Spirit Led
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Introduction: Every Christmas Amanda and I usually get eachother some sort of board game or card game. And of course then we have to figure out how to play.
We read the directions. But at some point, we have to say, maybe it will make more sense as we play so we get under way. But we never let the directions get too far away so we can check that we are playing by the rules. And everytime we play again, we have to come back to the directions just to check and see.
How do we learn how to play the game of life (I don’t mean the boardgame)? Where will we go to figure out how to play. Many people just start playing without any indication of how to play.
Is it possible that God has given us some instructions? Maybe call it the Bible?
Transition to the Text: Turn with me in your Bibles to Galatians 5:16-25. The Galatian church had some issues understanding how people were to be saved. Paul wrote to correct them about the nature of Salvation. Specifically they, like many of us today struggle with the concept of salvation as a free gift of God. The Galatians though they were saved by works and faith. Paul said no, you are saved by grace for good works. Works doesn’t save you, but that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want.
That’s where the holy spirit comes into play.
Introduce:
Authentic Principle: Authentic Principle: Christians are guided by a different Spirit than the world.
Authentic Principle: Authentic Principle: Christians are guided by a different Spirit than the world.
Read:
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 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 you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 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. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Authentic Principle: Christians are guided by a different Spirit than the world.
Authentic Principle: Christians are guided by a different Spirit than the world.
When it comes to being spirit led, many of us wonder how that works. In what way does the Spirit lead? Well the Bible is inspired by God as the Holy Spirit carried the wirters. Therefore being led by the spirit means to be led by the Bible as understood with the help of the holy Spirit.
1. The Church must clearly understand and teach what is wrong. (Galatians 5:16-18)
1. The Church must clearly understand and teach what is wrong. (Galatians 5:16-18)
Explanation: We live in a world that is constantly disputing right and wrong. Whenever we have these conversations it’s important to remind ourselves that we are not saved by good works or even limiting our bad works.
When we approach the 2 lists in this passage, it’s easy to read each list and think that’s what saves you for hell.
At the forefront of our mind, we need to remember that salvation is by grace through faith.
we need to constantly remind ourselves
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ok so if works don’t save us and sin doesn’t condemn us, why worry about how we will live?
Well Paul also writes in
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
So there is this balance between being saved by grace and the call to holiness.
Holiness does not mean perfection. But it does mean that as we follow more and more after Jesus, we will become more like him. As we become more like him, our lives reflect something different from the world.
So yes, there is a wrong way to live. And as a church we have a responsibility to teach right and wrong.
When we talk about authentic relationships in the church, we admit that part of having an authentic relationship is the responsibility to hold others accountable.
We demonstrate God’s love in our relationships through vulnerability, transparency and accountability.
First we must be vulnerable and transparent in our own lives. We need to fight the temptation to believe that Christians must be perfect. We must fight this temptation in our own life as well as in the lives of others.
In the end we begin to see one another as we are. Sinful people in need of a savior. S we point people to Jesus.
But all of this is dependent upon accepting that there is an objective standard of right and wrong. Right and wrong are not culturally constructed. Nearly every culture in the world seems to believe in right and wrong. And for the most part, it agrees.
But things are beginning to change.
We live in this world where truth has become relative. Where everyone gets to decide for them what is right. We are even told we can’t impress our values upon other people.
But there is right and wrong. And it’s not something that’s up for debate. And for Christians, we don’t just believe that the Bible is our standard of right and wrong, but that it is the standard of right and wrong. Even for the whole world. Why? Because, we know that a day of reckoning is coming when we will all stand before Jesus and give an accounting of how we live our lives. The standard of how we our judged is God’s perfect law.
So as we approach Galatians 5:16, we are given a clear contrast between the “desires of the flesh” and the “fruit of the Spirit.”
To start, Paul tells us that our goal is not to be sinless, but led by the Spirit.
Now here’s the paradox. Many think that by following the spirit that God is getting in the way of our fun and that we are restricted with a list of things we can’t do. But Paul and pretty much all of the Scripture tells us that it’s actually sin that enslaves us and keeps us from doing the things we actually want to do.
