Works of the flesh - (not) Walking the Spirit-filled life - Part 4

Call to worship (voice recorder) 4min

Psalm 8 ESV

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David. 1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Let’s pray

O Lord, our God, you are worthy of all our praise. You are the God who never fails to keep his promises. We thank you that in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection we see your love, justice, mercy, provision and victory. You are the God who lifts up those who are weighed down. You are the God who provides for your children. Our desire is to praise you as long as we live. Inhabit our praises as we gather together today.  Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.

So, let’s sing our first Hymn...

HYMN: O Lord my God 5min

HYMN: Crown Him with many crowns 3min

Notices 3min

CHORUS: Father Abraham 2.5min

Prayer 5min

Thanks and Praise.

Almighty God, we ask you to hear us as we pray for the church, the world, those around us and those in need.

Father God, we pray for the Christian church throughout the world. We pray for all who have been imprisoned for their faith, for all who at this time are facing persecution or danger, for all who stand firmly for freedom and justice. Give them strength and hope to carry on, as they pursue peace in this troubled world.

Merciful God, we pray for all those who long to be free. For those who seek asylum and refuge from their past; for the increasing number of people trafficked – human lives bought and sold; for those whose health is failing and so taking away a freedom they used to know; for those working long hours with little or no pay; for those caught up in a cycle of unemployment, poverty and hunger; for those who wish to be free of this life; for those who have loved freely and long to love again.

You are the God who loves freely, whose love is unconditional and infinite. Enfold into your embrace, all who long to be free and help them to realise it is found in Jesus alone.

Sovereign Lord, we pray for all in authority in this country, making important decisions on our behalf. Especially as we come out of lockdown and freedom beckons, may they serve us with wisdom and integrity, for the good of all.

Creator God, we pray for our environment, giving thanks for local parks and green spaces, so important for our mental health and wellbeing, especially those used as places for quiet meditation and prayer. O Lord our lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Faithful God, pray for those we love and live with, for our neighbours and friends, especially those who have heard the good news of your forgiving and renewing love but have not been able to take it in, or have rejected it. We pray for the opening of ears and eyes, that your saving power will sow the word of love in their hearts and bear fruit to everlasting life.

Loving God, we pray for those in any kind of need in body, mind or spirit. Surround with love all who are having difficulties in their relationships, those feeling betrayed or neglected, for marriage breakdowns, for children of broken homes or homes with hatred or violence. We pray for those in daily pain, overwhelmed with the struggle of coping, for those who have been given a diagnosis that feels like a life sentence. We think of all those we have been asked to pray for and we name them before you now Lord, in a moment of silence…and, we pray for Shirley’s family, surround them with peace, comfort and your everlasting arms.

Gracious God, as we go out into this coming week, may we be aware of your love and support in all we do, as we faithfully live out the Gospel.

Let us pray the prayer our Lord taught us:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

SONG: Yet not I 5min

RECORDING

Reading and Sermon

Galatians 5:16–25 ESV

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 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. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 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. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And 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 keep in step with the Spirit.

Today we are looking at the negative aspect, the works of the flesh or not walking the Spirit-filled life.

The question to keep in mind before we come to the passage is: are we under the law or under grace?

It seems that even though we know the right answer it seems that we want to continue to live under the law. Some seem to think that once we have been made right by faith before God we are back to trying to keep the law HOWEVER earlier in Galatians we are told

Galatians 3:24–25 NKJV

24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

No longer under a tutor and that tutor is the law, so we then are not under the law anymore but instead led by the Spirit for those led by the Spirit we are told in verse 18 are not under the law.

Those who have been made right with God through faith are also those led by the Spirit. The works of the flesh are works under the law, and are sin. Remember, if you do not keep the whole law and you break it in just one point, makes you a lawbreaker, and the penalty is curses and death (Galatians 3:10, James 2:10). This should add some context to this very long list of negative and unfruitful works of the flesh:

Now the works of the flesh are evident, obvious, clear to all, we are told in verse 19: And let’s keep track of those which we have done

19

And this list starts with three sexual sins:

Sexual Immorality: This is the word ‘porneia’ in the Greek from which our English words: Porn & pornography comes from. This is every sexual act outside of the confines of marriage between one man and one woman such as adultery and fornication. In the time this was written sexual immorality was normal. It was difficult to get believers to understand that this was not proper conduct. It is very much like today.

