Power for Living
Content
1) Power for Living (Part 1)
2) Power for Living (Part 2)
3) Power for Living (Part 3)
Power for Living (Part 1)
Do
you have a dream? So many times we just kind of walk through life and
do not make progress, just end up walking around in a circle. Do you
have a dream? What do you think about? What do you dream about? What
is your dream? For some of us we dream of a healthy relationship.
Some of us dream of a different house, a faster car. We dream of our
kids growing up strong, healthy, and following after God. Do you have
a dream that is pulling you in those directions or are you simply
getting up every day running around the same circle, trying to do the
same thing, trying not to get led astray but really never going
anywhere?
It all begins with a thought, a passion, a vision,
not simply from yourself but from God because the more important
question rather than “What is your dream?” is “What is God’s dream for
you?” Paul tells us that “You have not begun to understand, you have
not seen, you have not heard, you have not even begun to imagine the
good things that God holds in store for those who love Him.”
Without
understanding that, without grabbing ahold of that, we just kind of sit
here and say, “Thanks Lord, but no thanks.” Can you imagine a kid at
Christmas with all kinds of presents under the tree with his name on
them and never bothering to open them up. That is no kid I know. That
is no adult I know. You cannot wait to see what presents are for you.
Then why don’t we always feel the same way about God’s presents? Are
you afraid God will make you do something you do not want to do?
What
are you doing with your life? Where do you want your life to go? Do
you have any kind of dream? There was a girl named Agnes of Albania.
She grew up, lived her whole life and never had a car, never went to
college. But she had a dream. It was a dream that God planted in her
and with passion and commitment she followed it. She was a nobody, an
unknown. She could not do anything to change the world, but God gave
her a dream. And God said, “By my power, that dream can be achieved.”
You know that little girl named Agnes as Mother Theresa of Calcutta who
had a dream for ministering, caring for lives that were oppressed,
poor, and diseased. God gave her a dream and by God’s power, not by
her strength, not by her ability, her dream was realized.
Now
look at your own life. Look at the head start, potential, and
resources that God has given you compared to Agnes of Albania. Do you
have a vision? Do you have a dream or are you so wrapped up in your
own vision and dreams that you have no room for God’s vision for your
life. A dream will get you a new house. A dream will get you a wife.
A dream will get you a family. A dream will get you a job. We dream
of those kind of things, but you need more than these dreams if you are
going to fulfill your heart. Dreaming of things will not give you
comfort when that house burns to the ground or is washed away in a
hurricane. That dream will not give you peace when those children you
have longed for rebel against God and walk the other direction. That
dream will not give you perseverance when that job you always hoped for
turns out to be a drain on your family and relationship with God. That
dream will not satisfy your heart when you are stuck with a boss that
is always eating at you and asking you to do the wrong things. That
dream of a marriage will not fulfill your heart when your spouse breaks
it. It takes something more.
We most often dream about what
we want to have. Most of our dreams focus on having things. “If I
just had that, I would be happy. I look in the brochures and listen to
the commercials and I would be so much happier if I had that.” And I
will tell you, you may be, temporarily. You may be happier if you have
things because happiness is based upon the happenings of your life.
That new thing all of a sudden, before you know it, becomes a burden,
problem or the old thing. God does not want to give you just
happiness. He wants to give you joy in something beyond the situation,
beyond the happenings of your life so when the bad things happen your
life has something to hold on to.
Is your life, are your
dreams based upon what you have? God wants your dreams. God’s dreams
for you are not based upon giving you things. They are based upon who
you are, not what you have. God wants to grow your life, grow your
heart, enrich your mind, strengthen your arms and abilities, give you
the perseverance to get through to where He wants you to be, give you
the strength of the Holy Spirit to accomplish things that you cannot.
With a vision from God, we begin to see it is not simply about what we
have but it is about what we are. God is about developing you not
giving you stuff. God wants to grow your heart.
It is not
about your own willfulness, your own abilities, but Him living in you,
moving in you, walking with you, guiding you, strengthening you,
stopping you, starting you. Staying close to Him and sensing His love
and power and vision for your life. And then to chase after those
things rather than the things so many others chase after.
