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Well, good morning, everybody. I want to thank Joel and Leslie for leading us today in worship.
If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open up to Galatians chapter 5.
We're going to start reading here in just a moment at verse 16.
I want to thank everybody for being here with us.
I know this week has been crazy like none of us have ever experienced,
but we do have the opportunity this Sunday morning to gather together online
to at least dive into God's Word together and to worship Him together.
So I thank each and every one of you for taking the time and taking the opportunity to do that today.
So let's begin reading Galatians chapter 5, starting in verse 16.
Paul writes and he says,
Now the works of the flesh are evident.
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such things there is no law.
And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
So Paul's continuing on in his conversation with the believers at the Church of Galatia.
And he's challenging them to be who they are in Christ.
That this is their identity.
This is their character.
This is their newfound self.
But what he begins to talk about is this battle that begins to rage.
And the theme that's going to go over this whole passage of Scripture and this sermon this morning
is the concept of flesh or fruit.
Now, as we read these, I want us to all understand that there's a level of equal playing field that we're all on.
That the battle that Paul talks about is the battle that rages in the heart of every single believer.
Now, let's understand this, okay?
This is not the battle of doing what's right versus doing what's wrong.
And here's why I say this, is because what is right and what is wrong can be defined by culture.
What is right and what is wrong can be defined by generation.
What is right and what is wrong can be defined by man.
So we're not going to define these as this is what's right and this is what's wrong.
But instead, what we want to see is that this is the battle of a person who is led by the Spirit of God
versus the battle in the person who is led by their sinful nature.
Do you see the difference?
That within us, even though that we're saved, there's a battle.
There's the old sinful nature that we'll still want to pull to one side.
But at the same time, there's the Spirit of God that is within me as a safe child of God
that's trying to lead me by the Spirit.
So Paul is saying, look, we're going to live by one of these.
We cannot live by two.
We're going to live by the Spirit or we're going to live by the sinful nature.
And as a result of what we live by, what will come from us, what will produce in us
is either the flesh, what comes from the sinful nature,
or the fruit, which is going to be produced by the Spirit of God.
And so Paul says, look, in all of us, in Paul, in you, in me, there's a conflict.
And the conflict rests in our desires.
Now, before Christ, before you got saved, before I got saved, before Paul got saved,
there was just our sinful nature.
That's all we knew.
That's all we responded to.
That's all we sought to fulfill.
And it ruled alone in us.
It ruled unopposed in us.
And it simply did what it wanted.
But when we got saved, Christ's Spirit, God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit came to us
and entered us.
And this is where the battle begins.
And so the comfort for us as we're going to go through this is if you're like me
and you're experiencing that battle on a day in and day out basis,
the proof of the Holy Spirit inside of you is in that battle.
It's not that we're perfect.
We're not perfect.
It's not that we're just failing.
We're not just failing.
But that the Christian life is a life filled within the battle.
In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul talks about this.
And he refers to it as the old self before salvation and the new self, who you are now in Christ.
And Paul gives an imagery in Ephesians 4 where he says,
Look, what we're to do is we're to take off the old self and we're to put on the new self.
And he communicates this in such a way that he's painting a picture of not one person with two different personalities,
but instead it's two different people.
So within us, there's this old person.
There's the old me.
But then there's the new person.
There's the new me.
And it's the battle that rages.
I want to reread verse 17.
He says,
For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit.
And the desires of the spirit are against the flesh.
For these are opposed to each other.
Do you see the tension that's there?
Do you see the struggle that's there?
Do you see the battle that's there?
And here's what's happening.
Now that we're followers of Christ, now that we're saved,
the goal of the flesh is to do this in verse 17.
To keep you from doing the things you want to do.
Jesus in the gospel of John tells us that the spirit comes into the world to glorify God.
So now that we are as believers are recipients of that spirit.
Now that that spirit dwells in us, here's the beauty of the heart of a saved individual.
We want to glorify God.
We long to glorify him.
And that's why when we sin, there's conviction.
So when you fail, as a heart of a believer, you don't want to fail.
