Title: Lifestyles of the Dead Part 1

Text: Galatians 5:19-21

Series FCF: We often struggle believing we have a license to sin freely since we are free in Christ.

Series Prop: Lifestyles of the flesh reveal a heart that is unchanged, so we must flee these practices.

Mini-Series Intro:

{Slide 1} So remember how I said we would be done before Christmas with Galatians. Yeah that isn’t going to happen. Today we will begin at least a 2 part series on 3 verses. Some of you may be scratching your head saying “ he did 1 sermon on 13 verses before and now he is doing 2 sermons on 3 verses?” Yeah that is about the size of it, yes. In all seriousness though, I anticipated that this section of scripture would take us a bit longer to get through, however, I underestimated just how much is here. The Series title is Lifestyles of the Dead, and it is an in depth look at the way spiritually dead people live. If we remained in Galatians we would get a pretty good idea of what these people look like, however, it would not be a full picture. This week we will limit ourselves to Galatians but next week, as a break from a Galatians focus, we will tip toe through the New Testament, and some of the Old, to outline a more full description of these lifestyles. I say at least a 2 part series because honestly I don’t know how long it will take for us to get through all of the passages of scripture we have to deal with. I hope it will only be 1 additional week, but as you have probably already seen – I’m not great at judging how long something is going to take to get through. 

The key thread that will go through each of these sermons in this mini-series is this. The lifestyles of the flesh reveal a heart that is unchanged. A heart that is still natural. A heart that has never experienced grace. Our response then is to first examine ourselves to determine if we are living these lifestyles. If we are believers that are not living in them – but are dabbling in them we must flee. Endeavoring not only to not practice them, but to not even commit them once if we can help it.

Scripture Intro:

With all that in mind, please turn in your bible to Galatians chapter 5. Last week Paul left us understanding that we must put off the old ways of viewing the world. To put off our natural sinful lifestyles. To repent of our sinful habits that we grew accustomed to while we were slaves to sin, and instead to take up the Spirit of God. To Think as He would have us think, act as He would have us act, to be what He would have us be. We do this by depending on the work of Christ and surrendering to His will in our lives. We get off our knees and step out in faith to obey Him, trusting in the Spirit’s passion and power to carry us on with each step we take. Last week we concluded with some examples of what to put off and what to put on. This week… well we will see more, so many more examples of natural habits from our former master sin. Last week I concluded the sermon by saying that this week’s sermon, and now next week’s sermon too, may cause us to doubt our salvation. I asked you to let it cause you to doubt. Use this time to examine yourself and find if you are still a slave to these things. If so… repent and believe and find liberty. Because these, these are lifestyles of the dead. I will start reading in verse 19 of chapter 5 and I will be reading from the NKJV today.

Sermon Intro:

[Slide 2] One of our deacons, Jerry Gunst, works for BMW. He gets to drive around in some pretty nice, German engineered, automobiles. Now lets say that I wanted to drive one of those things. Well since I don’t work for BMW I’d have to buy mine. And no offense to Jerry, but I just don’t think I could afford one. So I decide to do the next best thing. On my Chevy Impala I find every single place that the words GM, Chevy, or anything that remotely hints that the car is not a BMW. Then I go about systematically replacing every single logo, image, name and graphic on that car. When I am done my steering wheel has that BMW logo on it. The hood of my car has the same. Every sticker and every indication of the car being a Chevy has been replaced with BMW. Now. When I go to the mechanic to have the engine worked on… do I tell the mechanic it is a BMW or a Chevy? If I tell him it is a BMW – DO you think he will notice? Of course he will. Why? Because changing the name on my car, doesn’t change the nature of my car. My car is a chevy. It will behave as a chevy tends to behave. It will break the way a chevy tends to break. It will drive as a chevy tends to drive. And no matter how much I call it a BMW… it simply isn’t one.

The name Christian is thrown around pretty loosely today. Did you know that over 70% of our population in the USA claim to be Christians? But only 9% of that 70% claim to live their lives by the standards the bible sets forth. If I did my math right – which you may want to check later – but I believe that means that a little less than 3% of our nation’s population say that they live their lives, make decisions, and are guided in everyday lifestyle choices by the Word of God. That means in a country of around 300 million people, 8 million live their lives by the bible. Friend that means that in a country of 300 million – at best we are looking at 8 million Christians. In case you are on the fence on this issue, we are NOT a Christian nation any longer and haven’t been for quite some time.

[Slide 3] Jesus said that out of the heart the mouth speaks. As a man thinks in his heart so is he. Our actions show our true nature. And that is at the core of what Paul will teach us today.

Lifestyles of the flesh reveal a heart that is unchanged, so we must flee these practices.

Transition:

[Slide 4] We will see 4 groups of lifestyles in the next 3 verses. These lifestyles, if we are living them, are evidence that we are dead. Because dead people live this way. So take a deep breath… let us examine our lives compared to these. First, sexual indulgence of all kinds are works of the flesh.

I.) Sexual indulgence of all kinds are works of the flesh, so we must flee these lifestyles (19-21a)

a. [Slide 5] 19 – Now the works of the flesh are evident

i. Now – Having contrasted the incompatibility of the natural man and the Spirit of God, and challenged us to seek the aid of the Spirit first and then step out in faith and obey with His empowering and impassioning, now Paul continues by explaining how specifically the flesh controlled man and Spirit controlled man differ.

ii. the works of the flesh –

1. The most conclusive defense I can think of for the depravity of man lies in these 5 simple words.

2. The flesh is who we are naturally. It is who we are when we are born. It is who we are at our core. We have a nature of sin.

3. Sin then, is not acts that we commit. If someone were to ask what is sin, our go to response is something to the effect of “anything we do that displeases God” which is partially true… but the problem is far more alarming than that. How do I know?

4. Paul here does not say that the flesh is evident and then give us the list he does. No. He says that the works of the flesh are evident. What does this mean?

5. It means that sin is a spiritual sickness. It is a spiritual deformity. It is a force or a state of being by which we have become enslaved. Therefore, in the coming verses what we do not see is sin… no we see works of sin. You say well what is the difference?

6. [slide 6] The difference is this. We are not sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners. Our problem is greater than behavioral modification. We cannot simply do better or try harder.

