Walking in the Spirit
Galatians 5:16-18
Modern medicine developed from a host of significant medical discoveries over just the past few centuries. One such discovery was made by British scientist Dr. Alexander Fleming in 1928. After summer vacation, Fleming returned to his hospital to discover a disorderly laboratory. Among the disarray were Petri dishes filled with bacteria colonies that had been contaminated by a mold called Penicillium notatum.
Fleming examined the Petri dishes under his microscope. To his amazement, he found that the mold kept the bacteria from growing. After several more weeks, he discovered that the mold could effectively be harnessed to combat infectious disease. Fourteen years later after several other scientists developed Fleming's work, this mold was used successfully for the first time on a civilian patient.
The medical community has used this miracle cure ever since to fight against many infectious diseases. It has saved lives on the battlefield and improved the quality of life for everyone in society. We now know this cure as penicillin, discovered accidentally by Alexander Fleming when he returned to work from vacation. We can all appreciate the value of medication like penicillin because it provides cures for more than one medical problem. It is effective wherever certain bacteria spread infection in the body.
The Apostle Paul wrote the letter of Galatians to deal with a spiritual infection in the churches of Galatia. The scourge of legalism was introduced by the Judaizers from Jerusalem. They effectively poisoned the minds of new believers with a false gospel based on the law (not grace) and accomplished through performance (not the cross). Paul's concern as their spiritual mentor was that they had forsaken a gospel they knew to be true for a false gospel that brought a curse.
But legalism is only one scourge facing believers as they run the Christian race. In last week's message, we noted how Paul introduces a second problem: license. In our desire to live out our new-found freedom in Christ, believers may inadvertently give way to sinful behavior. We appreciate not being tied down to the yoke of the law, but we also do not have the liberty to trample on biblical patterns of acceptable behavior. The answer is to restrain our lifestyle by loving and serving others.
Walking in the Spirit is the cure for license and legalism.
Main Thought
On two fronts, we face compelling influences that push us to go backward in our spiritual growth. On one hand, we can revert to self-righteous legalism. On the other hand, we can revert to pagan, licentious, unbridled living. What is the cure for these poisonous ideas that can infect our hearts and minds?
The answer is to walk in the Spirit. Like penicillin, the Holy Spirit provides the cure for multiple infectious ideas that have the same root problem: our sinful flesh. The flesh that lives inside us animates our human tendency towards legalism and unrestrained living. But when we get saved and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, he pushes back against these human tendencies. He gives us victory over them so we can serve others in love through our actions. Today, we will introduce this concept of walking in the Spirit and its ever-raging battle with our flesh. The outcome of this battle will determine if we give in to the vices of license and legalism or walk closely with Jesus in love and obedience.
The Command to Walk in the Spirit
In this section of the letter, Paul's chief concern is that the Galatians use their liberty in Christ responsibly. Walking in the Spirit is how we do that. Without the Spirit, we would tend toward sinful license, allowing our freedom in Christ to justify our reckless choices. The Spirit is the subjective influence in our lives who helps us understand his Word and gives us the wisdom to make decisions that fall in the realm of Christian liberty. He is the corrective to our sinful flesh. By submitting ourselves to his leadership, we can rightly discern how to use our liberty and serve others in love.
Walking is an important NT picture of the Christian life. It presents our life as a series of choices, sticking to a clear path and avoiding unnecessary or dangerous obstacles. This picture reminds us that the Christian life, unlike salvation, is a process. It takes time and effort to reach our destination. It means our choices to follow Jesus or resist his leading matter. Walking in the Spirit requires making these choices while recognizing his influence as superior to our own thinking and wisdom (Prov 3:5-6).
Paul tells us that those who have been justified no longer walk according to the flesh, but to the Spirit (Rom 8:4). The flesh no longer controls our behavior and choices by default. Instead, the Spirit of God brings his influence to bear on our hearts so we know what is right and can choose what is right. Paul also tells us we walk by faith (2 Cor 5:7). We live in a constant state of need to depend on God for living in such a way that we please him. When we trust in the Spirit, he helps us do that; that is the result of walking with him.
Walking in the Spirit is a command, the central point of this section of the letter. It is at the root of Paul's other admonitions. If we want to love and serve one another in a way pleasing to God, we need to walk in the Spirit. If we want to avoid the pitfall of law-abiding legalism, we need to walk in the Spirit. If we want to avoid a debauched lifestyle full of sinful pleasure, we need to walk in the Spirit.
