03-18-12 Truly Free

We are approaching the end of our study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

For the past several months

we have walked with Paul

through what has at times been an intense attack

against the lie that was causing tremendous turmoil in the Galatian church.

It was a lie

that, if left uncorrected,

would utterly destroy the Galatians’ freedom and ability

to know and follow the life and leadership of the Spirit of God in their lives.

The lie, as we have seen during the past few months,

was the message that it was not their faith in Christ that allowed them to live at peace with God

and to know His love and friendship,

but rather it was their ability to keep and follow a system of religious duties.

And through our study of this letter

we have listened to Paul offering proof after proof

and argument after argument

defending the absolute truth of the message of the grace of God

and peace with Him through faith alone.

When it comes to our friendship with God

there is only one thing we can ever offer Him,

only one thing He seeks from each of us - our willingness to believe He’s there

and that He’s telling us the truth

about what Christ was accomplishing for us through His death.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph 2:8-9

And Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness...

And Larry believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness...

To tamper with that simple yet amazing truth

is to corrupt the very heart

of the most crucial message our Creator seeks to communicate to every human being.

There are only two possible options

available to each of us

as we seek to connect with our God and find peace with Him.

One of them is to attempt to reach Him through our performance,

an approach that leaves every one of us forever separated from our God,

walled off from Him behind the barrier of our own moral offenses against Him.

Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...

The other is through our choosing to believe

that our God is telling us the truth

that He will in fact do what He said He would do

when He promised that, in response to our simple faith,

He will take all of our sin from us forever

and clothe us in His righteousness as a gift.

Rom 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus...

It’s either/or,

not some of each,

not both.

And for the past several months

we’ve listened to Paul as he has defended and protected and reaffirmed this truth again and again

as he attacked the lie that was being pushed onto his Galatian brothers and sisters.

But that isn’t where Paul stops

because, having boldly reconfirmed that, when it comes to our relationship with our God,

it is not as a result of our works,

he knows that he must also frame that truth

in a correct understanding

of what true freedom in Christ really looks like,

and especially what it looks like as it is lived out in our relationships with one another.

He wants us to know

that our performance, our actions can never separate us from our God

because they had nothing to do with our being joined to Him,

but they can and will have a powerful impact

on our quality of life on this earth,

on our relationships with one another,

and on our ability to reshape evil into good in this world in which we live.

And that is a big part of what our God seeks to do through His children, you know...

reshaping evil into good.

As we trust His life within us,

His voice to us,

His framework for our lives

we become true agents of redemption in this world.

Since the dawn of time

there has been an endless stream of humanity

who investing their lives, their time, their gifts, their resources

into a frantic attempt to make themselves feel good,

and look good,

no matter what the cost to those around them.

And when they reach the end of their journey

they crank up the volume on the theme song of their life, “I did It My Way”,

and try very hard to feel good about their having been here,

and wonder why that deep, agonizing emptiness within them

never goes away.

But that is not the life our Lord Jesus Christ

seeks to live through the people of God.

For us it’s all about redemption...

first our own redemption and healing,

and then, one person at a time,

one life at a time,

our becoming agents of redemption in the lives of those around us.

There are many, to be sure, within the church world,

who never get it,

those who never dare to trust, or listen, or follow their King.

And though they may at times talk the words of God,

there is no real healing within them,

and no redemption flowing through them.

But for those who are determined to listen, at any cost,

and allow their Lord to walk with them through the pain

that so often accompanies real change in our lives,

for those sons and daughters of the King

God creates within them a river of living water

that literally brings hope and strength and healing and life to those around them.

So let’s take a look at where Paul goes

in the last section of this letter

as he talks with us about how this life of Christ within us

will alter the way we live

when we give Him access to our lives.

Now, we saw last week in Galatians 5:1

that Paul condensed everything he’d been saying for 4 chapters

into a single powerful statement

when he said, It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

And now, as we move on in this chapter

in 5:13 he takes us one step farther

as he then applies this freedom to our relationships with one another.

And he says,

Gal 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

And right there in that single sentence

is the perfect picture of the truly healthy walk with God.

Our freedom is a fact, an absolute certainty of our walk with our King.

It was, indeed, for freedom that Christ set us free.

And now, in Him, because of Him,

we will live out all eternity

at peace with our God,

immersed in His grace, clothed in His righteousness, wrapped in His love.

But right here, right now,

as we live out this freedom in this world,

in these bodies that still think and feel that “freedom”

means doing whatever I want whenever the impulse hits,

Paul knows we need to see the truth

if we are ever to be truly free.

And so he lays it right out before us,

showing us the battle we fight every day of our lives.

...only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another...

And what he wants us to know, of course,

is that true freedom does not come from having the right to follow whatever impulse

surges out of our flesh,

but rather true freedom comes

from having the strength, and the courage, and the wisdom

to choose an approach to life

modeled after our King, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sandee and I were in a conversation together recently,

looking back over the life we’ve shared together for more than 35 years now,

and in that conversation Sandee made a comment

that captured what Paul is telling us here

better than anything I could ever say.

She said that, you can look back at certain times in your life

when you know God was giving you something He wanted you to do,

and your flesh just hates it and thinks that if you could just get rid of it, your life would be wonderful.