God
loves to give good gifts to His children. He loves to see His children
smile and laugh and have nice things. But when that becomes the focus,
it breaks His heart. I used to love and I still love giving my kids
gifts, but when those things become more important than their
relationships with their brothers, sisters, mom, dad or God, then they
have become a burden not a blessing. In your own life, are the things
He has given you a burden or a blessing? Do they absorb your life,
your time, your energy, the resources that God has given you? Or are
they a blessing to your life that further develops your walk with
Christ?
Read Ephesians 3:16. Dreams move you in
a direction, but it is only the power of Jesus that can take you where
He wants you to go. And that is what Paul longs for the Ephesians to
have. This is what he prays for them. Ephesians 3:16: “I pray that
out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power.” And in
2 Timothy when the church is full of dissension and false teaching, he
writes: “I pray that of his glorious riches he may strengthen you, so
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you
being rooted and established in love may have power together with all
those things. Along with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and
high and deep the love of Christ is and to know that this love
surpasses all knowledge that you may be filled with the measure of all
fullness of God.”
As you see the things you have accumulated,
have you noticed that they do not mean as much to you anymore? Are
they all disintegrating? I have two cars behind my house that are just
disintegrating. Paint is peeling, fenders are rusting through and I,
excuse the expression, loved those cars. I spent hours and hours
restoring and building them. And now they are just rotting metal and
chipping fiberglass. If that was all my life was about, my life would
be wasted and lost. But God has given me a different vision. Rather
than restoring cars, rather than building cars, I would rather restore
lives and build lives because that is what Christ is about.
God
does many things without me, but it is not the same as Christ
indwelling me and building my life. Because when He does it without
me, when He does it on His own, I do not grow. God wants to develop
you. So He is not going to just go out and do it for you. Can God do
things without you? Absolutely. God can do anything, you know? But,
God wants to do it through you because He is not simply about getting
things done. He cares about your life and your heart, not simply what
He can get done through you.
I came across something the
other day that talked about the gospel and recognized that the gospel
is God. Huh? The gospel is God? The “good news” is that God wants to
be invested, involved in your life. The good news is not that you are
not going to hell. That is good news, but the best news is that God
wants to be invested in your life. God wants to be with you. He does
not just want to save you and see you in heaven, not just give you a
home up there so you can escape hell. He wants to spend eternity with
you. The good news is God reaching, saving, and wanting to spend
eternity with you.
When God strengthens us it is not with a
brute strength, a forceful strength, a strength that pushes you around
but He brings a glorious inner strength to you. Do you recognize the
need to invite Jesus in? For salvation absolutely, but for your
continued growth and strengthening in Him? I know a lot of parents,
husbands, and wives who “pray God” on their kids or their spouse. “Oh,
God, change him. God, fix him. God, make him do the right thing.”
You need to open your heart to God’s leading in your life. We want God
to manipulate people, but God says, “I do not do that, but I sure will
work in somebody who wants me to be there.” But it takes your
invitation, your constant connection with Him to say, “Yes Lord, I want
to be what you have for me to be.” All the things God is leading you
through are going to take work, effort, and obedience to let the power
of Jesus dwell in your life.
“How do we let the power of God
into our lives?” How do you get the power of God in your life? What
can you do? What is the secret to having Jesus in your life? “I mean,
I have invited Him in and I am saved, I know that but I am just not
sure. It seems like some people have more of Jesus than I have. Why
do I feel like I am kind of a second-rate Christian? I do not have
enough Jesus. It seems like other people are just beaming and sprouting
and going like crazy. I just kind of go along and try to hold on but I
am not sure what He has for me.” How do you get Jesus? How do you let
Him in? First, believe your beliefs. That sounds kind of stupid, does
it not? Believe your beliefs. But I challenge you; I do not think you
believe your beliefs. I do not think you believe what you say you believe. I
think all too often you doubt what you believe. And all too often you
believe what you doubt.
If you have a doubt, then you act on that
doubt and it holds you back from doing what you believe you should do.
“I know I should do it, but I am just not sure.” You doubt and you go
nowhere. And then you believe your doubts. You will always have
doubts. There is not a week that goes by that I do not wonder, "God are
you really there working in my life?" Anybody else ever have a doubt
about God? “God, how could you let that happen?” And that is where
faith comes in. You say, “I do not know for sure, but I choose to
believe. Based on what I already know about God through Jesus Christ
and the grace and mercy He has exhibited throughout Scripture, I choose
to depend and believe that He is good and will work for my best
interest." The next step is to act on those beliefs rather than act on the doubts.
