Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Galatians: A Grace-full Life
Grace: It's in all how you walk (Pt 1)
Sermon Series: Galatians: A Grace-full Life
Title: : Grace: It's all in how you walk (Pt 1) Text: Galatians 5:16-25
Introduction: Let me ask you a question. ‘If you were to choose one principle to follow to live the Christian life, what would it be?’
· Bible reading, Consistent prayer
· Faithful worship attendance
· Serving others, Living by the Golden Rule
· Imitate Christ
Good answers. But there is one principle that over-arches them all. Paul, in our text this morning will answer the question we have all been asking ourselves... ‘How do I live the Christian life if it is not about following the rules and laws in the Bible?’
Paul’s answer...the principle he wants us to choose is to live by the Spirit! The problem is, too many conservative Christians minimize the role of the Holy Spirit so they fail to recognize and experience His work in their lives.
The correct choice is to live by following the Holy Spirit’s guidance and receive His empowering. This will lead to an inner and outer life transformation that religiously following a set of rules can’t compete with.
But the problem is consistently making the choice to live by the Spirit. There are competing desires, as Paul will talk about in our text this morning, that we often choose over living by the Spirit.
Why would we ever do that? No doubt we all want to live for Christ, to be closer to Him. Why then would we choose something other than the Spirit?
ILL: Lets say, after our morning worship celebration, you head out to Burger King for lunch. As you examine the menu the conflict begins...should I get the triple whopper with extra cheese and bacon or the garden salad with fat free dressing? It’s a no brainer. We choose the triple whopper with extra cheese and bacon. Why? Because it tastes better!
Don’t get me wrong, I have been known to eat a whopper (never s triple one though) and I have been known to eat a salad (but the fat free dressing I pass on.) There is no flavor in ‘fat free’ anything...because all the flavor is in the fat...am I right?
The choice to live by the Spirit is similar. Sin tastes good and it can be very appealing to the flesh because it’s what the flesh craves. Reminds
me of my favorite burger joint, White Castle’s
slogan... ‘What you crave!’
Anyway, the desire to live by the spirit and the desire to satisfy the flesh are constantly at war in our lives and choosing between the two, is rarely easy. But we do have to choose, and Paul will tell us to choose to live by the Spirit.
Transition: Open your Bibles to Galatians 5:16 (pg. 889 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you.) For it’s there we will find ‘Grace: It’s all in how you walk.’
I. Galatians 5:16-18 Choose to live by the Spirit
Read: Galatians 5:16-18
‘Live by the Spirit’. Perhaps your translation reads ‘Walk by the Spirit.’ To walk is used 32 times in Galatians and is a common picture describing the Christian journey. Here in Galaitans 5:16 the Greek tense of the English word ‘live’ or ‘walk’ means ‘to keep on walking.’
The command here is not to choose anything else but the Spirit’s leading in your life. Consistently do that, and you will not give in to the desires of the sinful nature or perhaps your translation says flesh.
But, Paul acknowledges the struggle to choose the Spirit over the other competing desires, and he lumps them into one...the sinful nature/flesh.... ‘They are in conflict with each other.’ He admits. Paul personally knew the struggle. He wrote about it in Romans 7.
Read: Romans 7:15,18b-19 ‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do....For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.’
Does that sound like a Christian who had it all together? No! He struggled with sinful desires and chose them over the Spirit more times then he probably would admit.
And what is the good Paul wanted to do? The Law...
Read: Romans 7:14 ‘We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.’
Paul tried to honor God, tried to maintain God’s love and acceptance by trying to keep the law and found he was unable to do it. Just like those today who performance as a Christian is meant to honor
God and maintain His love and acceptance.
Paul found the answer to his dilemma, and ours as well when he wrote in verse 18 ‘But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.’
Verses 16 and 18 are connected....we live/walk by the Spirit, by being led by the Spirit and when we choose that as our life principle for relating to God, the Spirit will do the work of the Law for us...relieving us of that burden....That grace!
But, will we still struggle? That’s the essence of vs 16-18. But when we choose to live by the Spirit rather than by the other competing desires we will not gratify the sinful nature, thereby, we will obey law. How do I know that?
In verse 22, the first fruit of the Spirit mentioned is love. When we choose to live/walk by the Spirit, love will be produced in our lives. And love fulfills the whole law. Remember Galatians 5:14?
Read: Galatians 5:14
That’s how we keep the law, yet at the same time, not live under the burden of the law. Is this beginning to make sense?
Sidebar: Let me add this. Walking/ living in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit is not a ‘mountain top’ experience: times when our spiritual lives are emotionally charged and we are at the top of our game, spiritually speaking. Like when we are at a spiritual retreat or an especially emotional worship celebration.
Paul is talking about our ‘walk’ our ‘life.’ The everyday experience of putting one foot in front of the other, the morning to evening, the seemingly mundane circumstances of everyday living.
‘Walk/Live by the Spirit’ is not a spiritual suggestion. It’s a command by Almighty God.
In the mundane, and sameness of daily life:
· Take time to listen to God’s voice
· Take time to look for what God is doing around you.
