Have You Crucified The Flesh?

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Galatians 5:24–26 NASB95

24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

To the fruit of the Spirit, Paul says, “there is no law”. This means there is NO limitation, warning, forbiddance to any of the fruit of the Spirit. One may freely act on these, and abound in them.

Once again, I must emphasize Christianity:

Is not about a checklist it’s about character formation

It’s not so much about what you do but who you are

It’s not so much about your merit but your response to God’s mercy

Have you changed? Have you grown? Are people still saying the same things about you? Or are you like Paul in Galatians 1:23 “23 but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.”” - Is there a marked difference in your character which is then manifest in conduct?

What he proceeds to say warrants every second of our attention because it is of extreme importance:

It calls every beleiver to ask themselves the question, “Am I truly a follower of Jesus?”

It challenges every believer to truly live and be led by the Spirit - as a lithmus test to the genuineness of my discipleship

It corners every believer with the introspection of how do I truly view fellow beleivers

This is what he brings to mind in these final verses.

He frames these final words under the label of a “Christ-person”

Are you a “Christ-person”?

APPL. - Are you a dog person? Are you a cat person? Are you a coffee person?

If you answered any of these, think of the things you own, places you frequent, activities you do in your quiet time, connections you have, videos you watch.

They all verify that you are indeed, a dog/cat/coffee person

The structure of the Greek language literally says, “those Christ’s”

Those who belong to Christ, are Christ’s, after Christ, all about Christ

If you fit that bracket, there are some things that come with that territory. There are expectations that God has of you. There is a nature, a course that you follow, if you are a Christ-person.

This is where it gets really serious!

It means the flirtations with the flesh have to stop

It means the dancing with the darkness has to stop

The full custody t you have given to the devil whilst offering weekend visits to Jesus has to stop

Why? You are Christ’s

Matthew 16:24 “24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

So what Paul is say fits the theology of Jesus

The problem is that we sometimes try to take the cross and follow but we haven’t denied self. We indulge self, we feed self, we embrace self but we don’t deny self!

We cannot be about that life, and the CHRIST life at the same time - we have to make a choice.

If we choose Christ, we must accept the Lordship of Jesus and the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:24 “24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

# “The Flesh”

is that inner nature that is self-indulgant, self-reliant, self-exalting, self-satisfying (It’s deeds are evident Gal 5:20-21). It is hostile towards the Spirit.

This is why it won’t work with discipleship, because discipleship is about Christ not Flesh.

Philippians 3:8 “8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,”

We’re struggling because the things we should count as a loss we are still counting them as a gain, and our devotion to Jesus is suffereing, and so is our discipleship.

Luke 14:26 “26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”

# Crucify the flesh

What does this mean? Paul’s own words can help.

Galatians 2:20 “20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

When you see Jesus on the cross, see yourself having died too.

Paul loooks back at something Christ did for him. This is different from what we read, because our text is saying that we are doing the crucifying.

Consider what Christ did

Romans 6:6 “6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”

There was a defining and damaging blow, a deathly blow to our old sinful man on the cross!

Since we still live in the flesh, we dwell in mortal bodies, it still is possible to be enticed by it, drawn to it, to that Paul says, crucify it. That part of you is dead, live like it

Romans 6:11 “11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

You are dead - It is Christ, who lives in you. It is the Spirit who lives in you and shapes you

Since you have been crucified with Christ, dealt with sin, and man of sin - Crucify the flesh.

Galatians 6:14 “14 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

This is not isolation and disassociation, but a clear acknowledgement of where my loyalty is.

If I’m dead to the world, it does not have a say in how I live, that right is reserved for The Spirit. I need to “keep in step” with Him.

Galatians (4) The Fruit of the Spirit (5:22–26)

… True Christians do not succeed in completely destroying it (that is the flesh) while here below; but they have fixed it to the cross and they are determined to keep it there till it expires. (J. Brown)

This crucifixion is a lifelong process, it is a daily decision to submit to the tansformative work of the Holy Spirit. “I cannot serve two masters”.

This is not a quick-fix, rushed, microwave, one-and-done deal, it involves being consitently obedient, and renouncing the flesh and it’s desires.

# With its passions & desires

The first word is interesting, it means: suffering.

Romans 7:5 “5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.”

Paul is adding character and depth to flesh, to make it concrete in the mind of his listeners, to further establish the danger in giving into the flesh. If you could see this for what it really is you will exterminate it, not embrace it.

The danger is that the flesh will bring you to a place where you are ready to suffer even though you know it’s sinful.

ANALOGY: Men workout even though it is painful, they like the results. Women wear high heels even though it is painful, they like how it looks and the attention.

Sometimes we enjoy darkness so much we are willing to suffer to satisfy it

John 3:19 “19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”

Crucify the passions and cravings of the flesh!

When the cravings of the flesh go, you need to have cravings for new things

Psalm 27:4 “4 One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple.”

Psalm 63:1 “1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

Jeremiah 29:13 “13 ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

James 4:8 “8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

At the heart of discipleship is not so much what I do, but what I become. This speaks to the transformative work God is finishing in you through God’s Holy Spirit. If you are truly God’s disciple [a Christ-person], you will embrace LORDSHIP, and keep in step with the Spirit - because you cannot do the flesh and do Jesus at the same time.