Back in the 1980s, a classic TV ad showed a skillfull basketball player dribbling a ball round a young lad who was holding a stick of Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles. After a few minutes of very impressive dribbling, the basketball player finishes by spinning the ball on one finger. “Not bad” says the young lad, “but I bet you couldn’t put one of these Fruit Pastilles in your mouth without chewing it.” “Sure I can” says the basketball player, and then we see him fighting and struggling, face contorted, trying to resist the urge to chew. When he succumbs to the temptation, the young lad says, “bit of a tall order was it?”
As Christians, we’re fighting and struggling too. But we’re not fighting and struggling with a fruit pastille, we're fighting and struggling with sin. And it's a bit of a tall order.
The moment we put our faith in Jesus – when we recognise that Jesus is the ruler of the world, that Jesus took the punishment we deserve, and that Jesus rising from the dead means that we can too. The moment we put our faith in Jesus, we're filled with God’s Holy Spirit. And that Spirit makes us realise, big time, that the “desires of the flesh” (as Paul puts it) are so, so wrong.
This morning we're looking at part of a letter Paul wrote to the people in Galatia.
Look at what he wrote in verse 17, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things that you want to do.”
It’s a constant battle – desires of the flesh versus desires of the Spirit, desires of the Spirit versus desires of the flesh.
Everything around us is a temptation, a challenge. We get angry, jealous and envious, and things take our focus away from Jesus.
If we were completely and utterly focused on Jesus, we wouldn’t have such a battle with desires of the flesh. But we're not, and we do.
Paul wrote in verse 16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
If we’re honest with ourselves, we’re probably not walking by the Spirit every minute of every hour of every day.
When we get up in the morning, is God the first thing we think about? When we walk into a salary review meeting at work, are we thinking about God? When we're cruising the aisles at Waitrose looking for those 'reduced to clear' items, are we thinking about God? Unlikely.
When we walk by the Spirit, when our lives are God-centric, life does feels good, and the desires of the flesh disappear from our minds.
First sold in 1967, and invented to address consumer complaints about broken, greasy, and stale crisps, Pringles have been made in over 100 flavours (including ‘peppermint white chocolate’ – seriously!). Their creator’s slogan, ‘once you pop, you can’t stop’, sums up the tastiness and ‘moreishness’ of the perfectly shaped crisp. And really, once you’ve crunched your way through the first crisp in a tube, it’s very difficult not to carry on down to the bottom – ‘once you pop, you really can’t stop’.
And we can’t stop either. We can’t stop sinning.
Let’s look a bit closer at the list of things Paul describes as desires of the flesh. It’s a long list. Look at verse 19, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality”. That’s probably what we all think of when we talk about desires of the flesh. But Paul goes on. Look at verse 20 – “idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies”. We might have been thinking that we’re okay with fighting the desires of the flesh, but that list contains things that challenge us every day – jealousy, fits of anger, envy. Have you been unhappy because someone else was picked and you weren’t? Have you lost your temper because something didn’t go as you planned? Have you wished that you had a car or an object like your neighbour’s? Well, if you did, you succumbed to the desires of the flesh.
It's a bit of a tall order – a constant battle.
And Paul’s list is not just a long list. It’s a never ending list. He adds a catchall in verse 21, “and things like these”. So, even if you’ve gone through the entire list and ticked off all the desires of the flesh (and I’m impressed if you have), there’s still a desire out there that you will succumb to.
With such a comprehensive list, especially with the “and things like these” catchall, it’s going to be impossible for us to fight the desires of the flesh by ourselves and win. It’s a real reminder that we can’t earn our way into Heaven. We can’t get into Heaven by just being good. We can only get into Heaven by putting our trust in Jesus, and accepting God’s grace – his free gift of forgiveness.
The Working Time Directive is a directive of the European Union that gives EU workers the right to work no more than 48 hours per week. I remember when it came out. I had visions of getting home in time for dinner, weekends relaxing, and a respectable work-life balance. But no. My employment contract had a ‘catch-all’ section at the bottom, which effectively signed me out of the Working Time Directive. It stated that I would work whatever hours were required to get the job done.
Even if we think we can avoid the desires of the flesh, Paul’s “and things like these” catch-all means that we can’t.
So, we’re going to fail. What does that mean? Well the penalty is severe. Paul warns the Galations (and not for the first time), that they will not go to Heaven if they fail. They will not go to Heaven if they succumb to the desires of the flesh. It’s a simple black and white message.
Look at verse 21, “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
It’s a stark warning for us too. If we succumb to the desires of the flesh, we’ll not go to Heaven. It’s a simple black and white message.
Notice though, not only is it a constant battle for us, it was a constant battle for the Galations too. This wasn’t the first time Paul had warned them. The Galations were continuing to succumb to the desires of the flesh. It was a tall order, and they couldn’t stop. It’s a tall order, and we can’t stop.
But, we need to heed Paul’s warning, and do our best to avoid those desires of the flesh.
But if we’re going to fail, how can we avoid such a horrendous penalty? Well we can’t avoid it. It’s a penalty, a punishment that we deserve.
Or maybe we can avoid it …
God understands that we make mistakes. But, he wants us to admit our faults. 1 John chapter 1 verses 8 to 10 say “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Not inheriting the kingdom of God is the punishment we deserve – death and eternity in Hell. There's nothing worse that could happen to us. But, because God is faithful and just, God gave the punishment we deserve to Jesus, and we're now effectively clean and righteous in God’s eyes.
Jesus, who is the only person ever to avoid the desires of the flesh, took our punishment and paid our penalty. And we are clean and righteous in God’s eyes.
Yes we’re going to constantly fail when it comes to the desires of the flesh, but we can live a life knowing that we are forgiven. We can live a life free from the burden of such a tall order.
But that doesn’t mean we can just sin, that we can just give in to the desires of the flesh! No, we should “walk by the Spirit”, and show the world that we are Christians.
What should we do? How can we show people that we’re filled with God’s Holy Spirit? How can we show the world that we’re free from the burden of sin, from the burden of such a tall order?
Well, in verse 14, Paul says 'For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”'
And when Jesus was asked which of the 10 commandments was the most important, he answered “… The most important is, ‘… you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
So, we “walk by the Spirit”, we “live by the Spirit”, and we “keep in step with the Spirit” by loving the Lord our God with all our heart, and loving our neighbours as ourselves.
And by neighbours, we mean everyone – all people, everywhere, even our enemies.
And by loving, we mean sharing, being honest, refusing to gossip, refusing to bear grudges, never taking vengeance, and doing to others as we would have them do to us.
And, the most loving thing we can do, is to share the good news of the gospel. As sinners, God has forgiven us by giving our punishment to his son Jesus, and we should share that good news.
So, we’re struggling with sin. Sin is massive. We’re going to fail, and the penalty for failure is horrendous.
But, because we’ve put our trust in Jesus, God has forgiven us by giving our punishment to his son, Jesus.
So, we should walk in the Spirit by loving God and loving our neighbours
Let’s pray …
Heavenly Father, we’re sorry that we sin. We’re sorry that we sin even though we know the penalty for our sin is horrendous.
Help us to walk in your Spirit and love You and our neighbours with all our heart.
Thank you for forgiving us by giving the punishment we deserve to your son, Jesus. And help us to share that good news with others. Amen.
