In Step with the Spirit

Galatians 5:16–26 ESV

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

As kids, a popular game to play is Follow the Leader. One person leads the rest of the kids around the room or the yard, turning this way or that, ducking here or jumping there. The point is to follow the leader's example as closely as you can.

Throughout life, we play a similar game. We imitate the work our teacher demonstrates at school. We learn to copy the same procedures as we train on the job.

Spiritually, we either follow the desires of our flesh or we keep in step with the Holy Spirit.

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Paul wrote this letter to the churches in Galatia because these Christians were being led astray by a sect within the church called Judaizers.

Judaizers taught that we are not truly saved simply by trusting in Christ for salvation. Instead, they said, Christians needed to be circumcised and follow other Jewish laws and traditions in order to truly be saved.

As we have studied in Galatians up to this point, we have found that Paul destroyed this false teaching. He emphatically proclaimed the truth of the Gospel that we are justified by grace through faith alone.

In our text for tonight, Paul explains the practical application of Gospel. In this scripture, Paul instructs the Galatian believers on how they should live as Christians.

The key verse of this letter to the churches in Galatia is Galatians 5:1.

Galatians 5:1 ESV

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

The Gospel is freedom! We are freed from the guilt of our past and the power of sin. We are free to live in Christ! Freedom is wonderful, but freedom can be scary.

The immediate concern of Christians who tend to be legalistic, like these Galatian believers, is that Christians will use their freedom as an excuse to sin.

Paul recognized this danger also, so in Galatians 5:13-14, he explained that instead of using our liberty to satisfy the desires of the flesh, we must serve one another in love. Love is the essence of God's Law.

But Paul knew the overriding danger of these believers was to criticize and compare one another's spirituality and tear each other apart. In both Galatians 5:15 and Galatians 5:26 Paul exhorted the believers not to become conceited or to turn on each other.

Can you really live in freedom without running into license? Can we trust our fellow Christians, as well as ourselves, not to abuse the freedom Christ gives us? How does one live in freedom after being enslaved to sin and the world?

The central truth we find in this scripture is:

Big Idea: The Christian life is lived in step with the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to keep in step with the Spirit? In this passage Paul gives four contrasts between the Christian way of life and the sinful way of life.

1. The direction of the Christian life is after the Spirit, v. 16.

Galatians 5:16 ESV

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Now, obviously, some may feel like the command to walk in the Spirit is too simple. They are afraid that without a lot of rules and regulations the Christian will get in trouble.

Can we truly trust that 1) a believer will truly do what is right simply by seeking to follow after the Spirit, but also 2) that the Holy Spirit will guide us the right way to live?

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Now, the second part of that question is terrible, isn’t it? Of course, the Holy Spirit can guide us and will guide us the right way to live. Maybe our question is more for the individual - can we truly trust other believers, even ourselves, to live holy?

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But isn’t that question terrible, also?

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Both of these questions display doubt - doubt in the character of a person saved by God’s grace and doubt in the power of God himself.

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Yes, it is true that “the flesh is willing but the spirit is weak”. On the other hand, we must not discount the power of the Holy Spirit to change our lives, to guide us, and to give us victory over evil!

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Truly, God's Word teaches us that if we simply keep in step with the Holy Spirit, we will fulfill the law. How?

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The essence of the Law, of course, is found in two commands: love God with all that we are and love others as we love ourselves.

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If we are careful to follow the leading of the Spirit, He will be faithful to guide us along the path of righteousness.

Listen to the description of a spirit-filled life by the ’Sunday Times’ journalist Matthew Parris – a man, who is by his own confession, not a Christian.

“The New Testament offers a picture of God, who does not sound at all vague. He has sent His Son to earth. He has distinct plans for each of us personally and can communicate directly with us. We are capable of forming a direct relationship, individually with Him, and are commanded to try. We are told that this can be done only through his son. And we are offered the prospect of eternal life – an afterlife in happy, blissful or glorious circumstances if we live this life in a certain manner.

Friends, if I believed that, or even a tenth of that, how could I care which version of the prayer book is used?

I would drop my job, sell my house, throw away all my possessions, leave my acquaintances and set out into the world burning with desire to know more and, when I had found more, to act upon it and tell others.

Far from being puzzled that the Mormons and Adventists should knock on the door, I am unable to understand how anyone who believed that (which) is written in the Bible could choose to spend their waking hours in any other endeavor.”

Source: https://sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/65483/listen-to-the-description-of-a-spirit-filled-life-by-mark-eberly

2. The desires of the Christian life are for the Spirit, v. 17.

Galatians 5:17 ESV

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

The motivations of legalists such as the Judaizers often seem to be to protect the Christian from falling into sin. Their belief is that if we can build up a wall high enough of restrictions for the Christian, he or she will not wander out into the darkness of sin.

What happens, though, when people build walls of restrictions to safeguard their Christianity? The Christian becomes imprisoned artificially by rules and regulations that cannot give life or freedom.

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We have all seen this, haven’t we? Good people in a sincere attempt to safeguard against sin erect walls to keep sin away.

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But over time, these extra-biblical rules end up unnecessarily restricting people’s freedom. These walls may even become barriers that prevent outreach to the lost.

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Even worse is when the sin these walls were built to combat seeps in somewhere else. The wall remains intact, but fails its true purpose.

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According to this verse, we are able to avoid falling into sin, without building walls of legalistic restrictions to keep us "safe", by tuning our hearts to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

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Isn’t that thought amazing?

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Maybe this thought is scary.

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Yet if we truly tune our ears to the voice of the Holy Spirit, we will learn to reject the false voices of the world. And as we listen intently to Him, he will guide us safely through.

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3. The dominion of the Christian life is of the Spirit, vv. 18, 24.