7. We are slaves and have no choice but to do what our nature tells us to. As the nature of a cat tells it to hunt, a fish to swim and a bird to fly, so our nature tells us to sin.

8. What is sin? WE ARE SIN! That is why Jesus had to become sin FOR US. It had woven itself to the very fabric of our being so much so that we and sin were one and the same.

9. Can you now see the anguish inflicted on God in the garden of eden. His creation, created to give Him glory had now become the very thing He detested!

iii. [slide 7] are evident –

1. This does not mean that they are unable to hide because you and I both know that we can hide our sin.

2. Numbers 32:23 is not a universal principle for everyone on earth that all sin will fall back on them, because there have been many wicked people who have died and no one ever knew their wicked thoughts. So what does evident mean?

3. It means that the list he is about to give us shouldn’t be a point of contention. It shouldn’t surprise you.

b. Adultery – The general consensus is that this word does not actually belong here. Perhaps it was pulled from similar lists in scripture. What typically happens in this case is that someone in copying the text adds a little note which eventually, through subsequent copies, wiggles its way into the text. Is it doctrinally wrong to have it here – Of course not, and as we will see in a few minutes, it is included in other lists, but here in Galatians – Probably not.

c. Fornication

i. This is the Greek word Porneia, from which prostitution and pornography get their root form.

ii. It is the broadest word in Greek vocabulary to denote any kind of illicit sexual activity.

iii. [Slide 8a-e (just follow along)] A note to fellow Millennials - There is a growing movement among young people of my age or younger who challenge the idea that premarital sex is never forbidden in scripture. Let me address that quickly.

1. Concession: The words premarital sex do not appear in scripture.

2. Concession: OT references are not a great place to start for this. Some references in the Mosaic Law outline how women are to be treated if they have premarital sex. Mostly it means that they would need to marry the person they had sex with and pay a fine to the father. Although this seems pretty clear cut, Paul has just spent a considerable amount of time declaring we are free from the Mosaic law… not morally of course, but I don’t need the OT references to refute this.

3. The error is much simpler to spot. And it is two fold

a. The culture of their day –

i. There was no such thing as dating. People did not court the way we do. People did not spend years going steady or going out with someone before they became married.

ii. Hebrew Marital customs included 3 steps

1. Betrothal

2. Consummation

3. Public Recognition

iii. That betrothal was a solemn promise made in which to break it would be to issue divorce proceedings. But the betrothal, by definition did NOT include sexual intimacy.

iv. Consumation is when the wedding is completed and the first time the couple engaged in sexual intimacy

v. The feast is the public recognition that he vows are set and the consummation is complete.

vi. Obviously people still had sexual relations prior to marriage, but even in the secular pagan world that would have been peculiar. Taking a mistress or sleeping with a prostitute would be totally acceptable, but sleeping with someone you intended to marry before you married them would have been very odd.

vii. Religiously, Jews considered a woman who entered marriage a virgin to be a great treasure. Something to be sought by all men.

viii. Culturally speaking then, premarital sex probably wasn’t mentioned in the bible because it wasn’t really something that was a big argument.

ix. That would be like God spending a lot of time talking to our generation about not stealing the lamp oil from your neighbor…

b. The nature of the word Porneia

i. Greek speaking people of this day would have had no trouble understanding what this meant. Because its definition is best understood by what it doesn’t mean.

ii. Rather than listing all the sexual practices that are included in what it does mean – a Greek speaking person of this day would have just as well defined it by what it isn’t.

iii. Monogamous, Heterosexual, Marital sex. That is what it doesn’t mean. What it does mean, is quite simply, everything else.

4. Therefore, and hopefully you see, it is absolutely impossible to conclude that premarital sex is permitted for Christian people simply because the bible does not use those words. When we read the bible we must read it with the eyes and minds of the audience it was written to initially. Only then can we see what it truly means.

iv. This word then is exhaustive. All illicit sexual activity is a work of the flesh. It is a product of sin

d. [Slide 9] Uncleanness

i. This word denotes a person who is compulsively addicted to unrestrained sexual practices. They always need to push the envelope and do more and more dangerous and explicit things.

ii. This is a specific word under the heading of fornication whereby a person is characterized by their excessive sexual conduct.

iii. These people desire greatly to have as much sex with as many people in as many situations as they can and they won’t stop until the thrill of danger and exploration takes their lives.

e. Lewdness

i. This word is less tragic than the first, but far more restrictive.

ii. Whereby some could conclude that they were not the unclean who flaunt their excessive indulgence to the point of pursuit

iii. Lewdness communicates the same concept but in isolated instances. Whereby one person is characterized by it, the action itself is still sin.

iv. An unclean person is a person who wants multiple sex partners, a Lewd person has had multiple sex partners.

v. Many in our world want to find the one and settle down with them, but because they put sex before marriage, when the relationship fails, they are quick to go and pursue another relationship where they have sex before marriage. Before you know it they have multiple sex partners, even when they didn’t intend to.

vi. Therefore they are just as guilty as the first.

f. [Slide 10 (blank)] In this first category Paul describes the common man as a slave to his body. To his urges. To his passions. Not only is the natural man unable to control these passions, he, in truth, doesn’t really want to.

Transition:

So how do we flee from sexual indulgence? The answer may surprise you.

Application:

Sex is everywhere – and it is in our church. But perhaps not the way you think.

Sex is largely ignored in churches both before marriage and after. Mostly because our view of sex is so distorted that we cannot see what it is and what it is not.

The nature of man – which is sin – is to distort everything God does.

[Slide 11] Sex is a gift from God to help to bind together man and woman into one flesh. To knit their hearts together. It is a physical manifestation of a non-physical truth. In this union of their minds, bodies and souls – offspring are produced. And depending on what side of the coin you are on you may ask one of two questions.

1.) [Slide 12] Is that all it is? – This reveals a heart that is obsessed with sex but trapped in a religious or moral upbringing. They have made so much of sex as that red button they cannot press that they have made it into something far more important than it actually is. Sex is everything. And once they get married they experience what it is and they are underwhelmed. So they branch out and pursue all sorts of deviations hoping to find that awesome sexual experience. This is how good “Christian” people suffer affairs, pornography, homosexual affairs and otherwise.. They blame their partner for not being good enough or creative enough, when all that is happening is that they don’t understand what it is for. Sex was never for you personally but for you as couple. And if it is for you as a couple, then you can’t possibly look at it selfishly.

