Unlocking the Power of the Holy Spirit (5)

Spirit Living Part Two

Galatians 5:16–26 HCSB

I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I tell you about these things in advance—as I told you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit. We must not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Last weekend our church held its annual garage sale. Several folks sorted through the accumulation of items gathered from a variety of sources. Others came during the sale, piked through the piles of clothing, the tables filled with all sorts of odds and ends and many donated money for items that all had belonged to someone else – even in some cases very recently.

we are living in a strange and in-between place. Some locate the division between what was and where we are after the end of WW II. Others have written about how the 1960’s were a decisive decade that has caused many to overthrow the past. I’d date the decisive event even further back – no, not the Industrial Revolution, not even the Protestant Reformation. No, the decisive event which causes us – even now – to be caught in an in-between kind of world was the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

“Repent and believe the Gospel. The Kingdom of God is at hand.”

AW Tozer challenged believers that

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason, the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian but of the company of Christians that compose the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech.

the Holy Spirit is God.

every believer has all the Holy Spirit he or she will ever have.

the Holy Spirit empowers us to pray;

HE gifts us to serve; and God, in His infinite wisdom, places Holy Spirit gifted people where He desires is serving Him by co-laboring with other believers that Jesus might be made known.

A little context: Believers in Galatia were troubled by a movement that still frustrates believers today. There have always been those who INSIST that genuine faith in Jesus means the following:

You must live exactly as I live; you must think exactly as I think; you must display your faith in Jesus just as I do. To veer away from the example that has been established is simple heresy. During the mid-to-late 1800’s men and women travelling to ‘heathen’ nations to ‘share the gospel’ often forced native people to adopt Western way of life as the only way of expressing the good news of Jesus. Western styles of clothing were required, western foods were to replace indigenous ways of eating. The day to day way of life had to match that with which the missionaries had been raised. To live as a believer required that government at all levels must mimic either the parliamentary style of Great Britain or the representative republican form found in the USA.

Men and women like Lottie Moon, Hudson Taylor bucked the common understanding. They preached the same gospel as other westerners, and they taught that one could be a believer and a Chinese! One didn’t have to become an American or a citizen of Great Britain. For that heretical notion both Lottie Moon and Hudson Taylor were censured by their respective sending agencies and both were threatened with the loss of financial support unless they toed the line.

Paul has a field day with those who express this kind of expression of faith:

“I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from Him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to change the good news about the Messiah.” (Galatians 1:6–7, HCSB)

“But in the past, when you didn’t know God, you were enslaved to things that by nature are not gods. But now, since you know God, or rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and bankrupt elemental forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? You observe special days, months, seasons, and years. I am fearful for you, that perhaps my labor for you has been wasted.” (Galatians 4:8–11, HCSB)

1. Walk by the Spirit/Live by the Spirit/Keep in Step with the Spirit

To ‘walk’ by the Spirit, to ‘keep in step with the Spirit’ are words and phrases pointing to a way of life, a life that is different from those who live ‘under the law’ or those in whom we see the ‘works of the flesh’ (vs 18-19).

Genesis 5:21–24 HCSB

Enoch was 65 years old when he fathered Methuselah. And after the birth of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters. So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.

Genesi 17:1 (NKJV)

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.”

““And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,” (Deuteronomy 10:12, NKJV)

Psalm 1:1 (HCSB)

How happy is the man who does not follow /.walk in the advice of the wicked or take the path of sinners or join a group of mockers!

“Then Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”” (John 8:12, HCSB)

- “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13, HCSB)

2. Live being led by the Spirit

Paul challenges believers to live every moment in the leading – the empowering and enabling of the Holy Spirit. It isn’t a ‘feeling’ it is a deliberate choice to act as God has directed through His indwelling Holy Spirit.

. The contrast between people living according to the flesh, being led by their own desires, keeping in step with what they want reads like the headlines of recent news programs. We need to remember that Paul’s audience was not lost people. He was writing this and all his letters to churches – gatherings of people claiming to be Jesus followers.

The fruit of the Spirit, however, is also used to describe the lives of people INSIDE the fellowship. Warren Wiersbe, a noted Bible teacher of the latter 20th century notes the distinction between ‘works’ and fruit:

A machine in a factory works, and turns out a product, but it could never manufacture fruit. Fruit must grow out of life, and, in the case of the believer, it is the life of the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). When you think of “works” you think of effort, labor, strain, and toil; when you think of “fruit” you think of beauty, quietness, the unfolding of life. The flesh produces “dead works” (Heb. 9:14), but the Spirit produces living fruit. And this fruit has in it the seed for still more fruit (Gen. 1:11). Love begets more love! Joy helps to produce more joy! Jesus is concerned that we produce “fruit … more fruit … much fruit” (John 15:2, 5), because this is the way we glorify Him. The old nature cannot produce fruit; only the new nature can do that.[1]

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 719). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

a). A life saturated by Bible Truth

Recent observers – both inside and outside the Christian world – have noted that most believers are more discipled by what they watch on TV and spend time with online than the Word of God.

Uncertainty - Certainty

Confusion - Clarity

to be led by the Spirit, to walk by, live by, keep in step with the Spirit requires us to know who the Spirit is, how He acts, and how He wants to act in our lives.

b). A life rooted in the presence of God in all His fullness

Let me pose a question: when we come to worship are we honestly expecting God to show up? Do we really believe He is in our midst? Notice what I’m not asking: I’m not asking if the music was to your liking, if the tunes were familiar, if the words were the right size, or even if the musicians were flawless. No, if indeed God is present…why does our worship – in word, song, deed, physical expression seem so……..

“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.”” (Matthew 18:20, HCSB)