John Bunyan said this in mid sixteen hundred:
Run, John, run, the law commands
But gives us neither feet nor hands,
Far better news the gospel brings:
It bids us fly and gives us wings
Grace doesn't just bring us salvation, but it enables and empowers us to live it out every day!
Also read Titus 2:11-12.
Those that are saved by Christ and are truly in Jesus Christ are no longer under the law. They stand in grace. A great price was paid for their freedom from the law. The yoke of the law was broken. The Christian must recognize this place of grace they stand in. And as we grow we learn the boundaries of this grace and how quickly we can move outside those boundaries back into legalism and away from grace. To stay in those boundaries is to walk in the Spirit.
Those walking in the Spirit and in Christ won't run amuck and abuse liberties given to them by grace. In fact, the opposite happens. Our desires change, our heart changes, we are being cleaned up by the power of God. Christians aren't working to accomplish righteousness, they are being transformed to look like the God that saved them. And He is a righteous and holy God. That's what it looks like when we stand in grace and are driven by the Holy Spirit within us. We are under their influence.
When I describe the hope that lies within me, what does it sound like? I have a hope of eternal life because I do this and do that and do …. Do …. Do……… Or, because the law is absent as it should be……we say "I have hope of eternal life by grace, through faith, it is the promise of a faithful God." We have the truth, we don't have to be arrogant about it but we should be confident in it. It's okay to ignore and dismiss all the other stuff. That's what Paul wanted the Galatians to do.
Galatians 5:1
Hopefully each one of us here have been born again and found our place of standing in the grace of Jesus Christ. Some have been standing in grace for some time and others just arrived there. Regardless of where you are in your walk it is important to remain in that place of grace. Paul said to stand fast. That is to hold your ground. This is like when we played 'king of the hill' when we were kids. The guy on the hill held the high ground, everyone else tried to pull him or knock him off the hill. Many times the king was knocked off the hill by deceit, by being faked out or by teamwork of common enemies.
How fast are you standing on your hill? Is Christ the firm and solid rock you stand on? Do you have a good foothold for when the attacks come? Do you know why you stand there? Why you are able to stand and from where your strength comes from? Christ made us free, we didn't do it ourselves. We stand in the liberty, free from the law, free from the yoke of bondage. The strength to stand doesn't come from our selves but from Jesus.
Stand fast, because the attacks on your liberty will come. You don't just automatically stay there. It takes effort on our part. Others will scheme to deceive and bewitch you. They will try to loosen your grip on your faith. They will try to knock you off your hill.
D. L. Moody illustrated this point by quoting an old former slave woman in the South following the Civil War. Being a former slave, she was confused about her status and asked: Now is I free, or is I not? When I go to my old master he says I ain't free, and when I go to my own people they say I is, and I don't know whether I'm free or not. Some people told me that Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation, but master says he didn't; he didn't have any right to.
The old woman was confused. Who was she to believe? Was she free or not? Christians sometimes get confused in the same way. Jesus Christ has freed us but the "old master" tells us we are still slaves to a legal relationship with God. They live in bondage because their "old master" has deceived them. Our old master, our flesh, our sinful nature, will constantly attack our liberty. The world will attack the grace we stand in. Satan will accuse and mock and drive you away if you are not on guard. We have to be in communication with the new master and listen to him alone.
Galatians 5:2
The circumcision was to identify with the law. For the Jews, the law said every boy born would be circumcised on the 8th day. This was a sign of them being in covenant with God. For the Galatians to become circumcised was to turn from grace. Circumcision was choosing the law over Christ. If they made the wrong choice, Christ would profit them nothing. You can't mix the saving grace of Christ with the law, if you chose the law, there was no profit in Christ.
You can't be a child of promise and trust in the law; nor can a one who embraces the law live in grace.
Galatians 5:3-4
To stand in grace alone was to say my righteousness is nothing. It is as filthy rags. My only hope of salvation is the righteousness of Christ that is imputed to me because my life is identified with Christ. I died to myself, now I live in Christ.
These men who were being circumcised were making a decision to stand on their own righteousness. To be estranged was to be free from Chirst; it was like being unteathered or losing your anchor. It was af they said they didn't want to be an heir; they didn't want the promise. They were estranged from Christ, fallen from Grace, and now they were yoked to the law. In doing this, they were debtors to keep the whole law. The Rabbis identified 613 laws. Their idea of righteousness was found in every detail of the laws and all their interpretations of them. They had so many laws they couldn't remember them all.
