Galatians 5:1-26. Living Life Upside Down When we look at the direction the world is heading today, a direction that seems to be steered away from godliness by secular and anti-faith leadership and a godless culture, people of faith may find a tremendous frustration and grief as they witness an unending series of attitudes and actions that are in direct conflict with that which would seem godly and pure. We live in a culture that will imprison us for killing a turtle or a rattlesnake, but shout praises when we abort an unborn human fetus. We may perceive the changes over the previous generation as a free-fall into the depts of worldly depravity as depraved lifestyles are promoted as normative, and marriage is decried as old-fashioned and irrelevant. Our world-wide national governments use an ever increasing agenda of lies, corruption, violence, and deceit in order to grasp for greater power over the governed. Consider the words from a recently popular contemporary gospel song: "What if we re sinking to the bottom of a well, thinking that we're climbing to the top of a mountain? What if we re knocking at the gates of hell, Thinking that were heaven bound? What if we spend our time thinking of ourselves, When we should have been thinking of each other? What if we reach up and touch the ground, To find we re living life upside down?" 1 Living life upside down. What does it mean to "live life upside down? If living "right side up" is referring to living a life that is characterized by obedience to the Truth of God's and experiencing the blessing of that obedience, living life "upside down" refers to the opposite: living a life that is more characterized by the priorities and mores of this wicked and perverse world. The difference between the experience of one life and another is determined by our choices. What resource do you use when making decisions? The Christian is living life in a battle between the flesh and the Spirit; doing what our nature desires often is on conflict with what the Holy Spirit communicates is righteous. If we are egaged not in such a battle, we might be wise to check just who our Lord is, and repent! It appears that because of the 1 Truth, Living Life Upside Down.
conflict taking place in the Galatian church, where leaders were dictating terms of entry into the Christian fellowship, that there were Christians who were living life upside down and trying to drag other Christians along with them. Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians to turn them back to the truth. Do you, as a Christian, desire to truly follow the way of righteousness? If so, you should desire to learn true righteousness. Often we learn righteousness by listening to the Holy Spirit as He guides and comforts us about our decisions as we ask questions like, "what does God's Word say about this?" or "What would Jesus do?" We also read the Word to get a general perspective about decisions, though "hit-and-miss" Bible reading will not provide much resource here. To truly profit from scripture it is necessary to maintain a consistent study over the whole Bible to get a global view of its context. Sometimes, we tend to submit to Christian leadership. We often give authority to our Pastors, deacons, and maybe to Sunday School teachers when we simply assume, because of their position or their training, they have a better grasp on the Truth of God's Word than we do. This is one area where we can run into problems, and start to invert the truth. Consider the following quote: "One of the most wonderful principles known to man is called the miracle principle. It has revolutionized the lives of many people who have learned its secret and how to put it into practice. Six words describe the principle: Expect a miracle- make miracles happen. If you keep your eyes open expectantly every day for great and wonderful things to happen, it is astonishing that great and wonderful things will happen to you. Always think the best. What we send out mentally and spiritually will return to us. We become what we are in our thoughts. A miracle is a cast of mind, which is described in the 62nd chapter of Psalm: "Wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him." What you think is what you become. You must get off the wrongness beam and get on the rightness beam. God has crowded miracles into you. Why not let them come forth and live? Make miracles happen." 2 Are you able to pick up on the tragic error in this respected "Christian" man's teaching? Note that no mention is made of seeking the Holy Spirit, no mention is made of sin, salvation or the need of it by this religious group. No mention is made of the authority and applicability of scripture to 2 Norman Vincent Peale
ascertain blessing. This quote is from a doctrinal statement by Norman Vincent Peale who leads Guidepost Associates, Inc., a group on the lunatic fringe of Christianity. This doctrine was first disseminated by Herbert W. Armstrong and later by Robert Shuller who preaches a gospel of self-salvation. "Believe that you are good, you will be good." "Believe that you are saved, and you are saved." Though you are reaching for the gates of hell, believe you are heaven bound. Why do so many people listen to the likes of Norman Vincent Peale, Herbert W. Armstrong and Robert Shuller? Why do we listen to people who want to tell us what to do? Often we lack confidence in our own ability to know what is right. We trust another's interpretation of scripture without questioning the voracity of his/her opinion. We can be easily swayed by the skillful orator who is able to use deep and developed arguments to defend his case. When we are easily swayed by the theological opinions of others without properly vetting their teaching by