20100627
Title: Mirrors
Text: Galatians 5:13-25
Thesis: Just as a mirror reflects our appearance, our lives are a reflection of who we are.
Introduction
Every morning I roll out of bed and pitter-patter into the bathroom where I look into the mirror over the lavatory and I say to myself, “You handsome rascal you… nobody should be this good looking!”
A mirror has at least one reflective surface and if your mirror has a flat surface it is a “plane” mirror (not plain). When you look into a plane mirror a parallel beam of light changes directions while remaining parallel and the result is a virtual image. The mirror perfectly reflects what is before the mirror. What you see is an exact reflection of what you look like.
In that mirrors are primarily used for personal grooming or for admiring oneself they are also known as “looking glasses.”
Our text says that we live in a perpetual state of conflict: So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desire of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other… Galatians 5:16-18
What our text describes is a choice between two irreconcilable ways of life. One is to live by or walk in the Spirit, which is a continuing condition or way of life. The other is to gratify the desires of the sinful nature, AKA, the old nature, fallen man, lower nature, the flesh, or the animal nature – depending on what translation you read.
Living by the Spirit means we live according to all that we are capable of in the freedom and grace of God. Living by the sinful nature means we live by all that we are capable apart from the grace of God in our lives.
These are the irreconcilable sides:
• The flesh keeps us from becoming the good person God wants us to become and doing the good God wants us to do.
• The Spirit keeps us from becoming a person who does whatever his baser nature desires.
This is a spiritual civil war in which our decisions determine if we will be free persons in Christ or slaves to our sinful nature. So when you look into the mirror, what do you see?
I. Does your mirror reflect a free, Spirit-led person or a person enslaved to the sinful nature? (When you look in the mirror, do you see a free-person or an enslaved?)
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. You were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love. Galatians 5:1 and 13-15
The bible teaches in Galatians 2:16 that a person is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not be observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
The law says, “Be perfect!” The law says, “Earn God’s approval by being perfect in keeping the law.”
Grace says, “By faith!” Grace says, “Receive God’s approval by faith in the Christ’s righteousness rather than your own righteousness.”
When we try gain God’s approval by being good enough to be justified by our works we fail and find that we are in fact, slaves to our sinful nature and to the pull of sinful living. So we turn to Christ for forgiveness from all of our unrighteousness and to give us, not a righteousness that is our own, but his, thus freeing us from the law of sin and death. So what do we do with this new freedom?
A. Christ does not set us free so we can indulge in the sinful nature.
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! Romans 6:20-21
One day this week when I stopped to pick up our mail I noticed a lady in our neighborhood whose pet looks to be a black lab/shepherd cross. It is a large black dog with a great deal of energy. She walks him with one of those retractable reel leashes that allow the pet owner to let out twenty-five feet of leash so the dog can explore a bit off the beaten path and seize the opportunity to fertilize someone else’s lawn.
As I was watching the dog was romping about as dogs sometimes romp. And then he took off. He went to the end of the leash line, jerked the leash reel from his master’s hand and kept right on going. It was quite a sight… big black dog, barking with delight, romping without restraint this way and that, darting back and forth across the street with the handheld reel bouncing like a tin can at the end of the twenty-five feet of trailed out leash.
The bible says, “Do not use your freedom to indulge your sinful nature.” Freedom in Christ does not mean that when you come to the end of your leash you keep right on going. Freedom in Christ is not freedom to run wild and revert into sinful ways. Rather, our freedom sets us free to love.
B. Christ does set us free to love one another.
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:22-23
Our text is careful to delineate the differences between the person who reflects the sinful nature and the person who reflects a Spirit-led life.
II. When you look in the mirror, does your life reflect the acts of the sinful nature?
The acts or works of the sinful nature are obvious… Galatians 5:19-21
The acts or works of the sinful nature or the flesh fall into four categories:
A. Sexual conduct: Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery
B. Religious practice: Idolatry and witchcraft
C. Interactions with others: hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions and envy
D. Uncontrolled behavior: Drunkenness, orgies or revelries or carousing (uncontrolled and out of hand behavior) and the like…
Sometimes our sinful nature gets out of hand. So many of the stories going around as fact are really urban legends that, despite being untrue, get passed around as true and are hurtful and defaming those whose character is being denigrated. This one sounds like an urban legend but it is true.
This is the story of a woman whose judgment was skewed by her anger. In February of 2009 a woman in Fort Pierce, FL walked into a McDonald’s and ordered a 10- piece McNuggets meal. I’m sure her salivary glands were leaving her with mouthwatering anticipation of dipping those McNuggets in honey mustard sauce and popping them, one by one, into her mouth.
The cashier took her order and her money. The employee then learned that they were out of the bite-sized, warm, tasty McNuggets, so she told the customer that they were out of the McNuggets but she could order anything else on the menu. The customer asked for her money back and the employee told her that all sales were final but that she could order something else, even of greater value.
The customer wanted McNuggets not a Big Mac or a McRib or an Angus Burger… she was so angry that she dialed 911 to report her emergency. Three times she dialed 911… each time increasingly agitated. Each time she was told that her crisis did not constitute and emergency. Eventually the police came and cited her for misusing 911.
I, for the life of me, do not know why they did not simply refund her money. However I do kind of understand how a person’s judgment becomes so out-of-whack and skewed that she would call 911 in frustration over a McNugget meal. That is what a little thing like anger does when it gets control of a person’s life. Not a big deal becomes a really big deal and we behave badly. The sinful nature is not something to take lightly.