Do
you believe God can do anything? Do you really believe God can do
anything or do you doubt that? “I know that He is supposed to be able
to do anything, but I am not sure if He can do that in my life.” Are
you a believer or a doubter? God can do anything, you know! You need
to hear that in your heart. You need to hear that in your ears. You
need to hear that in your life. Are you willing to step out and say,
“God, I am going to let you, I am going to let your power come out of
me. I long for your power to come out of me. I long for your power in
my life.” And then, in faith, step out and believe your beliefs.
Secondly,
after first believing, reach forward. You can say you believe but
until you reach forward, you are not going to go anywhere. Reach
forward! God wants to live this life with us and grow our character
and spiritual connectiveness with Him. That is what the fruit of the
spirit is all about. God designed you to move forward in your life.
Look at the way you are made. You have two eyes that face forward. He
gave you two ears that are hooked forward so that you can listen and
hear His voice in front of you rather than what people are saying
behind your back. He gave you a nose on your face. This is the side
that is going to lead you by the sweet aroma of things that God has for
you. He gave you arms to reach forward. So that you will reach
forward and grasp what God has for you to do. Your feet pointed
forward so that you can walk toward where God leads you. Your whole
balance system is made to go forward.
Then finally, abide
in Him. Stay connected to Him. Abide in Jesus to absorb what He has
for you. Let Him pour His power and goodness into your life. As a
leaf must be connected to the branch, and the branch to the tree in
order to live, so must we be connected to God through Christ in order
to bear His fruit in our lives. When a leaf becomes disconnected from
the branch and falls to the ground, what happens to the leaf? It dries
up and dies.
I want to close by just giving you a key
illustration. Have you ever seen a glowing toy? You know, a toy that
you hold up to the light and then place it in the dark and it glows?
Some glow so much that one can actually walk in a dark room without
bumping into things. Abiding in Christ means you absorb what He has
for you and you reflect that back to the world you live in. The light
is not yours. It does not originate in you, like the light does not
originate in the toy. But notice! Not all toys glow! Only those with
a special property have the ability to glow. Only true, born-again
Christians have the capability of truly reflecting Christ to the
world. But notice, again! The light is not theirs! The light can
only be maintained if they stay close to Him.
Power for Living (Part 2)
Do
you have a hunger for God in your heart? A desire to let God be real
in your life? If you want more peace, more joy, more patience, more
kindness, more goodness in your life, that will only happen as you
allow God through Christ into your heart and life. There are things in
your heart and life that need to be pulled out by the roots so that the
good things can grow and blossom. When we talk about adding the fruit
of the spirit to our lives, we need to recognize that it is only
accomplished through the power of Christ. It is not something that we
can gut out or earn, but it is something we open ourselves to and allow
Him to work it into our lives.
Growing is hard. If you have
worked out in a weight room, you know that fitness and growth require
effort. And with the effort comes muscle soreness and discomfort. But
after some time the body adapts to the added stress and the pain and
soreness go away. You are able to do the same amount of work with less
effort. You become fit and healthy, more able to withstand the
stresses that are placed on you. It is the same way spiritually. For
God to grow you, He has to stretch you and push you beyond your present
limits.
Look at Galatians 5:16. Verse 16 introduces the
section on bearing the fruit of the spirit in our lives. “But walk by
the spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh, for the
flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the
flesh. These are in opposition.” “They are in constant conflict,” it
says in another version. They have different interests and goals.
They are constantly trying to pull us in two different directions.
Verse 18: “But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the
law.” The Living Bible says it this way, “When you are guided by the
Holy Spirit, you will need no longer force yourself to obey the laws.
Be guided by the spirit and these things God wants you to do will come
naturally.”
In verse 19-23, Paul contrasts the difference
between the fruits of feeding the flesh, our selfish nature, and
feeding the spirit, following God in Christ. Feeding the flesh simply
means indulging those desires that arise from our sinful nature.
Verses 19-21 describe these types of behavior. Verses 22-23 describe
the fruit of the spirit that grows in our hearts as we allow the Holy
Spirit to control our lives. And when we do that the spiritual life we
were given when we received Jesus Christ as our Savior begins to
permeate all that we are. In verse 24 it says, “Now those who belong
to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh…” Are you crucifying the
flesh? Do you know what that means? How do you do that? What is it?