Paul's exhortation to walk magnifies the balance of the human and the divine in sanctification. Living a holy life requires God's intervention; we cannot grow in grace without God giving us grace. But we also cannot live holy lives without fervent effort and determined action on our part. No one becomes a seasoned prayer-warrior by never talking to God. No one becomes an effective gospel witness without opening their mouths and talking to people about Jesus and his saving work. God always works in step with our obedience.
God has given us the freedom to live according to the gospel instead of the law. But with that freedom comes the responsibility to live, to make choices, to restrain ourselves from certain activities, and to engage in behaviors in which the Spirit of God can work. If we will walk by the Spirit, we cannot be bystanders waiting for the Spirit to intervene.
We cannot wait for the right words to come to our minds when we argue with our spouse. We cannot wait for the right feeling to overwhelm us when we are dealing with our children. We cannot wait for an opportunity to come our way so we can serve the body of Christ. Even in a pandemic, the Spirit will not suddenly empower us while we wait for him to strike us with motivation and excitement for ministry. We must cooperate with his working in our lives.
Have you taken advantage of daily opportunities to cooperate with the Spirit? If you want his help for daily Christian living, then you need to walk in step with his promptings and influence in your heart. Have you allowed the current challenges of our culture to prevent you from serving the body of Christ? There are legitimate reasons why we cannot engage in certain Christian ministries right now. But that should not stop us from participating with our church family and serving the body with our gifts as we should.
Walking in the Spirit requires us to recognize both the objective influence of the Word and the subjective influence of the Spirit. We cannot walk properly without regular interaction with the Word of God. Many of Paul's arguments against legalism and license have come from Scripture. If we want to be led properly by the Spirit, we need to know the Word that he inspired. He gave us the Bible as God's message to us and his objective standard of what is good and true.
We also need to walk in the Spirit by submitting to his subjective influence. Many Bible characters had the luxury of God providing audible instructions for them. In the NT age, we do not have this method of discerning right from wrong. Instead, we have his objective Word to guide us. But the Holy Spirit also guides us subjectively as we yield to his leading in our hearts and minds. As we make moral choices day-to-day, he is present to give us biblical wisdom and divine strength to accomplish his will.
Do you meditate on the words of Scripture regularly? That is how the Spirit gives us guidance to walk. He will lead you according to his Word as you invest time in studying and applying his words to your life. He does not guide us by a set of laws, but by the righteous character of God. Do you yield regularly to the Spirit's influence in your life? He does not expect you to know a comprehensive list of laws for Christians in the NT. He dwells within us and he can give us the wisdom to obey his Word. As you submit to him, his influence will become more pronounced and take precedence over the temptations of your flesh.
The Conflict Between the Flesh and the Spirit
Paul contrasts walking in the Spirit with gratifying our flesh. What is the flesh? The flesh is the internal, invisible aspect of our nature that is bent toward sin. It infuses our thoughts and actions with impressions and motivations that are contrary to the Spirit (Rom 7:18, 25; 8:6-8). It cannot be redeemed, changed, or improved. Everything that the flesh stands for is opposed to the working of God in our lives.
The desires of the flesh and the Spirit are always at odds; they desire different ends for your life. The flesh controls and influences your natural bodily appetites and desires. The flesh seeks only its gratification and it uses the members of your body to accomplish that end. In our natural state as sinners, we cannot help but give the flesh full control (Eph 2:1-3). As Christians, when we yield to its influence, we cannot please God (Rom 8:8).
When Christ redeems us, his Spirit indwells us and gives us the power to resist fleshly temptations. He seeks to glorify God and he equips you to do that when you submit to his leadership. That is why when we walk in the Spirit, we do not gratify the desires of the flesh. Living in conscious dependence on the Spirit implies that when temptations come, we are prepared to yield to his influence and reject our sinful flesh.
The struggle between our flesh and the Spirit is a constant battle. Because these two forces within us are always at odds, doing right will always be a struggle. The flesh prevents us from doing the things that we should do so we can do the things we want to do. Paul experienced this same struggle and recorded it for us (Rom 7:18-20). No matter how spiritual you think you are or how many years you have been a believer, this struggle persists in your heart.