At first you might think this really has nothing to do with you in your life. I think if you look around, though, you'll find legalisms everywhere. Our legalisms, our rules and laws aren't all that different from those of the Rabbis or the Judaizers. In the same way the Galatians sought to find righteousness in the law, in our day people seek to find righteousness by works of another kind. Paul said if you are doing this, you have fallen from grace.
This falling from grace could be an indication that you were never saved by grace. That's reasonable because you can't operate in grace if you never received it. Grace is foreign to your old nature that is alive and well. Some scholars think 'falling from grace' means losing your salvation. I don't see enough evidence to back that up. "Falling from grace' is to operate outside the circle of grace. It's not walking in the spirit, it's not growing in grace and mercy in the Lord.
This is like an umbrella of grace and if you run ahead of it, you are outside grace. If you lag behind you are outside grace. If you veer to the right or to the left, you have fallen outside the protection of the umbrella. I believe we all slip outside of the umbrella from time to time and sometimes we're slow to realize we are standing in the harsh rain of justice. The Holy Spirit prompts you to move back under the umbrella. If we live and exist outside the umbrella, I believe you are in danger and you don't want to stay there.
What does this look like to us? As an example, religions put burdens on people. They insist people give so much money, use only a certain bible translation, worship a certain way or dress a certain way. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of those things, but they have nothing to do with salvation. They have nothing to do with walking by faith.
When we find our righteousness in our actions because we go to church, because we give, because we pray or sing or anything, we are stepping away from grace. Our righteousness is found in Christ alone. All those other things may be done but not as works of self righteousness but in response to the grace in which we stand.
Galatians 5:5-6
Through the Spirit we eagerly wait. Waiting for what? There is a hope in this righteousness by faith. That hope is the transformation by the Holy Spirit to begin to look like Christ. It is the Spirit working out in our life, transforming us, giving us knew desires and gifts and our hope is eventual glorification. One day we will shed our bodies of flesh and inherit our eternal bodies. That's our hope and its worth waiting on. The hope in the law is a van hope; it will never delivery any righteousness. Paul said to the Galatians, if you are finding hope in circumcision or no circumcision, you're wasting your time. You are trusting in something that is completely irrelevant!
For us, to trust in our acts of religion, we are trusting in something completely irrelevant. There are a whole lot of very religious people who will stand before Christ and be told, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' They will be considered lawless because they stand on the law and fail, instead of standing in grace. Isn't it interesting that anyone standing on the law will be found lawless in the end.
In Christ, the thing that counts is faith expressed through love. The word love there in verse 6 is Agape' love and Christ is the object of that love. It is a right response to the amazing love he showed us. For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life. Our response to this amazing gift is not to keep a list of rules or laws but to respond in love.
Galatians 5:7-10
Paul uses the common example of a race to make his point. He does this numerous times in his epistles. Paul had been through Greece and may have seen the Olympic Games and the Isthmus games. It's not a stretch to think Paul may have watched these games and these races. Now he draws an analogy from these races that everyone cam understand and picture.
The Galatians had started running the race well. They received the gospel message, they were born again, and they received the Holy Spirit. They were in the race, in a new life in Christ. They were on their path growing and learning. Then something happened.
They were running well and suddenly they were hindered. The word for hindered means there was a road block. There is some indication this word had military implications. This wasn't a road blocked because a dead tree had fallen. This was a blockade where forward progress was purposely stopped or impeded. Paul asked who it was that threw up this blockade to the truth. Had become decieved into thinking God had called them to legalism?
Did they feel moved by the Spirit, in their zeal, to pursue God in some other way than by the gospel? If they were persuaded to chase after legalism, that persuasion didn't come from God. God called them to truth, to grace, by faith. So, if the persuasion didn't come from God, where could it have come from? They were being persuaded and bewitched and deceived by Satan and those who work his evil. The persuasion was to draw people away from grace. And the persuasion was so subtle, they weren't even aware they were hindered and that their race had run off course. They needed to discover this for themselves.
Just as a 'A little leaven leavens the whole lump.' A little corruption mixed in with the gospel ruined the whole thing. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him and is circumcised shall be saved." No, that's not what the bible says but that's what the legalists were teaching.
Our version of that might be, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him and reads only a King James Bible shall be saved." Or, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in Him and attends church every time the doors are open shall be saved." There are a thousand more examples of the things we add on. There is no 'and'. You can't add anything because a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Leaven is an idiom of sin. It's a pinch of yeast in the dough that works its way all the way through. The entire batch of dough is puffed up because of it. In the same way, the gospel message is ruined by the corruption that is inserted into it. Anything inserted into the gospel message makes it no longer a gospel message.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. It is solely a gift of God, even the faith to believe it comes from Him. It is grace that saves you. That's it. It isn't by any work you've done. It's not anything you've done for yourself because if it was either of those things, men would boast.