“Now those that belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with
its passions and desires.”
The flesh does not refer to our
bodies. It does not refer to the skin, bone, and muscle. It refers to
the desires and passions of our sinful nature. The flesh refers to the
way we selfishly mismanage the impulses and needs of our bodies, minds,
and spirits. If we allow God to manage these impulses and needs they
will guide us toward Him and the way of life characterized by the fruit
of the spirit—“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” If we let them become
entangled in our selfish nature they will produce "sexual immorality,
impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry,
participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy,
outbursts of anger selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that
everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy,
drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin.” It is that
self-reliant focus that craves physical and spiritual sensation (as is
sought through occult means) and self-gendered power and values the
praises of men more than the praises of God.
And then verse 25:
“Because if we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit.”
Walking by the spirit or living by the desires of the flesh are two
opposing directions for our lives. “These two forces within us are
constantly fighting to win control over us and our decisions are never
free from their pressures (verse 17b).” You need to understand that
there are two contrary, oppositional forces in your life. These two
forces are constantly fighting. There resides in every one of us a
dark recess where a dragon exists. Most often we equate the dragon
with the more obvious manifestations of the flesh—sexual immorality,
carousing, and drunkenness. Those things do need to be swept out of
our lives. They are evil and bad for us, as well as for those we harm
along the way. But I am afraid that as much as we try to clean our
lives up from them, there is still something inside that is enticed by
it. Consider which TV programs you watch. Consider the movies you
watch. Consider the enticement there is to lust, to immorality, to
drunkenness, to carousing, and all those kind of things.
Now,
maybe we have those things pretty well in order but there is that other
dragon that lurks in the darkest recesses of our hearts. It is
powerful and has a strong grip on us. It is that assertiveness that no
one is going to get in my way. I can do whatever I want. I will make
these things work out in my life. And that is the scary one. That is
the dragon that most of us have to fight because it is the dragon of
pride and arrogance. It is the dragon of egocentric anger and
resentment. It is this dragon that will eat the heart out of your
spiritual life.
John Piper gave an illustration of what it means
to let Jesus transform your life. He highlighted the difference
between being controlled by those dragons or being controlled by Jesus. “Picture
your flesh, that old ego with the craving for power and reputation and
self-reliance that you have in your life and picture it as a dragon
living in the cave of your soul. And then sometime you hear the voice
of Jesus and He comes to you and says, ‘I will make you mine and take
possession of the cave and the dragon. Will you yield to my
possession?’ It means a whole new way of thinking and feeling and
acting. And you say, ‘But that dragon is really a part of me. Those
thoughts are a part of me. Those feelings are part of me. It is
really part of me and if you kill it, if you take it away, I will
die.’ But He says, ‘No, what I will give you instead is a newness of
life. For I will make my mind and my will and my heart your own.’ And
you say, ‘Well, what must I do?’ He says, ‘Trust me and do as I say.
As long as you trust in me, we cannot lose.’
"It may sound too
good to be true, but your heart hungers in hope that there might be
something to it and so you bow and invite His control into your life.
He takes a great sword and puts it into your hand and says, ‘Follow me’
and He leads you down to the mouth of the cave and says, ‘Now, go in
there and slay that dragon.’ And you say, ‘I cannot. Oh, I have tried
a hundred times and I cannot slay that dragon.’ But Jesus smiles and
says, ‘But now we are together’ and He gently wraps His hand around
yours to wield that sword. And as you fight that dragon, you see that
the dragon is stabbed and that it lies still and limp and you ask, ‘Is
that dragon dead?’ And Jesus answers, ‘Not yet. He will die. That is
certain, but he has not yet bled to death and be careful because he may
revive with violent convulsions and do much harm to your life so you
must keep my sword in hand and strike it again whenever it raises its
ugly head or spews its horrible lies. And also remember, the great dragon, the Prince of Darkness may cause earthquakes in your
soul and breathe new life into that beast but with my sword and my hand
around yours, this dragon’s doom is sure. He is finished and your new
life is secure.’”
Can you see the image? That is exactly
what Paul means in verse 24 when he says, “Those who belong to Christ
Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” That
dragon has been mortally wounded by the cross. It is not dead yet. It
can rise back up and revive if you give it attention and nourishment.
