Keeping in Step with the Spirit
Galatians 5:16:25
Main Idea: Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
I. What does it mean to “live by the Spirit”?
The basic answer is that it means to be converted, to be born again by the Spirit of God. Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the hearer that enables them to understand the gospel as true and that draws them to respond by placing their faith in Christ. One knows they are converted, or made alive by the Spirit, because they have a different orientation to the Father.
The change that happens to a person who is converted is beautifully illustrated in Armand Nicholi’s description C.S. Lewis’s conversion:
It happened when he was thirty-one years old. The change revolutionized his life, infused his mind with purpose and meaning, and dramatically increased his productivity; it also radically altered his values, his image of himself, and his relationships to others. This experience not only turned Lewis around, but turned him outward —from a focus on himself to a focus on others. Even his temperament changed. People who knew him before and after his conversion write about his becoming more settled, with an inner quietness and tranquility. A buoyant cheerfulness replaced his pessimism and despair. On the last days before he died, those who were with Lewis spoke of his “cheerfulness” and “calmness.”
~ Armand M Nicholi
To be converted is to experience this kind of transformation. To “live by the Spirit” means to have been made alive by the Spirit, to the gospel, for faith in Christ Jesus, and sonship from God as our Father. Paul’s argument is that “since you live by the Spirit,” how can you entertain going back to the things that were killing you?
II. What does it mean to “keep in step with the Spirit?”
A. Keeping in step with the Spirit means crucifying our “flesh.”
Paul elaborates on what he means by “the flesh” across all his letters. In the broadest terms, it is “what we are by nature and inheritance, our fallen condition… our ‘lower nature’” (John Stott). It is our “sinful nature… the sin-desiring aspect of our whole being as opposed to the God-desiring aspect. The [flesh] is our sinful heart” (Tim Keller).
In this passage, Paul describes “the flesh” as a jumble of conflicting “over-desires” that produce a set of sexual, spiritual, social, and psychological dysfunctions that not only disintegrate human society, they damn human souls.
Nor is this some new doctrine, but rather an elaboration on Jesus’s own teaching on what is required to be His disciple.
Matthew 16:24-25: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
In order for us to not use our freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, we must crucify our flesh. If we don’t crucify it, it will gain the upper hand and we will fall short of serving one another in love.
B. Keeping in step with the Spirit means pursuing the fruit of the Spirit
The parallelism of Paul’s logic is obvious. In the same way that giving into the “over-desires” of the flesh results in a life marked by the “works of the flesh,” so the life actively yielded to the “over-desires” of the Spirit produces the “fruit of the Spirit.” This is what it means to “walk by the Spirit.”
This is not some new doctrine. Rather it is an explanation of what Jesus meant when He talked about Himself being the vine and we being the branches. The only way branches bear fruit is by staying connected to the vine. So it is here.
Nor does the metaphor of “fruit” imply passivity on our part as though if we just sit around long enough fruit will spontaneously appear. In Jesus’s metaphor, passive non-fruit bearing is a good way to find one’s self “pruned!”
The gospel calls us to “walk” and “follow,” to “live” and “fight,” to “hold on” and “stand fast.” We are not called to do less than we did in our former days, but rather to do more. The life we once lived in the flesh compelled us to do sinful things for useless reasons. The gospel calls us to do holy things for better reasons, namely, that we might serve one another in love and so fulfill the law of Christ.
III. What should we expect as we strive to “keep in step with the Spirit?”
1. Resistance in those parts of our life where our “flesh” still leads.
Paul minces no words here. “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, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” Your flesh is the out-and-out enemy of the Spirit. It will do everything it can to stop you from doing what the Spirit wants you to do.
Resistance is insidious. Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, falsify; seduce, bully, cajole. Resistance is protean. It will assume any form, if that's what it takes to deceive you. It will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine-millimeter in your face like a stickup man. Resistance has no conscience. It will pledge anything to get a deal, then double-cross you as soon as your back is turned. If you take Resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get. Resistance is always lying… It cannot be reasoned with. It understands nothing but power. It is an engine of destruction, programmed from the factory with one object only: to prevent us from doing our work… Resistance’s goal is not to wound or disable. Resistance aims to kill. Its target is the epicenter of our being: our genius, our soul, the unique and priceless gift we were put on earth to give and that no one else has but us. Resistance means business. When we fight it, we are in a war to the death.
~ Steven Pressfield
If this is what it feels like to you as you fight to crucify your flesh, take heart. This is exactly how Paul describes it is going to feel. You are on the right track!
2. Pruning for the sake of fruitfulness.
If you belong to Christ, you will bear fruit. One of two things will happen in your life: Either you will lean into what it means to be a follower of Christ and begin killing the stuff that has been killing you. Or the Father will start pruning you.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are committed to making each of us who belong to Jesus abundantly fruitful. Jesus said that “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:8)
This is not a threat. This is a gift!! It is proof positive that you belong to Jesus! He who began a good work in us will complete it right up until the Day Christ returns. That is very good news, even though it stings from time to time.
3. Community for support along the way
The typical state of human relations “under the Law” and driven by the “over-desires” of the flesh are competitive (biting, devouring, consuming - 5:15) and combative (conceited, provoking, envying - 5:26) When we are led by the flesh, it is not only our personal lives that fall into disarray. All of our other relationships get polluted too.
When we are led by the Spirit, we can finally learn to live and love as we were created to. We see the flavor of community that develops when we use our freedom to serve one another in love in what follows this passage:
We help each other recover from and get past our transgressions and missteps.
We bear one another’s burdens while building strength to bear our own so as to not unduly burden others.
We share good things with others as they share good things with us.
Each and all find themselves “doing good to everyone, and especially those who are of the household of faith.” (6:10)
In this kind of gospel culture, people find the power they need to crucify the flesh and they discover the strength they need to bear the fruit of the Spirit. In this kind of gospel culture, biting and devouring give way to serving one another in love; provoking and envying one another are replaced by supporting and sharing with one another; the works of the flesh decrease and the fruit of the Spirit increases.
