In Step with the Spirit

Prayer

Which Way?!?

As we make our way through Galatians in our sermon series, I want to begin with a passage from the chapter we’re focusing on this morning, Galatians 5 (by the way, if you haven’t done this already, to read all the way through book of Galatians in one sitting, to get an overview of the book - we’ve covered a lot in this series, but we skipped over a lot as well! Also the Bible Project’s overview video on Galatians is a great help as well). So, Galatians 5:19-23...

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

You may have noticed a just a tiny bit of difference between the two lists that Paul lays out here (just a little!), the first being a picture of life “in the flesh”, in our human nature, living in our own means, versus a picture of a life in the Spirit, fruits of the Spirit - what we might also call, Christ formed in us.

Now, my guess is - most of us would say that neither of these really fit, I’m somewhere in the middle.

Don’t do witchcraft, orgies -not so much. But I’ve certainly had too much to drink at times, flown off the handle - there’s people I really don’t like (I don’t hate them per se).

But on the other hand, it’d be a stretch to say that love and joy and peace and patience and goodness and self-control are the defining characteristics of my life. That’d be far too generous.

But Paul’s point is to indicate that our lives are always moving in one direction or the other, moving towards life in the flesh - or one in the Spirit of Christ - there is no middle ground.

Here’s an important point - the default is living in the flesh. That’s the basic human condition, our condition before Christ - who came to rescue us from our own rebellion against God, choosing to life our own way, without him. That’s why we needed Jesus. That’s why Jesus willingly gave himself…for our sins…to rescue us (that’s the gospel message right there, whole point of Paul’s letter to the Galatians - stick to this message!).

Instead, Jesus offers us gift of the Holy Spirit, his presence and power in our lives, so that we can live into new life he’s given us through his death and resurrection. So we can become like him (Christ formed in us).

Challenge is - if we’re not intentional about pursuing life in Jesus, recognizing our ongoing need for him and his grace in our life, the default is doing it on our own, living in the flesh. Revert right back to that. Which is exactly what the Galatians were being tempted to do by certain Jewish Christians who were pressuring them to live by an adherence to the Jewish law. Galatians 5:2-4...

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

Instead, Paul is pleading with them to return to life rooted in grace of Jesus, relying on him, and his Spirit in us…vs. 5-6

For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

This is the essential choice we make, one that’s going to lead to list #1 (vices - hatred and discord and sexual immorality) or to list #2, the fruits of the Spirit - faithfulness and kindness and gentleness, etc.). What word, what message, will I live by - that’s choice each of us has to make. In fact, are already making, one way or another (remember, the default is in the flesh - so if I’m intentional about living in the Spirit, then I will continue to live by the flesh).

Either I live in my own strength and wisdom, i.e. to live in the flesh. Or, I surrender myself to Jesus, his power and presence in my life, the Holy Spirit in me. Those are the two fundamental options Paul lays out for us. There are no others, no middle ground, one or the other.

Paul writes it this way, in Galatians 5:13-18...

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

At this point, you may be saying - and I hope you are - I want to walk by the Spirit. I want to be led by the Spirit of Christ in me. Not a life lived on my own, in my own power and wisdom, but trusting Jesus - faith expressing itself in love.

So, what the heck does that mean? Like, what does it look like in my life, practically speaking? In verse 25, Paul writes, Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit? How do I keep in step with the Spirit? That’s what we want to examine this morning, keeping in step with the Spirit.

In Step with the Spirit

It should be no surprise that this involves spiritual disciplines, what we sometimes call “soul-training exercises”. I want to spend a few minutes talking about the nature of spiritual disciplines, what exactly is a spiritual discipline?

Helps to begin simply with what a discipline is. John Ortberg offers this helpful definition: Any activity I can do by direct effort that will help me do what I cannot now do by direct effort.

Right now, if I went back to Steve’s keyboard and tried to play a song - as hard as I tried, I couldn’t do it. Just hit random keys, that’s it. But - if I engaged in discipline of playing scales, study to learn notes - things I could do - I could gradually learn to play a song on the piano. That would be true for just about anything - learn to cook, speak a new language - so many things in life.

Spiritual disciplines are based on same premise, they are disciplines. Ortberg defines a spiritual discipline this way: Any activity that can help me gain power to live life as Jesus taught and modeled it.

Again, by my own direct effort, I can’t live life like Jesus taught and modeled it. As much as I want to , it would never happen by sheer willpower (in spite of the old sports cliche, you just got to want it enough).

But, there are activities I can do by direct effort that help open me to work of Spirit in me, power and presence of Jesus, that will enable me to live life as Jesus taught and modeled it. By the way, there are innumerable possibilities here - why Ortberg says “any” activity. We learn and grow and are challenged in all sorts of ways - and in different ways, according to our temperaments, our learning styles, etc.

A couple of things to note here, about what a spiritual discipline is not.

It is not to show how spiritual I am. Our spirituality is not based on how often I go to worship, how long my quiet time is, or how many different disciplines I engage in on a weekly basis. I want you to really hear this, because we often judge our spiritual health based on activity (I prayed a lot this week or conversely, I didn’t even pick up my Bible this week). That would be a work-based, a performance-based perspective.

The sign of spiritual maturity is love. Remember what Paul said: The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in what? In love. Also, For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

All the exercises in the world are useless if they are not helping you and I become people who love more. If they are not helping us to become like Jesus, people of love, joy, peace, patience and so on. Spiritual disciplines in and of themselves are not indicators of how spiritual you are.

