The cost of Freedom
Good Morning/ Happy Memorial weekend to you.
This is Memorial weekend where a lot of hot dogs are sold and a lot of dads have the grill fired up and gathering family together for a time of food and fun. Memorial Day is a day to reflect and thank those that have died for our country so that we can be free and be able to have the freedoms that many do not have around the world. We are able to worship here this morning because our freedom has been bought and paid for by someone else. This weekend a lot of graves will be given a flag and families will gather at the grave of a loved one in honor of the day. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance and a day of thanks.
Some of you already know where I am heading in remembering and acknowledging the freedom Christ has given us in His death at the cross and His resurrection from the grave and the great gift of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide our lives. In some respect I believe everyday should be a time of remembrance for what Christ has done.
Prayer- Jesus, may we not take lightly what American Men and Women have done for us to have the freedom we have in America. May we also not forget that this country was founded on the idea of a place to be free and worship God without being told by government who to worship and how we should worship. This country was founded on Jesus Christ- but because of liberty and justice for all we are all able to worship our own way. May we return by choice to serving Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives and allow Him to be glorified and lifted up in our worship. Amen.
Freedom has cost someone something- Freedom is not free.
Blood has been shed so that we can enjoy what we have today. Those that forget what it cost others have taken this day only as a day off of work and have stepped on the grave of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. I think we need to remember both today- the brave ones who have blessed us with a country with many freedoms and of course our Lord and savior who has spiritually set us free from the bondage of sin that would keep us from enjoying the freedoms that Jesus Christ has brought us to give us ultimate freedom.
Please turn to Galatians 5:1- Read from Bible
Illustration
Sometimes we take our freedoms too far. Like every other president, William Howard Taft had to endure his share of abuse. One night at the dinner table, his youngest son made a disrespectful remark to him. There was a sudden hush. “Well,” said Mrs. Taft, “aren’t you going to punish him?” With tongue in cheek, the president replied, “If the remark was addressed to me as his father, he certainly will be punished. However, if he addressed it to the President of the United States, that is his constitutional privilege!”
Close your eyes for a moment and picture a perfect world. What would that look like?
Would there be violence?
Would there be racism?
Would there be injustice?
Would there be conflict?
According to what you think, that would be your world. But you have to realize that many have different views of what their perfect world would look like.
A perfect world is perceived in different ways.
Someone greater than ourselves would have to define what a perfect world would look like so that we have something to measure it bye.
It cannot be our definition because we would have different views of what that would look like.
God Almighty, the creator of the universe and the creator of each one of us determines perfection.
He alone determines what our lives were created for and how we would fit into that world.
In His perfect world, we were created to worship and love God, to have a meaningful relationship with Him and for Him to be our God.
He would be our strength and guidance every step of the way.
But sin got in the way of that and we decided we did not need or want God’s help with that, so now today… God, because of His love for us, has provided a way of redemption, a way of helping us through our days with the strength of His Spirit that is available to every believer that calls upon the name of the Lord.
WE HAVE A CHOICE- IT IS NOT DEMANDED AND FORCED UPON US.
WE ARE NOT ROBOTS THAT MUST LOVE HIM BACK.
Apostle Paul writes these words to the church because they thought that living right was about wither they should get circumcised or not.
He tells them it is more than cutting some foreskin off the male’s, it is about living with the Holy Spirit of God directing their life and desiring to please God more than pleasing yourself or people around you.
Galatians 5:17-26 Read from the Bible
So in a perfect world determined by God, we would love God with all our hearts, mind, soul and body and we would love each other.
In this world, the sinful world where a lot have abandoned God or felt that He is unreachable, Jesus needs Christ followers, those that are called to be a light into this dark world…to walk in God’s Spirit.
(16) “So I say… (Apostle Paul under the anointing of God) “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
He is talking to the church- brothers and sisters is his greeting- to truly be free in Christ is to allow Christ to empower and direct your life and it will be reflected back to those that we come in contact with.
Live by the Spirit, walk in the Spirit. It is not what the world is doing, they are not walking in the Spirit of God, but believers are to be led by the Spirit and walking in the Spirit of God working in our lives.
Let’s take this information and apply it to our lives-
Why would you want to walk in the Spirit of God?
What it would look like if you walked in the Spirit of God?
Let’s first identify what is meant by the fruit of the Spirit
(22) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Notice here, it is not the fruits of the Spirit- it is the fruit of the Spirit. It is not 9 different fruits- it is one spirit that develops nine different characters of the spirit of God.
Some of us can develop love, some patience, some of us are good people- but the spirit of God wants all these things in our lives and they are directed by one Spirit- the Spirit of God.
Here is a simple truth-
“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.” — Matthew 12:33
Holy Spirit of God is in perfect harmony with God the Father and Jesus the Son
Book of Ephesians tells us we are to be “imitators of God, as well-loved children imitate their father. You must live in love, as Christ loved you, and gave himself to God as a sacrifice and an offering, a sacrifice which was the odor of a sweet savor to God.”
The fruit bearing of God’s Holy Spirit will change us, will transform us, will identify us with Christ. He will always bring us back to pleasing God.
We will never be perfect in ourselves but our desire becomes to please God more than pleasing self.
So first question to ourselves:
Why would we want to walk in the Spirit of God instead of walking in the flesh- or walking in our sinful self?
