Freedom in the Spirit
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Happy Independence Day!
Happy Independence Day!
Today as wives all over this country do most of the work planning and prepping for friends and family to come to their houses to celebrate the 4th of July, men everywhere will be firing up their fancy grills, soaking charcoal with lighter fluid, digging through their stash of legal explosives and getting ready to impress their best friends. If you think you are going to bed early tonight, you probably should pray that your neighbors go through their collection of fireworks fast. Today we celebrate freedom! Freedom is a big deal here in the U.S., it is what draws people to this country. The American Dream, freedom to pursue your own version of happiness and success.
Last week we began talking about freedom and we looked at how humanity defines freedom, at least in this country. We also looked at how God defines freedom and how those two definitions are a lot alike, but also very different. We define freedom as the power to act, speak or think without externally imposed restraints. According to scripture, freedom is a state that emerges after God removes everything that separates us from Him and keep us from our true purpose which is to know, love, worship and enjoy God forever.
In other words, we view freedom as a state free FROM restraints. But God’s definition keeps going. God sees freedom as a state free FROM restraints TO love others. Last week we defined freedom as being free “FROM bondage to perfection FOR the purpose of serving one another in love.”
Last week we spend most of our time together defining freedom and observing Paul’s warnings in the first 15 verses in Galatians 5 about what happens when we turn back to the law. When Jesus sacrificed himself for us and then conquered death, he purchased our freedom. When we partake in the freedom He offers us we turn from an obligation or a requirement to meet certain standards created by the law, but then if we turn back to the law we begin to let the law become a wedge between us and Christ. Turning away from Jesus and back to the law 1. Devalues Grace, 2. Creates Debt, 3. Alienates us from Christ, 4. Entangles Others, 5. Dilutes the Power of the Cross.
This is where our human understanding of “Freedom” starts to cause a little trouble. According to OUR definition of freedom, there are 2 possible responses to God at this point. One response would be to see this as an opportunity to go absolutely crazy. Think of the prodigal son before he returned to his father. He took his inheritance and spent it all on “wild living”. His definition of freedom stopped at removing restraints and he filled in the blank about what he was set free to do. The second human response to freedom that the enemy likes for us to abuse is for us to say, “There is no way, NO WAY we’ve been set free from the law. I still have to be good enough! I still have to earn some kind of favor! If I want God to love me and answer my prayers, I HAVE to do something in return. Just the other day I prayed that God would help me get out of debt and my car broke down, the A/C quit in my house and now I have a plumbing leak. I must have done something wrong! God must be punishing me.”
To me, freedom is a lot like an analogy to drawing. I don’t know how many of you are artsy and creative, but pretend for just a moment that you are not artistic by nature. How would you react if someone were to walk up to you and give you a blank piece of paper and ask you to draw something for them? Some of you may say, “I can’t draw, so I am not going to participate. Since I am free to do what I want, I am not going to do this.” Others may say, “I don’t know what to draw, can you show me? Teach me how to draw and show me what I should be drawing for you.”
But then you have God’s definition of freedom and it looks more like the kid’s drawings that don’t make any sense, but it is so sweet and means so much to you that you put it on the fridge. God created you the way that you are so that you could love Him and love others. The law is there to teach us how to love and show us that we need God’s help to love others. It gives us some general guidelines on how to draw something on a piece of paper. But God has given each of us a message and created us the way we are so that we could put that message on the blank canvas of our lives and share His love with the people around us.
Today we are going to continue with Galatians 5. Paul just finished explaining the difference between bondage to the law and freedom in Christ. First he outlined what it looks like to be in bondage to the law, then he explained that freedom in Christ gives us purpose. We have been set free for a purpose. How do we experience that purpose? How do we live a life of purpose in freedom? In the last half of chapter 5, Paul is going to use our “sinful nature” to help illustrate the limitations of the law and the power of freedom in Christ. Paul calls it “Living by the Spirit.” If you have your bibles, turn to Galatians 5:16. If you have a pen, write it down. If you write in your bible, underline it. If you don’t hear anything else I say all day, at least listen to this. This is the key thought for today and something we should remind ourselves of often...
16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
Most translations use the phrase, “walk by the Spirit.” I like both terms walking and living by the Spirit because walking gives the impression of taking an action and living impresses upon us the gravity of commitment. However, this comes from a Greek word that I feel has more meaning than we are able to convey in our English language. The word Paul used is peripateo.
