Walk In the Spirit

Sermons based on the Letter to the Galatians (V)

Galatians 5:16-26

We move on to the fifth chapter. I hope you are practicing the teachings of Apostle Paul. Our main topic is one: salvation through Jesus Christ. How can we practice salvation? In the fifth chapter, Paul lays down a new dimension. Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation will lead us to freedom. This freedom requires responsibility. Salvation brings life changing experiences. Salvation is not a static idea. Salvation is an active reality that brings forth change.

I have preached about freedom on July 6 of this year. It covered Galatians 5: 1-6, 13. I will continue from 17 and on.

“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” (16-18)

-Paul moves on to demonstrate what happens in a person who believes in Jesus. He gives examples from his life. Life is changed through the Spirit of God. Transformed life bears the fruits of the Spirit: Tutti Frutti.

Yet, this change does not happen overnight. Paul has an inner war going on. “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit.” We like to be what God wants us to be, a man or woman of God. We like to be a person who serves God, a person who desires to serve God, a person who devotes his/her life to bring others to God. Our freedom in Christ is not to do what the “flesh” desires. Our freedom in Christ leads us to be servants of our Lord. “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” (13)

Yet, there are desires in us that we struggle with- the desire not to serve others. Last Sunday at the picnic, I talked about how Jesus was invited to a banquet, and he told them the parable of the Great Banquet. The invitees did not come: one bought a land, the other bought some oxen and the other got married. All of them gave excuses not to attend to the banquet. Guess what? We can always find excuses. The sad part in these three people is that they were more interested in their needs than anything else. There is an inner war going on. And if you do not take care of this war, it can ruin your life, your church, your marriage and so on.

Paul lists the “acts of the sinful nature.” Sixteen sinful acts. All of them are destructive. No one wants to be involved in them. How can we not act in the sinful nature?

Paul gives a solution. “Walk in the Spirit”(25) KJV. The NIV translation goes, “Let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Being saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ does not mean we are free to sin. No, in fact we are not free to sin anymore. How?

Paul describes, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires” (24).

Paul teaches us that we are not just free from sin, we have VICTORY over sin. OK, that is great, but we are still in these sinful bodies and we do sin. How can we not nurture our sinful nature?

“Live in the Spirit”, “Walk in the Spirit” are the solutions that Paul offers us. I looked for the Greek word for walking, stoicheo. It means, “to proceed in a row as the march of a soldier, go in order.”

This is not an overnight solution. We learn to walk day-by-day. We learn to live in the Spirit. We learn to march like soldiers, in perfect order. It is discipline. It happens consciously. You need to intentionally focus on walking with the Lord, allowing the Spirit to mold you and shape you. It needs focus and attention.

-In Romans 8:6 Paul writes, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”

So Paul gives us a test, to examine ourselves if we are walking in the Spirit or not. I call the test of the nine fruits of the Spirit “tutti frutti.”

We will continue in English.