Watch the Sunday School video for June 19, 2022
posted on the church Facebook page.
Life Apart from the Spirit
Focal Passage: Galatians 5:13-21
Young kids have lots of rules but you hope that by the time they leave for college or work, those rules have been internalized. Wise parents hope their young adult children live by the standards that they were taught not out of obligation but because this is a part of who they have become. The Apostle Paul also understood that freedom presents both an opportunity and a challenge. He wrote the churches in Galatia urging them to remain faithful to the message of salvation in Jesus Christ.
The Galatian Christians were being influenced by a group known as Judaizers. These were Jews who had accepted Christianity but they believed that all of God’s promises were for Jews alone. They insisted it was necessary for Gentiles to become Jews before they could become Christians. In his commentary on the Letter to the Galatians, William Barclay explains that the Judaizers expected Gentiles to be circumcised and “then take on the whole burden of the law.”
The Apostle Paul was adamant that salvation was for both Jew and Gentile and was available by God’s grace alone. There was nothing that anyone could do to earn God’s favor. All that they could do was to receive God’s grace by faith in Jesus Christ. For Paul, the essential point was not what we could do for God but what God had done in Christ Jesus for us. The Letter to the Galatians urges the churches to resist the teaching of the Judaizers, realizing that they have been set free from the yoke of the law by the grace of God.
Galatians 5:13-15
Until this point, Paul has been speaking in a theological way. With these verses, he makes a turn to the practical and answers the question: What does it look like for a Christ-follower to experience the freedom found in the grace of God?
In previous chapters, Paul warns the Galatians about adding legal requirements to the Gospel of Christ. Now, he cautions them on the danger of lifting all restraints. Christians are not free to determine their own standards of behavior. When we recognize all that God has done for us in the gift of Jesus Christ we will gratefully respond with love for God and neighbor. Our love will lead to serve others unselfishly.
In these verses, Paul positions the love of God and neighbor as the opposite of the self-indulgence that characterizes the lives of those who live by the flesh.
What does it mean when we say that a person is a “slave to sin?” How does your understanding of God’s love for you lessen your motivation to sin?
Galatians 5:16-18
The apostle uses the term “flesh” or “selfish desires” to describe the sin-desiring aspect of our whole being. The Spirit and the flesh are opposed to one another. According to the Apostle Paul, the answer to the problem of “selfish desires” is not willpower. The solution to sin is surrender to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God writes the law of God on your heart so that you desire to obey God in love (Hebrews 10:14-17). Being led by the Spirit and walking with the Spirit are the opposites of yielding to the desires of the flesh.
Walking was a term used by both Jews and Greeks to describe an ethical way of life. Paul uses the action to describe what it means to follow Jesus. When we walk (or live) by the Spirit, our desires are transformed so that we begin to want what God intends. As our desires align with the Father’s will we are set free to love one another in the same way we have been loved by God. When we walk by the Spirit, we are set free from the control of sin and the consequences that sin will surely bring.
Paul urges the Galatians to be guided by the Spirit of God in their daily lives. After the apostle contrasts life in the Spirit with life in the flesh, he provides a catalogue of the evil that comes when human beings follow their own desires.
Galatians 5: 19-21
The list of vices begins with issues of sexual immorality and continues with a focus on idolatry. Finally, Paul places attention on those sins related to human relationships. As you reflect on these verses, it is good to remember that Paul is providing us with a representative description as opposed to an exhaustive list of sins. In each of these cases, the sin is the symptom of the greater problem — our lack of trust in the goodness of God. When we understand God’s perfect love, we will recognize that we can trust his plan for us. When we trust God’s good plan, we are willing, even eager to walk by the Spirit and obey.
How does your understanding of the goodness of God connect to your willingness to obey God’s commands? How might sin be an indication of a lack of trust in the goodness of God?
Verse 21b
. . . those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
This portion of our passage may seem harsh but similar admonitions are found in other New Testament passages (see 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 15:50; Ephesians 5:5). Scholars interpret this to mean that those who separate themselves from the truth of God will eventually sever their relationship with God. Paul is not attempting to make the Christian feel uncertain about their salvation but rather he intends to shatter their complacency.
Next week we will turn our attention to the positive gifts of the Spirit. But today let us consider our own lives. It may be helpful to think of yourself as following Christ down the center of a road. There are ditches on either side of the street. On one side is the ditch of legalism. You land in this ditch when you think you must work to earn your salvation. Among other problems, the ditch of legalism produces a fear-based obedience. In this ditch, you continue to be enslaved to the law.
On the other side of the road, you’ll find the ditch of complacency. You will land in this ditch when you believe that God’s grace gives you permission to live according to your personal desires. The ditch of complacency yields a casual attitude toward obedience. In this ditch, you continue to be enslaved to sin.
Both extremes in the Galatian churches were actually destroying the churches. Both extremes will cause individual Christians to miss the freedom that God intends them to enjoy.
The Spirit wants to help you avoid the ditches and lead you in the path of Jesus. The Spirit invites you to understand the depth of the love that God has for you. The Spirit of God calls you to align yourself with God’s purposes and obey his commands. The Spirit invites you to model your life after the teaching and character of Christ. As you follow in the footsteps of your Savior, the Spirit will renew your mind and heart so that you are transformed into the image of the Son. The Spirit will set you free.
“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1
What might cause you to land in one of the “ditches?” How do you know when you are in the ditch of legalism or the ditch of complacency? Which spiritual practices might help you grow in your experience of God’s love in your life?
