Last week we saw that God does not call us to be good people, God calls us to be faithful people. We saw that, not only do we come to know Christ by faith, but we also grow spiritually in Christ by faith
By faith we come to know Jesus Christ, by faith we grow in Jesus Christ.
We do not grow in Christ by works. We do not grow in Christ by being good people. We grow in Christ by faith. Faith is what we need to concentrate on. If we come to salvation by faith alone and not by works, then it logically follows that we grow in Christ by faith also….not by works.
Paul told us that if we are attempting to fulfill our Christian life by being good people, we are missing the boat. Instead of trying to be good people, we should be concentrating on being faithful people.
Today Paul tells us that there is a better way to live than by trying to follow rules, not only is there a better way, but, it is THE way God designed for us to live as Christians. He starts to tell us how we are to live as faithful people.
I hope you have you bible open to Galatians Chapter 5, so you can follow along.
Starting right at the first verse we see that Paul tells us to stand firm. Why should we stand firm? We should stand firm because they way we used to live is not how God wants us to live now. He wants us to live in a new way. God wants us not to be good, rather God wants us to be faithful.
I know that to some of you, that still doesn’t sound right, but hang in there, there is a difference between being good, and being faithful.
In the past, we centered our life around attempting to be good people, but now we are to center our life around being faithful people. See, we understand very well what it means to live as a good person, and because we understand that so well, we will very easily fall back into living life as a good person, rather than moving on to our new life, living as faithful people.
Being a good person revolves around doing good works, being a faithful person revolves around my relationship with Jesus Christ.
If we return to a life of trying to be a good person, that is as Paul describes it, living under the law, Christ will be of no value to us at all (verse 2). If we return to trying to be good people, then there is no point in following Jesus Christ. In other words, if we return to a life of trying to be a good person – we live like we have no need for Jesus Christ at all.
Do you see that?
Remember last week we saw that we all know all kinds of people who a good people, but are not Christians. We saw that if we want to just be good people, we really don’t need Christ at all – anyone can be a good person, with or without Jesus Christ. But the reality is, God calls us not to be good, but to be faithful. You know, street gang members have their own idea about what being good is and mafia members have their own idea of what being good is as well. But their idea of being a good person, and other people’s idea about being a good person, are not the same, even by a long shot. Everyone has their own idea of what is good don’t they? So, for us here today, if we were to return to a life of being a good person….how would we measure what is good?
Well, we would use the law, as found in the Scriptures.
So if I want to be a good person, then I need to live up to the rules imposed upon me by the law. Now, Paul warns us in verse 3 that we are obligated to follow the WHOLE LAW. When Paul says the whole law, he means more than the ten commandments, he means all 613 laws demanded.
In Paul’s day, many rabbis believed that a gentile (those not born Jewish) might be saved by keeping the seven laws given to Noah in Genesis chapter 9, but once he became a part of the covenant, once that gentile converted to Judaism, he would have to keep all 613 laws. That is a lot of detail. Paul is well aware, as are his opponents, that no one can fully keep the law.
Understand that even if one was able to fully keep the law, they still would not be able to overcome the effects of sin; Even if one was able to be a perfectly good person, still they would not be able to overcome the effects of sin either. Only God can overcome the effects of sin on our lives, and God accomplished that through Jesus Christ, who was and who is God with us. This is why Jesus Christ enters into the world, to deal with sin.
Our problem isn’t with being good people. Our problem is sin.
Paul sums all this up in verse 4, telling us that if we are still trying to be justified by the law, if we are still trying to live as good people, rather than faithful people, then, we have been alienated from Christ, then, we have fallen away from grace.
If I am still trying my best to be a good person, then I have alienated myself from Jesus Christ.
It is like we are being cut off in a race. Paul addressed this in verse 7, “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” Ancient writers would commonly relate living a moral life to running a race, Paul is doing the same here. You’ve seen this in the Olympics. A runner will be running his race well, but then he will have another runner step in front of him and it is over.
I remember a race I was running in high school track where a runner from the other team stepped into my lane and cut me off and I stopped running to avoid running into him. It was a 200 yard dash and I knew that in that short of a race it was over for me. So I took off my shoe and threw it at the guy, a 16 years old’s response – clearly not the leading of the Holy Spirit. All I accomplished was getting myself thrown out of the track meet.
Living life by the law, cuts us off from the Holy Spirit.
