FREE TO CHANGE
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Galatians 5:16 (ESV)
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Galatians 5:17 (ESV)
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 you want to do.
Galatians 5:18 (ESV)
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Galatians 5:19 (ESV)
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
Galatians 5:20 (ESV)
idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
Galatians 5:21 (ESV)
envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:22 (ESV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Galatians 5:23 (ESV)
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:24 (ESV)
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Galatians 5:25 (ESV)
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Galatians 5:26 (ESV)
Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
FREE TO CHANGE
In order to experience spiritual growth, that is to say lasting, deep, radical, permanent change, you must understand its NATURE, its PATTERN, and its PROCESS.
THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH.
We understand its NATURE by unpacking the metaphor FRUIT. Why does Paul use FRUIT as his metaphor Paul when he has a vast language of metaphors at his disposal? Paul is staying in step with the story of Scripture:
since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Scripture is using botanical language to remind us of several important truths concerning the nature of spiritual growth.
YOU NEVER SEE THE ACT OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH ONLY ACTIONS RESULTING FROM ITS OCCURRENCE.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SLOW.
You don’t always experience immediate change. You don’t always see it overnight. You have to be patient.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SLOW.
G. Campbell Morgan uses that I think will help here. He was walking through a graveyard when he came across an acorn tree that had fallen into a marble tomb. The acorn had somehow taken to the soil and begun to grown and in several hundreds of years it had cracked the marble tomb and grown right through.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SLOW.
Now, most people would say that if you bashed an acorn into a marble slab, ten out of ten times the marble slab would win. But if you were to plant that acorn under the marble slab and allow it to take hold and the acorn will over time crack the marble slab. Crazy, huh.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SLOW.
Much like the acorn the fruit of the Spirit take time to grow. You can’t just ‘grow’ a fruit overnight. You need to plant the seed, tend to the soil; you need to water and in due course a plant will grow. Once the plant is mature, fruit will appear when it is in season. You can’t force this. It isn’t something you can manufacture; simply something you can guide and tend.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SEASONAL
In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.
And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS NEVER REALLY SOMETHING WE FEEL IT CAN ONLY BE MEASURED OR TESTED.
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
THOUGH SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SLOW, SEASONAL, TO SOME DEGREE INVISIBLE, AND MYSTERIOUS IT IS INESCAPABLE.
It is inescapable because of previous Scripture that I quoted. The seed of this fruit is no ordinary seed but that of God.
THOUGH SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SLOW, SEASONAL, TO SOME DEGREE INVISIBLE, AND MYSTERIOUS IT IS INESCAPABLE.
When God’s Spirit dwells in you there will be change. You will worry less. You will become more patient. You will become a more loving person. You will become wiser. You will be able to face your troubles.
THOUGH SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SLOW, SEASONAL, TO SOME DEGREE INVISIBLE, AND MYSTERIOUS IT IS INESCAPABLE.
Over the years, there have been these quirks in you. You have a secret sin you do in the dark. You haven’t been able to overcome it. You’re not a very loving person, or you tend to be extremely resentful, or you’re always getting your feelings hurt.
THOUGH SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SLOW, SEASONAL, TO SOME DEGREE INVISIBLE, AND MYSTERIOUS IT IS INESCAPABLE.
That’s why you go from group to group or from town to town or from job to job or maybe from church to church. You’re always having your feelings hurt, always feeling snubbed, always feeling like, “Nobody likes me.”
THOUGH SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SLOW, SEASONAL, TO SOME DEGREE INVISIBLE, AND MYSTERIOUS IT IS INESCAPABLE.
This is a lack of love, a lack of joy, a lack of peace, a lack of patience, a lack of kindness, a lack of goodness, a lack of faithfulness, a lack of gentleness, and a lack of self-control. I’m not saying you’re not a Christian; I’m saying you cannot know you’re a Christian if you’re not changing.
THOUGH SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SLOW, SEASONAL, TO SOME DEGREE INVISIBLE, AND MYSTERIOUS IT IS INESCAPABLE.
Remember? Gradual, inevitable. Keep them together! You could be a long time under that slab. The acorn may be there a long time.
THOUGH SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SLOW, SEASONAL, TO SOME DEGREE INVISIBLE, AND MYSTERIOUS IT IS INESCAPABLE.
This is the Spirit. And if it’s there you will definitely grow. So change is gradual. Change is INESCAPABLE. Now that we understand the nature let’s examine
THE PATTERN.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS INTERNAL.
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 you want to do.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
IF PEOPLE’S LIVES ARE BEING CHANGE THROUGH YOU BUT YOUR LIFE ISN’T BEING CHANGED, FLEE TO JESUS IMMEDIATELY.
Here’s what he is saying; IF PEOPLE’S LIVES ARE BEING CHANGE THROUGH YOU BUT YOUR LIFE ISN’T BEING CHANGED, FLEE TO JESUS IMMEDIATELY. When people are being changed through you that is a fruit of their Spirit not yours. WE SEEN THE NATURE AND PATTERN - NOW LET’S LOOK AT THE PROCESS.
THE PROCESS.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SYMMETRICAL.
Fruit is singular in our text with a plural predict. Paul isn’t intentionally breaking a rule of grammar but intentionally teaching a must for us to understand spiritual growth.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS SYMMETRICAL.
Jonathan Edwards says that the fruit is CONCATENATED. This means they are interdependent. One cannot grow without others growing alongside.
IT GROWS MECHANICALLY
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
IT GROWS MECHANICALLY
A gardener doesn’t make the things grow. The gardener just creates the conditions through which the power of the seed is released. You cannot make yourself loving and joyful and peaceful. You can’t just say, “I’m going to. I’m going to.” No!
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
You have to kill the flesh and keep in step with the Spirit.
IT GROWS ORGANICALLY.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
IT GROWS ORGANICALLY.
As the story begins, Valjean is being released from 19 years on the chain gang, paroled back into the world but shackled with his conviction, which keeps him from being able to start over and make a new life. In despair, he returns to a life of petty crime.
IT GROWS ORGANICALLY.
He is caught by the police after stealing silver from a church, where a bishop had offered him shelter. But when the police bring him back to the church, everything changes. The bishop denies the charges, insists the silver was a gift, and gives Valjean the most valuable silver candlesticks in the church.
IT GROWS ORGANICALLY.
Valjean deserves judgment and condemnation, but instead, he receives grace. Not just forgiveness for his sins, but an abundant, over-the-top gift. This act is the heart of Les Mis. Grace transforms Valjean. Start here . . .
Oh Lord, be real to me. It’s my whole problem. I don’t need new circumstances. I don’t need new information. I need the truth about Jesus Christ to be so real to me that my desires for these good things become manageable.