In the fiction book ‘Brave New World’ written in 1931 it was thought strange that not all people sleep together and questioned why they would keep themselves for marriage. Of course, this is a book on a dystopian world - which means even from the author’s perspective sexual immorality is not acceptable - but the predicted future in this book has become that society today.

This should not surprise us for the world is not able to do anything other than fail to keep God’s completely righteous standards. But, as Christians, and they needed to be told as indeed we are told in 1 Thessalonians 4:3 This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality.

Impurity: This is something that would make someone unclean and defiled in thought, word and deed. A great Christian man asked God that he would die before he was old because he didn’t want to be a dirty old man - and God granted his wish. We think that sexual sins are the domain of the young but it can effect everyone of us. Age is irrelevant.

Sensuality: Translators use the debauchery. This is an open, indecent, brazen, unrestrained, shameless and proud display of evil. I deliberately used the word ‘proud’ with Pride Month finally over, though I have heard that some have made it a ‘Pride Season’ to extend this abhorrent festival which nearly every commercial company back as well as nearly every government including our own.

I cannot imagine what would be said if we held a heterosexual parade with pro-lifers what hate would be generated. People are now even saying we should be taking our young kids to these events and watch the sheer scale of aberrant sexuality on display to accustom them to their normality.

And have you seen or heard the San Francisco Gay Choristers with their new video this week which, they say, is meant to be satire? Let me read their lyrics:

You say we all lead lives you don’t respect. But you’re just frightened. You think that we’ll corrupt your kids if our agenda goes unchecked. Funny, just this once, you’re correct.

We’ll convert your children – happens bit by bit, quietly and subtly and you will barely notice it…Just like you’re worried, they’ll change their group of friends, you won’t approve of where they go at night. And you’ll be disgusted when they start learning things online that you kept far from their sight…

We’re coming for your children…

That does sound ominous. Even if we are meant to take this tongue-in-cheek, when there are 100 gay men singing this can we really take this as a joke? Do we not remember Sodom and Gomorrah and what happened there: young and old came out to rape men. Even if these men say they are not really after our kids, Satan is, and the sexualised culture we are in have their claws in deep already. And they’re doing it bit-by-bit. And God is edged out even further.

20

The next two listed sins are religious in nature:

Idolatry: This is the bowing down to other gods. This can be literal statue, like our Hindu friends, or putting something or someone else before God. Worship belongs to God alone and Him only should be served. Note that greed is also called idolatry in Colossians 3:5. We are to worship God, love people, and use things, but too often we use people, love self, and worship things, leaving God out of the picture completely. Jesus tells us that whatever we worship, we serve (Matt. 4:10). The Christian who devotes more of himself to his car, house, garden or to any other thing could be in danger of idolatry (Col. 3:5).

Sorcery: or witchcraft: These are they who try to do or try to do the supernatural for their own ends for example those who practice with crystals, astrology, horoscopes, fortune-telling, and so on. Ephesus was a centre for this and many books were burned when many became believers. Let us not think that the supernatural or miracles cannot be done by unbelievers. Satan loves to counterfeit the miracles of God if we remember Moses and the snakes, for example. People will be deceived more and more in the last days when people will do actual magic to wow people to prevent them following Jesus. Another interesting point about this one is the word for witchcraft in Greek which is ‘pharakeia’ which is where we get the word pharmacy from. So, included in this is drug-taking especially the type that cause trances which are on the rise in our time.

The next ones listed are social sins:

Enmity: or Hatred: This hatred is what destroys relationships.

Strife: or Discord, which, is caused by hatred and causing division.

Jealousy: zeal: self-centred type that feels that they are more deserving than others and wants what ‘they’ have. What is your attitude to the rich?

Fits of anger: this often comes from jealousy. It is angry towards others.

Rivalries: selfish ambition. It is willing to divide the group in order to gain praise and power for themselves.