the Word of God, we tend to place the nature and of and the responsibility for our righteousness on someone else's shoulders. Paul, in the fifth chapter of the Book of Galations makes it very clear what he thinks of such forms of deviant and misleading Christian leadership. Galatians 5:1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Paul is witnessing the response of the Galatian church to the teaching of those who would lead them to live ungodly lives as they claim that since sin no more has authority over the Christian, God's unconditional forgiveness serves to allow for a return to sinful acts. Paul calls upon the Galatians to take a firm stand for the truth, a stand that will disarm the false teacher's influence. People of faith can stand firm on the gospel they know and through the Holy Spirit's guidance, expose the wolves in sheep's clothing that arise from the muck of the world to ensnare us. Prior to coming to faith every Christian was immersed in this sinful and profane world, and by being so immersed suffered the consequence of that profanity. Paul refers our immersion in this profanity as a "yoke of bondage." As long as we continue to live apart from faith in God we are burdened by sin's power. The Jewish resolution to this issue was found in a theology that they themselves created, a theology that taught a form of righteousness that could be found by living under the law. Since no person can keep the law, the rules and regulations imparted by them became another burden.
Salvation is not found in the keeping of the law, as some of the Galatian "Judaizers" were insisting. Salvation has always been found simply by placing one's trust in God as their personal LORD and Savior. The burden of works that leaders impose on Christians. Is is faith that lifts us out of the burden of sin and immerses us in the salvation of God. Consequently, God is looking for us to turn to Him in obedience rather than to some manmade book of laws. True salvation inspires a heart that desires obedience to God as He becomes the primary authority in our lives. Consequently, Paul is literally begging the Galatians to refrain from a return to the entanglements of the sinful life that they knew prior to coming to faith, whether those entanglements were with the beliefs of a secular, pagan, and perverse world, or with the legalist teachings of the Jewish leadership. Having been lifted out of the stench of this rotting world, why would anyone wish to return to it? Yet those who were leading the Galatians were teaching them to do this very thing. We can observe this same pattern today as the world culture has bombarded the Church with arguments to persuade them to put away the truth and follow their ungodly teachings. Rather than stand firm on the Word of God, churches and church leaders are forming a dramatic retreat from the teaching of obedience to the LORD and His Word, bringing into their teachings those same arguments that this perverse world is using to diminish the influence of God's truth. When this happens, the church is immersed in a conflict of the heart, mind, and spirit as God's Word and the work of the Holy Spirit leads the faithful to obedience to Him, and the world insists on an obedience to godlessness. Galatians 5:2-6. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. In these verses Paul uses the work of Jewish Circumcision as an example. He goes so far to say that if you allow yourselves to submit to works that have been imposed on you, using them to justify your righteousness, Christ is of no value to you at all. When one replaces faith work some "work of righteousness, one has rejected the gift of Grace that God offers, and Christ died for. You will no longer experience the freedom from guilt
that salvation and true, unconditional, forgiveness brings. Do you desire peace and freedom in your life? Paul simply states that any attempt at bypassing the necessity of faith, instead working our way to heaven results in alienation from Christ and falling away from the Grace that God gave us. No work of the law has the ability to save one from a eternity separated from God. The law only serves to expose the sin of those who lack faith. The only work that has true power to lift us out of the morass of tis world is simply faith in God, expressing itself in unconditional love for Him and for all of His creation. This is what James is referring to when He describes the part that good works plays in the Christian life. When our faith is true, it is evident in the spotaneous good/godly works that the fruit of the Holy Spirit inspires in us. True faith is not found by conforming to some set of rules and regulations that other people are requiring of us. Galatians 5:7-10. Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. Paul says that when we came to Christ we were running a race, focused in the right direction, channeling our efforts to an appropriate goal. However, the change in direction that results from submission to false doctrine is like someone cutting in front of us, redirecting our path, and keeping us from running in the true right direction. He likens those people who are redirecting young Christians to yeast, which when subtely placed in a lump of dough, works its way through the whole batch, completely changing the character of that which it invades. Those who cause this will pay the penalty. James describes this in 3:1 James 3:1. My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. You should listen to everything taught to you by a Christian leader and measure it against the plumb line of the Word of God. That is, the whole Word of God as illuminated by the Holy Spirit, in its global context; not as a single verse of scripture taken out of context.