Let’s be clear, Paul does not mean here that we loose our salvation, that somehow we are no longer Christians – what he is saying is, that if we try to live under the law, then the Holy Spirit will have no effect on our lives – I will become blind to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
By attempting to live as a good person, rather than a faithful person, I can become blind to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because I follow rules instead of the leading of the Holy Spirit. I don’t need the Holy Spirit if I have rules to follow.
I want to note that Paul mentions circumcision in verse 3, because, as you remember, men came from Jerusalem and demanded that the new gentile Christians in Galatia be circumcised and then they demanded that they live life as orthodox Jews. To the Jew, circumcision, was the mark of a Godly man, but now, in Christianity, the mark of a Godly man or woman is – the Holy Spirit.
If I don’t follow rules, then what do I do?
Well, our clue is this: We are no longer marked by circumcision, we are marked by the Holy Spirit. We are to follow the Holy Spirit.
Verse 5, “…by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit” and then verse 6, “…The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
Let’s take these two verses together. It is not simply a rule of love that we live by, no, it is by faith, through the Holy Spirit, by faith through love. Do you see the twin principles Paul throws at us?
Not faith through love alone. Not faith through the Spirit alone. But faith through both love and the Holy Spirit.
Now, I do not follow rules. Instead I follow the leading of the Holy Spirit; Instead I follow a single command, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I follow these twin principles together faith through the Holy Spirit, faith through love.
So In faith, I follow the Holy Spirit. I listen to Him to guide me in my life. Then I act out my faith in love.
Now remember, our conscience is not the Holy Spirit. Many people believe that by listening to their conscience, they are listening to the Holy Spirit. No. By listening to your conscience, you are listening to your conscience.
See, you have always had your conscience. Before you were a Christian you had a conscience. Everyone has a conscience. Whether they pay any attention to it is another thing all together, but still, everyone has a conscience. So if you are only using your conscience as a guide, how are you operating any different than someone who is not a Christian? Well….your not, are you? Then you need to stop following you conscience, and start following the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is not your thoughts; The Holy Spirit is not a feeling; The Holy Spirit is not your conscience – The Holy Spirit, is the Holy Spirit, and Paul tells us to live life by the Spirit (verse 16), not by the law, and not by our conscience
People will ask, how do I know, it is the Holy Spirit and not my thoughts or a feeling or my conscience? A very pertinent question. I would say there are two things that are a good rule of thumb: First, it takes a lot of practice to hear and understand the Holy Spirit. You just have to step out and see. Second, the Holy Spirit will never, and I mean never, guide you in a way that contradicts the Word of God. The Holy Spirit will never tell you to do something that is against what we find in the Bible. This is why it is said that Jesus fulfills the law. The law was not wrong. The law was not bad, but the law was not the way we were ever meant to live.
We were designed to live by the Spirit, in fact the Spirit replaces works. We once had an old life, a life were we were ruled by what naturally comes to us. But now we have a new life, and we live a life ruled by what does NOT come naturally to us, we are to live our lives spiritually, meaning by the Holy Spirit. When someone tells you that they live the way they do because it comes naturally, or that they act the way they do because it is natural – wave that red flag and ask yourself, “Are we to live our life in a way that comes natural, or are we to live our lives in the Spirit?”
You know, it is quite natural to lie. Ask anyone who has a two year old. It is absolutely amazing to hear the flat out lies that suddenly appear in the life of a two year old…quite naturally, by the way.
When you find yourself wanting to commit a sin, let me assure you, that is never the Holy Spirit prompting you, that’s the natural in you.
We are to no longer live by what comes naturally to us. We are now to live by following the Holy Spirit. Living by the Spirit brings us great freedom. When we live in the Spirit we are free from the wrath of God (Rom 5:9); We are free from sin ruling our lives (Rom 6:14); We are free from the dominion of Satan (Col 1:13; 1 John 4:4; Gal 1:4); We are free from the condemnation of law (Rom 8:1); We are free from the law as justification of our lives (Gal 2:16); We are free from approaching God in terror (Eph 3:12, Heb 4:15-16)
Now, we see that to live by faith we are to live by the Spirit, but that is a difficult thing to do on our own, in fact it is an impossible thing to do on our own. So, God has provided for us a way to live by the Spirit. God has provided for us what we the fruits of the Spirit. Next week we will look at the Fruits of the Spirit. If we understand how the Fruits of the Spirit work in our lives we will understand how to live Life in the Spirit.