If you are familiar with the ongoing military conflicts in the Middle East for the past few decades, you know that there are various opinions about the best strategy to resolve them. Some argue for continued nation-building in the region to establish democracies in certain Islamic states. Others promote total isolationism on the part of the United States, allowing these states to govern themselves as they wish.
Whatever strategy the talking heads in foreign policy may prefer, one element they cannot ignore is the conflict at the root of many of these problems: the ongoing struggle between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Both groups within Islam claim to follow the teachings of Muhammad and the Koran. At the same time, both have different religious beliefs and applications of those beliefs.
Much of the conflict occurring in the Middle East boils down to this centuries-old conflict between two religious factions that refuse to cooperate. Their militants fight each other and persecute innocent civilians. Meanwhile, the United States and other Western countries use political measures and military action to bring a resolution. But the conflict still seems to get more intense by the day.
Like the Sunni and Shiite conflict, the flesh and the Spirit are locked in a never-ending battle. They have always opposed each other because their goals for our lives are vastly different. The flesh will always direct us toward sinful behavior because it represents the worst part of our nature. The Spirit will always influence us toward what is good and loving because that is God's nature.
As Christians, we may devise several strategies to deal with the symptoms of this conflict. We make resolutions about changing our behavior. We ask Christian friends for accountability. We seek guidance from pastors and trusted spiritual leaders to help us with our fleshly struggles. These different approaches can be helpful in their own way. But they cannot be helpful if we do not acknowledge the root conflict: our flesh and the Spirit fight for control.
The Result of Walking in the Spirit
The only strategy for Christian growth that works is following Paul's command - Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Both the flesh and the Spirit have strong desires, and they both try to persuade us to follow their guidance. The biggest help to us is knowing that the Spirit of God always has the advantage over our flesh.
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity who comes to live in us at salvation, so he automatically has the advantage. He has given us spiritual birth and made us new creations; our old, corrupt desires have passed away and the new, righteous desires of God have come in. When we yield to the Spirit, we tap into the holy character of God and the power that he gives to be like him.
Not only that, but Paul writes verse 16 as a promise - If you walk in the Spirit continually, you will not gratify the sinful desires of your flesh. When we meet the condition of trusting the Spirit's guidance and relying on his power, God guarantees that the flesh will have no sway over our decisions. What a promise, that our victory over the flesh is contingent on our walk with God!
What is your preferred strategy for dealing with fleshly temptations? We all face them. We all have our way of handling them. Some of us choose to ignore them or even acquiesce to them. Some of us face our besetting sins with more accountability software on our computer, memorizing more Bible verses, or being transparent with our friends. These strategies can be helpful supplements, but by themselves they are inadequate.
Have you acknowledged that the only winning strategy is to walk in the Spirit? Recognize the deeper conflict between your flesh and the Spirit. Yield to the Spirit of God and he will secure victory over your natural, sinful desires. Build a relationship with him every day through prayer and the Word. Become familiar with his voice and submit to it in your hour of temptation. Other strategies can prove useful, but there is no substitute for walking in the Spirit. When you do, you will resist the flesh.
When we hear preaching about walking in the Spirit, we tend to think of the moral effects. We think about the victories we can win over our sinful habits when we daily trust in the Holy Spirit and surrender to his influence. We forget that the Spirit is not just present in us to fight the flesh. His contention with our natural desires toward lawless sin is one part of the battle. The other half of the battle is against our desire to backslide to the law.
Paul has taken the first half of Galatians to warn believers against legalism. He focused on the curse that the law brings, its detachment from the pattern of faith begun by Abraham, and its inability to bring us into spiritual maturity in Christ. When Paul introduces the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, he is still making his case against the law. When we walk in the Spirit and allow him to lead us, we are not under the law.
Like the Jewish people, we might have the mistaken impression that laws against bad behavior guarantee restraint. As a Pharisee, Paul would have believed this. He was part of an exclusive group of religious leaders that upheld the highest standards of moral conduct. They believed that since Yahweh had given the law to Israel as a special act of grace, they had a responsibility to live by it and teach others to do the same. Jewish people believed that since they had the law, they were inherently more moral than Gentiles who did not have the law.
Parents can sympathize with this idea. Moms and dads implement all kinds of rules and regulations for their children - when they eat, sleep, do schoolwork, and play. The hope is that having a lot of rules in place will ensure that their kids do not behave badly; the more rules, the better behaved their kids. The government takes that same principle and applies it to society as a whole. Politicians enact legislation that becomes law, expecting citizens to know the law and obey it. They hope that more laws mean more compliance.