You don't want that to take place in your life because you want to do the things to glorify God.
But there's the problem.
And so what we want to look at is we want to look at the problem, but we also want to look at the solution.
And what we see within the problem is the sinful heart.
Now the root of the sinful heart is going to create in me an attitude.
The sinful heart is going to create in me the appearance that I don't need Jesus because I have me.
Do we see the difficulty there?
I don't need a God because I am my own God.
At the root of all of who we are resides in this overconfidence in who we are in our abilities.
And sin in and of itself is simply a lack of trusting God.
It's a lack of trusting God.
It's a lack of trusting his grace.
It's a lack of trusting his goodness.
It's a lack of trusting his plan.
It's a lack of trusting his purpose.
That in all of these things that we are the better God, that we know the better grace, that we have a better goodness, that we have a better plan, and that we have a better purpose.
You see, in all sin, this is the root that comes from this in our life.
It was the root of our sin before Christ, and it's still the root of our sin now as we take our lives in our own hands, not trusting God for who he is and the plan for our life.
So what Paul does here is in verses 19 through 21, he begins to list the acts of the sinful nature.
And there's a couple of categories that he begins to use.
At the very beginning, he talks about the desires of the flesh.
Now, here's what I know.
We've got families at home worshiping together right now, so we're going to kind of tiptoe through this part of Scripture.
But here's what Paul is trying to drive through, that when it comes to desires of the flesh, that I know better.
That I know better about God's design.
That I know better about God's design in the relationship between man and woman.
That I know better than God's design for the unity of marriage.
That when it comes to the desires of the flesh, I know better.
We see this playing out in culture.
Many of this, if we're being honest with ourselves, have seen this play out in our lives.
We see the hurt.
We see the pain.
We see the brokenness that comes from the desires of the flesh.
When we decide that we are going to do things the way that we want to do them.
Instead of the way that God's desired for us to live in them.
We also see the conflict in religion.
The first part we see is with idolatry.
And here with idolatry is when we substitute anything for God.
Whether it's ourselves.
Whether it's our spouse.
Whether it's our kids.
Whether it's our job.
Whether it's our money.
Whether it's our status.
That we view anything as ultimate.
Anything above God.
And we even oftentimes in this elevate the good things.
I just mentioned a bunch of them.
My wife is a gift from God.
My kids are a gift from God.
My job is a gift from God.
All of these things are.
And what happens is we elevate the gift above the giver.
And that's what idolatry is.
Is when we elevate those.
But he also talks about sorcery.
Now that might be a weird thing.
A different thing for us.
But think of sorcery as defined by this.
Faking the work of the spirit.
Saying something that is of God when it's not of God.
Giving or pressing blame.
Pressing something toward that.
And Paul talks about the sin or the pattern of idolatry.
And so what he then begins to do is he gives some words that describe how the flesh destroys the relationships.
And he gives at first.
He gives four of what we're going to call destructive attitudes.
And so the first destructive attitude that Paul talks about is selfish ambition.
When we have self-seeking motives.
Now this one's hard.
Because oftentimes I want you to think about the good things that you do in your life.
Like every single day we try to do good things.
Good things for our spouse.
Good things for our kids.
Good things for our co-workers.
Good things for our neighbors.
But it's not the things that we do that Paul is questioning here.
What he's questioning is the motivation behind them.
Are we doing them for their good?
Are we doing them for our good?
Are we doing them for God's glory?
Or are we doing them for our glory?
Do we see the tension that we begin to have there?
Do we see the hard issue that Paul begins to bring out?
He then begins to talk about envy.
The longing for, the sinful desiring of the things that others have.
Not being satisfied with where we are.
But instead finding our satisfaction in somewhere else that God doesn't desire for us.
He talks about jealousy.
I read a commentator this week that described jealousy as this.
As the energy that comes from a hungry ego.
I want you to think about the danger of jealousy.
Think about someone in your life that you've been jealous of.
Maybe it was a long time ago.
Maybe it was back when you were in school.
Maybe when you were a kid.
Maybe it's now.
Maybe it's a neighbor.
Maybe it's a person at work.