Galatians 5:11-12. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. 12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you. Paul uses a quite dramatic word to describe what he would choose to do to those who are creating error and misdirection in the body. Referring specifically to the medical act of circumcision, the Greek word, apokopto, may be most accurately reflected in the NIV as the English word emasculate. Other words that are often used to render this Greek term include mutilate, and cut off. This is a very graphic term which simply means to go far beyond the surgical act of circumcision. In the Greek text he repeats this word twice, the second time referring to the benefit of their being completely cut off from the body of believers to whom he is writing. None of the major English translations seems to note this repetition very clearly. As is often the case in Paul's writings, he will go to great lengths to graphically describe a problem, and then provide a comprehensive solution. The remainder of the chapter describes this solution. Galatians 5:13-14. For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. If the entire law is summed up in this command, then the law by which people of faith are to now operate is simply one: the uncompromised expression of unconditional, agape love. This form of love is characterized by an unconditional desire for the welfare of all others that is identical to the unconditional desire for our welfare demonstrated by God when He sent Jesus to save us from ourselves. It is this type of liberty who which people of faith have been called. There is a profound freedom in Christ, one that is most fully expressed and found when we truly love one another. In this manner we are freed of all of the pain, stress, and guilt that is generated by a godless, loveless world. If we are distracted from this calling and return to the principles of this world, there is an unavoidable consequence of our behavior: Galatians 5:15. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. When some people of faith choose to bring worldly behavior into the body of Christ, it is sometimes difficult to remember that our first calling is to love one another. Instead of expressing love, those worldly principles that are a
product of the work of the prince of darkness, serve to create strife and division. Paul describes the nature of that division like the strike of a venomous snake, or the ravaging of a hungry lion. In both cases, the one who is so attacked suffers significant injury or even death. Those who are trying to move the body away from the true purpose of the church will usually be met by a body of believers who perceive their arrogance and their rebellion against the Lordship of Christ in the body. Conflict arises, and since the decision to operate outside of the boundaries of agape love has been made, people wrestle with one another, often hurting one another with attacks that are every bit as intentional as the bite of the snake or the pounce of the lion. The word rendered "if" in this verse carries a grammatical sense that could also be translated "when." Paul is witnessing this conflict in the Galatian church and reminds us to be very careful when we attack one another to do so without creating permanent injury. There is a great cloud of witnesses, those who have disdain for the organized church and refuse to renter the faith community because they have been hurt by unloving Christians in the past. It is these who have been most grievously devoured. Galatians 5:16-18. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. The biting and devouring is motivated by the selfish, power hungry, sinful nature of man. Paul states that this nature of the flesh is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit is contrary to this human nature. This is the battle that every Christian faces every moment of every day. We face it when we try to balance obedience to the LORD with the necessity to live wisely in a perverse world. Unfortunately, we also face it when, like heavy baggage, Christians (or those who think they are Christians) drag principles of this godless world into the fellowship. When this happens we have a choice. We can spend our time biting other Christians, or loving them. Paul again states that we are not under the law. We are not called on to follow any specific list of works, or do-this commands or don't-do-that commands. But, if we are really people of faith, then Jesus is truly our Lord. And if He is Lord, we are led of the Spirit, and have victory over sin
