Works of the Flesh and Fruit
of the Spirit (Part 2)
Galatians 5:19-26
I trust we’re
enjoying our Memorial Day weekend.
Last week we looked
at the general picture between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the
Spirit and said that it comes down to
“I didn’t get what I deserve” “I’ve
received more than what I deserve”
“living to get” “living out of having already
received” [last week’s chart]
We want to pick up
some of the details we didn’t get to look at.
I must confess today’s sermon is a little bit of a hodge-podge as I try
to understand the passage and highlight some things worth mentioning.
We noticed earlier
that living in the flesh and living in the Spirit are diametrically opposed,
they are incompatible, they are in conflict with each
other. Either you are one or the other.
So we’ll notice that
works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit are opposite. The result of living in the flesh is the
opposite of the result of living in the Spirit.
We can’t take the
time to define and explore each of the vices and virtues, but let me point out
two particular aspects.
1. Addressing
sexual sins
The first thing he lists is sexual immorality (porneia),
impurity and debauchery (sensuality)
Having lost all sensitivity, they have given
themselves over to sensuality so as
to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. (Eph 4:19)
Dealing with sexual sin is a huge issue, let me mention two things.
As I just said, the flesh and the Spirit are opposed to each other:
sexual immorality opposes love. These
sexual sins of lust are purely selfish: we just using the other person for our
own gratification
Love finds pleasure, not in ourselves but in
the other. Your focus and joy isn’t in
your flesh but in your beloved.
I don’t want us to see lust as just a lust thing. It is a selfish thing, it is a “living in the
flesh” thing, it is a failure to “live in the Spirit.”
2. Sexual immorality lacks
self-respect
To live in sensuality, to indulge our
lust—the problem is “it is the act of a character which has lost that which
ought to be its greatest defense—its self-respect and its sense of shame. (Fung)”
The problem is that is has no self-respect,
no sense of shame. All it wants is
immediate pleasure.
When Paul addresses sexual immorality in 1
Corinthians, this is his instruction:
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside
his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You
are not your own; 20 you were bought at
a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
(1 Cor
Would you commit adultery/look at pornography in the church
sanctuary? Why not?
You might say, out of respect for God.
Your body is God’s holy temple, where the HS resides in you. Your body belongs to God; God’s property. You are holy.
Have some respect for God, have some respect for what God has made your
body.
Paul combats lust with the gospel.
Don’t you know how much you have received? Don’t you know what God has done for
you? He has bought you and made you His
temple, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
You are sacred.
Now live like your body is God’s temple. Live like the HS is in you.
Our problem is that we don’t understand what God has done for us, we don’t fully realize what He has made in us. We don’t understand His holiness and we don’t
understand the holiness of our bodies. We treat as cheap what God has made sacred.
Instead of living in shame, the gospel is trying to show us that we
have greater glory that we understand.
You are sacred.
2. Addressing
Relational Problems
Paul gives a
significant list of the relational problem that arise
from living in the flesh: hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish
ambition, dissensions, factions and envy.
In Paul’s day, there
were real problems between Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, as well as among
various individuals.
We want to notice
again how these relational problems is the opposite of love, peace, patience,
kindness, gentleness, etc.
One sign of living in the flesh is that we’re always in conflicts, and
people are always being torn down around us.
One sign of the living in the Spirit is that we’re in community, and
people are always being built up around us.
Again, this is a big
topic, but let me address just one issue for us at Renewal:
We have people who have struggled with forming meaningful
relationships. They are open and eager
to get to know people, but they feel unwelcomed and unwanted. They see people who have their own cliques
and clubs, and they feel the sign on the door is “do not disturb” [picture]. And they’re looking for a door that has a
“welcome, please come in” [picture] sign but they’re not finding it. Some of these people are first time
visitors. Some of them have actually
been coming for years, but still feel like they’re left outside.
At a practical level, I’d like to ask a few things
1.
Say
Hi.
Just smile and give a greeting. Acknowledge the other person. You may or may not have a conversation, but
start with Hello. There are lots of
people we don’t know, and I’m really bad at learning names. But let’s start with Hello.
2.
If
you meet a newcomer, please be a good host/hostess
(greeting time
during service). Invite them to the
fellowship hall and go down together.
Introduce them to your friends or others with whom they have
commonalities. Bring them by the
welcoming table. And then, if you see
them again the following week, be sure to say welcome them again and have a
conversation.
But more important that saying Hi and being a good host to our
newcomers, but real issue is that we care.
The real issue is that the Spirit is producing love, kindness, and
goodness in our hearts.
One sign of living in the flesh is that we’re always in conflicts,
and people are always being torn down around us.
One sign of the living in the Spirit is that we’re in community,
and people are always being built up around us.
I’ve been preaching the Gospel with the believe that if we get the
Gospel, if we’re transformed by the Gospel, then we’ll be able to more
genuinely overcome sexual temptations, we’ll be able to have a more welcoming
and friendly community. But it starts
with the Gospel.
3. Warning:
Missing out on the Kingdom
(21b) That’s a pretty serious warning. These people, not
matter what they say they believe, no matter how much they go to church—these
are not God’s people.
To be honest Christians struggle with impurity and lust, jealousy and dissension.
