Galatians 5 Living in the Ways of the Spirit

 Scripture: Galatians 5:16 I just want to remind us to live our lives in the ways of the Spirit.

 

Title: Living in the Ways of the Spirit

 

Galatians 5:1 The reason Jesus set us free is so we could live in freedom from slavery to the Law. So, we need to believe in our freedom and not become subject to following the Law. 

 

From Paul’s perspective, after his conversion to Christ, life without Jesus is a life of slavery to sin and if we are trying to overcome our sin without Jesus it is a life of slavery to the Law.

 

In Galatia, the people were being influenced by teachers who wanted them to go back to the Jewish Laws and be obedient to them. Paul is arguing that it is an either-or proposition. Either you seek to be justified with God by obeying the Law or you follow Jesus. And he reminds people often that we cannot be justified by obeying the Law unless we obey it perfectly every moment of our lives; which no one can do.

 

Grace, on the other hand, offers us forgiveness because of what Jesus did on the cross rather than because of what we do in our own human efforts.

 

2 Listen to me, if we fall back into relying upon our "circumcision" then we have no benefit from believing in and following Jesus. 3 Again, if we choose circumcision, we obligate ourselves once more to follow the Law. 4 And we choose to no longer serve the Messiah but seek to find justification in our obedience to the Law, which is not living by grace. 5 Keep in mind that it is by grace alone, by our faith, that we are hoping to receive our righteousness in Jesus. 6 Circumcision does not mean a thing in our lives now that we believe in Jesus. He is teaching us to live by faith and love.

 

Circumcision is used by Paul to refer to anything a person does to follow God’s Law, expecting to then have salvation because we have followed His mandate. But in Jesus, we have been called to live by faith and love, not by following the Law.

 

Now, follow the reasoning here for a minute. I don’t have to obey God to make Him happy with me or for Him to love me. God’s love is not performance based.  

I obey God because I am free to obey, I want to do His will, because He loves and forgives me. I serve Him because I want to love Him back.

 

The freedom I have is freedom to love, to obey out of a desire to love in return. Before, when I was in slavery, I could do nothing other than sin. Now I have the freedom to choose between good and evil. Paul is reminding the Galatians that if they choose to go back to the Law, they no longer are free, but must be obedient to every Law, every moment of their life.

 

It is possible to slip back into a life of works. We do this all of the time. Thinking that God will love us more if we do the right thing. That is the Law Jesus died to set us free from.

 

Grace says, God cannot love us any more than He already does. He does not need our obedience to love us. His love is not Performance based. While we were sinners Christ died for us.

 

Each moment of our life, once we have chosen to accept what Jesus has done for us, is a choice to believe that we are free from the Law, or to subject ourselves to slavery once again. Whenever we realize we have fallen back to slavery, we need to turn around, to repent, and put our trust in Jesus once again. And then choose to walk in the ways of His Spirit.  

 

7 You were doing so well. What happened? Who led you astray? 8 It was not Jesus who persuaded you to turn back to the Law. 9 Remember the lesson we learn from leaven; it does not take much to leaven the whole lump of dough. 10 I have confidence that you will no longer want to turn back to the Law. Let Jesus remind you of His provision and then you will not need to believe the one who is trying to lead you astray.

 

11 Think about this. If I were still preaching that people needed to be circumcised, i.e., follow the Law, would I be persecuted? No.

 

12 I can't tell you how angry I am at those who are troubling your belief. 13 We walk a fine line between the Law and grace. We are free from the obligation of the Law, but we need to be careful that we don't use our freedom to engage in sin rather than to serve others with love.

 

It would be so easy to think that my freedom allows me to do whatever I please. In one way it does, you can do anything you want, and God will forgive. Paul even says in his letter to the Corinthians, “All things are lawful.” But he reminds us that all things are not good for us or for others. We were not set free so we could live selfishly as we choose, but we were set free so we could live a life of love and concern for others.

 

We were set free so we could learn the true meaning of life. Jesus wanted us to experience the abundance of life in real joy and happiness. He wants us to change from our selfish ways of caring only for ourselves, to living according to His example and teachings. We are now free to live a life of love.

 

When we live by the Law, we do so because we think we will get something from the life we live. When we live by the Spirit, by grace, by faith in what Jesus has given us, we do so because we have a chance to give something. And the more we learn to give, and I am not talking about money, to sacrifice for others, the more we learn the real meaning of life. We become fulfilled when we serve others in the name of Jesus.

 

14 Jesus summed up the Law in this statement, "You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself," 15 When we keep fighting with each other, we are in danger of destroying our faith.

 

Jesus summed up the whole Law in one sentence, “Love one another.” The law of love, the law of grace, says that we should treat every other person with the same care and forgiveness and mercy as we have received from Jesus. If we ask “what is the right thing to do?” – i.e. to be right with God, we will never find fulfillment. When we ask “what is the loving thing to do?” – i.e. to help others with His love, we will find the depth of fulfillment that we were designed by God to achieve.

 

 

16 I just want to remind us to live our lives in the ways of the Spirit. We need to seek His help to destroy the ways of the flesh in our lives.

 

17 By nature, the flesh is opposed to the ways of the Spirit as the Spirit's ways are opposite from the flesh. So, doing as we please will get us into trouble because our natural bent is to live by the desires of the flesh. 18 And the Law is set up for those desires, but the Spirit’s goal is to lead us towards the ways of love.

 

19 We are all too familiar with the ways of the flesh, which are just the ways of selfish desires: sexual deviance, impure motives, licentiousness, serving idols or other gods, witchcraft, hatred, contentiousness, envy, rage, arguments, division, disunion, ill will, intoxication, excessive reveling, and things like these. I wish to remind us, people who do these things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

22 When we live by the Spirit our lives change from the old ways of the flesh and we become selflessly loving, abundantly joyful, at peace with God, patient with others, kind, seeking ways to do good, faithfully following up on our commitments, 23 considerate of others, and able to restrain our personal passions and desires.

 

When we choose to act in the Spirit there is no Law against us. 24 Choosing to be a follower of Jesus means we have decided to put to death our own fleshly passions and desires. 25 If we say we desire to live by the plan of the Holy Spirit, then we must walk in the ways of the Spirit.

 

And those ways are the ways of Love. Scripture teaches us the following:

Love means to treat others the way we desire to be treated,

To seek what is best for someone else even if it means we make a sacrifice,

To find ways to take the gifts that God has given to us and use them to serve others, employ them in service, and

To make every attempt to change the way we think,

leaving our natural selfish thoughts behind,

and seeking to selflessly care for others in the same way that Jesus cares for us.

 

As we seek the ways of the Spirit, as we live to say thank you to God by imitating His love, as we rely on our sense of the Spirit’s presence, then and only then will we find the true love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that we so desperately desire for our lives.

 

Call it selfish if you like, but only as I become more selfless do I truly enjoy the life God has for me.

 

Bless you with the presence of the Spirit in your daily lives.

 

Edd Breeden