and the law. If He is truly our LORD and are following in obedience to Him and His Word, we will respond to these situations by being led of Him, not by the Law (which may be written into our church constitutions an by-laws), and not by the world. Love comes first. Likewise the need of people always comes before our bent to defend our petty rules and regulations. Galatians 5:19-21. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. We might take a few moments to observe the list of faithless and worldly behaviors that Paul describes as typical acts of a sinful nature. Those described in verse 19 are sensual in nature. They are the sins against our bodies: sexual immorality, impurity, and a spirit of debauchery. One commentator described changes made in a New Orleans church motivated by a desire to reach people: in order to reach those who took part in the debauchery of the pre-lenten Baccus celebrations, they promoted the drunkenness and lascivious behavior and actually brought it into their church, rationalizing that such a lifestyle was satisfactory for this area since it is New Orleans. The church declared what is obviously inappropriate behavior as normative and acceptable in their community. We might be tempted to point our fingers at them and judge them for their sin, yet we do so while accepting any number of other sins in our own body. We are failing to act in love when we judge someone else simply because their sin is different than ours. Another line in the song quoted at the beginning of this chapter study states that we have created a righteous lifestyle by redefining sins. Attitudes and behaviors that were once considered egregiously sinful are now becoming accepted. Again, living life upside down. The next two sinful acts, idolatry and witchcraft are sins against God, and our relationship with Him. The remainder of the list are sins against other people and our relationships with them. The ordination of homosexual clergy is a prime example of this drive to redefine that which the scriptures specifically decry in an attempt to make it acceptable.
Galatians 5:22-23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Note that the sinful acts that Paul just described are all works of the flesh that are exercised in rebellion against God, and the list in verses 22-23 are described as fruit of the Holy Spirit. What is the difference between a work and a fruit? An apple is produced by an apple tree simply because it is an apple tree. The same is true for all fruit. A fruit of the Spirit is spontaneously produced because of the presence of the Spirit in one's life. The production of such fruit is the natural and expected result of a Holy Spirit-led life. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stated that branch that does not bear fruit should be cut off. If Jesus is our Lord, we will bear spiritual fruit, lest we be worthy of being cut off. Christians will know and recognize each other by their Spiritual fruit. As you observe each item on that list, do you see these as being the fruit of your life? Also, when you look at the life of Christian leaders, do you see these in their lives also? We sometimes will rationalize away their fruitlessness and say, "They're only human", etc. But when you fail to observe Spiritual fruit in their lives, do not give them authority over you. Instead of love does the person demonstrate bitterness, anger, retribution, and self stratification? Instead of joy, do they demonstrate a spirit of hopelessness or despair? Instead of peace do they demonstrate a spirit of turmoil? Instead of patience, do they demonstrate a spirit of impatience? Instead of kindness, do they demonstrate unkindness or even cruelty? Instead of goodness, do they demonstrate sinful acts and rationalize them away? Instead of faithfulness, do they demonstrate a weak faith which is injured by every passing difficulty? Instead of gentleness, do they demonstrate harshness and authoritarian, or even dictatorial demands? Instead of self control, do they demonstrate a lack of self control in a loose temper or overindulgence? It is disappointing to note that I obtained the list of "Insteads" by describing the demonstrated personality of a single Christian pastor I have known in the past.
Galatians 5:24-26. And they that are Christ s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Paul started the chapter by admonishing people of faith to stand firm in that faith. He then described the damage done by following the doctrines of those who would distract us and turn us from that faith and bring us back under the bondage of this pagan world. Paul illustrated the difference between works of the flesh and fruit of the Holy Spirit, and gives us guidance on recognizing these in ourselves and in others. Paul asks that we reconsider who we are, and as Children of God, we should live in the Spirit, in step with the Spirit. We are to love one another. Only this way will we be truly free of conceit, envy, and conflict with the sinful nature. Only then will we fully realize the peace and joy within the context of the fellowship of the church that the LORD intends. Only then will we right the wrong, and live life "right side up" instead of "upside down."