The problem is that the law does not give us this guarantee. Our experience tends to be the opposite; if a law is in place, people either ignore it or blatantly disobey it. Children may know what time their parents want them in bed. But they intentionally delay putting on their pajamas, take ten minutes to brush their teeth, and get up from their bed multiple times throughout the night. More rules do not equal well-behaved kids. A similar thing happens in society when citizens test the limits of the law.
Many well-meaning Christians feel the same way about the Christian life. They insist that if believers could follow clear guidelines for what they can watch and listen to, the food and beverages they can consume, and the kinds of activities they can engage in, then believers would be helped in their pursuit of holiness. They often extract these guidelines from obscure or misinterpreted passages of Scripture. If the Bible provides sweeping regulations for what we can and cannot do, these Christians believe our personal choices would not be open-ended and we would be better followers of Christ.
These kinds of Christians are gravely mistaken. If the NT had a list of rules for every conceivable activity or behavior, it would be no different from the OT law. Jesus died on the cross to redeem us from such a body of laws, laws that could not save us anyway. A legalistic system of Christian growth does not make us better Christians equipped to handle the challenges of modern living. It infantilizes us and sets us back to the law.
Christians do not need to rely on the law or any set of arbitrary rules for holy living. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the cure for legalism, just as he is the cure for fleshly living. When we walk in step with him, we are not bound to the law's demands. The Spirit is not leading us in accordance with OT ordinances. His standard is the holy nature of Christ. When he adopted us, he upgraded our status from undisciplined children to mature adults capable of making wise choices that please our heavenly Father.
While the Spirit does not lead us according to the law, he does not lead us against it either. When you go through your day consciously depending on the Spirit, he will not bring OT laws to your mind. When faced with temptation, he will not remind you of a stipulation from Moses. Instead, he takes the biblical truth you know and helps you apply it to your situation. By doing so, he actually fulfills the heart of the law without bringing us back into its bondage (Rom 8:3-4).
If you trust the Spirit in your daily walk, he will help you resist sinful temptations. The works of the flesh will not be present in your life (we will examine these works next week). The world, the flesh, and the devil collude together to tempt you with the sinful behaviors Paul lists out in this passage. Having a healthy relationship with the Holy Spirit prepares you for these spiritual assaults because he changes your desires and equips you to resist sinful lusts.
One of the works of the flesh Paul lists is outbursts of wrath (5:20). This temptation is common to many of us. It may come when you get home from work and your kids are running wild around the house. It may come when a friend does not come through on a promise they made to you. It may come when you're sitting in traffic and another car cuts you off as you try to change lanes. In these moments, it's easy to let our flesh control our emotions so that we spew angry words and hurtful insults (even in the privacy of our cars).
If we walk in the Spirit, he controls our emotions and our words. By yielding to him, we think about the consequences of our words. We pause before we speak, and when we do speak, words of love and reassurance come out rather than words of hate and anger. We lean on the Lord's wisdom for what to say (or not say) so that our demeanor is gentle and peaceable rather than riotous and disturbed.
The Holy Spirit will protect you from these works of the flesh, but he also will not bind you to the dictates of the law. He frees you to serve Christ by loving and serving others. He bears the fruits of the Spirit in your life (we will study these in a couple of weeks). Notice Paul does not give a list of rules for how to love, how to be gentle, or how to be peaceful. Life in the Spirit is not concerned with rules, but with the heart of Christ. He is love, joy, peace, etc. When we walk in the Spirit, his love, joy, and peace come out of our lives.
I hope our study today has whet your appetite for what we will learn in the coming weeks about the contrast between the flesh and Spirit. A great divide exists between these two spiritual forces within us. If you belong to God, that battle rages continually inside you. That means that you must continually walk in the Spirit to experience continual victory. God promises to you that if you will trust in his Spirit's leading and enabling, you will not fall prey to the flesh.
We cannot expect to always succeed at this 100% of the time; we still live in a fallen world with a fleshly lust within us that captures our attention more often than we know. But by God's grace, we can submit to the Holy Spirit when he leads. If I follow him, I will not be swayed by sinful license or self-righteous legalism. Instead, I can overcome the works of the flesh in my life and produce the righteous fruit of a Christ-filled life.