περιπατέω peripatéō, per-ee-pat-eh'-o; from G4012 and G3961; to tread all around
This word comes from two Greek words, one means “walk” and the other means “Comprehensively around”. In other words, it is more than just walking by the Spirit. It is walking around or walking in a complete circuit by the Spirit or going “full circle”. So what Paul is actually saying here is, “for your ENTIRE LIFE, let the Holy Spirit guide every step you take, every where you go. Let the Spirit guide your entire journey and direct ALL of your paths, from start to finish. Walk through life guided by the Holy Spirit.”
This is the most important verse today because it is the solution. Right off the bat, Paul gives us the answer to how we live in this purpose, joy, and love filled freedom that God desires for us to experience. Letting the Holy Spirit guide your lives is the solution to the problem. The problem that keeps us from experiencing God’s freedom is our sinful nature. I know we all know the difference between the desires of the sinful nature and the Spirit, but listen to how Paul describes the two...
17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.
The problem is my sinful nature, the old self, the flesh. It desires evil and selfishness. It is a problem because it pulls me away from God and creates all sorts of bad situations in my life. The Spirit desires holiness and closeness to God. It is the opposite, creating good things in my life and drawing me closer to God, which was why God created us in the first place. To experience His freedom that only comes from the Holy Spirit. To live like we have been set free we must live by the Spirit. NOW. Paul laid all of this out there to answer this implied question. If our sinful nature enslaves us and pulls us away from God and the Holy Spirit sets us free and pulls us toward God...
How do we live by the Spirit?
The first answer he gives us is...
How do we live by the Spirit?
1. REALIZE CHRIST IS OUR SOURCE OF FREEDOM.
Can’t we follow the law? After all, the law shows us the kind of lives that God wants us to live. The problem with the law, as Paul has already described, is that it keeps us in bondage. The law doesn’t have the power that comes from freedom. The law teaches me HOW to love, but when I do the right thing because I am supposed to I have done it out of obligation. Love’s power comes from being freely given, not out of obligation. Therefore, we cannot live by the Spirit under the law. This is how Paul says it...
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
So if we can’t be led by the Spirit under the law, how can we live like we have been set free? Paul describes this principle in greater detail in his letter to the Romans...
Romans 7:14–25 (NLT)
14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin... 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature...
22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord...
The problem is not with the law. It is with my sinful nature. the law is good because it shows me what I am doing wrong, but it can’t set me free from this life of tug-of-war between good and bad. It can’t set me free from sin and death. It ensnares me. Obligates me. There is only one answer and that is in Jesus Christ. He sets me free.
To live “set free” we must take every step of our lives by the Spirit. To live by the Spirit, the first thing we have to do is find Jesus as our source of Freedom. Second...
How do we live by the Spirit?
2. EXAMINE OUR OUTCOMES
What am I producing with my life? Do good things follow me or bad things? When the car breaks down do the kids hide because they know I am going to get angry and start kicking it or are they excited to help me fix it because my patience and self-control are life giving fruit? Paul says, “examine your life”...
Galatians 5:19 (NLT)
19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear...
Then Paul lists several fruits of the sinful nature. Things you will see in your life that are a result of not walking by the Spirit. He says, “Look at your life. Do you do things that are immoral? Impure? Do you get in fights? Get mad? Do selfish things? Hurt others? Get drunk and party? Or does your life look different?”
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
These fruits are a result of the Spirit. When you walk the path the Spirit leads you down, every day of your life, these are the kind of things that will spring up from your life. Does your life reflect the sinful nature or the nature of the Spirit? Be brave enough to take a look at the trail behind you. What does it look like?
I think it is cool that scripture describes what is produced in our lives as “fruit”. Fruit is defined as the “usually edible reproductive body of a seed plant.” The more we walk by the Spirit and let God grow us, the more fruit that the Spirit produces in our lives. That fruit is meant to be consumed by others. We are designed to spread the fruit of the Spirit. When we share it with others it can reproduce and grow more fruit. I really like the way Paul says this to the Corinthians...
6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.
Look back at the path you have been walking down. Do you see death and destruction? Or do you see life? The clear results of the sinful nature, or the fruits of the Holy Spirit? Do you see a victim or do you see victory in Christ? Are you ensnared or in bondage or do you have the freedom that comes from the power of the Holy Spirit?
