Sermons can sometimes be lengthy affairs. A few years ago, the former rector of Lambeg preached a record-breaking sermon, which lasted for five hours and fifty minutes without a break. But the Guinness World Record for the longest speech was a sermon preached by Pastor Zach Zehnder from Florida, which lasted 53 hours and 18 minutes. Now, as Roy Castle would have said on his TV programme, dedication’s what you need if you want to be a record-breaker, so, if you’re sitting comfortably, let’s break some records!
No, don’t worry, we’ll not try to beat five hours or fifty-three hours today. In fact, this could have been the shortest sermon ever. Could have been - not will be! You see, we can sum up the whole sermon in four words that Paul gives us in the first verse of our reading. Just four words. Do you see them there in verse 16? ‘Live by the Spirit.’ That’s what Paul wants to emphasise; it’s what God wants us to hear today; it’s the application right at the very start of the sermon.
God says: Live by the Spirit. So go and do it.
It might have been the shortest sermon, but I’m not sure it would be the most helpful sermon. So let’s take some time to unpack those four words, to understand what we’re being told to do - and then how to do it.
You might have noticed that we’re near the end of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. And in quite a few of his letters, Paul arranges them into two parts. First up, the doctrine; and then the doing. He gives us the truth, and then shows us how to live it out. It’s a bit like doing your driving test - you do the theory first, and then the practical.
So over the autumn term, we’ve worked our way through this letter. And we’ve seen that the Galatians were in danger of forgetting the free grace of God. They had started by believing, but now they were trying to earn their way by observing the Old Testament law, and by submitting to circumcision. So Paul has reminded them of the grace God has given us in the Lord Jesus - how he was crucified for us to redeem us, and so that we would receive the promise given to Abraham - the promise of the Holy Spirit. That’s the theory bit. As we trust in Jesus, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now comes the practical instructions.
We have the Holy Spirit if we’re believers, but we need to live by the Spirit - not being like Walt Disney’s housekeeper whose story I told a few weeks ago. Remember? She was given these bits of paper for her birthday and Christmas, and put them away safely. She died a millionaire, and she didn’t even realise. She didn’t know the resources she had. So don’t be like her. Live by the Spirit.
You see, God has given us his Holy Spirit in order to help us live out our Christian faith. We just can’t do it by ourselves. And yet many of us think that we CAN do it by ourselves. That’s what the Galatians were trying to do, as they tried to add what Jesus has done for us on the cross. Or, to think of Roy Castle again, we think that to live out the Christian life, to defeat the sin that so easily entangles us and the powerful sinful desires that rise within us, dedication’s what we need.
But Paul tells us what we need to do. Look again at verse 16. ‘So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.’ Notice what he doesn’t say - he doesn’t say try really hard to resist your sinful desires, and then you’ll be able to live by the Spirit. He doesn’t even say, live by the Spirit and then try really hard... No, he says, live by the Spirit (by his power), and you WILL NOT gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Live in this way, by the power of the Spirit, and you will not gratify those desires.
You see, there are two ways to live presented in these verses. We either live by the Spirit, or we live by the sinful nature (the flesh). But it’s not a take it or leave it kind of choice - that it doesn’t really matter which you follow. Rather, they are in conflict. It’s like the line from Dad’s Army - ‘Don’t you know there’s a war on?’ But the battle isn’t out there somewhere else - it’s a battle on the inside, for our heart, our choices, our actions.
Have you ever had a time when you want to do something good, but then you follow a different prompting and so something selfish, or downright evil instead? Like, maybe seeing someone waiting for a bus, so you think to yourself, I’ll stop and give them a lift... only for you to instead drive up close to the kerb and splashing them... I hope that hasn’t happened, but you get the idea? We’re in a war - or rather, a war is in us, between the Spirit and our sinful nature.
Whenever you do not do what you want - this is what’s going on. Now that’s not to give us a way out, an easy excuse, to just go and be nasty to someone and then say, sorry, it’s my sinful nature just getting the better of me! No, Paul calls us to live by the Spirit, and so not gratify those desires that rise within us. As he says in verse 18: ‘but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.’
The law has no hold on us if we’re led by the Spirit, because if we have the Spirit, then we’ve already been justified, declared righteous. So what are you being led by? Your sinful desires, or the Spirit of God?
To follow our sinful desires is to follow a path of destruction. That’s the point of v19-21. Paul lists out the acts of the sinful nature - obvious things. And he seems to group them into four categories (indicated by the semi-colon in the NIV) - sex; religion; relationships; and drink. When you’re following your sinful nature, these are the outcomes - sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.’
And look at where these lead: ‘I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.’ To live by the sinful nature, to do what we like, is to end up outside God’s kingdom. To go through life saying, ‘my will be done’ will end with God saying, ok, your will be done.
But there is another way to live. Not following our sinful desires, but living by the Spirit. Taking our lead from him, letting his power guide us, and grow us. Do you see the contrast at the start of verse 22? The acts of the sinful nature are like this... ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is...’
Have you got your Christmas tree up yet? What’s the difference between a Christmas tree and an apple tree? The decorations are hung on the Christmas tree (and getting the lights untangled...), but the apples on the apple tree are produced by the tree itself. And the Holy Spirit wants to produce his fruit in our lives. As we live by his power, and we allow him to lead us, he will produce the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Do you see how they contrast with the acts of the sinful nature?
Some writers point to the three groups of three - the first three (love, joy, peace) all about our attitude to God; the next three (patience, kindness, goodness) in relation to other people - ‘social virtues’ (Stott); and the last three (faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) in relation to self.
We can’t work these things up by ourselves - they come as the power of the Holy Spirit works through us, moulding us, shaping us, changing us to be more like the Lord Jesus. The fruit of the Spirit point us to Jesus - his life of perfect love, perfect joy, perfect peace and so on. There’s no law against this fruit.
So how do we do it? How do we live by the Spirit, triumph over our sinful desires, and produce the fruit of the Spirit? In our final two verses we’re told how - one past, one present continuous.
V24: ‘Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.’ If we are Christ’s, then we have crucified our sinful nature. We’ve nailed it to the cross. We have put it to death. We don’t need to listen to it any more.
And instead of following our sinful nature, we’re told the positive steps to take in v25. ‘Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.’ A long time ago, the BB World Council was held in Newcastle. On the Sunday, all the companies from Down Battalion took part in the parade to church - which was in the Slieve Donard hotel. But our company made their way up the street like Brown’s cows. What was the problem? We were a good bit back from the band we were following, trying to keep in step with it. But the band behind was keeping a different beat, a different step. So some of us were in step with the band in front, some with the band behind. Brown’s cows.
Paul says we’re to keep in step with the Spirit. March to the beat of his drum. Live by his power, following what he wants us to do, and what he wants to do in us. And one of the ways we do that is by not being conceited (proud); provoking and envying each other. (26)
Well, it didn’t turn out to be a short sermon. But it does have just one point, and one big application - live by the Spirit. You’ve crucified your sinful nature, so don’t listen to it; yield to the power of the Spirit, producing his fruit, keeping in step with him.
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday 3rd December 2017.
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