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�LIFE IN THE SPIRIT�IS�FREEDOM & LOVE

GALATIANS 5:13-26

LUCI COUNAGO

As Martin explained in the introduction to this letter, it is not directed to a specific church. Galatia is not a church, Galatia is a place. This letter was written for a group of churches in that area where Paul had planted at least four churches. (In Acts 13-14 mentions Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe). Therefore this letter was written as a circular letter, not for a specific church (unlike Paul’s letters to the Philippians, Ephesians and Colossians).

Acts 15:5 relates that when the members of the Pharisees were saying ‘The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses’. (the law was not only the 10 commandments. It is worth remembering that there were about 623 rules to obey). So this was a critical point for Christianity. The debate would change forever the future of the Christian Church.

Paul knew that if this accusation was not sorted out, then Christianity would become just a Judaic heresy and would lose the vigour because the essence of Christianity is that we are saved by faith. Because if we add any other thing to the work of Christ on the cross to save us, we are spoiling the Gospel, perverting the Theology. It is like enrolling the church in the apostasy school.

This is one of the most apologetic letters of Paul. Apologetics means ‘explaining the Christian faith’. Paul is very firm whilst defending the Gospel here in this letter. The aim was to confront the Judaiser ideas, which were teaching that if the Gentiles did not keep the law and were not circumcised, they would not be saved. They were effectively saying that ‘grace alone’ was not enough, that your faith is not enough it means that despite of the work of Christ it was needed to add the law.

We need to understand the purposes for which Paul wrote this letter.

Let’s open the Bible. Martin preached last Sunday on Gal 5:1-12. Please don’t go back (to slavery). This week we are covering Life in the Spirit which is characterised by Freedom and Love.

Galatians 5:13-26

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��WHAT CALLED TO BE FREE MEAN?�VS 13

What did happen
We have a new heart and new spirit within us
We have new life in Christ
We have a new master

Christian liberty is not freedom to sin but freedom from sin. Paul’s defence of grace is not a promotion of sin. On the contrary, he was encouraging us believers to live godly lives. However, the motivation behind our actions must change. Instead of living holy lives in order to be accepted by God, we now live holy lives because we have been accepted by God, and it’s our nature to do so. If walk in love with others, we will not be devoured by the dissension we sow.

We might think that becoming a Christian means that we will automatically do everything right — like ﬂicking a switch. But it doesn’t take too long to realise that it doesn’t work like that.

We want to please the Lord and we sense His Spirit within us. But we often fail to live the Christian life as we want to, and often we don’t feel different at all. Some of our bad habits don’t instantly disappear. In fact, our struggle with sin may even seem to intensify. Why‘?

We need to understand what happened when we became Christians, what did not happen, and how to live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.

What Did Happen

We’ve already seen that the moment we became Christians, some dramatic changes took place.

We have a new heart and a new Spirit within us

We have a new heart whose desires are oriented towards God, rather than self or sin. If a Christian commits sin, he knows it because the Holy Spirit convicts him (in fact, conviction is a very good sign of one’s salvation).

We have new life "in Christ”

We are a new creation, light in the Lord 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 5:8. We are no longer “in Adam” or “in the ﬂesh”. We are now alive in Christ.

Paul had been promoting freedom (independence, liberty, autonomy, sovereignty) from the laws and regulations of the Old Testament. This freedom is possible because our born-again spirits are changed 2 Corinthians 5:17. In our spirits, we are righteous and truly holy (Ephesians 4:24), and the Lord relates to us according to who we are in our spirits (John 4:24).

We have a new master

Our new spiritual authority is God; before our conversion it was Satan. “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” Colossians 1:13. So Paul says ‘do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature’.

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WHAT DID NOT HAPPEN

Our body did not change
Our "flesh" was not taken away
Sin did not die

What Did Not Happen

Let’s look at some of the things that did not happen when we became Christians.

Our body did not change

Although who we are changed fundamentally in the core part of our being, we still look the same as before. One day we’ll get a new body but, for now, we still have the same ﬂesh and bones.

Our "flesh" was not taken away

The new believer thinks and reacts in much the same way as before. As we grew up, independent of God, we learned to react in certain ways, to “cope” in certain ways, to think in certain ways. These old ways of thinking and behaving are the primary characteristics of “the flesh”. When we became Christians no one pressed a “clear” button in our minds to replace them automatically with godly ways of thinking and reacting.