Sexual sins, forms of idolatry, flawed interactions with others do not begin as full-blown expressions of debauchery or hatred or drunken jags. (Craig Brian Larson, editor of PreachingToday.com; source: Associated Press, "Florida woman calls 911 3 times over McNuggets," www.news.yahoo.com, 3/4/09)
The phrase “and the like” simply says that this is not a complete or exhaustive list. However the fact that this list exists is intended to make the point that those who do these things as a way of life or whose lives are characterized by these things do not show evidence of having received or being under the influence of God’s Holy Spirit. The people who live like this seemingly operate without conscience and have no desires otherwise.
If someone’s life reflects the acts or works of the sinful nature, there are two possibilities:
• That person is not a believer. That person has not repented of his or her past way of life and is not living a new life in Christ. Or…
• That person is a believer who is not being led by the Spirit of God.
Pests find their way into everyone’s home at one time or another. The question is, do we hate them enough to do what it takes to get rid of them? Researchers have found that it depends.
• 24% will pay to have spiders exterminated.
• 27% will pay to have ants exterminated.
• 56% will pay to exterminate bed bugs.
• 56% will pay to be rid of mice and rats.
• 58% will pay to exterminate cockroaches.
• 87% will pay to gave termites exterminated.
With the exception of termites, approximately half of us will live with unpleasant creatures rather than pay a professional to eradicate them. That means some people are willing to endure certain pests, but not others.
I suspect the same is true of our spiritual lives. We are willing to live with some spiritual pests… ants, spiders, bedbugs, mice and rats but most of us will not tolerate termites in our lives. The little things do not seem all that destructive but when confronted with a biggie that will bring down the house, i.e., shatter our lives and the lives of those around us, we draw the line. We will tolerate some of the sins of the sinful nature, but not others. (Craig Brian Larson, editor of PreachingToday.com; source: Anne R. Carey and Keith Simmons, "Calling the Exterminators: Critters that bug us most," USA Today Snapshots (May 22-25), 1A; based on survey of 1,253 adults by Global Strategy Group for Orkin)
Dealing with the sinful pests and sinful pasts in our lives is important business. The person whose life reflects the practices of a person who is enslaved to his or her sinful nature and whose life does not reflect the evidence of the Spirit’s influence, that person will not receive eternal life. Paul wrote, “I warn you as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:21
These things, which may be big pests or not so big, characterize the lifestyle of the person who is a slave to his or her sinful nature. And these same things may also create inner tension in the life of the person who sincerely wishes to be led by the Spirit of God. That is why Paul speaks of the conflicted life in which we feel the tug of our sinful nature at war with life in the Spirit.
So when we find that when we look into our spiritual mirrors we see a conflicted person, it is important that we decide that we are not willing to live with anything that reflects the sinful nature.
In direct contrast to the things that characterize a person who is enslaved to his or her sinful nature are the things that characterize the life of the person who is led by the Spirit of God.
III. When you look in the mirror, does your life reflect the fruit of the Spirit?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Galatians 5:22-23
The fruit of the Spirit fall into three categories:
A. The way we think or mindset: Love, Joy and peace
B. The way we treat others: Patience, kindness and goodness
C. The way we are ourselves: Faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
Paul adds, “Against such things there is no law.” By that he means these things do not need to be restrained… they are okay. Do all the patience, kindness and goodness your heart desires…
The news is full of stories that reflect human failure. But there are also stories of grace that reflect the good that is possible when we let Christ be reflected in our lives.
On April 26, 2008, the Western Oregon women’s softball team played Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. During the course of the game Oregon senior, Sara Tucholsky hit the first homerun of her college career. She dropped her bat and began to run the bases. As she rounded first her foot did not touch the bag so when she arrived at home, the umpire told her she needed to run the bases again in order for her homerun to count. As she turned to run the bags again, her knee buckled.
Her teammates were warned that if they touched her, she would be called out and if the coaches called in a pinch runner the homerun would only count as a single.
Then the opposing team’s first baseman and career homerun leader for Central Washington asked the umpire, “Would it be okay if we carried her around the bases and she touched each bag?” The umpire gave his approval and Mallory Holtman and teammate Liz Wallace picked Tuckolsky up and carried her around the bases, lowering her at each bag so her foot could touch the bag.
George Vecsey, the sports writer who was there covering the game (which Central Washington went on to lose), said what happened can only be described as “a moment of grace.” (Ted DeHass, Bedford, Iowa, and Brian Lowery, managing editor, PreachingToday.com; source: George Vecsey, "A Sporting Gesture Touches 'Em All," The New York Times, 4/30/08)
That reflection of sportsmanship and character mirrored who those players really are.
Conclusion:
In closing out this conversation Paul writes there are two things necessary for our being able to live a life that mirrors life in the Spirit:
1. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. That means that when the sinful nature tries to express itself in our thoughts, actions and words, we kill it. We mortify it. We put it to death. And opt rather to reflect the Spirit of Christ.
2. Those who live in the Spirit must keep in step with the Spirit.
Becoming a Spirit-led person is a challenge that calls for us to be actively engaged in an ongoing way of life:
• Galatians 5:16 calls us to Live by the Spirit.
• Galatians 5:18 calls us to be Led by the Spirit.
• Galatians 5:25 encourages us to Keep in Step or Walk with the Spirit.
There is nothing passive about living life in the Spirit or being led by the Spirit or walking in the Spirit. It is a life that calls for an ongoing commitment to putting to death the tug of the sinful nature and embracing life in the Spirit. It is living a lifestyle under the influence of God’s Spirit. It is being led by God’s Spirit. And it is a lifestyle in which we consciously keep in step with God’s Spirit.