Just as the little leaven polluted the gospel message, that same little bit of leaven can find its way in among any church. The works and legalisms that are added to the gospel run rampant through the ranks of a church and through denominations. The traditions of worship, preaching, liturgy and study along with the cultural preferences become legalism and sin when they are tied to salvation and end up dividing bodies of believers. That's what Paul saw and he said in chapter 4 that he was worried about them. He had a deep concern about their faith and maybe even their salvation. He was concerned about their walk; he felt like they were allowing a road block and their future was in jeopardy.
Now in chapter 10 Paul said he had confidence. This confidence was that they would see the Lord's work in their life; that they would see the truth that was right before them; that this legalism was a step away from Grace and that to fall into legalism was to fall from grace. There was no room for anything to be mixed with the grace. It stands alone, anything mixed with it was sin and sin blended with grace was bondage. Paul had confidence in their ability to have no other mind than the mind of Jesus Christ.
We need to grab hold to that teaching because I don't think we really understand how many legalisms we embrace without really thinking about it. We all carry these legalisms with us. Some of them come from the way we were raised, the churches we've attended and many other things. What we need to know is these things hinder us; they block our path. These lies we embrace are a military action by the father of lies against the truth. And the truth is, God sent His only begotten son that whoever…… whoever…….. believes in Him shall have everlasting life. That is the single mindedness of Christ. That is the mind we want.
Those that have a mind apart from Christ, they will have to bear an incredible judgment. Those who were bringing this trouble to Galatia and to the Christians there, whoever he was, would be judged. The word used for trouble is to agitate, to stir things up, to make a small irritation a large pain. Their teachings were their own; their religion was a man-made compilation of the things of God. The teachings weren't true and right or pure and they were small and meaningless until they began to hinder the saints. Then this small irritant became something big because it could lead people to hell. (Matthew 18:6-7)
Paul was clear, God is no respecter of persons. Whoever he is, no matter his position, title, family name, graduate of a famous seminary, holder of multiple degrees, no matter how many times he's been on TV, that person who becomes a hindrance to the children of God will be judged.
Galatians 5:11a
Paul used to preach circumcision when he was a Pharisee before he was born again. The Judaizers had been saying Paul was teaching circumcision. Paul said if that was the case then why was he being persecuted? Why did they stone him and beat him and chase him out of town?
Galatians 5:11b
What is the offense of the cross? The great offense of the cross is the damage to the pride of sinful man to admit that another man had to die in my place. The offense is that I couldn't save myself. As good as I thought I was, I couldn't save myself and I had to put my faith in a man stripped naked, beat, spit on and nailed to a cross. That's how good we are. That's the treatment we deserve. The final part of the offense of the cross is that the gift of grace is free! That is offensive to a self-righteous man.
Paul said if he believed that salvation could be obtained from circumcision then the offense of the cross had ceased. Had he been teaching the false gospel then the persecutors would have left him alone. They wouldn't have taken offense at his teaching.
Galatians 5:12
There was a cult back in Paul's time where the priests would castrate themselves to show their dedication to their god. Paul's point here was, since these false teachers taught circumcision and thought that it made them right with God, then maybe they should go ahead and go all the way in their dedication and castrate themselves.
Galatians 5:13-15
If you are of the brethren then you have been called to liberty. With that liberty comes responsibility. How are we using our freedom? Earlier we talked about what it would be like with no laws. And the legalist said the law was good, we needed it to maintain order and force people to righteous acts. Paul is saying that's not the way it is. We've been called to liberty, we don't serve the law.
What does your life look like now that you don't serve the law? You have no laws to keep as a Christian before God; none, you can do anything you want. So, the question becomes what is it that you want? If you want to run around violating the law you were delivered from, then something is drastically wrong. Another way of putting it might be, how has grace changed your life? Are you using it to serve one another? If grace has changed your heart, then you will find the heart of a servant. The single mindedness of Christ is to serve others, not our selves. Are your eyes on yourself or on others?
As part of the body of Christ are you taking care of the rest of the body? Or are you using your liberty to indulge in your sinful nature? Are you only concerned about one particular part of the body of Christ, you? The law is summed up in a single command. Paul is saying, you want law, you got it, here it is, "Love your neighbor as yourself." I think this is the answer to the desire and zeal that got the Galatians in trouble in the first place. It's not seeking after something for personal gain or conquering some list of laws so you can pat yourself on the back. This was a soft kick in the seat to get your eyes off yourself. As one that is to be of one mind with Christ you ought to have the heart of a servant. You ought to be driven by love that is sacrificial.
