We all want to live the Victorious Christian Life. But the fact is we struggle day in a day out just keeping our heads above water. How is it done? What are we doing wrong? The Bible points us to all the key tools we need to live the life we are called to live. The problem is we don’t open our toolbox; we do not know or see the power that is available to us. Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at our spiritual tools.
Sometimes, when you enter a main highway or come to an intersection, you will see a sign with the word “YIELD” in large letters. The sign means that the driver on one road is to yield the right to proceed to any driver on the other road. The latter driver does not own the right of way; rather, another driver yields it to him. This is an excellent picture of what Christian liberty is all about. We are to yield our rights so that others may go on to greater maturity. No one can demand that another believer yield his rights; rather, as an act of maturity, he should see the need to give up his rights for the good of another. Perhaps we should make yield signs and put them up in our homes and churches—because it is a Christian philosophy to yield, to give way to other believers.[1]
We also yield to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has its way with us. We do not give-in to our sinful nature; rather we give way to the Spirit. But that is easier said than done isn’t it? We’re going to examine our tools to follow Spirit, but first I want to consider the context of our focal passage.
Context is everything in proper interpretation of the Scripture. What did it mean to the original audience, and how can we apply its truths to our lives today. In Paul’s day, he had to deal with Judaizers. These were Jewish legalistic preachers who followed after Paul making corrections, saying to be truly saved, one had to follow all the Jewish Laws. This letter to the Galatians, many believe the first of Paul’s writings, refuted the call to legalism.
Paul calls us to Christian freedom. All of Chapter 5 of Galatians deal with the freedom we have as Christians.
Galatians 5:13a (NKJV) For you, brethren, have been called to liberty;
Liberty, to be free from the Law. How nice is that? But we have to understand the purpose of the law. The law is for law-breakers. For those who keep the law, the law has no effect. At home, I set rules and boundaries. If my 12 year old son always kept his room clean, did his homework in a timely manner, and always helps around the house without being asked, there would be no reason for me to make many of the rules. But give inch, and people will try a take a mile. The same is true here.
Galatians 5:13 (NKJV) For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
When Paul uses the word “flesh” it is always in a negative sense. It means to indulge in our sinful nature. As long as we are in the flesh, our sinful nature is something we have to contend with. Rather, we ought to yield to love, to love one another, to serve one another in love. Look at verse 22, love leads the list of the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:14 (NKJV) For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 22:39. The great law is to Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving each other is proof of that love. But that does not always happen does it. Now keeping this in context, Paul is talking to the church, not the general public.
Galatians 5:15 (NKJV) But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
Love within the church needs to be mutual. What did Jesus say?
John 13:35 (NKJV) By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
To love each other is to use the most powerful tool we have to demonstrate to other people what it means to know Jesus and to have a relationship with Almighty God. So how do we do that?
Galatians 5:16–18 (NKJV) I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Verse 15:Walking in the Spirit. Verse 18 led by the Spirit. These are key. Why? Because the flesh and Spirit are at war with each other. Anyone here not experience that war? It is our flesh, our sinful nature, that keeps dragging us away. What are these things our sinful nature have us doing?
Galatians 5:19–21a (NKJV) Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like;
I’m not going to examine all these. You can figure them out. I will make a few comments. This is not a complete list, Paul concludes with "and the like." Notice how sexual sins leads the list. The Bible makes special mention of sexual sins that our culture, and the Roman culture back then, takes so lightly.
I want to draw your attention to the word sorcery. Whenever you see the word sorcery here and especially in Revelation, it can easily be intepreted to mean drugs. The Greek word is "pharmakeia" from which we get our word pharmacy. In that day it meant those who made magic portions or powders through which they induce hallucinations, trances and conducted their evils.
Revelation 9:21 (NKJV) And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Now concerning the rest of this list of the works of the flesh, Jesus spoke of our sinful nature, our flesh as those things that defile us:
Mark 7:20–23 (NKJV) And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
It is because of our sinful nature and these things that we have laws.