That is what Paul means in Romans when he says, “To reckon yourselves
as dead unto sin but alive unto God.” Or Galatians 2 where it says, “I
have been crucified with Christ.” That dragon in me has been crucified
with Christ, “nevertheless, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me.” Rather than being controlled by that dragon, rather than
being influenced by that dragon, listening to the voice of that dragon,
you are listening to the voice of Jesus and following the Holy Spirit’s
leading in your life.
How then do you let it out? How do you
walk by the spirit? The first thing is, decide who you are going to
let lead you. Which voice are you going to let lead you in your daily
walk? Ezekiel expressed it when God spoke to him in Ezekiel 36:26-27,
“A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you….
I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.”
Are you listening to that voice or are you letting that dragon raise up
and instigate a lot of other feelings and behaviors that God says
should not be part of your life? You need to decide who your leader is
going to be and who you are going to listen to.
I have an
illustration that God gave me. Two-thirty one morning I was driving
back from the beach house after seeing it destroyed by a hurricane.
Now, those who know me are probably asking, “Dave, I did not know you
had a beach house.” I do not, I was dreaming. In my dream I was
driving back from a beach house that had been destroyed by a hurricane
and I was frustrated and angry at the loss of things and what it was
going to take to get all those things back. I was driving back and
suddenly I saw a fruit stand ahead of me. What? Well, I know why now
as I think about it. A fruit vendor is out there with a sign saying,
“Stop here.” And as I am driving by he hits my car with the top of his
sign. I thought, “That is not fair. That is not right. Somebody
needs to teach that man a lesson.” I slam on my brakes. I look in my
mirror and he is looking at me. So, I think to myself “I am going to
put a little scare into him.” You may say, “Well, Dave, that is not
the good thing to do.” I agree. I put it in reverse and he dives
behind the fruit stand to avoid me. And then, just to teach him a
little lesson, I nudge my bumper up against the fruit stand. The fruit
stand is made up of plywood on top of sawhorses and I knew that if I
bump that first side, all that fruit is going to fall down. And you
know what? It did. I pulled out and drove away as he yelled, “I am
going to report you to the Department of Agriculture.” It is a dream,
ok?
Do you recognize something about dreams? Inhibitions are
gone and sometimes the real you or that cave opens up and those things
come out. Whether it is anger, frustration, lust, jealousy, envy, all
those things can come out in dreams when the dragon is not quite so
suppressed. But I know in my heart I have thought many times that
something is not fair and that someone needs to teach that person a
lesson. I have never knocked over a fruit stand in my life and I have
never tried to back over anyone. But, you see, there is a part of me
inside that wants to. I am committed to keeping that dragon chained so
that I will never actually do such things. As my dream indicates, that
dragon is not yet dead, so I have to be wary of its influence in my
life. When we choose to listen to that dragon, we are picking up all
the sins that Jesus died for and we are essentially saying, “I want to
hold onto those because somehow they make me, my dragon, feel better.”
But they do not bless your life. They do not strengthen your heart.
What feels like a fulfillment of our innermost desires, and hence our
self-expression, will ultimately destroy us! Personal authenticity
based on the expression of our sinful nature is wrong and destructive.
It is not to be praised as it is in our “me, me, me” culture. Reread
Galatians 5:19-21. Those that indulge themselves in these types of
behavior as a lifestyle will never see the kingdom of God. Those that
indulge themselves in these types of behavior will always resent the
voice of God that tells to stop.
Consider what Jesus would have
you do. What do you need to let go of? Remember, if you are a
born-again Christian you have already given your heart to Jesus and you
need to let Him slay that dragon within you that prevents you from
following Him. You need to learn to rely upon His promises no matter
the results. He loves you and cares for you. Trust Him! Let go and
let God be in control of your life.
Power For Living (Part 3)
You
ever try to get rid of something in your life but have been unable to
do it-a negative personality, a character flaw, some unhealthy habit or
attitude? And you have made New Year’s resolution after New Year’s
resolution, gone to see different people, talked to psychologists,
pastors, experts, and it does not go away. You make a commitment to
change and you work at it really hard but you find yourself falling
back into the same old character faults or problems. You want to be
different but you cannot seem to change. Out of frustration you end up
just saying, “I guess that is just who I am,” and give up trying to
change. You settle in comfortably with glaring character flaws. The
kind of flaws that result in ongoing hurt to other people and/or
ongoing self-destructive behavior. But something inside you feels a
bit uneasy with it. You know things should be different and part of
you wants things to be different. You recognize that these flaws are
not good for you or the people around you whose relationships you value.
