Tag: Galatians 5

In the Spirit – OR – in the Flesh

Old Testament: 2 Samuel 12

Poetry: Proverbs 1

New Testament: Galatians 5:24-26

In 2 Samuel 12 we read all about how King David is rebuked for his sinful ways and the real consequences he would suffer as a result of his sin. 

9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 

Proverbs 1:31 from today’s reading gives us a sobering reminder of what happens when we choose to be ruled by the flesh rather than by the Spirit.


“So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way

And be satiated with their own devices. (NASB 1995)

If we want to avoid disastrous consequences brought on by sin, Galatians 5 gives us some sound advice:

24 Now 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 walk by the Spirit. 

Proverbs 1:7 further instructs us on how to live wisely:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

Fools despise wisdom and instruction. (NASB 1995)

The Bible is full of examples from which we can learn. Sometimes I read the story of David and think how on earth could he do those things, but then I quickly remember that saying, “As soon as you point a finger at someone, you have four fingers pointing right back at you.” God’s word is a mirror for our hearts. If we are left to our own devices and follow the ways of our flesh, disastrous consequences inevitably ensue. We must make a conscious choice to live and walk by the Spirit. The good news is that we are not irredeemable if we have been led astray by our flesh at one point. The story wasn’t over for David and it doesn’t have to be over for us. We can make that choice to reconcile with God and we can be assured by the parables of the prodigal son and the lost sheep that He will welcome us with open arms. Your story is not over while you still have breath. If you’ve walked away from God, please know His heart yearns for you to return to Him and He will welcome you back with loving arms. The choice is up to you.

Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Did you notice that nothing can cause God not to love us? God forgave King David and He can certainly forgive you.

-Kristy Cisneros

Reflection Questions

  1. What consequences for sin have you experienced or are you still experiencing? What would you recommend to someone (including yourself) contemplating the sin which brought the consequences?
  2. What role did Nathan play in 2 Samuel 12? Who sent him to David and why? As uncomfortable as it may seem, is there someone God wants to send you to?
  3. Living by the flesh or living by the Spirit – what are the pros and cons of each? Which will win in your life?
  4. What does reconciliation with God look like in your life? What blessings did David receive after his sin and reconciliation? What blessings have you received after sin and reconciliation? How would you describe God’s love?
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Spirit Grown

Old Testament: 2 Samuel 3 & 4

Poetry: Psalm 70

New Testament: Galatians 5:22

My understanding of the fruits of the Spirit has evolved quite a bit over time. I used to think that I needed to strive to demonstrate that fruit in my life and I would get so frustrated every time I would inevitably fall short. I felt like such a disappointment to God. It was actually an egotistical way to approach the matter. John 15:1-8 gives us insight into how we can bear good fruit in our lives:

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (NIV)

The critical missing component of my approach was that if it’s a fruit of the Spirit, the fruit produced is a result of the Spirit—not our own efforts. So our effort should not be put into displaying those qualities, but rather drawing closer to the source of that Spirit so that those qualities naturally spring forth. “Apart from me you can do nothing” (verse 5). We are to abide in Jesus since he is the vine and we are the branches. Our Heavenly Father is the gardener and He prunes us in order to increase our fruitfulness.

I find the aforementioned passage to be very encouraging. Our human nature is often inclined to do the very opposite of the fruits of the Spirit, so if we try to master them by our own merit, we are destined to fail. However, God’s word clearly just told us that we cannot bear any fruit apart from Christ. The key is to draw closer to him and to let God prune away the bad stuff in us.

I think David is a great role model in today’s passage in Psalm 70. He is not looking inward and trying to pull from his own strength. In verses 1 and 3 we see where he recognizes his true source of strength.

1 Hasten, O God, to save me;

    come quickly, Lord, to help me.

3 But as for me, I am poor and needy;

    come quickly to me, O God.

You are my help and my deliverer;

    Lord, do not delay.

-Kristy Cisneros

Reflection Questions

  1. Contrast the fruit of the Spirit with human nature? What does each look like and sound like?
  2. Does your life display more human nature (living by the flesh) or evidence/fruit of the Spirit? When do you slip into more human nature characteristics? (when you are worried, stressed, hurried, selfish, etc…)
  3. How can you stay attached to Jesus? How can you make sure his words remain in you? How can you draw closer to the source of this good fruit?
  4. What can you learn from David and apply to your life today?
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Freedom

Old Testament Reading: Deuteronomy 25 & 26

Psalms Reading: Psalm 89

*New Testament Reading: Galatians 5

What does freedom look like to you?  You may visualize prisoners being set free from their jail sentence, dogs off of broken chains, large, open spaces outdoors, maybe even a child who snuck away from the crowd and is exploring their world all on their own (while parents panic…).   

Paul is describing here in Galatians freedom from living life following a strict law.  In our passage in Deuteronomy, we read about some of the punishments (flogging, losing credibility with the whole nation, having a hand cut off…) for not following the laws, or accidentally breaking them.  With that in mind, this makes the concept of freedom that Paul is reminding people of that much more dramatic.  Before Jesus, the only way to be right with God was to follow these strict laws, it was only meant for a certain group of individuals set apart from the rest, and it was nearly impossible to achieve as an outsider, let alone someone born and raised as a Jew. 