Likewise, spiritual disciplines are not our efforts to earn our way to God. Jesus will not be checking to see if we read our Bible every day or went to worship every Sunday. Again, that reduces it to work-based. He is greatly concerned with whether or not we are growing in love for him and others. And if engaged properly, with right spirit, these activities will help us grow in love.

Goal of spiritual disciplines is to open ourselves up to the power of the Holy Spirit in us so what Christ might be formed in us. That we might be a disciplined person (I hope you recognize the connection between “disciple” and “discipline” - a disciple is becoming more and more a disciplined person. What is a disciplined person? Again, Ortberg: A disciplined person is someone who can do the right thing at the right time in the right way with the right spirit.

Note carefully what Ortberg is saying here, because often we assume that people who are really good at disciplines are disciplined people. You know, those annoying types who are highly structured, organized - get up at this time, always do their exercises, eat right foods, get their work done on time

Those can be great qualities, but if we think about it, that would describe the Pharisees. They were very good at disciplines - they prayed, they fasted, they made dang sure to follow the 613 commandments, down to tithing on their herbs.

There are plenty of church-going people today who have been incredibly disciplined in terms of going to worship, their tithing, attending Bible Study - if the church doors are open, they’re there.

But, they can be as self-righteous, judging, stingy, complaining, rude as anyone. You probably know folks like that (no names, please).

A disciplined person does right thing at the right time in the right way with right spirit. A person who demonstrates the fruits of the Spirit, no matter the circumstances. Easy to be loving and generous and good when the circumstances are favorable - you’re feeling good or it’s with people you like. When the conditions are not so favorable, that’s when it reveals our character.

A disciplined follower of Jesus will be gracious under the most trying of circumstances, they’ll know when to be silent and just listen, and know when a word is needed - and what kind of word: a word of encouragement or wise counsel and when a rebuke needs to be spoken - and will do it - in the right spirit, lovingly, without condemnation.

Jesus, of course, is a wonderful example. When you see him interact with others, there’s no cookie-cutter approach. Because Jesus lived in step with the Spirit, and the fruits of the Spirit were evident in his life.

Think about the interaction in John 4 with the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman…he came in a posture of need, asking help to get water…spoke cryptically about giving her living water…the gentle way he exposed her sinful lifestyle.

How differently he dealt with the people at the dinner party in Luke 7, story where he’s invited to home a Pharisee and a sinful woman washes his feet with her tears. How beautifully he receives her gift of love, affirming her, all the while confronting Simon the Pharisee on his lack of love - but never harshly or angrily.

Every step on the way to the cross, think about all the events of that night - the Last Supper with his disciples, breaking bread with Judas, the man who would betray him, prophesying the denial of Peter...in the garden of Gethsemane, faithful prayers of anguish…during his arrest and trial, all the while maintaining his composure, never defending himself...on the cross itself…Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Wow! Right thing at the right time in the right way with the right spirit.

To be a disciplined person is to have Christ formed in us. To live out the fruits of the Spirit just like Jesus did.

Spiritual Disciplines

To recap, I want to use what’s known as VIM, V-I-M, breakdown of what is required for change, for transformation, for spiritual formation.

V is the Vision, like we talked about last week, is to have Christ formed in us. To be a person who exhibits the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness and so on.

M is the Method, to attain, this vision, are the spiritual disciplines. Next week, in our last sermon in this series, we’re going to go more in-depth in how specifically to engage the spiritual disciplines, how we train versus try.

But we skipped over one - there’s one more step here…Vision…Intention…Method. We must intend to become followers of Jesus. We must make the decision to choose to walk with the Spirit rather than living by the flesh. It is the choice between making your way across the sea with a sailboat or a motorboat.

Motorboat is us, trying to do it on our own power, we control it - problem is, we’re going to run out of gas. We lack the power. We can’t do it on our own.

Versus a sailboat, where we rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus compared the Spirit to the blowing of the wind - you don’t know where it comes from, where it’s going to blow. But a wise sailor learns to discern, to be attentive to the blowing of the wind, and to set the sails to match that wind. The task of the sailor is to whatever it takes to catch the wind. And so it is with us and the Spirit.

This morning, I’m going to offer with one spiritual discipline. Because it begins here, with our intention to keep in step with the Spirit. We must decide. I’m challenging us this week to pray daily your commitment to live by the Spirit...

Inspiration

Yesterday I was reading through the Behavorial Protocols for a couple of the young men going on our Capernaum trip. Laid out what triggers their behavioral problems and how to be proactive in preventing them and how to respond when they do occur.

A number of things repeated themselves…Remain calm…don’t raise your voice…speak in positive tones…don’t show irritation or frustration…take them into account, give them choices.

In other words, treat them lovingly, with kindness and gentleness, be patient, show self-control. The fruits of the Spirit. Who we should be all the time, with everyone!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be a person full of love…joyful…at peace…patient…kind…good (I mean truly good)…faithful…gentle…able to exhibit self-control?? Honestly, who wouldn’t want to genuinely be that kind of person? That’s what we’ll work to make others think about us, isn’t it?

And wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a church filled with those kind of people? This is who God made us to be, like Jesus.

Let me finish with this quote from John Ortberg: Jesus confronted people directly about the choice to become a follower. He came with the gracious announcement that it is now possible to live in the presence and under the reign of God - that was his Good News. It is possible to live in such a way that when people see us, they will say to themselves, “Wow! I didn’t know that a life could look like that.” It indeed happens. It has happened for many who have followed Christ, and it really is possible for us. This is the “pearl of great value” of which Jesus spoke, for which any sensible person would sell everything. This is the race for which we were born. But we will not drift into such a life. We must decide.