By extension then, to all my single friends out there and to all who are unable to have sex at this time for whatever reason, let me comfort you by saying that sex has absolutely no purpose for you right now. If it is meant to draw you to your spouse and either you don’t have one or can’t get close to them, well then what good is it to have sex? The only way you can have sex is to please your flesh… which is to accomplish a purpose outside of what God intended. And when you try to use something God gave for a different purpose than He gave it, you can’t expect to be satisfied with the result. So wait! Be patient! You aren’t missing out. Find the right spouse who physical intimacy will be a natural next step, rather than getting physical intimacy and hoping they are compatible to you after that. I have known several who have married just so they can have God purified sex and guess what… it was rough for several years.

2.) It is for all that? - This reveals a heart that is either so experienced at meaningless sex that they are shocked it has a purpose outside of a fleeting moment of pleasure, or it reveals a heart of a person in a marriage where sex is used as a behavior modification technique to be rewarded or punished with it, or even a marriage where the couple have gotten so unconcerned at being drawn together as one that they could not care less as to whether they ever had sexual intimacy again. They never talk or share each other’s feelings or deep thoughts – why share each other’s bodies? In either case sex has been made so meaningless that it is a pastime arranged when it can be arranged for an activity to stave off boredom.

[Slide 13 (blank)] Sex then can be used as a temperature gage to determine the health of a relationship in that when couple engages in meaningful frequent physical intimacy it is a good indicator as to the health of their relationship.

However on either side of that line it can also indicate relational distance.

Abundant sex without restraint can reveal a heart that is unconcerned about intimacy as a couple and simply wants to be pleasured. Oftentimes their spouse is not enough to arouse them to action but they must pursue outside sources to stimulate their passions. They seek meaning and hope in sex because it is their god.

On the other side of the coin, infrequent sex in a marital relationship or at least infrequent physical intimacy can indicate a under appreciation for what God has given. They see sex as far less than it is in that it is simply a choice of entertainment venue. Like flipping through channels on the television, so sex is only one option in a list of activities to do with your spouse.

The church should lead the way on sexual education. We shouldn’t hush the words from our mouth or quiet our teachers or even stop up our children’s ears. God wrote an entire book about sexual intimacy between a married man and woman.

But the more the church says SHHHH. The more the church says “oh we don’t talk about that” The more the church says “just don’t do it” the more we give our children to the education of this world.

They are taught with every commercial, every episode, every movie, every song what sex is for – and friend I don’t have to tell you how often our world gets it wrong, do I?

Kadie and I were watching a Sunday School Study video a few years back and it was a man teaching young parents how to raise children. He relayed a story about how his son came to him to ask him about sex. Some way into the conversation the young boy stated that his friend at school said such and such about sex and I’ll never forget what he said to his son. He said – “son you listen to me. Your friend doesn’t know a thing about sex. I do. I am a sex expert. I’ve done it thousands of times and I know what I am doing. You want to talk to someone about sex, you talk to me”

You know what I took from that? Parents – be sex experts for your children. Your kids should KNOW that you are intimate with one another. Not because you flaunt it – but because of the glances you give each other, the subtle touches and smiles. The winks. The closeness that is non-physical shows the closeness of the physical. Why should they know this about your relationship? Because that is what sex is for! It isn’t for the fleeting moment of physical pleasure and it isn’t some entertainment option – it is a physical manifestation of the closeness of your relationship.

Now being a sex expert does not mean that your children will not be swept away. Because these are still the works of the flesh. In their natural state, without Christ, this is who they will be. So live out in front of them what Christ would do. Teach them by word and deed what sex is for.

Transition:

[Slide 14] Sexual indulgence is only the first category Paul unwraps. The second is shorter. Only 2 items in this list, but they are important items. They both revolve around the idea that false worship of all kinds is work of the flesh.

II.) False worship of all kinds are works of the flesh, so we must flee these lifestyles.

a. [Slide 15] 20 - Idolatry

i. This is the broadest term to denote any worship of any god but Yahweh.

ii. Like Porneia this word is the broadest word to denote false worship of any kind both in mode and in object.

b. Sorcery

i. This word is particularly difficult to accurately translate. While it does have the common run of the mill interpretation of using divining, necromancy, spells and incantations to evoke a desired response from gods, there is another layer.

ii. This word is the same word from which we get our term for pharmacy or pharmaceuticals.

iii. In pagan worship, often times mood altering or mind altering drugs were used to begin a séance or worship service, adding credence to the power of the deity as they tripped out on the effects of the drugs.

iv. It is impossible therefore to separate the medicinal meaning form the word however, because it also means medicinal use.

v. So here it goes

vi. Any means by which an individual depends on or surrenders to a physical and/or spiritual force to accomplish some desired effect other than depending on and surrendering to the Holy Spirit.

c. In this category we see that the common man is a slave to self gratification. To the point that worship and religion is all for himself and what he can get out of it. That… is idolatry

Transition:

[Slide 16 (blank)] What does this mean for us then?

Application:

The most natural way to apply this to us is to analyze what we are depending on. And the easiest thing to prove that, is where you turn in a crisis. When you face a trial.

First and most obviously do you question God’s existence or Characteristics? It is not wrong to question God per se, but if you find yourself asking how God could exist and allow this to happen to you – perhaps you don’t believe in the right God? Perhaps you have been worshiping a false god who is all about you. That is not the God of the bible friend.

Do you depend on money to get you out of a jam? Is the solution to always throw money at it. A missionary came in and they need a school built. Here is a check. My son got in trouble with the law, I’ll buy him a great lawyer to get him out of jail. My daughter is making poor decisions with her finances, I’ll pay a few bills for her. Now there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with any of these…. but if you find that money is always the answer to your problems… well you might be serving a false god friend. Money is the root of something, but it isn’t to the tree of hope. It is the root of all kinds of different evils. Watch out that money is not where your faith lies.

