The Flesh and the Spirit: Part 2

Galatians 16-26 The Flesh and the Spirit (Part 2) Introduction: The main emphasis of the second half of this epistle is that life, lived by faith, in Jesus Christ, is a life of freedom. Paul wants these Galatians to continue in this freedom that they have through the free grace of God in Christ. Despite the fact that we already have been saved by Christ, we must be continually diligent to remember, to preserve, rejoice in and live in accord with our salvation. So we can experience the end, the goal that God purposed in our salvation - Freedom. But as Paul warned, “we can fall away from Grace”, meaning we can lose that freedom by falling into legalism (trying to earn the favor that we already have with God through faith in Jesus) or into liberalism (falling back into bondage because we are abusing our freedom). Paul is explaining in Chapter 5 how we can stand firm in the freedom that Christ has given us. Paul has been showing the Galatians again and again, when it comes to salvation, that if you go the route of what you can do in yourself, in the flesh, all you end up with is more flesh, mere human results. You can effect the surface of your life but you cannot change the actual person. But as he has argued from the beginning when you go the route of faith, and the divine intervention of the work of Jesus and the Spirit of God in your heart - you get life changing results - freedom, new life, new creation. To be led by the Spirit is to change, and be changed, to be the people we want to be. The Spirit fueled development of Christ like character is liberating, because it brings us closer to being the people we were designed, created to be, the people our “spirit renewed hearts" want to be. 1. What the Flesh wants vs What the Holy Spirit wants. 1. What the Flesh Wants 1. Last week we discussed how Paul uses the term Flesh to mean -what every one of us by nature. Paul then uses the term, “desires of the flesh” - which literally means over-desires or inordinate desires, an all-controlling drive and longing. 2. What Paul means is that the main problem our heart has is not so much desires for bad things (there are those too), but our over-desires for good things. When a good thing becomes our “god” or a means of salvation, it creates “over-desires.” Paul is saying that sinful desires become deep things that drive and control us. Sin creates within us the feeling that we must have this-or-that or our lives are meaningless and hopeless. 1. The Flesh wants to glorify anything but God, especially self -which is the definition of Idolatry. The Flesh has this way of convincing us that we are validated only if we have these things, and that we are nothing without them. 2. The “flesh” is idolatrous, over-desires that arise from a heart that is afraid to trust God and desires rather to be its own Savior and Lord. Paul has shown us many times over - the flesh can only produce more flesh - human results but can never arrive at the righteousness that God requires, or works in us through his gift of salvation… 2. What is it that the Spirit longs for? Jesus teaches that the Holy Spirit will come into the world to “glorify me”(John 16:14) 1. The ultimate purpose of the Spirit’s operation in the Christian is to change us into the likeness and character of Jesus Christ. (Rom.8:29 – “He predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.” and Eph.4:13 – “Till we reach maturity, the fullness of the stature of Christ.”) So the ultimate goal of the Spirit is not some kind of general comfort, strength or power, but concrete, practical change in our character--how we think, feel, and act habitually and naturally. 2. So, while our flesh “glorifies” and adores and lusts after all kinds of created things and conditions and people, the Spirit “glorifies” and yearns for Jesus. The Spirit speaks of the beauty and greatness of Christ. The Spirit, then, longs to show us more of the glory and greatness of Christ and to conform us to Christ. 1. I mentioned last week, but it’s ironic to me that when we come to common theology and practice concerning the Holy Spirit, many christians pass right over what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit, or how the Holy Spirit operated in his life and go directly to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 2. What is that the Holy Spirit does? He Produces Christ likeness in us! A likeness that becomes more and more a part of our lives - a Christ like second nature. 1. Love -Agape 1. Definition - To serve a person for their good and intrinsic value, not for what the person brings you. 2. Opposite - Fear: self-protection and abusing people. 3. Counterfeit - Selfish affection. Rescuing someone but really rescuing self. Attracted not to person, but to how this person’s love makes you feel about yourself. 2. Joy -Chara 1. Definition - Delight in God and his salvation for sheer beauty and worth of who he is. A fixed peace and hopefulness in spite of circumstance. 2. Opposite - Hopelessness, despair. 3. Counterfeit - Elation that comes with blessings not the Blesser! Mood swings based on circumstances. 3. Peace -Irene. 1. Definition - Confidence and rest in the wisdom and sovereignty of God more than your own. 2. Opposite - Anxiety and worry. 3. Counterfeit - Indifference, apathy, not caring about something. “I don’t care.” 4. Patience -Makrothumia 1. Definition - Ability to take trouble (from others or life) without blowing up or striking out. To suffer joyfully. 2. Opposite - Resentment toward God and others. 3. Counterfeit - Cynicism. Self-righteousness. “This is too small to be bothered about.” 5. Kindness -Chrestotes. 1. Definition - Practical kindness with vulnerability out of deep inner security. 2. Opposite - Envy. Unable to rejoice other’s joy 3. Counterfeit - Manipulative good deeds. Doing things to be seen by others. Self-congratulation and self-righteousness. Doing things to be “good enough” for others or for God. 6. Goodness -Agathosune. (integrity) 1. Definition - Honesty, integrity, transparency. Being the same in one situation as another. 2. Opposite - Phoniness; hypocrisy. 3. Counterfeit - Truth without love. “Getting it off the chest” for your sake. 7. Faithfulness -Pistis. 1. Definition - Loyalty. Courage. To be principle-driven, committed, utterly reliable. True to one’s word. 2. Opposite - Opportunist. Fair-weather friend. 3. Counterfeit - Love without truth. Being loyal when you should be willing to confront or challenge. 8. Gentleness -Prautas. (humility) 1. Definition - Self-forgetfulness. - “not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” - Lewis 2. Opposite - Superiority: self-absorbed, self-importance. 3. Counterfeit - Inferiority: self-absorbed, self-consciousness. 9. Self-Control - Egkrateia 1. Definition - Ability to choose the urgent over the important thing. 