But there must be a progression.
The Christian life is a process, and we see growth and progress in not
gratifying the desires of our flesh and bearing the fruit of the Spirit. We see progress in not “living to get” but
“living because we’ve already received.”
The warning gives us pause to careful self-evaluation.
(let
me skip)
4. Crucify the Flesh
(
What does that mean?
At one level, we’re battling the
works/fruit (sexual immorality, fits of rage, jealousy). We resist temptation.
But more deeply, we’re battling the
flesh itself, the underlying source of these works:
“I’m not getting what I deserve,”
(self-righteousness) “I’m living to get”
It is battling, crucifying, “No,
I’m not being deprived, I have more than I deserve. No, I don’t need to get, I already
have.” It is a battle to believe the
Gospel.
E.g. Suppose you find out someone else is more
successful, more accomplished, more successful than yourself, and you feel
jealous. I must confess sometimes when I
hear of great success of other pastors or churches, part of me feels, well what
about me.
At one level, we resist the
temptation to be jealous. Stop!
But that only goes so far. We must battle where that jealousy comes
from, we must “crucify the flesh.”
God has given me gifts and
passions, purpose and usefulness. God
has given different Christians/pastors different roles. I have my part to play in the greater Body of
Christ.
God says,
you don’t have to worry about accomplishments.
The race is over, and I have already won the prize.
God says,
my identity is not in my ministry success.
My identity is that the Lord is my
Shepherd (I’m His sheep), He is my Father
(I’m His son), He is my King (I’m His
servant).
That is why I say the battle is the
battle of faith, it is the battle to believe.
For some of us, it
would be greatly helpful to have someone else help us see what our personal
inner gospel/faith battles look like. We
might help one another in our small groups or in our counseling ministry.
5. Live out what’s in you
25a refer to being empowered by the
Spirit, the Spirit is our source.
So Paul is saying, Since we are empowered by the Spirit, let us live out of
that power.
“If the Spirit is the source of our
life, let the Spirit also direct our course.”
There is an inner reality that determines our outer lifestyle.
Since we have love, grace,
security; since we have an inheritance, a family, an identity; since we have
supernatural empowerment and freedom, let’s that direct how we live.
6. One
Fruit: A Portrait
There is only one fruit, not 9. Singular. He is not saying the fruits are apples,
oranges, bananas, strawberries. He is
saying an apple is red, round, juicy, sweet, crunchy.
This list is not meant to be broken down and separated. We’re not supposed to think, “I’m okay in
patience but I’ve got to work on self-control.”
He is describing the Christian who is led by the Spirit, living in the
Spirit. And if we have the Spirit, this
is the kind of person we become.
It is a picture of Christlikeness.
I’d like to flesh
out what I see as the picture of someone who is living in the Spirit, living in
the Gospel. Last week I mentioned people
have asked, so what does it look like?
Not undone by troubles. Trouble at work, marriage,
kids, finances, health, etc. We
do not spiral into despair, anger, fear; we do not get into fight or
flight. It’s okay.
Bad traffic, lost
cell phone, boss is demanding, coworker is rude, kids spill milk, kids wake you
up at night (3 times), etc. It’s
okay. We don’t fall apart. In fact, we believe God is in control. We believe in providence. God is training us, God is providing for us.
It’s not that we don’t worry or
get upset or feel discouraged sometimes.
We’re human too. But we don’t
stay there.
The Psalms are full of such honest
confessions of fear or discouragement or dismay, but the psalmist fights the
fight of faith, he lifts his eyes to the hills and sees his Helper.
Thankful. We’re always getting more than they
deserve. We live in a world where God is
always good, so good, so loving and generous to them. We are quick to recognize little gifts of
grace that God gives throughout the day.
Ezra-Nehemiah: God’s hand of favor was upon me and so the king granted
me this or that; God gave us safe travel.
They feel humbled by the
overwhelming and undeserved kindness they’ve received. They rejoice and sing praises because that’s
how they feel toward God.
Kind and
generous (loving). People can
stop worrying about themselves enough to notice and care about the needs and
stories of others. They’re
available. They’re free.
Maybe this enables them to want to
go on a mission trip or comfort a troubled friend. Maybe it means they reach out the newcomers
or they really give themselves to interceding for others. They genuinely feel, if only my hurting
friend could see and know my good God who faithfully cares for His people. Maybe they give financially with joy and
compassion to various needs, maybe they are more prone
to notice the silent cries of people passing by. It can take so many different forms, but the
heart is that we’re free to love. We’re
free to be outward from the heart.
Addicted to
God. The whole world hangs on
seeing God, resting in God. This vision, faith leaks, and so
we strive, discipline ourselves to find ways to keep their vision of God
fresh and sweet. We make time, guard
against dangers and distractions, not because out of fear or duty or guilt, but
out of desire—we are hungry for more of God.
Scripture becomes sweeter and
sweeter because it shows us this God in whom we delight. It is a story of Good News. I recommend the Psalms.
It is like the man who finds a
treasure in a field or a pearl of great price.
We have a different set of priorities and values. We’ll gladly give up other things to gain
more of our treasure.
This is the picture
of one who lives in the Gospel, who lives by faith, who lives in the Spirit.