· Allow the Spirit to change your tone of voice in how you speak to others.
· Allow the Spirit to guide you in the decisions you make at work, school, driving around town, or while you are home.
That’s God’s command...in the ordinary things of life, in the usual course of your day, ‘Walk/live by the Spirit.’
So that when the conflicts come, and the harsh realities of life beat at your door, the consistent choices you have made to walk in the Spirit, in the ordinary times, will help you make the right choices, in the extraordinary times of life...and that is grace in action.
Conclusion
OK...but how do you live/walk with the Spirit? Isn’t that the $64,000 question on everyone’s mind? You’ve heard me say ‘Let the Spirit lead you.’ or ‘Allow the Spirit to control you.’ and you have gone away confused as to what that means in practice.
How do you allow the Spirit to lead you? How do you walk/live in the Spirit? I want to help answer that for you as best I can.
Let me give you the bottom line first, then I will elaborate.
· You walk/live by the Spirit, when your heart is resting, in the promises of God.
The Spirit reigns over the flesh (sinful desires) in your life, when you live by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave His life for you on Calvary, and now is interceding on your behalf, in heaven to the Father. Those are some great
promises, among others, to remember.
Look, there are no formulas, no get spiritual quick plans for living the Christian life. Just the command ‘Walk/live by the Spirit.’ With that said, let me share with you what I have gleaned from God’s Word that helps me understand what it means to ‘live/walk by the Spirit.’
1. Develop a heart for God. More than anything else, to walk/live by the Spirit means to hunger and thirst for God. To think about God, To acknowledge and give thanks for what He is and has done for you. To want more of Him in your life.
Read: Psalm 42:1-2 ‘...As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
Read: Deuteronomy 6:5 ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’
2. Develop intimacy with God. Intimacy is closeness to God, a comfortableness in His presence. It manifests itself by honesty before God; no holds barred, no doors closed when you are in God’s presence. Intimacy with God is knowing that God knows you better than you know yourself....and you still go to Him. (Read just about any Psalm)
3. A hunger and thrist for righteousness. This is persuing God in His holiness. It’s daily making choices not to sin. Consistently seeking to do the right thing, will make those choices much easier to make.
Read: 1 Timothy 6:11a ‘But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness...’
Read: Matthew 5:6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.’
4. A grasp of God’s Word. I am not saying everyone has to have a Bible degree but we should have a handle on the general principles of Scripture. Particularly, we should be able to understand and tell others about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Read: 2 Timothy 2:15 ‘Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.’
5. Recognize your imperfections. Come to grips with your failure, your bent to sinning. Godly men and women have always been overcome with a sense of their own sinfulness.
Read: James 4:9-10 ‘Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.’
6. Accept that living/walking by the Spirit is humanly impossible. It is absolutely impossible w/o divine help. So ask for it...everyday, every hour if need be.
Paul said in Galatians 5:18 that we need to be led by the Spirit...Let me explain that. The Spirit leads not like a pace car at the Indy 500, but as a locomotive on the train. We do not follow the Spirit under our own strength. We are led by the power of the Spirit.
Read: Zechariah 4:6 ‘...This is the word of the Lord...Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.’
Read: John 15:5 ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.’
7. A desire for selfless service. Service to others is a manifestation of our love and the Spirits presence in our lives. Selfless service to others is serving w/o regard to reward or thanks.
Read: Ephesians 6:7 ‘Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.’
Read: 1 Peter 4:10 ‘Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.’
8. Accept each others differences. JI Packer who was a conservative theologian didn’t agree with all of John Wesley’s theology. But he said this about Wesley.
· ‘I don’t agree with Wesley’s theology, but I want to tell you that I think the Spirit of God is at work in the man and I accept it, and I accept him.’
We need to realize that heaven will be made up of people who held different theological positions, and who lived differently thane we did while on earth. We need to get along with each other.
Read: Ephesians 4:3 ‘Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace..
Read: Colossians 3:14 ‘And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.’
9. A growing sense of anticipation and urgency. Begin to think, believe and act as if the end is near. Focus on spiritual activities. Trust in God’s promises. Live as if Jesus is coming back tomorrow. You can read Jesus’ parable of the 10 virgins to get an idea of what it means to have a sense of anticipation and urgency.
10. Understand that walking/living by the Spirit means movement. The saying ‘You can’t stay where you are and go with God’ is what I am talking about. It means not being content where you are and wanting more of God in your life.
· Walking/living by the Spirit means following the Spirit as He leads
· and not watching as He goes by.
Read: Galatians 5:25 ‘Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.’
I want to encourage you to walk/live by the Spirit, to let Him lead you by His power so that the journey you are on will take you to places you never thought possible...Just like Elizabeth is allowing the Spirit to lead her to Puerto Rico and
service to the deaf at ESD.
I started off talking about choices and let me finish with that. There is no middle ground, we will either choose to live by the Spirit or by our sinful desires. Every day, often every hour we will choose one or the other.
Choose the Spirit, because of Grace...it’s all in how you walk.