We
cry, “Lord, change me,” and expect a instant miracle, a tingling
feeling that signals all is well and the old desires and ways have
disappeared. But that feeling never comes and you struggle on. Do you
ever wonder because of this, “Is God really there?” Pastors tell you,
“Well, just let go and let God. You just have to trust God more.” And
yet you feel like you have trusted Him every way you can and just do
not know how to get a handle on how to change. And then you are told
about the verses like Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” and you try to think
new thoughts. You try to learn some new things and try to think
differently about things but then something happens and it all seems to
shatter and you fall with a crash back to where you were before. Paul,
the great apostle, had this incredible relationship with God, an
understanding of God’s truth and understanding of God’s power, wrestled
with these same things. Let me read you how he says it. “I don’t
understand, what I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one
way but then I act in another, doing the things I absolutely despise.
So, if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and
then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command, God’s control is
necessary. But I need something more. For I know the law, but I still
can’t keep it and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my
best intentions, I obviously, oh, I need some help. I realize that I
don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide
to do good but I really don’t do it. I decide not to be bad and I find
myself doing it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result
in actions. Something’s gone wrong deep within me and it gets the
better of me every time. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one
who can do anything for me?” The answer, thank God, Paul says, is that
Jesus Christ can help us overcome these on a daily basis as we confront
them and renounce them in His name. Until the resurrection there will
not be a once for all solution. That is why I long for that day when I
will see Him as He is and then I will be made like Him. But until then
I have to grow and follow Jesus on a daily basis. And as I do, the new
self becomes stronger and the old self weakens. The best we can do now
is to so starve the old self that it becomes emaciated and too weak to
move against us, while, in humility, always recognizing that the threat
will always be present in our lives. But this is only half of the
equation. Denying the old self is only part of what it means to follow
Christ.
Denying the old self does not make one to be like Jesus
Christ. It is only the preparation for letting God grow His fruit in
our lives. That change we are talking about comes only through the
power of Jesus Christ. Jesus wants our lives to be characterized by
love, joy, and peace. He wants to seed these deep in our hearts. He
wants us to not just be kind to somebody else but to have kindness in
our hearts. It is not that I am just holding myself back and gritting
my teeth but a relaxed patience coming from the inside. This is not
something that is impossible. It is something that God wants us to
have.
As you look at Galatians chapter 5, you will see two
lists. Starting in verse 18 you will see a list of the works or deeds
of the flesh, the bad things, the things that we do not want to be
doing, things we do not want to have in our lives. Starting in verse
22 you will see a list of the good things we do want to have in our
lives. I want to do those things even though I may not be feeling
those things. The big danger with this is that this list is not a list
of things you have to do to measure up in order to be accepted by God,
but these are things that God wants to bless your life with because He
wants you to be like Jesus Christ.
We often focus on the
external more than the internal. We try to change the externals
first. We try to stop drinking, stop yelling at our wife, lusting
after women or telling tall tales. We try to stop the external
behavior by sheer force of will. And we can accomplish much this way.
Many of the behaviors we need to succeed in athletics, music, business,
and other similar things are behaviors we can improve through hard
work, concentration, and discipline. But as one reads Scripture one
learns that this is not how godliness and the fruit of the spirit are
produced. God told Ezekiel in about 600 B.C., “A new heart I will give
you and a new spirit I will put within you.” God wants to work through
His spirit in us. We try to do it from the outside in and God wants
to work from the inside out. That is why as Christians we talk about
accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. A Savior for the
things we have done on the outside and also for our heart on the
inside, which is desperately wicked. He wants to help us think,
desire, and feel the right way.
Oftentimes you look at what
God requires and you feel overwhelmed. But in fact, if you were full
of love, patience, joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, self-control,
you would do what He wants you to do. It is not a list of right things
and wrong things that we are supposed to gut out and do ourselves. It
is what God wants to produce in us. And until you get that clear in
your mind, you do not understand what it means to be a Christian. You
are just trying to act Christian. You are not Christian because being
a Christian is Christ living inside you by His power. Without this you
are just going along with another American self-improvement program.