When you are sad, angry, guilty or afraid, do you run to pills to alter your mood or mind so that these emotions are masked? Do you lean on them to get you through the day? Isn’t God in control of these things? I mean if we look so poorly on those who would use alcohol or marijuana to make them feel better, what is the difference between alcohol and a Prozac. Now I am not saying that these are bad – they have their uses… but are they your solution or are they secondary to the Spirit of God in you?

Idolatry is anything that takes the place of our King. And the greatest offender is ourselves. We in our human effort try to overcome. Instead we should lean heavily on the harness of the Spirit of God and leap.

Transition:

[Slide 17] There are two other broad categories of lifestyles of the dead. The first is quite large and, to be honest, is probably one of the most concerning to claiming believers. It is in our relationships toward one another. Hostility toward others is a work of the flesh.

III.) Hostility toward others in all forms are works of the flesh, so we must flee these lifestyles.

a. [Slide 18] Hatred

i. This word means feuding or hostility

ii. This is the state of general opposition to someone or a group of people

iii. It’s opposite would be fellowship

iv. Again, Like Idolatry and Fornication, this is a very BROAD term which will be specified as we go on.

b. Contentions

i. This is someone who is prone to start fights

ii. It could also be a person who makes their loyalties obscure for the purposes of baiting a fight

iii. Bottom line is, this person is an instigator. They poke until someone reacts.

c. Jealousies

i. This is actually a positive word that means zeal or ambition.

ii. In its negative form we simply need to add selfish to the word ambition and we have its basic meaning.

iii. This is a person who has a desire to have at least everything that others have if not more and they are passionately pursuing more by any means necessary.

iv. For this person, everything must be fair or tipped in their favor – if not, watch out because they will do whatever they can to make it so

d. Outbursts of Wrath

i. This is actually one word that the NKJV has helped us to understand in 3.

ii. This is a fierceness of passionate anger that soon subsides.

iii. For this person, they display short moments of vicious and destructive blasts of aggression that quickly subside once the target of their wrath is hurt or gives them what they want.

e. [Slide 19] Selfish Ambition

i. The NKJV translators did not help us here as they seem to have crossed up jealousies and this word. The short definition for this would be strife but it is more intricate than that.

ii. It means faction maker, politician or party maker.

iii. So this person has a habit of gathering armies together to support their own selfish cause and take on, usually by outnumbering them, other sides.

iv. This person would rather raise an army and fight a war than quietly settle a dispute in private

f. Dissensions

i. A person who attempts to stand apart, be divisive or cause division.

ii. Unlike the previous word, this word is not the selfish division into armies per se, but is instead a watch the world burn sort of division.

iii. They just want to break things apart and generally cause disunity.

g. heresies

i. This word is tricky for us because when we see heresies we think of fundamental theological error.

ii. However, this word actually means more like choice option or preference.

iii. So this would be saying that people who make parties or sects out of theological preferences causing divisions over such issues.

h. [Slide 20] 21 – Envy

i. Spite or bitter ill will

ii. Grieving the good of others

iii. Remember back when we looked at jealousies and how that meant that no one could have more than you – you had to have either the same or more?

iv. Well when that fails and someone does have more than you, this is what happens.

v. To be this person is to have absolute disdain for another person, always hoping they fail and mourning their success as if it were your own personal failure.

i. Murders

i. The majority of manuscripts have this word in the text. Some of the most reliable do not. However, this word is 1 letter different than the word for envy. That may mean that copyists saw this word and concluded it was a repeat and discarded it.

ii. In any case, it is certainly a work of the flesh in that it is the natural outcome of an envious person to the object of their envy.

iii. Ultimately they take their life.

j. In this category we see that common man is a slave to self, to the exclusion of others. People are tools used to get what you want or obstacles keeping you from what you want.

Transition:

[Slide 21 (blank)] Wow! There is a lot here. Far too much for us to cover this morning. But let me just say this…

Application:

Claimed Christians are some of the most rotten, vindictive, manipulative, underhanded, bunch of gossipers and underminers that exist on this earth.

They decimate homes and churches with their poison. They self seek and destroy. They complain and gripe. They create factions and parties. All the while claiming to be a Christian.

The church is supposed to be the one place where people care for you as much as they care for themselves. Friends if we could just live this way. If we would break free of our flesh and flee this one avenue – we would accurately display the one who gives hope to the world.

And yet the church is no different than any country club. It no different than Washington DC. It is a bunch of fractionizing grumblers who would have been wandering that desert with the Israelites 4000 years ago.

The church must be a group of people who love each other. Who are slaves to each other. They are a group of people who have experienced God’s love, forgiveness and mercy and people who have truly experienced such things CANNOT withhold it from others. They just can’!

Transition:

[Slide 22] The final category from Galatians of a lifestyle of dead people is a pursuit of pleasure. Pursuing pleasure as a lifestyle is a work of the flesh.

IV.) The pursuit of pleasure in all forms are works of the flesh, so we must flee these lifestyles.

a. [Slide 23] 21 - Drunkenness

i. Exactly what it says. The act of intoxication with the substance of alcohol.

ii. This is a dependence on or surrender to the substance of alcohol to alter your mood or your mind.

iii. So you don’t have to be drunk to violate this word. Because if you are using alcohol to alter your mood or mind – you may not be intoxicated but your are guilty of intent.

iv. However, it clearly does also mean intoxication. So even if you go into drinking alcohol and do not do so to alter your mood or mind, but do get drunk, you still fit this description.

v. In other words you can drink one drop and fit this word, or drink 5 bottles and never come close. It is not as clear cut as some would say but is also more restrictive than others would say.

b. Revelries

i. The pursuit of great pleasure for pleasure’s sake

ii. A person who fits this is a person who makes merry to excess for no reason whatsoever. They party wildly for no reason of any value or worth and they do so while simultaneously being fueled by the pursuit of pleasure.

c. In this category we see that common man is a slave to his own pleasure. Again, selfish desire overtakes him to insure that he is pleased and happy.

Transition:

[Slide 24 (blank)] Our world puts a premium on happiness. It is obsessed with making sure everyone is happy. But how should we see this as Christ followers?

Application:

Friend happiness is overrated. When we emphasize happiness and overstate its importance we misunderstand the nature of guilt, grief, and righteous dissatisfaction. We cannot possibly understand hope because hope is something we long for in the future. When you are always trying to be happy now, how do you have time to be hopeful in the future.