Every single person who ever lived has a desire for meaning and significance. They want their life to mean something. But Paul tells us the only true meaning comes for following Jesus and admitting that we are not God nor lord of our own life.
Paul says, “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” It is only by being led by the Spirit that you are truly free.
Paul begins the first list, the desires of the flesh, by saying that the desires of the flesh are evident. They are clear. On full display. This will be in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit which are subtle.
The Word of God speaks often to the importance of sexual integrity. This is a tough subject for us to talk about in our time. The world has changed the way we we’re allowed to address issues related to the LGBTQ+ community. Even sermons that seek to present a traditional understanding of Marriage and gender are seen as hate speech. And a recent law passed in Canada now makes it illegal for even a pastor to counsel a person struggling with SSA towards a biblical understanding of sexuality.
This will happen in the US in the next few years.
Divorce and remarriage are so rampant in our culture, even in the church, some are completely doing away with the concept of marriage entirely.
But let’s not pretend that the changing winds of culture is someone new. The United States is still tame when compared to the Roman empire which Paul was writing under. But still we are seeing the dismantling of the Christian values in our own culture and it’s only going to get worse.
Paul writes that those who “do such thing” will not inherit the kingdom of God.” This might seem scary for us as there are at least a few things in this list that all of us are guilty of. But the idea behind do, is not in a single occurence, but in the continual practice of these things.
There can come a point, and really has in the world around us when people get so used to living life however they want that it doesn’t even both them anymore. And what’s worse, we begin to blame other people for our own sin.
Fits of anger become justified because someone else prompted it.
Rivalries are about getting the better of those you see as your enemies.
Dissensions and divisions become about being right more than being loving.
Envy becomes about what you think you deserve.
Illustration: Zombie shows and movies have been popular as of late. And these moves depict what happens when you take a human and strip them of their morality and personality leaving only their fleshly desires. It’s somewhat of a metaphor for the way people live their lives.
But the truth is, real zombies would likely go about living their lives the same way they did before. Not chasing after survivors. They would probably continue to go to work. Continue to go through the motions of their lives. Continue to act in similar ways that they did while they were alive. It would simply be desires of the flesh severed from morality and personality. It would be true slavery to desire.
And to be honest, that’s how many people are living their life even today. As zombies who live life with no regard for the God who created them. Many people want to believe that all of the bad things I do have someone else to blame. Our parents, our spouse, our teachers, our coaches. Even Christians want to blame satan. We need look only inward and ask who’s leading. Is it the flesh (i.e., ourselves) or is it the Spirit.
Application: We need to be led by the Spirit. And to start we need to let the Spirit teach us that there is a wrong way to live. There is sin. We need to accept that we live in a world that is against the Spirit and God.
We need to be determined to let God determine what is right and wrong. And even if what God says goes against culture, we need to resolve ourselves to follow God no matter what.
2. The church must clearly understand and teach what is right. (Galatians 5:22-25)
2. The church must clearly understand and teach what is right. (Galatians 5:22-25)
Explanation: Notice how the desires of the flesh appear mostly to be actions while the fruits of the Spirit are revealed as attitudes. And these attitudes are going to be more subtle. And they are going to permeate every aspect of your life.
Here’s why I think this is. It’s easy for us to look at the list of desires of the flesh and think, I’m good. I have not done any sorcery this week. That means I’m good right!
But is your life characterized by the fruit of the Spirit?
If you go through this list and evaluate how well you are doing?
In a very real sense you can’t practice the fruits of the spirit because they are just the fruit of something else. The results of a deeper meaning.
Fruit is the natural process of a plant. When the root is healthy and nourished by the rain and nutrients of the soil, the fruit is inevitable. A plant doesn’t try to produce fruit. It just happens when everything else is right.
So what does a Spirit Led church do?
We teach the fundamentals.
Read your Bible. develop a prayer routine. serve. Attend worship with your church family.
I don’t mean to be snarky when I say this because I know that the Sunday sermon is an integral part of the discipleship of the church body. And many times Pastors do not give the attention to it’s preparation as they should. However it irritates me and every pastor I know when people say they are leaving a church because they aren’t being fed.