God’s way is to build a relationship with us and then affect our inside
self. Have you ever considered that God never has to be urged to be
good? God never has to be encouraged to be kind or faithful. He is
good through and through. From root to fruit, from start to finish, He
is kind. He is patient. He is loving. He is good. It just comes out
of Him naturally because that is the essence of His being and He wants
to plant that in you. He wants to build this in us by connection with
Him.
Scripture tells us very clearly that the Word of God is
living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword and penetrates
to the dividing of soul and spirit. God’s Word is like a scalpel. It
knows exactly where to go and what to cut. It is amazing what surgeons
can do today with the intricacy, with the microscopic surgical tools
they use to cut along a nerve channel without destroying the nerve.
God is able to do that in hearts and minds. He is able to spiritually
penetrate and go in there and pare away the things that are destroying
your soul and killing your spirit. God wants to work from the inside
out in bearing this fruit in your life, not simply give you a list you
have to measure up to. Have you not had enough of that? Pastors give
it to you. Spouses give it to you. Your parents give it to you. Your
kids give it to you. But God’s way is different.
Notice
something important about the two lists in Galatians 5. He calls one
the works of the flesh, the other the fruit of the spirit. Why is one
called works and the other called fruit? Your first thought is that work takes effort and fruit just kind of grows on its own. But that
is not what it means. Some of these things that are described as works
of the flesh do not take much work. It does not take much work to get
angry. You cross a man and he will blow up at you just like blood will
flow out of a cut. It is natural to our sin nature. You do not have
to be trained to be envious. You do not have to think through and take
courses to be jealous. You do not have to learn to lust. It comes
naturally. It comes easily. And quite frankly, the fruit of the
spirit takes effort. To be loving and kind takes a lot of effort, does
it not? What comes out takes effort, but the way God puts it in is to
flow naturally. That is why He calls the other fruit. What He is
getting at is not that one takes effort and the other does not, it is a
matter of how it is produced. Who deserves the credit for it? Who
deserves the credit for the envying, the anger, the frustration, the
sexual immorality, and the other things listed in Galatians 5? Who is
to blame? Well, you can blame the devil, you can blame someone else,
but it is the fruit of your life. It is the work of your life. It is
what is coming out of it. We are responsible. But the fruit of the
spirit comes from God as we allow Him to produce it in our lives. He
is the one who is seeding it into our hearts and then we let it grow.
Our job is to fertilize it, water it, nurture it, give it the attention
it needs, give it the protection it needs. Does a tree deserve the
credit for the fruit it produces? Or is it in the nature of the tree,
even the nature of the seed what kind of fruit blossoms forth? If you
know a Christian who is loving, that is kind, that is good, that is
faithful, that is self-controlled, do not praise him or her. Praise
God! Thank God for what He has done in that life.
When we
celebrate communion I want you to see that you are reflecting on that
same body that He sacrificed for you, in which He went through
incredible injustice and yet always reflected love, peace, joy,
patience, and kindness. God wants to give that same disposition to
you. As we partake of the cup we are celebrating that the King of
creation, the Lord of glory wants to live in our lives. He wanted it
so much that He gave Himself for us. The God of the universe wants to
make Himself known and felt in our hearts. Communion is not simply a
ritual we go through. It is a celebration of who God is and what He
has done for us. Communion is a vivid reminder of who deserves credit
for our salvation. Salvation is a God-centered thing. The whole book
of Galatians is a reminder to us that living the Christian life is also
a God-centered thing. Look at Galatians 3:1-5: “Oh, foolish
Galatians! What magician has cast an evil spell on you? For you used
to see the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death as clearly as though I had
shown you a signboard with a picture of Christ dying on the cross. Let
me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by
keeping the law? Of course not, for the Holy Spirit came upon you only
after you believed the message you heard about Christ. Have you lost
your senses? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why
are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? You
have suffered so much for the Good News. Surely it was not in vain,
was it? Are you now going to just throw it all away?” The book of
Galatians makes it clear that the production of the fruit of the Spirit
in the Christian’s life is an extension of the Good News of salvation
in Christ Jesus. Our initial saving faith is only the beginning of the
gospel of Good News. It is only the initial step in the transformation
process of making us like Jesus Christ. Paul goes on to tell us that
the gospel of Good News is to produce love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in our
lives. The power of Christ in us!
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