Maybe it's even your spouse.
Think about someone that you're jealous of.
Now let me ask you this.
In your moments of jealousy.
In your moments where you begin to see this hungry ego come out of you.
Do you desire God's best for them?
Do you desire for God to rule and reign and bless them in your life?
I can tell you that I know that I don't.
And what this begins to build to is hatred.
Hostilities toward someone.
Not the hatred of an action.
Not the hatred of evil.
Not the hatred of sin.
But the hostility directed toward someone.
Let's think about that.
If all of us are made in the image and the likeness of God.
Then when we address hatred toward the individual.
Then we are hating the image of God.
We are hating God's creation.
And so what Paul builds us to is that the next four that he lays out.
That these are the results of these destructive behaviors.
So when we see these things in our life.
This is what begins to come out of them.
Now I want you to notice this as we talk about these.
They'll begin to build on one another.
You'll begin to see this snowball effect of it begins to roll down the hill.
It begins to get bigger and bigger and bigger until it's out of control.
The first one that we see.
The first result of a destructive attitude is discord.
Looking and seeking to pick a fight.
It's where the sin begins to build and grow and lay roots in your life.
But then it comes from that and it begins to develop and it begins to evolve.
And it becomes from discord seeking to pick a fight to fits of rage.
Now outburst of anger.
Oftentimes we'll refer to fits of rage as that's my temper coming out of me.
But we see slowly and slowly at one time we're choosing what we do as we pick the fight.
But now as we have these outbursts of anger it's no longer what we can control and we begin to lose our temper.
And then what happens in that is dissensions are created.
Author wrote this describing dissension as rage that leads to divisions between people.
Now we're dividing ourselves from others.
We're trying to get people to pick sides.
Now it's you versus me and we see where this goes until it leads to factions.
Permanent separation of people.
Now people who were once brought together in relationship.
Now people who were once brought together with a potential for the goodness of the gospel
are now permanently separated from each other because of sin that rules and ranks and is in between them.
And so when we walk in the flesh we seek to pick a fight which causes us to lash out in anger
which builds up barriers between people which becomes barriers that cannot be overcome.
And I don't know about you but I've seen so many relationships in my life destroyed as a result of this
that are destroyed as I walk in the flesh and not walk by the Spirit.
As I have the flesh of my sinful nature come out of me instead of the fruit of the Spirit that God longs for.
And this is what the sinful heart will lead to.
This is what the sinful nature will lead to.
But Paul reminds us that as believers there's a different way for us.
That Paul reminds us that as believers there's a different heart that is there.
There's a heart within us that seeks to glorify God.
And it's referred to by Paul in verse 22 as the fruit of the Spirit, the saved heart.
And so what Paul does is he gives nine characteristics, nine ways to describe and to understand this fruit of the Spirit.
And so the first thing that he says that marks this is love.
Now what you'll see are these are exact opposites of the things that we talked about before.
As we begin to love the way that Christ loved.
As we see the goodness of God come out of us in that.
And so we see to love means to serve a person for their good and not for what it brings you.
That's what love is.
I don't love someone because of what they'll do for me.
I love them because they need to be loved because of what Christ has done for me.
Do we see the difference?
It's the opposite of the selfish ambition of what we talked about before.
But instead it's the love of God in us.
Which leads to joy.
Now joy is one that I want to be honest with you.
As we've gone through this week we've probably had to be reminded of.
Because joy is this.
Joy is delight that is based in who God is and not in the circumstances of life.
And that's what we talk about.
That our happiness can be taken away from us.
But our joy cannot be taken away from us.
Why?
Because my joy is not found in anything that is going on around me.
My joy is not found in my health.
My joy is not found in my bank account.
My joy is not found in a sickness.
My joy is not found in an earthly relationship.
But my joy is found in who God is and who he is alone.
Not in the circumstances.
We continue on with peace.
Peace is another one that I've had to be reminded of this week.
And peace is simply this.
Peace doesn't mean everything is okay.
Peace doesn't mean that we love everything that's going on around us.
The peace of God is this.
Peace is confidence that God is in control.