Galatians 5:18 ESV

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Galatians 5:24 ESV

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

In his discussion of the Christian life, Paul stressed the freedom we experience in Christ versus the slavery of sin or of the law. In a sense, the Christian is a slave – a servant to Christ.

Yet while we are Christ’s servants, our relationship to Jesus is that of a love slave. We serve Christ not because we have to but because we want to do so. The Christian life is lived in gratitude for what Jesus has done for us on the Cross.

What does it mean for us to be Christ’s servants, under the dominion of the Spirit? There are two applications we should consider:

First, since we are Christ’s servants, we are responsible to obey His Word. The Christian life is not about a cover-up to satisfy the cravings of self. Rather, our life is to be lived for Jesus’ name.

Secondly, one of the ways we can determine if an activity is right or wrong – or even profitable for us as Christians is to ask, “By doing this, am I experiencing the freedom Christ gives me or am I allowing myself to be chained again by the works of darkness?”

John Wesley’s mother gave her son a great principle for knowing whether or not something was sinful or would lead to sin. She said:

Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.

4. The deeds of the Christian life are by the Spirit, vv. 19-23.

Galatians 5:18–23 ESV

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

I like how the Wesleyan Bible Commentary categorizes the works of the flesh. First, this commentary notes there are sins against chastity.

These include sexual immorality (AV - adultery, fornication) which includes “unlawful sexual intercourse, including adultery and incest” (p. 120). Basically, any sex outside of marriage is included here.

Next is impurity (AV - uncleanness) which “includes whatever is contaminating in word or look, in gesture or in dress, in thought or sentiment” (p. 120).

Thirdly, there is the work of debauchery (AV lasciviousness) which William Barclay says is “love of sin so reckless and so audacious that a man has ceased to care what God thinks about his actions” (quoted in WBC, p. 121).

The second category the Wesleyan Bible Commentary gives for works of the flesh is sins against religion. This includes idolatry. Idolatry, of course, includes not only pagans worshipping wood or stone idols but also anyone who places a higher priority on something or someone than God.

Included in this category is witchcraft. This commentary notes that we get our word pharmacy from the Greek word here which means “drug”.

This commentary says, “Witchcraft conveyed the idea of black magic and demonic control often using drugs with occult properties for a number of purposes including, interestingly, abortion” (p. 121).

Thirdly, this commentary lists sins against love which include Galatians 5:20–21.

Galatians 5:20–21 ESV

… enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy…

Note how multiple works of the flesh are related to hatred and anger: enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger.

Concerning rivalries - the Wesleyan commentary notes that this word is the idea of trying to get ahead by manipulation for personal gain and putting others down in the process (p. 122).

Also included in this category is dissensions - As with the previous word, this carries political overtones of a party spirit or exclusive elite within the church.

Divisions - the basic meaning is "to choose". We get the English word "heresy" from this word. The idea is that people choose a doctrine that does not agree with the rule of faith.

envy

The fourth category is sins against temperance. Sins included here are drunkenness and orgies. However, Paul ends this list with the words “and things like these.”

This is just a partial list of the works of the flesh!

But I think just this short list gives us plenty of information about the things that should no longer be part of the Christian’s life.

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

In verses twenty-two and twenty-three we see a contrasting list, the fruit of the Spirit. I like how one commentary categories these Christian virtues.

Love, joy, and peace describe our relationship with God. Patience, kindness, and goodness describe our relationship with others. Faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control describe our relationship with self (ZIBBC, p. 128).

It has often been noted that the fruit of the Spirit is singular. "The fruit of the Spirit is". In other words, we do not pick and choose from the fruit of the Spirit which ones we will display in our lives. Rather, if the Spirit is at work in our lives, we should evidence all of these virtues!

The Galatian believers thought they could not live pleasing before Christ as free people. Instead, they needed to enslave themselves to rules and regulations in order to make their salvation secure.

The glorious truth of our scripture is that we truly can live a Christian life in the freedom of the Spirit.

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How can we avoid being enslaved to sin or to needless regulations as we live in the Spirit?

The simple principle that should guide us is this:

Big Idea: The Christian life is lived in step with the Spirit.

Picture, if you would, a person backpacking in a dark, dense forest who becomes lost. Can you see the initial confusion and fear of this person? Isn’t this much like the the challenges and uncertainties believers often face when trying to follow God's will?

But then, watch as the traveler, realizing he is lost and confused, stops and finds his compass in his backpack. This is much like the believer who opens his heart to God's guidance and seeks the Holy Spirit's direction and chooses to trust in God's wisdom.

As the compass shows the backpacker which way is north, his confusion begins to clear. He feels comfort and gains strength to keep hiking along. In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps believers to understand God's will and make choices that align with His plan.

Watch then as the backpacker follows the compass. At first, he may have to navigate certain obstacles and make some tough decisions - maybe going a direction that, without the compass, he would not be inclined to go. But then, watch as he begins to see familiar landmarks and reaches the path he had intended to follow.

As this person emerges from the forest, even though he may have been lost, even frightened for a bit, now he truly feels renewed and at peace. This symbolizes the joy and fulfillment that come from living in alignment with God's will, empowered by the Holy Spirit. (ai-inspired illustration that I adapted)

This is life lived in step with the Spirit!

How do we live in step with the Spirit, according to our text?

First, we should be headed in the same direction as the Spirit.

Second, our desires should be for the Spirit.

Third, we should be dominated by the Spirit.

Fourthly, our deeds should be done through or by the Spirit

I urge you to take inventory of your life. Is your life marked by works of the flesh, or by the fruit of the Spirit? Are you truly living in step with the Spirit?

Application: As the Holy Spirit reveals to you your true spiritual condition before God, repent of any work of the flesh that is still part of your life. Confess it to God and pray that the fruit of the Spirit might blossom and grow in your life.