But then, when you choose to trust Him and go through it with Him,

and see Him carrying you through it, doing it through you,

and when you come out on the other side

you just feel so honored to have had a little part in something He was doing.

And that’s the way it really is.

That’s what happens when we choose to love the people God has given us,

rather than allowing our flesh to rule our lives.

And even more, that’s where life begins to make sense,

where our being here on this earth takes on a purpose and a meaning

we simply cannot discover any other way.

Paul then goes on in the next verse to reinforce this truth

that the heart of this freedom given to us by our God

is the freedom to be able to love - truly love those around us.

He says, For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."

And I do hope you see the powerful contrast that Paul gives us

between what God is doing

and what the false teachers were doing to the Galatians.

The false teachers were pounding the Galatians

with their own interpretation of the Law,

telling them that the purpose of the Law of God

was to lead them into a complex and burdensome religious system.

But then Paul steps in

and reveals to them the truth.

The Law of God was never designed or intended to lead us into religion,

it was designed to lead us into love.

When correctly understood

the moral law of God does not lead us into religion,

it leads us into true love relationships with those around us.

And then, in the next 9 verses

Paul gives them a clear, powerful contrast

between the flesh and the Spirit,

a contrast intended in part to jolt his Galatian readers into being honest

about what was really going on in their lives.

The passage says,

Gal 5:15-23 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, 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, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

OK, this whole section offers us a powerful picture

of both the work of Satan and the work of God in our world and in our lives,

but there are two things I want to especially point out.

The first concerns that list of characteristics of the flesh in our lives.

The first few evidences of the flesh mentioned by Paul

were certainly things that the Galatians would have expected... immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery...

With those everyone would have been calling out, “Amen! Preach it, Paul.”

But then Paul adds some things to the list

that brought this whole thing a whole lot closer to home.

He tells them that the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another,

and then he tells them that the deeds of the flesh are evident which are...strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions...

And what he describes

is exactly the type of things

that were taking place among the Galatians

as they fought with one another about these new teachings invading their churches.

Satan’s finest work

is accomplished when he has successfully convinced his victims

that the work of Satan is the work of God.

And how many Christians throughout history

have followed that same path,

fervently seeking to destroy their fellow Christians

as they use their doctrine

to attack the doctrine of the believers they disagree with?

And they do it all in the name of God...disputes, dissensions, factions, strife.

But then Paul shows them the contrast.

He shows them what the true work of the Spirit looks like.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

And what he shows them

are those choices

that build strong relationships even with the people who don’t see it our way.

And I want to be very sure

we really do see what Paul is trying to accomplish here.

What he wants to do with these two lists

is to provide the Galatians with an absolutely accurate, clear mirror

in which they can see both themselves

and the real thing...the true work of Jesus Christ within a person.

Paul’s wording in this passage is crucial.

He does not say to the Galatians,

“Because you are Christians I now want you to bring love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control into your relationships with one another.”

He’s not asking them to attempt to generate or imitate these qualities

through their own fleshly efforts.

He doesn’t call these things “the fruit of the disciplined Christian life”.

He calls them the fruit of the Spirit.

He’s telling them that, when the Spirit of God

is accomplishing His work in and through the child of God

THIS is what He’ll be doing.

The false teachers were telling them

that “GOD’S WILL” for them is to be circumcised

and then to totally commit themselves to the Jewish religious structure.

Paul is saying that the Spirit of God couldn’t care less whether or not they were circumcised,

or whether they observe any religious holiday or religious duty.

Those things aren’t even on His list.

What He is seeking to produce in them is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

These are the things that will bring true freedom into their daily life.

These are the things that will transform them into agents of redemption in their world.

These are the things that will boldly proclaim the life of Christ through them.

This is what the real thing looks like.

And we can’t leave this without also pointing out

that all of these qualities

are not things we try to produce for God,

they are qualities that the Spirit of God produces within us

as we submit to His leadership in our lives.

Maybe this will help...

What I hear Paul telling us

is that our calling is not to seek these qualities,

our calling is to seek and trust the life and leadership of the Spirit of God within us.

And when we do that,

He will bring these qualities out of us.

I’ll tell you how this plays out in my own life.

I, like the rest the human race,

am a selfish, self-centered jerk who wants things my way on my schedule.

That’s my default flesh setting.

I’ve developed my own personal techniques for getting what I want when I want it,

but the goal is always the same - me...I’m the goal.

I may even use some of the things on that list

as tools with which to get what I want.

I may choose to be patient, or show kindness, or be gentle

because it helps me manipulate others

into doing what I want them to do.

But it’s nothing more than flesh-driven techniques

for getting what I want.

The underlying motivation is not my love for them,

it’s my love for myself.

But then our King steps into our lives

and, in ways that go utterly beyond and even against anything that’s naturally within us,

He begins to open our eyes to those around us,

giving us tiny glimpses of the way He sees them,

and giving us His love for them.

And I have to warn you

that, if we allow Him to do that,

it will mess up our lives royally.

It strips us of our desire to use other people,

and fills us with a longing to bring healing into their lives.

Our self-righteous judgment of those around us

is replaced by a longing to connect with them

in a way that gives them some glimpse of the God who loves them with an everlasting love.

And there is simply nothing

that can make us feel more helpless,

more inadequate