The people who have their mind only on themselves will soon bite and devour one another like wild animals and the selfish will consume one another. What a lovely picture of the church; the brethren snarling and snapping and biting at each other like wild animals. That is the church Paul is talking about. That's what we are capable of.
Galatians 5:16-18
Paul gives them and us an exhortation. This is how you stand firm in your liberty. This is how you avoid the selfishness and the self-centeredness that leads to the ugly stuff. He simply says walk in the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit and when you do that you won't be drawn to fulfilling the lust of the flesh. The spirit and the flesh oppose each other. They are at war with each other.
To walk in the Spirit is to have the mind of Christ. And even if we have the mind of Christ, we are still in these bodies of flesh. The lust of the flesh lives on in these bodies even though we have the mind of Christ, even though we are being transformed. So, there is a constant war going on in us. The legalists used the law to try to earn the favor of God. But they did this by religious acts that were works. These were things a person did and then they could be proud about. They could say look at me, look how holy and righteous I am. That's what the lust of the flesh is, self righteousness. It's the default position for any human and even Christians can be drawn into it if they aren't on guard.
We have to walk in the Spirit and that war with the flesh will rage on. It will only cease when we trade these bodies in for a glorified body. Either by our death and subsequent resurrection or by the rapture (might be today).
Galatians 5:19-21
The works of the flesh are characterized by this list of behaviors that drive us away from God. The battle between the Spirit and the flesh happens on the inside, but the results show on the outside, both personally and corporately. If the flesh is winning the battle, this is what your life will look like. It's an ugly list, full of pain, hatred, bitterness and evil. This list revolves around the flesh, centered on the person, driven by the desire to please the flesh. Then, if individuals are behaving that way in the church, the flesh is ruling in the church. This is what the church will look like. Do we not see these works happening all around us?
Paul said these works are evident. This is to say, the works are out in the open, not hidden or disguised. They should be known, without excuse, for what they are. Someone testifying with their mouth that they were walking with Christ would be exposed as a fraud when the works of their flesh gave evidence to the contrary.
This list sounds a lot like a description of what's in the news, on TV most nights, post election reactions and what movies are showing at the theater. It sounds like a session of congress and congress is a representation of the people who put them there: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like. 'And the Like' is thrown so as not to exclude any aberration of the flesh that isn't listed here.
This list is not all inclusive but focuses on 3 main areas: sex, religion and relationships. The first four in the list pertain to sex and sexual behavior. These are referred to as the sensual sins. These first four words; adultery, fornication, uncleanness and lewdness include all sexual deviations from normal relationships between a married man and woman. It even includes the unhealthy thought life and wanton appetite that knows no shame. The unclean is the person who is so defiled that they see the filth and dirt in everything. As bad as we think our culture is in this area, things were at least as bad if not worse during Paul's time. Some of these aberrant sexual practices were prevalent in idol worship and regularly practiced in the culture. Much of the information about these sexual practices of the time come from secular historians and writings. Even the pagans were appalled at the immorality of their culture at that time.
The next part of Paul's list of the works of the flesh are idolatry and sorcery. These were the primary religious practices of the time. These are referred to as superstitious sins. Idolatry was the worship of other gods or anything that takes the place of God. There are a lot of people out there that are just too busy for God. Life in the pursuit of more, more, more can become an idol. Seeking personal happiness can be an idol. Anything can become an idol, even church or the success of church. The other superstitious sin is 'sorcery.' This is the word pharmakeia and is the word we get pharmacy from. Some of these religious practices of the cults of that day included using mind altering drugs as a means of meeting their gods or spirits. This sorcery would include the use of any drugs to alter the mind whether to meet a spirit guide or to escape reality. Many who have escaped reality and experienced the effects of Pharmakeia will testify that the spirit world is very real and very scary.
Then the last part of Paul's list of the works of the flesh is general behaviors and relationships: hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. These are the social sins. These are clearly not God honoring. These things describe the way we relate to our wives, friends, bosses, neighbors and even strangers.
Paul said you cannot live a life in the flesh, filled with these things and expect to have an inheritance with God. Those that practice these things won't inherit the kingdom of God. But lets be clear, this is not because of their works of the flesh but because of their heart. The works of the flesh are an indication of what's in the heart. The constant and habitual evidence of the works of the flesh in a life indicates the absence of the Holy Spirit. The works of the flesh are the result of a total disregard for the things of God.