An emphasis on pleasure and merriment should never be at the core of Chrsitianity. We celebrate, we enjoy the things in the world that offer us beauty and reflect our King. Why? Because He made the world. He is its designer.

But when we put a premium on pleasure and happiness we betray our hearts infatuation with the dainty pleasures of this world rather than the hopeful anticipation of basking in the presence of the God who made it.

We have even let happiness slip into our gospel as we tell people half truths explaining that they have a God shaped hole in their life and only He can fill it. Friend that is theologically preposterous. God doesn’t fit into our lives – He IS our life. We don’t have a God shaped hole in our hearts – our hearts are dead. Lifeless. He isn’t the thing that fills our hearts He is the thing that gives our hearts life.

And you know what… God’s will for you may be to be absolutely miserable on this earth. He may send you to Africa and have you eaten slowly by cannibals as you preach the gospel to them as they snack on your legs.

He may send you to Afghanistan to preach at Muslims as they cut off your head.

Do you think He wants you to be happy in this world? NO! Because He has a better world waiting for you. One where the only thing that matters - Himself – is there. And you will finally be able to see Him face to face without His Holy Presence obliterating you.

When you see life this way – then you can truly enjoy Christmas and family tradition and meals because they are a simple gift given in a war torn land where we are vagabonds and enemies to everyone.

Getting that present in a few days will be but a simple trinket that you will gladly toss aside as you step into the throne room of your King.

[Slide 25] To borrow some words from a very famous Christian musician.

To seek pleasure in this world and happiness in the things of earth is like

“playing gameboy standing in the middle of the grand canyon,

… eating candy sitting at a gourmet feast

…wading in a puddle when I could be swimming in the ocean”

This world will never satisfy us as God does

Transition:

[Slide 26 (blank)(end)] To pull it all together, Friend, these are the lifestyles of the dead.

Conclusion:

To live as these people live is to live a life of the natural man. To be a natural man. We live this way from birth. We are selfish, sex starved pleasure seekers that will depend on and surrender to anything and everything under the sun, just so long as it is not Yahweh.

But Christ died to fix that. He died to give you a new nature.

If you share the lifestyle of one or several of these dead people, then friend you have some hard questions to ask yourself. Have you experienced grace? Have you repented and believed on Jesus? Have you depended on His work and surrendered to His will?

It is clear that Paul is not saying that a one time offense means that you are not a true child of God – but if your life can be characterized by any of these lifestyles friend, then you have cause for alarm. Because these lifestyles are the lifestyles of the dead.

You can’t claim to be a BMW if you drive like a Chevy.

For those of you who have dabbled in these things. They aren’t lifestyles but they have caught you once or twice – RUN. We are not of this nature. We are free of this. Depend on the Spirit and get off your knees and run.

If you need to talk after the service I will be up front. I’d love to help you examine your heart. To help you discover if it is alive or dead.

Title: The Slavery of our Freedom

Text: Galatians 5:13-18

FCF: We often struggle understanding what place human effort does have in serving God correctly

Prop: Because Christ’s Freedom gives us freedom from the flesh, we must discipline ourselves to not fulfill its lusts.

Scripture Intro:

[Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Galatians chapter 5. Last week we began the last section of Paul’s letter to the Galatians whereby he emphasizing how a believer should live if he is truly depending on and surrendering to Christ only. The focal point of the discussion is the Spirit of God. Last week we put an emphasis on the dependence on the Spirit of God. How we are to chase out human effort and rely on the Holy Spirit to bring righteousness to us. But perhaps you left last week wondering why there is no step two. Perhaps you wondered that after crying out to the Spirit of God to help us, is there nothing left to do but sit and wait for Him to do all the work? This week may seem like at best a paradox and at worst a contradiction. This week we will see that in depending on the Spirit of God we must not be passive. It will demand that we act. That we discipline ourselves. That we war against our flesh. Although the power and passion for pursuing God comes from God, He weaves His Spirit to our hands, feet, minds and voices and completes that work in us by our obedience. Today we see step two. I am in verse 13 of chapter 5 and will be reading from the NET, but please follow along in your preferred version.

Sermon Intro:

[Slide 2] Most if not all of you came here this morning in a vehicle of some kind. You hurried yourself into the car and got all your church items packed up. You were moving a little extra slow this morning since you are still recovering from stuffing yourself silly at Thanksgiving on Thursday, and Thanksgiving leftovers on Friday and Thanksgiving leftover lunch on Saturday. Finally climbing into your vehicle you turned the ignition and the car stated. You then through a series of small muscle movements over the course of a few minutes arrived here at the church. So here is a question for you to consider. How did you get here this morning? Did you drive here, or did your car drive you here? Now perhaps that is an easy question for you to answer. Perhaps you see that it is obvious that you drove the car here. If that is your persuasion, then I would imagine that you were physically very busy peddling, shoveling coal into the engine, or by some other means infusing your power into the engine to get you here. But is that not how you did it? Ok then it was the car that brought me here… get off my case Chris it is early. Oh really? So you turned on the engine and the powerful car started. Then you sat back, drank a little coffee enjoyed a little music and did not scream at the guy who cut you off, because your car was the one that got cut off not you. Correct? Now in a few years this illustration may be irrelevant or at least need to be modified since self driving cars are coming. But for now, it still holds true. There is a symbiotic relationship between you and your car that enabled you to arrive here. Although your car did most of the work, without you, you wouldn’t have gotten here. And Although this is a somewhat crude illustration of it, it is the best way I can try to explain the nature of the Holy Spirit’s involvement in our living holy lives. In a very real sense, as we talked about last week, He is everything behind our spiritual growth. He is all the power and all the passion. However, what we did not get to last week, that will be made plain this week, is that we play a small part in our spiritual growth. Insignificant compared to God’s part, but important nonetheless. You see Christ’s Freedom gives us freedom from our sinful nature, so we must discipline ourselves to obey God’s Word.

Transition:

[Slide 3] Last week’s sermon title was the freedom in our slavery, and we saw how we, although slaves of Christ, had been set free to be holy people. That freedom is found in the Spirit of God who through faith is the source by which we find our righteousness. This week the title is the slavery in our freedom. And we will see that the freedom Christ gave was to free us from our sinful nature. In the first section here, Paul will show us that to be free of our sinful nature, is to be a slave to others in love.