Galatians 5:21b (NKJV) . . . of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Those who practice such things. We’re not talking about a Christian who falls into sin, but one who’s life exhibits or is characterized by these, have good reason to question their salvation. One who claims to know Jesus, yet their life prominently shows these pitfalls, I have reason to question whether they are genuinely saved. There is no excuse for anyone who calls themselves a Christian to have any of these traits currently in their lives. These are things we all have left behind when the Spirit took up residence in us. What should a Spirit filled believer’s life look like?
Galatians 5:22–23 (NKJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
There is no law against these things. The law was established to control the working of the flesh, to control our sinful nature.
We know these spiritual traits. Notice carefully how Paul says fruit, in the singular. These traits are in unity. We cannot separate one from the others. The true believer exhibits all of these, not some of them. These are traits that are not produced by the believers themselves, but by the Spirit that is within them; the believer who in in union with Jesus; the believer that is in Christ. The Spirit will produce this fruit through the life of the believer. It is simply the life of Christ lived out in the life of the believer.
Galatians 5:24–26 (NKJV) And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
We have crucified our sinful nature. It is dead to us. We live in the Spirit, not the flesh. We are in step with the Spirit not with the flesh. And we show these traits first to fellow believers, bringing unity to the fellowship. We do not pride ourselves, or become conceited on how we’re doing; and we do not put in jabs to our fellow believers, provoking them or to envy them.
But what about the Spiritual tools? The toolbox I am referring to are not the fruit of the Spirit. The toolbox Paul is taking about is how we can be in the Spirit so that we display the fruit the Spirit is producing within us. Here in Galatians 5 Paul used four distinct verbs to designate the Spirit-controlled life of the believer, all of which are roughly equivalent in meaning:
walk in the Spirit (v. 16),
led by the Spirit (v. 18),
live by the Spirit (v. 25a), and
to keep in step with the Spirit (v. 25b).
Each of these verbs suggests a relationship of dynamic interaction, direction, and purpose. [2]
This is our toolbox. Let’s examine these four verbs.
Galatians 5:16 (NKJV) I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
The word walk, in context means our manner of life. We conduct our lives in the Spirit. That old favorite Hymn, “In The Garden” catches the essence of this:
And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known [3]
Galatians 5:18 (NKJV) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The Greek lexicon defines this Greek word “to be led (directed)” as — to willingly undergo an action or course of action due to the influence of a moral or spiritual influence.
We allow the Spirit to influence us in our likes and dislikes, in our relationships, and in our overall conduct of life.
Galatians 5:25a (NKJV) If we live in the Spirit,
The Greek word live here is "zomen" means to be alive in a transcendent manner. To live supernaturally. In context with its other uses, means to live without sin or to be subjugated/ruled by sin.
Galatians 5:25b (NKJV) let us also walk in the Spirit.
This is a different Greek word for word “walk” used earlier. The NIV says “in Step” with the Spirit. Those of us who have marched in the military or in a marching band understands what it means to be in step; to walk or live in harmony.
These tools are in our toolbox. We want to live victorious. We want to love, have joy, and peace, to be patient and kindf, to be good and faithful, be be gentle and have self control, then we must:
walk in the Spirit (v. 16),
led by the Spirit (v. 18),
live by the Spirit (v. 25a), and
to keep in step with the Spirit (v. 25b).
This takes a conscience effort every minute of every day. But if we do so, we will have power over our flesh, power over our sin nature, and we can have the victorious Christ centered lives we desire. We no longer worry about the “do’s and don’t’s” and “thou shall not’s” because we are living for the Lord. We are walking with the Spirit.
For those who do not have the Spirit, who do not know Jesus, all this could be yours today by trusting him. We don’t make ourselves presentable to Him, we surrender our all to him and He make us conform to His image. To those on the outside, it would seems we give everything to Jesus, and we are. But what we gain is so much more, we have love, joy, peace, patience, and so forth in our lives.
Is the Spirit talking to us this morning? Are we yielding our life to Him? Are we walking with the Spirit today?
[1] Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 218.
[2] Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 386.
[3] Charles A. Miles, 1913