That God is in control.
That God has this.
That God has all of this.
And we can put our faith in the simple truth that we sang as little kids.
Right?
Like it's all in his hands.
In his sovereignty.
In his rule.
In his power.
That there is peace.
Because God is in control.
Which leads us on.
It continues us on.
To develop within ourselves patience.
Now here's what patience is.
We think that patience is the ability to sit down and to wait for something.
But here's what biblical fruit of the spirit patience is.
Is the ability to face trouble without bitterness.
The ability to face the difficulties of the world and the things that surround us with a mindset of peace.
With a mindset of joy.
With a mindset of love coming through.
Paul also talks about kindness.
Now kindness is something that we often think about as the characteristics of our grandma.
Or the sweet people in our life.
But think of kindness in this way.
To serve others in a way that makes you vulnerable.
Here's what it means to be kind.
There are people in this world that it's easy to do nice things for.
But there are people in this world where that's a little bit more difficult.
And so to be kind to someone means to serve someone.
To love someone in a way that makes us vulnerable.
To be the people in our life that maybe bring conflict.
To people in our life that maybe bring us strife.
We still seek to be kind to them.
Again, not because of who they are.
But because of who Christ is.
Paul also describes another fruit of the Spirit is goodness.
And goodness deals with a matter of integrity.
Goodness is simply this.
Being the same person.
Being who you are.
Regardless of the situation that surrounds us.
And that is God's goodness.
So I am who I am.
Regardless if I'm at church or at home.
Regardless if I'm with my wife or a stranger.
Regardless of the person that surrounds me.
Or the situation that surrounds me.
The same goodness is there.
Which brings us to faithfulness.
This is so very important for a Christian.
That faithfulness is simply a person who is true to their word.
That as believers what we say we mean.
What we say we believe.
And what we say we stand by.
That we are true to our word.
It continues on.
Paul talks about gentleness.
Now gentleness we're going to talk a lot about next week.
But think of the concept of humility.
Now humility is not beating ourselves down.
Or thinking less of ourselves.
But when we think about humility.
We think about the concept of elevating others.
That that is who we are.
Which leads to self-control.
To show restraint when sin comes our way.
To show restraint when we want to lash out.
To show restraint in the difficult areas of our life.
And instead of being impulsive.
To be who God wants us to be.
So where are you with these?
What do you see marking your life?
The sins of the flesh?
Or the fruit of the spirit?
And here's the part that I want to close with.
Is I want to close with the concept of growing in the battle.
You see the truth is.
None of us are here yet.
But we're growing.
And we have to grow through the battle.
You know Paul takes a very important illustration.
And he paints the picture of fruit.
Three years ago we moved into our house.
And we planted an apple tree.
It was the very first thing we planted.
And it was a little small apple tree.
And now three years later that apple tree is almost 15 feet high.
With multiple branches bearing flowers and fruit for us.
But it didn't begin that way.
It had to grow.
And so as you go in this life.
There's some truths that we need to understand about fruit.
And about growth in our life.
And the first is this church.
Growth is gradual.
It happens over time.
What you'll see from the time that you got saved until now.
Is the walk that God's taking you on.
Also growth is inevitable.
If you are a Christian you will grow.
If you are a Christian God will be faithful.
And grow you through this.
It may not be at the rate that you want.
But he will grow you.
Also growth begins at the foundation.
Think about with roots where growth happens.
But for us those roots are within us internally.
So we see the changes begin in us as they come out of us.
And then lastly growth happens in fullness.
Growth happens.
God is going to complete the work that he began in you.
For his name and for his glory.
Would you pray with me?
God I thank you for this morning.
I thank you for this time that we could be together.
God may you take this word and use it for your name.
And for your power.
And for your kingdom.
And it's in Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
At this time you guys have some discussion questions.
Be a wonderful time for you.
Whether it's there together as your family.
Whether it's getting online and communicating with your small group.
To dive in a little bit more.
To talk about how God's using this.
And how God's challenging you.
Church we love you.
We can't wait to see you again face to face.
Again.
But until then we'll be back next week.
Thank you guys.
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