We live by the Spirit by realizing Christ is our source of Freedom. By examining our lives and verifying the type of fruit that is being produced. And finally...
How do we live by the Spirit?
3. CRUCIFY THE DESIRES OF OUR SINFUL NATURE
I don’t know about you, but for me this can be the hardest part. Jesus is my source of freedom and I know who I am in Him. I want to serve Him with my life and learn to love the way that He loves me. I can look at my life and see where I could make improvements and learn to rely on Him more. But when it comes time to let go of the things that I want that take me away from God or tug against the Holy Spirit, sometimes it’s hard to let it go. It might be because I enjoy them or possibly from using them as a crutch or maybe I just get comfortable having them around. Really, it isn’t even that difficult to let go, but what is hard is totally killing them and removing them from my life from now on.
I know it is silly, but it makes me think of Cast Away where Chuck Noland had turned a volleyball into a companion while he was stuck on an island in the middle of the sea. He named it Wilson and let it become an important part of his life. While he is floating on his damaged raft the ball comes loose and begins to float away and letting it go was a very difficult thing for him to do. Watch this clip...
**Cast Away Clip**
That is what we tend to do with our sinful nature. Get overly attached to it and then we find it nearly impossible to get it out of our lives. But that is where the freedom is. Paul tells us that we can’t just turn away from it or let it go. He says we have to totally and completely remove it from our lives forever. Just like Chuck knew Wilson would be gone forever. Paul tells us to “Cruicify” those desires...
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
We have to kill them so they can never return. The law could only show us what to get rid of, but if we allow the Spirit to lead every part of our lives we can be transformed. The spirit has the power to free us from these desires and passions. The Spirit empowers us. This is how one study bible explains it...
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 5
The law can define and identify sin, but it cannot provide the power to resist sin. Nor does the law instill within people the concerns, desires, and character of God. However, believers are not left on their own. They have been given the Spirit of the living God to empower them against sin and to transform their hearts and minds.
To close I want to read one more quote from the same study bible. This passage was written by Steven E. Runge and I believe it wraps up what we have been talking about for the last couple of weeks very well. He writes...
Faithlife Study Bible Spirit and Flesh in Paul’s Letters
Inner Spirit and Outer Flesh
The problem of sin for believers stems from the struggle between the new inner spirit and our old sinful flesh (our old sinful self). Since our spirits are no longer slaves of sin, we must no longer obey the lusts and desires of our flesh (Rom 6:12; 8:12). Although sinful desires reside in the flesh, we must consider ourselves dead to sin (Rom 6:11; Col 3:5).
The only way we can overcome sin in this way is by walking in the Spirit. Paul says that if we live by the Spirit, we will “put to death the deeds of the body” (Rom 8:13). Where we choose to set our mind makes the difference between life and death (Rom 8:6). Living by the Spirit is the only way our new self can overcome the desires of the flesh (Gal 5:16). Paul contrasts the natural consequences of each option: the fruit of the Spirit versus the deeds of the flesh (Gal 5:19–23).
When Paul addresses this theme in his letters, he highlights the now and “not yet” tension of the Christian life. The rebirth of our inner spiritual beings enables us to live for God as He intended. But since we continue to live in our earthly bodies, we continue to engage in the battle between flesh and spirit. The key to victory is walking in the Spirit, no longer obeying the desires of the flesh. If we allow our inner spirits to obey “the flesh,” we choose to allow sin to reign over us again (Rom 6:12–13). Paul offers us hope as we wait for the “not yet.” All of creation waits with us for the same restoration and fulfillment of God’s original intention (Rom 8:18–19).
STEVEN E. RUNGE
As we celebrate Independence day today, my hope and prayer is that you realize that you are truly free. As Christ followers we have been set free from bondage to sin and death; no longer entangled by slavery to obligation to perfection under the law. We’ve been set free so that we can experience God’s love for us and share it with others, serving the people around us in love. It is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to love the way God has called us to love. The Holy Spirit that reproduces that fruit it the lives of others. The Holy Spirit that gives us power to overcome our old self and our evil desires that look to rip us away from God and His hope for our lives.
God wants us to have freedom. Christ is the source of our freedom. The Holy Spirit is the power in our freedom.