Dissensions: we can see how all of these are related and how devastating it is when it affects fellowships and especially among so-called Christians. I say, so called because there is that devastating word found in 1 John 2:9, 11: Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. I have seen first-hand how jealousy, anger, hatred, and selfish ambition led to the split of a church. And it all started with one person. Just one. Just one malcontent. That’s all it takes and like yeast it spreads like wildfire and many are its victims and most are innocent.

Divisions: heresies - here individuals become groups which go to war against other groups. In the New Testament we find Pharisees and Sadducees, and others were around at the time such as the Zealots and the Essenes. Every one of them had division and heresy.

Then in verse 21, to add to this group is the word:

Envy: which is closely related to jealousy in its desire to have what others have. It is a refusal to be content with what God has given, and a hard one to learn, as Paul attests in Philippians 4:11: for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. It is something that gets mentioned twice if you would look at verse 26, this means we are to be doubly warned.

The last two are classed as personal sins and are also related:

Drunkenness: This is more to do with a depraved lifestyle which includes excessive drinking and eating and when combined with the next word:

Orgies: Has more to do with the excessive partying that gets out of hand and can lead back in a circle to sexual sins, of course.

There is one more on the list because not everything related to the flesh can be enunciated: and that is: And the like! Everything else! Just because it is not mentioned it does not mean it is not included.

Then at the end of verse 21 it concludes this section with ‘those who do these things’. The Greek is clear that it is those who make a practice of continually doing these things not those who fail in one or more of these are various times. At the beginning I said to keep a tally of which of these you have committed.because if we are honest here who can say they have not done any of these things as Christians, and whether even in the last week, or should I be more pointed, the last day.

Who has not acted in the flesh rather than the Spirit in the last day? Is anyone here not guilty, really? Most of us would not claim the big sins but are quiet about lack of loving our brothers and sisters, about being envious, about selfishness, about a lack of humility, about pride. I am trying to make us realise that none of us are innocent.

So, when it continues and says that such will not have an inheritance in the kingdom of God, that this is not excluding those who have done these things at various times but this IS for those who make the above list their continual practice.

Even so, it should cause us to stop short and realise that we should be living holy lives. How, then, do we do that?

This then returns me to what I asked at the beginning: Are we under the law or under grace? If we would like to claim that we are under both we find out that this was the heresy of the Galatian church. Remember, if we are under the law then we have to be as perfect as God to avoid His judgement. Good lives cannot escape God’s judgement for we can never be good enough. We need the forgiveness found in Christ at the cross. So, we turn to Scripture to see again where we stand in Christ:

Romans 6:14 ESV

14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

We are sons of God. We shall forevermore remain so. Therefore we will be led by the Spirit of God. To have power over sin we need to be more yielded to God and His Spirit.

this daily striving against our old sinful habits is perhaps the weakest point in our whole Christian life. We strive against our failings, suffer defeat, and become discouraged. Then we lose hope.

To oppose our old sinful habits in faith means not to array ourselves our own strength against these habits, but to turn to Christ and acknowledge that we will be defeated if He does not help me with His Almighty hand. We are to turn from ourselves and towards Christ.

Again hear Romans:

Romans 8:2 NKJV

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

We are free from the law. We cannot be made right by keeping the law. Trying to keep the law leads to failure. This is hard for us to grasp for now there is a growing realisation that there is no room for self-improvement, effort, education or pride. It is only the might of His Spirit living in us that can break the power of sin in us. We have been given His divine nature according to 2 Peter 1:4.

We have to yield to Him, we have to let Him have His way. It is the Spirit that wins the victory. It is God who works in you to will and do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). I live: yet not I but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20) as we sang earlier. It is not about our effort but about becoming as we shall see in future weeks. In the meantime, it is time to surrender our all to Jesus.

SONG: All to Jesus 3.75min

Benediction

Galatians 2:20 ESV

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Jude 24–25 ESV

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Bibliography

Campbell, D. K. (1985). Galatians. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Hallesby, O. (1994). God’s Word for Today: A Daily Devotional for the Whole Year. (C. J. Carlsen, Trans.). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg. (July 7th)

McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Galatians) (electronic ed., Vol. 46). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Osborne, G. R. (2017). Galatians: Verse by Verse. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Scofield, C. I. (1903). The Epistle to the Galatians. Greenville, SC: Gospel Hour.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.