Jesus warns us in Book of Matthew that it would be hard and we cannot do it in ourselves.
Paul tells us that our flesh is opposite of walking in the Spirit of God.
Why?
Because Jesus commands us too. As Christ followers, we do what pleases our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Because there is evil and there is good and the only way we measure good is what is done in the Spirit of God.
The Bible says… it is our authority;
Evil- Fornication, impurity, idolatry, witchcraft, enmity against each other, jealousy, uncontrolled temper, self-seeking, dissension, injustice, racial divide, gossip, greed. The list could go on and on… we cannot be good without God.
The person that says that are a good person is basing that statement against another sinner and they may not be as bad as someone else, but they are still sinners and the Bible say the wages of sin is death-
I love the person that says that they only get anger after someone has made them mad- uncontrolled temper here is a burst of anger. Not one that last forever but one that flares up and dies.
Dissension- standing apart- you standing apart from anyone?
Envy, alcohol, sexual impurities- whole other sermon.
We are not good without Christ- we are exposed to our self and our self does not look good.
Good- Fruit of God’s Spirit-
Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
Some of these qualities we have in our lives but they are not as good as God’s best.
They do not compare to the fruit we will bear when we are doing it in God’s Spirit.
We will not have the anointing of God when we do things in ourselves.
We human beings tend to overlook the simple truths of life and forget that the profound is usually revealed in the simple.
For example;
We can act out what we are not (at least for a little while), but this will not produce long-term fruit in our lives.
An apple can only reproduce apples, because that’s what it is at its core (pun intended).
If we have an issue with anger, then no matter how kind and demure we try to act, eventually a challenging situation will arise and we’ll blow!
As long as that anger goes unchecked and unhealed in our souls, we will continue to produce the fruit of anger. The same holds true for fear, jealousy, depression, low self- esteem, and so much more.
Many of us miss out on the abundant life that Jesus has for us because we haven’t taken an honest look at our spiritual core and recognized that our souls need some work.
No amount of Christian activity compensates for the failure to be an authentic Christian. Our authenticity (or lack thereof) is made evident by the fruit that our lives are bearing.
If we’re to be recognized as Christ’s followers, we need to be producing the fruit of His Holy Spirit.
Preacher Christine Cain- Quote
“Going to church or praying a prayer doesn’t automatically result in the fruit of the Spirit being produced in our lives. Rather, the condition of our souls strongly influences the fruit that comes out of our lives. Quite simply, if there are areas of our souls that have been damaged in some way, we will inevitably produce bad fruit in those areas. And keep in mind that bad fruit doesn’t necessarily point to a horrific past or abuse — it can simply mean that certain areas of the soul are still not Christ-like.” (and we all have these).
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(2) Question
What would it look like if we walked in the Spirit of the Living God?
Human nature or the sin nature is what we are all born with- that nature cannot enter the kingdom of God. It has to be changed by God.
The change is called being born again. It means that the Spirit of God has to do something new in your life.
You didn’t come to Christ- Christ came to you first. He made the first move toward you in what we call Prevenient Grace.
God moving toward us and inviting us into a relationship with Him. You in His presence moved toward Him and responded. Thus begins a relationship with Him.
You sense the need for a savior and you except Him as your Lord and savior.
You allow Jesus into your life and He beings to change your life. He begins to illuminate things that need to be changed all the while showing you that you cannot do this on your own but need His Spirit to lead and guide you.
Thus the life that we live is because of what Christ has done in us and we cannot boast about how good we are or how much we have changed ourselves.
When we were dead in our sins, God made us alive in Christ.
We are His workmanship
We walk in His Spirit because we have allowed Him to dwell within us and lead us. We have given Him permission to lead our lives.
How Do We Walk by the Spirit?
When we “walk by the Spirit,” we are not controlled by human drives. This is what verse 17 means: the flesh produces one kind of desires, and the Spirit produces another kind, and they are opposed to each other.
Walking by the Spirit is what we do when the desires produced by the Spirit are stronger than the desires produced by the flesh.
This means that “walking by the Spirit” is not something we do in order to get the Spirit’s help, but rather, just as the phrase implies, it is something we do by the enablement of the Spirit.
Romans 7:18,
“I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.” Apart from the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, none of our inclinations or desires is holy or good, “for the mind of the flesh is hostile to God’s law and cannot submit to it.
The new birth is the coming into our life of the Holy Spirit to create a whole new array of desires and loves and yearnings and longings. And when these desires are stronger than the opposing desires of the flesh, then we are “walking by the Spirit.”
We always act according to our strongest desires.
This is what God said he would do in
Ezekiel 36:26, 27:
“A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you . . . I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.”
The problem in Christian living is not learning the right things to do but how to do the right things.
The problem is not to discover what love looks like but how to love by the Spirit
Closing,
A few Steps Toward Walking by the Spirit
Here are a few things we must do so that it can be truly said that we are walking by the Spirit.
Acknowledge you cannot do this alone
Pray and allow God to put His Spirit within us and we will walk with Him.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
Trust Him to do it! Amen.
Why he liberates one person overnight but brings another to freedom through months of struggle is a mystery to me.
Act -By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me.
Galatians 2:20,
“I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me”
Closing prayer to allow God’s Spirit to lead us-