Babies need to be fed. Grown ups know how to feed themselves. More often than not, when someone says they aren’t being fed, they mean they aren’t being entertained.
When someone says they aren’t being fed, my first question is are you reading your Bible? How’s your prayer life? Are you involved in a small group? Where are you serving? If they answer is no to those questions the problem is staring you in the mirror.
And again I don’t mean to be snarky and I’m not talking about anyone here necessarily. Cultivating the fruits of the Spirit in your life is not about trying to be more loving....it’s about getting closer to the one who demonstrated love at the cross.
Cultivating joy is not about putting on a facade of happiness when you are depressed. It’s about finding joy in Jesus.
Cultivating peace is not about avoiding conflict, but about resting in the one who won the war on sin in your life.
Cultivating patience is not about getting better at enduring the waits and we have to go through. It’s about being satisfied that God is enough. Why did God make Abraham wait 25 years for Isaac to be born? To show Abraham first that God was enough.
Cultivating kindness isn’t about holding your tongue, but about realizing your own faults and failings and showing the same compassion to others God has shown to you.
Goodness, is about pointing yourself and others to the only one who is good.
faithfulness is about being therefore others out of the overflow of God being there for you.
gentleness is about recognizing that every single person has a background and a story. If you are a boss, that employee you are about to lay into may have had the worst day. They may be worried about a sick, child or parent. There marriage might be falling a part. They may be going through things you can’t imagine. Nonchristian bosses have the luxury of saying, “It’s not my problem. Don’t bring your baggage to work.” As a christian you don’t. Be gentle.
And of course, self-control is less about you controlling you and more about being controlled by God.
Illustration:
Application:
Response: Are you led by the spirit? Are you helping North Hills to be led by the Spirit?
Response: Are you led by the spirit? Are you helping North Hills to be led by the Spirit?
Summation:
Authentic Principle: An Authentic CHURCH doesn’t move unless the SPIRIT is Leading.
1. The Spirit Leads the Church to know what is WRONG. (Galatians 5:16-18)
2. The Spirit Leads the Church to teach what is RIGHT. (Galatians 5:22-25)
Response: Are you LED by the spirit? Are you helping NORTH HILLS to be led by the Spirit?
Closing Illustration:
The world that we live in reminds us that we need a trustworthy guide. How will we know which way to go?
But let’s not get arrogant.
In the OT, the Israelites had followed God so well and were doing so well until the got arrogant. The gibeonite deception.
Joshua 9: 14 “So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord.”
Let’s pray.
Week 20 of 2021-2022 Sermon Series: Authentic Church: Spirit Led (Galatians 5:16-25)
Authentic Principle: An Authentic CHURCH doesn’t move unless the SPIRIT is Leading.
1. The Spirit Leads the Church to know what is WRONG. (Galatians 5:16-18)
2. The Spirit Leads the Church to teach what is RIGHT. (Galatians 5:22-25)
Response: Are you LED by the spirit? Are you helping NORTH HILLS to be led by the Spirit?
Opening Discussion: How do you typically make a decision? How can you be confident that you have made the right decision?
How do you determine what is right and wrong?
Sermon:
What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? How is this different from the world?
What does it say about the nature of sin that the “works of the flesh” trap you, while being led by the spirit sets you free? How does this compare to what the world says?
How are the works of the flesh contrasted with the fruit of the spirit?
In both cases, the “works of the flesh” and the “fruit of the Spirit” are not the aim of Christians and non-Christians but the result of how one is led. How can being led by the spirit ensure that you do the right thing?
What does it mean to crucify the flesh?
What does it take to continue to be led by the Spirit?
Application:
How can you know that you are being led by spirit?
How does the Spirit help you to know what is right and what is wrong?
Why do you think there are more “works of the flesh” than fruit of the Spirit?
How can evaluate your life through the lens of the “fruit of the Spirit?”
Why is it dangerous to try and aspire to the “fruit” without aspiring to be led by the Spirit?
Why must being led by the Spirit precede our desired results?
How would your life be different if you determined to do nothing unless the Spirit is leading? How would our church be different if we all adopted this attitude?
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