I.) Christ’s Freedom gives us freedom from our sin nature, so we must serve one another in love (13-15)

a. [Slide 4] 13 – For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh

i. Freedom from a law that condemns us. Freedom from a law that shows our depravity. And freedom from the penalty of such depravity. This freedom which allows us to permanently please God, may tempt us to live fleshly lives.

1. Flesh, is a euphemism. He says it to mean our natural, godless impulses.

2. Our habitual selves from prior to the Spirit’s indwelling power.

ii. We may see freedom as infinite credit to spend in sinful lifestyles. It isn’t that kind of freedom.

iii. In verse 1 if you remember, Paul said we are free and to never again take up the yoke of slavery. He is saying the exact same thing here.

1. Just as legalism is slavery to the law by human effort,

2. So libertarianism is slavery to the flesh for its own gratification.

3. But if you insist on being enslaved to something… read on

b. but through love serve on another – Out of a heart of love, we are to be slaves to one another. A selfless slavery. A slavery that is by choice in love. Probably calling back to the language of the Mosaic Law – when a slave would choose to stay a permanent slave of his master out of love for his master – so we choose to be permanent slave to our master Christ and the members of His body – His church.

c. [Slide 5] 14 – For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: you shall love your neighbor as yourself – We have looked intimately at the Mosaic Law in Foundations. We have seen the level of detail regarding how the Israelites were to behave toward God and each other. But there is some interpretational challenge here.

i. Jesus said the whole law would be summed up in 2 commands. Paul says one. Is Paul wrong? Jesus wrong?

ii. Jesus said that the most important command was to Love God with everything you are. He said that the second most important was like it – not like it in a different way, but like it in the same way. Meaning of course that they are linked together and cannot be separated.

iii. He stated that on these two hang the entire law and the prophets.

iv. What is Paul saying then?

v. If you love your neighbor as yourself, if that is a characteristic that you have, then you already love God with everything that you are. You can’t get to this one without having the first one.

vi. In other words it is impossible to love others as we already love ourselves – if we do not love God with everything that we are.

vii. [Slide 6] Someone once said “if your theology has turned off your compassion, then it’s bad theology” and in fact Paul is agreeing. Loving God makes it possible to love others – not too busy to love them”

d. [Slide 7] 15 – But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another – This is what he means by using our freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. It isn’t necessarily sex drugs and rock and roll – it is a selfish internal focus and a savage mutilating of others. Paul warns – be careful. You may just eat each other alive.

Transition:

[Slide 8 (blank)] But is slavery to others still freedom? Doesn’t freedom mean that I can do whatever I want? Let me try to illustrate.

Illustration:

[Slide 9] Kadie and I are trying to live healthier lives. We attempt to eat right and keep ourselves in fighting form. However, we succumb to the convenience of others making meals for us at times. We are also very concerned about being good stewards of God’s money and Waverly in a sit down restaurant is at best a wildcard. So the easiest thing for us to do is pick up something fast. Now when the slightest hint of that option is afforded to me by my wife, she knows exactly what restaurant I am choosing. Taco Bell. I know- I know it is terrible for me. But there is just something about that stuff that makes my heart happy. There are literally about 50 other options we could choose besides Taco bell, but I will always choose the Bell.

There is a Sci-Fi movie out there. I cannot remember the name, nor can I vouch for how clean it is. But it is a post apocalyptic event. In this world, all the other restaurant chains were destroyed in the fallout. All but one. Taco bell. In the movie they went to taco bell and it was a VERY nice restaurant even if it was their only option.

Where am I going with all this?

Transition:

[Slide 10 (blank)] We were slaves prior to Christ because we had no other option but to be slaves of sin, the law, and death. Now Christ has set us free. But it is not freedom to choose to do whatever we want, but rather freedom to finally be able to choose to do what God wants. Which was not an option for us before. God’s heart was revealed behind His law. That heart desires that we would love others as we love ourselves. And in choosing that we are free. But what does it mean to love others as ourselves?

Application:

Go with me to I Corinthians 13:4-7. This is an often quoted passage of scripture around weddings, and perhaps you are so familiar with it that it will only drone in your ears. Don’t let it. Hear it for the first time.

[Slide 11a-o]

Love is patient - In other words, loving someone means you don’t get fed up with them. You don’t have it up to here with them. To love someone is to always anticipate their success.

Love is kind – Loving someone means you hold a sweet disposition to them. You are never gruff or mean. You speak to them softly and honestly. Confronting when you need to, but doing so with a desire to see them advance.

Love is not envious – Loving someone means you see past their material possessions and their talents. You aren’t consumed about what they have and you don’t. Instead you are consumed with what they don’t have and what you have. That way you can meet their need.

Love does not brag – To love someone is to put them at the same level as yourself. That means that you cannot possibly brag to them because they are the same as you.

It is not puffed up – You cannot love someone and always be thinking about you. It is impossible. In fact – love is selfless.

Let me take just a brief moment to address something here.

Some modern forms of philosophy today suggest that many deep rooted issues with today's youth and even adults revolve around a lack of self esteem. Psychiatrists and Psychologists alike conclude that if these individuals would just love themselves more, they would not have the issues they are having. Of course we Christians come to verses like verse 14 here and have some real difficulties. Because Jesus and Paul tell us that we must love others as we love ourselves.

People who hold to this philosophy would interpret passages like this by saying that this is actually two commands. Jesus and Paul are saying that we must love ourselves so that we can love others. The more we love ourselves, the more we love others.

Friend, not only is that grammatically impossible in the text, but as we see here in I Corinthians 13 it is also theologically preposterous. Why? Because any kind of love that makes much of you – regardless of how much it makes of others – is not the love with which God wishes us to love others. That love – Agape Love – is 100% empty of you.

So when he says to love others as yourself, what is he saying? He is saying that by nature – you already love yourselves a lot – so use that same metric for how you will love others.

It is not rude – Loving someone means that you do not treat them as your inferior. You do not condescend to them.

it is not self-serving – You cannot serve you and claim to love others at the same time. Love is sacrifice.

