Scripture:
Galatians 5:16-26 NKJV
[16] I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. [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. [18] But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. [19] Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, [20] idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, [21] envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. [24] And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [25] If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. [26] Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Observation:
This morning it was a little difficult to find where we needed to be. I was hoping to draw something out of Galatians chapter 4, beings that is where we will be tonight in Bible study, but the Holy Spirit was just not allowing me to. Several thoughts came to my mind about what may need to be said this morning. But I just couldn’t land on any one thing. As I prayed and thought, the one thing that wouldn’t leave my mind is this passage, and I’m not even sure that this is where we are supposed to be. We will find out shortly. The letter to the Galatians was written because the church as a whole had been misled by a group of men that could not let go of the old system. You might say they were in a self imposed prison. Stuck inside a system that had made them a slave to laws and traditions that did absolutely nothing. Paul had spent a lot of time telling this church about the freedom found only in Christ but for some reason they wanted to return to a broken system. As he was bringing this letter to its closing point, he felt it necessary to give the church a way to tell exactly where they were in their walk with the Spirit of the living GOD as a guide, saying, “walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” As he begins to lay the groundwork for a clear cut way to see exactly where they were, describing the war that they faced. The flesh wars against the Spirit. They want the opposite of each other. Paul’s desire to point these things out came with two clear cut lists. One describing the desires of the flesh and the other explaining the fruit that the spirit produces. Just like the law was written as a mirror of who we were, these two lists were explained so that we could see what was leading them. I could go over each individual characteristic of the flesh. But I’m sure if you are anything like me when you had the opportunity to read through them as you began reading this SOAP, the things that are still prevalent in your life brought about conviction already. Its kind of cut and dry. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, and idolatry are at the top of the list. Again these lists are in place so that the church could see exactly where they were, contention, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambition. All these are works of the flesh. The interesting thing is the statement that is at the end of verse 21, “just as I told you in times past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of GOD. Now I’m not preaching condemnation. I’m just saying what the Bible says. I think the key word is practice. Paul’s gives these two lists as a way to identify where they are. The fruit of the Spirit is identified clearly as well. The first sign that the Holy Spirit is what is guiding your steps is one word love. That’s the beginning, joy follows pretty quickly. I personally see this as one piece of fruit that becomes easier to identify as the walk continues. The key to that interpretation is the word fruit. It’s not plural, it’s not more than one the Bible says it’s the fruit of the Spirit not the fruits of the Spirit. I see this as something that becomes easier to identify as it grows that the last thing being seen is self control. I want to back up to one verse and then we will move on to the application process. Verse 18 says, “but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Application:
I think there are key points to this portion. We have to be careful to take an inventory of what is leading us. GOD has given us grace not as a license to live how we want, but as a way to learn how to live for HIM. I can tell you from personal experience that it’s easy to get misled by our flesh. In fact the Holy Spirit pointed something out to me just yesterday that I was doing that was not Spirit led. I quickly brought it to the light, and I’m doing my best to change it. Here is what I want to glean from this scripture. The flesh wants what feels good. Most of the time that has some immediate gratification. It feels good right now. I’m going to be raw here for a minute. When I came home to an empty house, because my wife had left. The outburst of anger was overwhelming. The brokenness that I felt again was so intense. It’s been a while now and I still have a hard time setting it aside. My flesh took over. That’s the war we face. I want more than anything to be led by the Spirit. After tearing my house apart the Holy Spirit spoke to me. “See that did nothing, sure it felt good in the moment but now you have even more to deal with.” The flesh wants what feels good, the Spirit wants what is good. The problem is what feels good is not what is good, and what is good doesn’t always feel good. As I think about the first sign of the Spirit I see the word love. This thought takes me to the first Corinthians chapter 13 verses 4 through 7, Where a clear description of love is given. The word longsuffering comes to mind, and as much as it hurts. That’s a fruit of the Spirit. So if I want to be led by the Holy Spirit I will suffer long. Now in saying that it’s hard to see joy in suffering, but if we look at James chapter 1 we see him telling the church to cloud it all joy when you face many trials. This is not an easy task. But the thing about joy is it’s a choice. Its different from happiness, it’s a choice, it’s not circumstantial. You can choose to have joy inside to struggle. It’s still not easy. I want to do things that I know I shouldn’t. Sometimes I vent to someone about things I’m thinking but have no intention of carrying out. The Holy Spirit is truly in control of this situation. I can’t tell because I’m not in jail. My flesh has been kept in check for the most part. Although I am hurting, I’m not sure what good is coming from this. I know it’s not my story to write. Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of my faith. I’m just going to trust HIM with it. HE is the only one capable of truly loving me anyway. So listen I don’t know where you’re at. But I know this now. These lists are for our benefit. It’s a great way to see where you’re at, so that when hard stuff hits you don’t do what I did.
Prayer:
Father, your plan is the one that matters. You have given us every answer we could ever need to help us to see it before we make bad decisions. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. We know that in order to practice self control we have to be placed in situations where it is necessary to use it. That means our free will has to be kept in check. We want to show our love for you by the way we live. Lead us with your Holy Spirit. Convict our hearts when we are thinking about stepping outside your will. Write your words on our hearts and help us to obey them. Not as a means of salvation but as a choice to love you over the love we have for what feels good. Fill us with your Spirit so full that the flesh will have no room to be a part of our lives. Its in the mighty name of Jesus we pray amen.