In our relationships at home, at work, or even at church, if we play around with something that is dangerous, we can end up being biten, or worst, devoured. It is like a wild animal. You probably heard of stories with animal trainer, with lion or killer whales or other animals, who were biten or killed by such animals. These animals still have their wild, animal nature, not matter how trained they may seem. The sin nature is like that. In the book of Genesis, there is this a passage about when Abel and Cain, the sons of Adam and Eve. Abel and Cain brought offerings to the Lord but the Lord was more pleased with Abel's offering than with Cain. Cain became angry. In Gen 6:5, God says to Cain: Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you..." Sin is pictured as a wild animal in this passage. I love the imagery in this passage. God says it is "crouching at your door...". Our sin nature is like that. You think it is sleeping. No it is crouching. You think it is harmless. No it is crouching. You think it is a tamed animal. No it is crouching. You think it is small. No, it is actually bigger than you think, it is crouching. It is waiting for the right time to prounce, and jump on you. God says sin desires to have you, devour you. The sin nature, our sin nature is not something to play around with. It is not something to ignore. And Paul is warning us about it in today's passage of Galatians. Do not use your freedom to play around with or indulge your flesh, your sin nature. Paul goes on to list, in v 19-21, examples of the actions of people who are being guided by their sin nature. Some of these sinful actions are directed toward God. Idoltary and witchcraft are mentioned. Others sinful actions are more focused at oneself. Sexual Immorality, impurity, drunkenness,

4 selfish ambition Still other actions are mainly directed towards other people: hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, dissensions, factions, envy, orgies Paul gets really specific, so it is very clear what he is talking about. Some of these things, like drunkenness or sexual immorality, we may not do. But what about others --- hatred, discord, fits of rage, envy, selfish ambition? God wants us to confess such things to him and to be willing to let God help us to turn away from them. He also says, in v.21, those who live like this, those who continue to indulge in the sinful actions of the flesh, they will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Earlier in Galatians, Paul talked about how the true Gospel had changed his life. That's what the Gospel does. When we are truly saved, there are things about our life that are different than the way it was before. A common criticism that you hear about Christians and about the church is that the people there are hypocrites. There is no difference from the world, from non-christians. Paul is speaking out against these sins of the flesh, so that the church will not be full of hypocrites. Instead, Christians will be holy, in the world but not of the world, set apart as a bride is for the bridegroom. Paul goes on to tell us how the Christians should live. What SHOULD guide them. This is the second point this morning. 2. The second point is that Christians should be guided by the Holy Spirit in how they use their spiritual freedom in Christ. In v. 16, he says "walk by the Spirit". In v. 18, "if you are led by the Spirit...". Paul specifically points out that Christians should use their spiritual freedom to love. In v. 14, he says the entire law, the moral law of the OT, is fulfilled in keeping the command to: "Love your neighbor as yourself" Jesus said those same words himself, as he quoted from Lev 19. Jesus had an amazing way of being explaining truth in concise and meaningful ways. Jesus knew that people think a lot and focus a lot about themselves. If you are hungry, do you continue to starve yourself? No, you feed yourself. If you have no shelter and you are out in the cold, what do you do? You find some shelter to stay warm. If you are sick, you find a doctor so you feel better. And these are just some physical needs, there is a lot more ways we take care of

5 ourselves. So in the same ways we take care of ourselves, that's examples of how we are to love others. "love your neighbor in the same ways you love yourself". That fulfills all the moral and social laws of the OT. When I was a new Christian and I saw certain types of people in need, I struggled with this. In SF, there are a lot of homeless people, I would see them all the time. And there are poor and homeless people everywhere. When I was walking down the street here one time by the OXOX, near the Pemex, there were these guys there, looking sort of like they live on the street. One came up to me and asked me for money. I looked into his eyes, they were bloodshot, there was alcohol on his breath. I did not give him any money. And when I was a new Christian, I stuggled with that. I decided I would not give money to a person who would probably use it to continue to damage his life and possibly others. But what I did do was give money to my local church. And part of my money was being used to support ministries that really knew how to help people in the right way, how to address the underlying, root causes, and provide long-lasting change in people's lives. That's the same with Crossroads. Crossroads is one of the oldest, in fact I think it might be the oldest English-speaking evangelical church ministry in La Paz. A good portion of the money given to Crossroads is used to support ministries that, for example, help abused women, that help poor children, that serve handicapped children and their families. So whether you are just visiting La Paz or if you live here, you see a lot of needs and maybe you don't know wisest way to help the people you see. Well, you can give money to Crossroads, as well as to other Christian organizations, and get involved personally too. Then when you stand before the Lord one day, the Lord will know that you loved others as you loved yourself. ======= In this passage of Galatians Paul is talking about being guided by the Spirit. So he mentions the fruit of the Spirit. He gave examples of the sinful actions of the FLESH, so he now he writes about the Fruit of the spirit. This is in verse 22. I just want to share a few thoughts about the way I personally look at the fruit of the Spirit. The first thing you notice about this verse, v22, is that the word "fruit" is singular, it is not plural. It does not say the "fruits" of the Spirit, just the "fruit" of the spirit. And that fruit of the spirit, it is the first one that is mentioned. It is love. And how is this love