You can't be led by the Holy Spirit and have the presence of these things in your life. I bet we could all tell stories about how part, or all, of this list described our lives before we believed. I can certainly see the old me in this list. I remember experiencing some of these things and feeling them and even wondering where these feelings came from. I remember trying to fight against them in my own strength and losing miserably because I wasn't equipped to battle the flesh. The works of flesh show what you look like if the flesh is ruling over the Spirit. Now we get to see what it looks like when the spirit is ruling over the flesh.
Galatians 5:22-26
The presence of the Holy Spirit in our life brings forth fruit that is evidence of its presence. You have to notice right off the bat that the first list was a list of works but this is called a list of fruit. Fruit comes from tilling and planting and cultivating over time. There is pruning, watering, time and even some fertilizer. Sometimes the best fruit grows when you are covered with stuff; the fertilizers of life. The producing of fruit brings to mind a quiet lush garden where good things grow over time. The contrast to this serene picture of the tree is the works of the flesh that bring to mind toil, sweat, hours of work and pain.
The Holy Spirit doesn't just give us patience as a fruit of the Spirit. He gives us a new heart and an opportunity to learn patience by relying on the Spirit. As Christians, we don't just become gentle and faithful, instead, through the work of the Spirit in our life we desire to become gentle and faithful. Those things are grown in our life. As we grow in our faith, as the Spirit does its work in us, these things begin to characterize our life.
This list is a checklist to ask ourselves if we are bearing fruit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are to be part of our lives. If we are in Christ we have crucified the sinful nature. That is to say the flesh with its passions and desires and the works of the flesh are all crucified. Then as we grow in Christ, that growth is evidenced by the presence of this fruit in our lives.
Remember now the context that Paul brings these two lists before us. For several chapters, he's spoken of the law verse grace, and liberty verses freedom, works verses faith, a curse verses a promise, walking in the flesh verses walking in the Spirit. These lists are put before the Galatians as one more contrast as evidence against these legalists and their teachings. The works of the flesh belong to the legalist. The sensual, superstitious and social sins are the result of works of men trying to live in their own strength.
The contrast is the list of fruit that can be broken into three categories. The list starts with Love because the Law of Christ is love. Everything else starts with love and flows from love. There is no law that can produce the results that come from Agape' love. You can't legislate love with a list of laws. Love comes from a new nature. From that love comes joy as supernatural result, just as we experience peace that passes understanding. This is from being at peace with God. Love, joy and peace express our relationship with God.
The longsuffering, kindness and goodness express our relationships with our fellow man. It is not acting vengeful, being understanding, not competing in matters of pride. It causes us to swallow our pride, be patient, show kindness and goodness.
Then faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are relational with our selves. The fruit of the Spirit produces faithfulness in all circumstances. There is a gentleness that comes from knowing the Lord is in control. And a life of self control is really not self at all, but it's saying that it is Christ who lives in me.
The fruit that our lives produce is under constant inspection. The world is looking at you and measuring you. The unbeliever is evaluating your God by the fruit in your life. They not only see love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control but they see the absence of the painful things they experience in their own life; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness and revelries.
When hurting people see the fruit in your life and the works of the flesh in their own, they want to know, "What do they have that I don't?" And how can I have fruit from my life? That may seem over simplistic but I think it is sometimes that basic. Those living in the middle of the works of flesh can't ignore the contrast when they see the fruit of the Spirit. God may use this to bring them to the knowledge that something critical is missing from their life; leading to the knowledge that this fruit grows supernaturally in our life when we have died to ourselve and find new life in Christ.
There is no law that can bring about fruit in the same way. While the legalists feared those with liberty would run amok, the reality is they bear fruit no law could ever produce. The works of flesh are focused on 'self' and that 'self' is the old man crucified with Christ. With the death of the old man is the death of the works of the flesh. The fruit then is all outward oriented; its relational with God and our fellow man.
As the works of flesh were evidence of those in the flesh, the fruit of the Spirit is evidence of those who walk in the Spirit. It's irrefutiable evidence; it's evidence the whole world knows and sees. You can't claim to walk in the Spirit and yet give evidence of the works of flesh. That seems to be what Paul is showing the Galatians about themselves. The false teachers were saying one thing and giving evidence of another; and the church was being deceived.
It's interesting that right after the fruits of the spirit we are warned about conceit. When the spirit is active in our life it can be so easy to forget where we came from and that we did nothing to deserve the freedom and the grace we experience. We should be careful and keep in step with the Spirit. We should heed the warning of becoming conceited and think of ourselves as somehow being righteous by the presence of fruit that is a work of God in our life. If you do that, you are no better than the legalist who stood on his list of works and boasts in pride.
©2017 Doug Ford
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