Instead, we must train ourselves to think in a way that is in line with truth rather than according to our past experiences and habits. That’s a process the Bible calls “renewing our minds” Romans 12:2 — choosing to throw out old ways of thinking based on lies and replacing them with new ways of thinking based on truth.

By the way, some modern Bible translations interpret the original word that literally means “flesh” or “meat” as “sinful nature” (though there’s usually a footnote to explain what they have done). That’s fine if you understand that it refers to all those old ways of thinking that are still programmed into our minds. Don’t let this mislead you, however. Our nature — who we are deep down inside — is not sinful. Whereas we were once by nature “objects of wrath” Ephesians 2:3 we now share God’s nature 2 Peter 1:4. Therefore, “use your freedom to serve one another in love” says Paul.

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PROMOTING FREEDOM�LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELVES �VS 14, 15�

Jesus summed the whole law in love
Deny your flesh
The opposite of Love

When we believers lose the motivation of love, we become critical of others. We stop looking for good in them and see only their faults. Soon we lose our unity. We talk behind someone’s back and so on. Matthew 22:39 Jesus remind ourselves to love others as we love ourselves.

How about to make a list of positive things of a person when negatives things comes up?

When we need to address issues, we can do it in love.

When the Holy Spirit leads us, He places in us the desire to hear God’s voice and to obey him. When we focus on Love for God, we love others without effort – it will flow naturally. Each person has different ways to show their love for others. It does not come only in attitudes of giving a gift. Paul describes love well in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ^’Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy; it does not boast; it is not proud; ⁵It does not dishonor others; it is not self-seeking; it is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.’

Paul demonstrates his love for the Galatians by caring for their spiritual lives, their salvation by faith and not adding anything else to it. He expresses his concerns on vs 7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?

In which ways can we demonstrate our love for others?

Galatians 5:13: How do you deny the flesh as Paul had just instructed. Paul gave the answer here. The way to deny the flesh is to serve others through God’s kind of love. Love is unselfish and therefore diametrically opposed to the selfish flesh. Serving others with God’s love challenges those who are characterised by strife and bitterness. But love gives life to others. Jesus is our example to follow.

The opposite of Love v15. They will end up destroying one another, biting and devouring one another Ps 35:25. People who do not love are characterised by strife and bitterness. But love gives life to others. Love encourages people, love sees what is good in people, their qualities, their skills and so on. God demonstrated his love for us while we were still sinners Rom 5:8. What does John 3:16 say?

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FREEDOM & SPIRITUAL CONFLICT� VS 16-18

The war within us

Paul then talked about the spiritual conflict inside of us. He called it a war.

What is the war which is going on in your life? Paul goes on, saying that there are two forces fighting within us – the Holy Spirit and the spiritual nature (our evil desires or inclinations that stem from our body, he is not saying that the forces are equal – the Holy Spirit is infinitely stronger. But if we rely on our own wisdom, we will make wrong choices.

If we try to follow the Holy Spirit by our own human effort, we will fail. Our only way to freedom from our evil desires is through the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Rom 8:9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. ⁸Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

We all have evil desires we cannot deny it. For us to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we must deal with them decisively (crucify them - 5:24). These desires are listed in vs. 19-21.

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FREEDOM V FLESH

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 ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

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FREEDOM & SPIRIT

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

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FREEDOM &�

V24 Crucify our sinful nature with Jesus on Jesus cross��V25 Follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit��V26 Seek for God’s approval

When we accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we need to be willing to nail our sinful nature to the cross. But crucify it daily as we recognise the truth that we are now dead to sin Romans 6:11-14 ‘In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹²Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.’

God is willing to take part in every area of our lives, not just the spiritual part. As we live by the Holy Spirit’s power, we need to submit every aspect of our lives to God, emotional, physical, social, intellectual, vocational. Paul says that because we are saved, we should live like it! The Holy Spirit is the source of our new life, so we need to keep in step with his leading.

Don’t allow anything or anyone to determine our values and standards in any area of our lives.

We need to seek God’s approval, not the approval of others. The Galatian church was apparently having trouble with groups. Those who go out of their way to secure honour or to win popularity become conceited and show they are not following the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Those who look to God for approval won’t need to envy others. Because we are God’s sons and daughters, we have his Holy Spirit as the loving guarantee of his approval. When we seek to please God, the approval of others won’t seem so important.

Prayer to conclude and hand it over to the worship leader.