6 seen? or how is it understood? Paul goes on to mention: joy, peace, forbearance (or in some translations "long-suffering"), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To me, all these others things are different manifestations of love. They are different ways love is expressed. They are various aspects of love. These goes along with what Paul say in 1 Cor 13, the famous love passage. Paul begins that passage with by saying "I will show you a MORE excellent way". He says if he does all kinds of great things, but he does not have love, then he has nothing. Then he describes LOVE. He explains what it is like, both in a positive way and a negative way. He gives examples of what it is and what it is not. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Cor 13: 4-7 There is no one-to-one exact correlation with between 1 cor 13 and the fruit of the spirit in galatians, but there does not have to be. In both cases, Paul is just giving examples of what Love is like. So in Galatians, Paul said earlier to "love your neighbor as yourself". Now, he connects that to the fruit of the Spirit, it really comes from the Holy Spirit. It is a love that comes from God. Also, there is the organic nature of the fruit. You can take all of the chemicals that make up an apple and you can put them into a box and shake them up, but this will not make an apple. Apples have to be grown. They have to grow on apple trees. In the same way, the fruit of the Spirit cannot be obtained by reading a list of attributes and then trying to do them through self-effort. It is fruit. It must be grown. This growth is brought about by the Spirit. It is His work. It is his fruit that he produces in us. The fruit of the Spirit in our lives is not what we DO, it's who we ARE. Everything listed in Galatians 5:22 describe a Christian's character. The Spirit changes YOU, which in turn changes what you do. The fruit of the Spirit is a sign or evidence that a life that has been changed by the true Gospel.

7 Jesus says that you will know a tree by the fruit that comes from it. Paul say we are to use our freedom to love. And as we love others, we serve them. Paul says, v13, serve others humbly in love. Caren had made some food for Manual, who had recently been sick. When I brought the food over this week, I was so blessed. I was glad it was mentioned here at church to bring him some food. I did not see Manual but I spoke briefly to his grown-up son. I told him who I was and said we had some food for Manual and I gave it to him. He was so thankful, you could see the expression on his face. It just lit up. He was deeply touched by this. I believe he was not only thankful for the food but thankful that others were helping to care and watch over for his father, Manual. Love and service go together, as we use our spiritual freedom for Christ. I want to also remind you all of the opportunity for us to do this as a church. We are going to meet with Barbara Spencer to plan how we can be involved in passing out food and other things to poor families in neighborhood where Barbara lives. We will meet today after the B.S. But if you can make the meeting today, we will be providing more info about this in the upcoming weeks. Concl. So this morning, we looked how to be wise with our spiritual freedom. Paul tells us what should not guide us and what should guide us in our Christian freedom, 1. We should not be guided by our flesh, our sinful nature 2. We should be guided by the spirit, by God's love in us When are guided by the Holy Spirit, we are free to love and to serve. Just as I saw in La Paz, people cheering and waving signs, and celebrating their freedom to vote, so Paul is cheering us on to celebrate the freedom we have in Christ. During elections, as I said before, people are always looking for a better future, the hope that the candidate will bring greater freedom and prosperity to our life. But the only true, long-lasting hope is Christ. Through dying on the cross for us, Jesus provided the way for us to have true freedom and an eternal future in him. As we have a time of silent prayer now, I would like you to respond in thanksfulness in your heart, to the freedom that we have in Christ. And for his call on you and me to use your freedom to love and serve.

8 Let us pray. Jesus, only in you can a person be free --- from the chains of sin and death. We thank you for dying on the cross to set us free. We pray that your Spirit would guide us to use our freedom to love and bless others.