In verse 13 Paul tells the Galatians they have been called to be free.  Imagine being told your whole life that there is nothing more for you, and suddenly having hope and opportunity through a man that loved enough to die for strangers.  This concept would be (and still is) life-altering!  Paul is reminding the people of this church that they have freedom, they are no longer bound by the previous laws that kept them from God! 

In this reminder Paul also cautions them to be wise in their freedom, and to use this freedom to serve one another.  It is crazy to see the statistics on the number of children that grow up in a Christian household, maybe isolated or sheltered, and go to college and drastically change their lifestyles by going overboard with poor life choices with their newfound ‘freedom’.  That is our human nature!  And that same mentality must have existed with the Galatians as Paul warns them to not use this freedom or this gift of grace to indulge in the flesh, but rather to serve one another humbly in love (v.13). 

Our freedom was bought with a price, and yet we are not in debt.  We no longer have to live under a strict law, rather, we can keep the entire law by loving our neighbor as ourselves (v.14).  And while our freedom could create opportunity for sin, we are told that we walk by the Spirit to avoid desires of the flesh(v.16) and that through that Spirit we can experience the good fruit such as love, joy, and peace (v.22).  Knowing all that, it’s hard to imagine freedom any other way besides the cross.

Questions:

What does “walking by the Spirit” look like to you?  Do you see the fruits of the Spirit come from that walk?

How do you use your freedom?  Do you meet the commands of loving your neighbors?

Paul writes in verse 6 “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (rather than appearance of ‘righteousness’ through circumcision).  How do you express your faith?

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for the freedom you give us through Christ.  Thank you for his sacrifice that paid our debt and moved us out from under the strict law.  God, we pray that we would walk by your Spirit each day, that our faith would be expressed in our love, and that we would experience those good fruits.  Amen. 

-Sarah (Blanchard) Johnson

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FREEDOM. Not Legalism. Not Lawlessness. FREEDOM

Friday, August 12, 2022

 Galatians 5

            Every year on the 4th of July people in the United States come together to celebrate our freedom.  If you are living in another country you might have different ways of celebrating freedom or you may not be particularly focused on freedom.  Freedom means different things to different people.  For the person who has been in prison, freedom means being able to go where you want to go and do what you want to do.  For a student who is on vacation, freedom means not having to go to class and turn in homework.  For a person who is single, freedom means being able to date.  For the people who originally established the United States freedom meant being able to choose whatever religion or church that your conscience told you was the way to know God.  It was also about the freedom to self-govern rather than be governed by a dictator.

            Freedom can be a very good thing when it is rightly understood and practiced, but wrongly understood and practiced, freedom can be very dangerous.  America is about freedom in some ways, but not every way.  I’m not free to drive as fast as I want or in whatever direction I want on the highway.  I have to obey traffic laws or else I could cause injury or death to myself and others, or I can be criminally punished and lose the privilege of driving.  Freedom has to be rightly understood.  What am I free from and what am I free to do?

            When Paul talks about freedom here he has a couple of things in mind.  We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  We are not saved by following some law or other legalistic ritual practice.  In the Church of Galatia, those who heard Paul preach the Gospel and were baptized into Jesus Christ were set free from the power of sin and death.  They were free to allow the spirit of God to transform their lives so that they could do what is most important, love. 

            Paul is obviously very angry in chapter 5 because he sees that they have chosen to reject the freedom given by the Gospel and have chosen to place themselves under the yoke of slavery to the Jewish Law.  Circumcision was the physical act of mutilating part of your body as a way of marking you as different.  Jewish boys were circumcised to distinguish them as children of Abraham and followers of the Mosaic Law.  One under the Law was required to obey all 611 laws ranging from what foods to eat, to how and where and when to worship, how to properly dispose of human waste, and ceremonially clean mildew.  Paul had been raised under that Law and it didn’t make him any closer to God.  It made him an enemy of Jesus Christ, and it certainly didn’t make him a more loving person.  He found faith in Christ and receiving the Spirit of God to be truly freeing and life-transforming.  He could not imagine going back to the slavery of the law.  So he cannot understand why the Galatian Christians were choosing to trade their freedom in Christ for enslavement to the law.

            Paul’s main emphasis is the Spirit and Love.  “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6) “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (5:14) “The fruit of the Spirit is love” (5:22).  This is what’s most important for Paul, not the practices that separate Jews from Gentiles (circumcision, food, and observing The Law.)

            But Paul also doesn’t want followers of Christ to get the wrong idea about their freedom in Christ.  It is the Freedom from the power of sin, not the freedom to do whatever your flesh desires.  Some believers take grace and freedom to a place where Paul and God never intended for it to go.  The acts of the flesh that Paul lists: “sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.”  He is clear that a life that is given over to the flesh is not the life that results in life in the kingdom of God in the age to come.  It’s a freedom from the power of sin, not the freedom to do whatever you want that opposes the life of God.

            Receive God’s spirit through faith in Jesus Christ and live a life of love, that is what a life of fruitful and flourishing discipleship to Jesus Christ looks like.  Legalism is one extreme to avoid, lawlessness is the opposite extreme to avoid.  The goal is faith expressing itself through love.

-Jeff Fletcher

Questions for Discussion: 

  1.  Which extreme do you find more challenging in your discipleship- legalism or lawlessness?
  2. Why is our freedom in Christ so easily misunderstood?
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