2. Opposite - A driven, impulsive, uncontrolled person. 3. Counterfeit - The slightly surprising counterfeit is a willpower which is based on pride, the need to feel in control. 10. The Unity of the Fruit of the Spirit 1. Here in Galatians 5:22 Paul deliberately uses the singular word “fruit” to describe a whole list of character traits. From this we learn a very important point for understanding and discerning the fruit of the Spirit. 2. This means that the real fruit of the Spirit always grow up together. When we look at the list of traits in the “fruit lists” (1 Cor.13:4-7; Gal.5:22-23) we notice that we are naturally stronger in some rather than others. But our strengths, apart from the Holy Spirit, are due to natural temperament (we have a trait through brain chemistry and early training), or to natural self-interest (we learned a trait in order to handle some issue or condition we met). For example, some people are temperamentally gentle and diplomatic (gentleness). But the sign that this is not due so much to the Holy Spirit is that such people are usually not bold or courageous (faithfulness). Because of what Paul says about the unity of the fruit, this means that the gentleness is not real spiritual humility, but just temperamental sweetness. John says, “If a man says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.” Notice that he does not say, “If a man loves God but doesn’t love his brother, he is unbalanced.” No, he says he is a liar. True love to God (love) goes along with love to others (kindness). If they are not all there, they are not there at all. 3. There are many, many cases of this. Some people seem happy and bubbly (joy) and are good at meeting new people, but are very unreliable and cannot keep friends (faithfulness). This is not real joy but just extroversion. Some people seem very unflappable and unbothered--peaceful--but they are not kind or gentle. That is not real peace, but indifference and perhaps cynicism. It enables you to get through the difficulties of life without being always hurt, but it desensitizes you and makes you much less approachable. 3. How does the Holy Spirit do this work? 1. Paul follows up the fruit of the Spirit with these words - “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.” 1. As we discussed last week “to crucify the flesh”, first, is about attacking sin at the motivational level, at the root, rather than simply setting ourselves against sin at the behavioral level. But to root out sin, or to crucify the flesh, does not mean that we then automatically walk in the Spirit - there is something we must do, and Paul makes it clear in many other passages. Listen to this one: 2. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all behold the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness, from one degree of splendor to the next, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18) 3. The method of the Spirit is to show us the glory of Christ. The complex greek verb that Paul uses means “to behold in a mirror.” This word combines the ideas of looking long and hard at something, and resembling or reflecting something. We are called to long, contemplative gazing at the Lord Jesus and changing so as to reflect his image. What a vivid image! The more we gaze at and contemplate Jesus, the more the Spirit shows us his glory and we become transformed into the likeness of what we see. 4. “What does it mean to “see the glory” of something? It means to realize in your heart its importance, beauty and how it connects and affects you. So the way the Spirit creates character in you is by affecting the heart and life by what you see in the person and work of Christ.” -Tim Keller 1. Immerse yourself again and again in the Gospel, of Who God is and what he has done to rescue you from your sin, and the destruction that you were headed to, remind yourself (through God’s word, how he promises to never leave you or forsake you no matter what, how he has so much goodness, provision, love, and blessing for you… 5. This transforming process of the Spirit is experienced by the individual Christian as “freedom.” This does not mean that effort, pain and hard discipline are not involved, but that primarily and ultimately the development of Christ-like character is liberating. Growing in love, joy, peace, self-control makes you feel you are “becoming yourself.” 4. The Results that the Spirit brings - 1. Freedom - Becoming who God, our creator, created us to be - our true selves. “True freedom isn’t being able to do whatever you want; true freedom is being able to do and be what you were created do to do and be.” Whole Human beings. 2. Righteousness - right living and right doing that the law cannot touch or condemn - “Against such things there is no law.” 3. Peace (Shalom) -A new person who points to the New Creation in Christ Jesus. - Human wholeness Conclusion: Paul says that the remaining sin in our hearts, the “flesh” (Gal.5:16), is the drive to continue to live “under law” (Gal.5:17). In other words, underneath every problem and difficulty is a residual self-righteousness, left-over systems of self-salvation. Why are we bitter? Why are we in despair? Why are we worried? Because something more important than Jesus is operating as our functional righteousness and worth. Why do we do many of the good things we do? The same. Remember the flesh is who we are naturally, that this is the default operation of every one of our lives. If we don’t repent of the self-righteousness under our sins, we won’t be able to break the real power and dynamic fueling them. If we don’t repent of the self-righteousness under our good deeds, we will set ourselves up for anxiety and anger when things don’t go well (because we will feel God owes us). The gospel leads us to repentance, but not to merely setting our will against superficialities. Without the gospel, superficialities will be addressed instead of the heart. Some (e.g. the religious) will focus and work simply on changing behavior, while others (e.g. the irreligious) will focus and work simply on changing or accommodating emotions. But repentance for self-righteousness gets at what is under both behavior and feelings. If you want to grow in the Spirit - in Christ likeness; If you want to experience true freedom - become who you were created to be; If you want to experience freedom from law through the righteousness of Christ; If you want to experience true human wholeness; Keep preaching the Gospel to yourself. The Love of God for you, the grace of God for your sin, the acceptance of God, the justice of God, etc. Apply it to every area of your life, (not just the surface things but find the roots and chop them up, destroy them with the power of the Gospel. Preach the gospel to your christian brothers, live in the word of God, plant yourself in it, cultivate the work of God’s Spirit, and you will grow-