Isn't easily angered - Loving someone means that you don’t get easily irritated with them.

or resentful – Not only do you not get irritated easily, but to love someone means that you don’t even keep a log book of all the times they failed you. In fact, it is as if each time is a surprise – even if the previous failure was only seconds before.

It isn't glad about injustice – Loving someone means that even if they are your worst enemy, you do not celebrate when they are treated poorly or unfairly. You battle injustice of all kinds. Even if it is injustice committed against Muslims, democrats, abortion doctors or homosexuals.

Rejoices in the truth – Loving someone means that even when someone is your enemy, but they are set free by the truth – you rejoice that justice prevailed.

Bears all things – Loving someone means that there is nothing that they can do to make you stop loving them. It never gives up

Believes all things – Loving someone means that they are never a write off, they are never a lost cause to you.

Hopes al things – Instead they always are in your prayers and there is always a chance that they will come to Christ, get better, or live righteously.

Endures all things – Loving someone means that when times get hard, you get closer.

This is what it means to love one another. And friend, when the world sees us display this kind of love for each other – they will have no other option but to conclude that we are disciples of Christ. That we are His followers.

Love then, is not a feeling. Love is a loyal choice. To loyally choose to be spirit led in serving as a slave those around us.

Transition:

[Slide 12] So our part in obeying God is shutting down our natural sinful impulses and habits, specifically by serving other people with the motivation of a loyal choice of love. More broadly now, Paul will build on this concept of shutting down our flesh to explain the dichotomy of flesh and Spirit. Love being but 1 illustration of the greater goal that we have – to live by the Spirit’s infused passion and power.

II.) Christ’s Freedom gives us freedom from our sin nature, so we must live in the Spirit (16-18)

a. [Slide 13] 16 - But I say, Live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. –

i. Walk – used in other versions means a habitual lifestyle

1. He says earlier that we are not to indulge the habitual natural godless man that we were (the flesh)

2. But to create a new habit of a new nature. A nature of complete dependence on the Holy Spirit’s guiding

3. When we do this, it will never allow the desires of the natural man to come to fruition.

ii. Therefore, we are replacing one habitual lifestyle with another. This is known as the put off, put on principle that we find throughout the New testament. A thief is still a thief if he stops stealing. But he stops being a thief when he works hard and gives generously to others. Then he is a thief no longer. A liar is still a liar if he stops telling lies. But a man who lovingly speaks the truth to all men, even if it costs something to him is a liar no more. A person who stops living by his natural sinful nature has merely masked who he is by nature. But a person who lives by the guidance of the spirit is truly Spirit led.

iii. Perhaps that is why he says what he says next…

b. [Slide 14] 17 – For the Flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for those are in opposition to each other – Just as legalism and grace do not mix, so libertarian theology and grace do not mix.

i. It is just as wrong to live as you want and think that grace gives you license to sin freely

ii. As it is to think that you, through human effort, you can somehow earn grace from God.

iii. So it is wrong to think that you can earn grace through human effort

iv. But it is also wrong to think that God’s grace is not great enough to change you into a new creation.

v. [Slide 15] Another little pithy quote for you – “Your view of God’s grace is too small if it justifies but doesn’t sanctify” If it saves you from hell but doesn’t save you to new life – it is not God’s grace.

c. [Slide 16] so that you cannot do what you want –, you cannot do what you want without a fight

i. If you are in the Spirit then you cannot carry out the desires of the Spirit because the flesh strives against Him.

ii. Yet the Spirit is stronger than the Flesh, but can be grieved by it.

iii. In other words – true Christ Followers will eventually allow the Spirit of God to control them over their flesh, but are able to, for a time, quench Him.

d. [Slide 17] 18 – But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law

i. The law is for those who live in the flesh. It is for the godless. It is to show us that we are sinners. Therefore to live by the law is to condemn ourselves to a life of failure.

ii. The Spirit though is God’s very presence. The Spiritual transaction that begins at salvation including His indwelling presence and power frees the believer from the law and from their flesh.

iii. They are no longer an obligatory slave of their flesh

iv. Nor are they hopelessly incapable of being a slave to Christ

Transition:

[Slide 18 (blank) (end)] So we are free to choose to be what God wants us to be. Specifically by serving others out of love, and more broadly by being habitual followers of God’s Spirit. Last week we saw that God’s Spirit is the power and passion behind all that. But this week there is a clear call to our action. These seem contradictory.

Conclusion:

Perhaps the reason for the paradox is because we are a paradox. Christ in us has created a living soul with dead flesh. We are alive in Christ but dead to ourselves. We have lost our lives yet we have gained them. We must rely on God’s Spirit but actively surrender to Him as well. While our first step is to pray and beg the Spirit of God to guide us and help us – it implies that we act. Once we get off our knees we go about the action of obedience. Surrender with our lips but no obedience makes us just like the Israelites who honored God with their lips but their heart was far from Him.

The meshing of this paradox comes when we understand that while depending on the harness we leap. While leaning on the crutch we walk. While surrendering to the chair we sit. Dependence and surrender are not passive activities that require nothing of us, just very little. We are expected to obey the impossible will of our King and watch Him supply the will and the power to see it completed.

We do this by putting off our old ways – repenting of those sinful habits and asking God to give us victory over these sinful passions

Then

We do this by putting on the ways of Christ – believing that He has sent his Spirit into our hearts to join with us using our voice, our mind, our hands, our feet to Obey Him. We ask God to give us passion and power to serve Him, and get up off our knees and go about obeying.

When we falter we repent

When we succeed we glorify God

As we grow we see less of ourselves and more of Him living through us.

So what does it look like to put off and put on?

1.) Well when you find that you have been overly irritable with your spouse - You have gotten so easily irritated by their failures that they don’t even have to fail in big ways anymore. All they have to do is look at you funny and it sets you off. What do you do to live by the Spirit? Repent of your irritability. Repent of your unforgiveness. Repent of your selfishness. See that their failures are not the root of your irritation, but rather your own lack of love for them. Confess your sin. Beg God that His Spirit would empower and impassion you to be patient with your spouse and to choose to loyally love her. Get off your knees and ask her to forgive you. Don’t say “I’m sorry for being huffy” Because sorry is a faceless guilt and being huffy is not biblical language. No! Instead say this “Forgive me darling for selfishly being impatient with you. It was a sin against you and God and please releases me of it and help me to see it in the future.” Men if you do this… Ladies if you do this… After you scoop your spouse off the floor from them fainting… you will be forgiven. You will be edified and it will be that much easier (with the Spirit of God working in both of you) to continue to love your spouse.

2.) What about your Inability to witness to others? – First you must repent of your selfish fear of man. Repent of being afraid of what others may think of you. Repent of your unloving heart that the opinion others have of you is more important than the soul of the individual who stands before you. Repent of thinking that their salvation has anything to do with you. Instead pray and ask God to give you boldness and wisdom. Pray that God would draw this person . And when you fail – and when they do not come to Christ – then thank God for the chance you had to join Him in His work. Ask that God would draw them in the future. When you succeed and they come to Christ – thank God for the chance you had to play a part in His plan and ask God that He would continue to draw them to Himself. If you notice your response is the same whether they come to Christ or not.

3.) What about your preoccupation with work men? What about your shirking of your duties as the discipler of your home and being Christ to your wife – being a pastor to your little church – What about that? What about your preoccupation with entertainment to the point that you know every single fact about who won what game by what margin but you don’t know God’s word, what the sermon was about on Sunday, or what your kid is learning about in school. What do you do about that? Repent men. Turn from this wicked passive American fatherhood. Realize that the command to provide and protect is not the sum total of who you have been called to be. Repent of your selfish heart and fear of failure. Repent of shirking your roles and seeking your own pleasure instead. Repent of being a coward and running to work and sports (things you can succeed in) and not running to your wife and children (things you will fail at). Instead pray to the Spirit of God that He would empower you to succeed and that He would make you passionate about leading your wife and children to their King. That you would be the vehicle to take them there both by your words and your lifestyle. That rather than spending hours perfecting your child’s baseball swing, you would instead spend hours perfecting their swing AND their memorization of God’s Word. Teach your sons to work hard, not just because they will one day need a job, but for the Glory of their King. Then get up off your knees and GO DO IT! Come home from work earlier, put off sitting in that recliner longer, talk deeper, and pray harder.

4.) What about being addicted to watching sexually explicit material? How do you get victory over this? I’d have to be a fool to conclude that less than 80% of you have struggled or are struggling with this right now. So how do you break free? Repent. Repent of your sexual immorality. Repent of your lust. Repent of your lack of love for the men and women who have sold their bodies to please your eyes. Instead, pray to the Holy Spirit to drive away your lust. To empower you to stop watching these things and to take the necessary actions to cut them off from your life. Then get up off your knees and call your cable provider and cancel your internet. Burn the DVDs and delete the pictures and videos from your hard drives. Husbands and Wives seek forgiveness from your spouses. Many of whom may not even know that you do this. Confess your sin to them and spouses be forgiving.

5.) What about Obsession with money - At this point you know the formula do you not? Repent of your greed. Repent of your idolatry of covetousness and envy. Repent of your selfish desire to own things and places. Repent of your “need” for more and more. instead, pray to God’s Spirit to empower you to break free of this lust. To impassion you to see others needs more pressing than your own. That if you would die a pauper that has given all for His King, then you have died a rich man. Pray to the Spirit to change how you see money. Say amen and get off your knees. Call your family member who you have been fighting over the last will and testament of your dead relative and tell them that you want the money to go to whomever needs it most. Stop feigning like you cannot be cheritable because you “barely make ends meet” when you have cable, internet, tvs, cars, a nice house, heating, electric, and 4 cell phones. Be a giver known for sacrifice. Be willing to be robbed, for the chance to do good to others. Instead by wise with your money and invest so that others may see Christ.

6.) What about allowing your wife to be the spiritual leader of your home? We are so blessed here at CBC to have wonderful godly women. It doesn’t mean they are perfect. And they could certainly live more like Christ. However, If I stood with my back turned and tossed a quarter behind me, I could probably hit a woman who has served or would serve as a teacher, coordinator, or spiritual leader of some kind. We are blessed to have that here. But men – just because they are able, doesn’t mean they are the right tool for the job. Like a screwdriver banging in a nail or a snow shovel digging a hole are our wives to lead our home. They are capable, and in many cases could do it better than we could, But the fact of the matter is that God has given us at least 51% of the responsibility to make decisions and lead our families. To be the Spiritual leader to our wives and our children. Perhaps at your job you have 51% of the responsibility, but only 49% of the authority. Men if you have worked for a company like that it can be extremely frustrating. Because you don’t get any say in the matter, but are responsible for the results. Your marriage, your family ought not to be this way. You have 51% of the responsibility. That doesn’t mean you can be a tyrant. But it does mean that you CANNOT be passive. We have amazing women here, which means if you were their leader, we’d have amazing and godly families. But when they are leaderless… when we become passive and let them do all the spiritual stuff… you become the anchor holding your family down to insignificance and apathy. Like it or not you are the leader of your home. It will go where you take it. And if you resign yourself to be passive… then your family will do very little. Repent therefore of your passivity. Seek the Spirit of God to make you less of a coward, to stand up and step out in faith and lead your wives and children. Then get off your knees, seek forgiveness from your wife for your selfishness and lead your family by your example. Be a theologian! Be a Christ Imitator! Compared to the spiritual welfare of your home, those hobbies become pretty silly unless they accomplish something greater than entertainment. And that job seems pretty insignificant if it cannot provide something greater than a paycheck.

Put off your wickedness, and put on Spirit empowered and impassioned obedience.

One final caution though. A Christian, a true Christ follower cannot be stagnant. They may ebb and flow and they may be crushed under the weight of some sin that they cannot seem to get victory over… but they will not stay there for long, and they will be humble when they are corrected by others.

We are about to embark on a section of scripture that will no doubt cause you to doubt your salvation. Let it. Examine your heart. To be a Christian is to be a successful Christ Follower. Although we are broken and wounded, we will not remain that way if we are genuine followers of Christ. We will have spiritual success. But how you gage the Christian’s success may be challenged in the coming weeks too. So buckle up. We may be in for a bumpy ride.

For now – Put off your flesh, your sinful habits of old and put on the Spirit of God. Obey in His power and watch Him change your life.