Galatians 5:13-26

This morning I want to begin with a pressing theological question.  Perhaps, this question is one you have pondered over the years. Great philosophers of all times have wrestled with this question.  What are the differences and similarities in an apple and a Christmas tree ornament? Am I right?  Have you thought about this before?  Several things come to mind immediately; you can eat one, the other not so much.  They both are about the same size.  They both are red.  They both are found on trees… Hmmm, you keep pondering this question while I get the sermon cranked up.

I have been promising you for the last several weeks that we are going to begin a study of the fruit of the Spirit… next week.  I am excited about preaching love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness and self-control.  But I thought it would be good this morning before we looked at these nine, individually, to remind ourselves of the context where they are found within the letter to the Galatians.

Often, these nine are preached as a series on their own, without the rest of Galatians.  The old timers may recall that I actually did that in 1997.  I believe it was the first series of sermons I presented after we turned the auditorium sideways and began our remodel.  But what I did not know then, I do know now.  I now understand the fuller context of the fruit.  It is good to study the nine as characteristics to which we all should aspire. But, it is even more powerful to place the nine in what was going on in Galatia in 49AD.  Understanding them in what Paul was actually talking about in chapter 5 changes their flavor.  Get it? It changes their fruity flavor.

*** Remember you are thinking of any more similarities/differences in our ornament and the apple?  Well, one is kind of hard and fragile.  If I dropped it, it mostly likely would shatter.  The other is mostly soft and pretty tough.  Keep thinking.

The Galatians had started out spectacularly:
-These pagans had become Christians, by the power of the Spirit in Paul’s preaching.  That was great. 
-They had heard of Jesus and his faithfulness in going to the cross for their sins. 
-They had believed in that saving death, and had been baptized into Christ!
-They not only had been forgiven of their sins, but they had received the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit had performed spectacular miracles in their church.
-They were running the Christian race well.

But, then some agitators had showed up.
-Jewish Christians, who believed Jesus was the Messiah, but doubted his power to change their lives.  They wanted Jesus for salvation, but not for sanctification.
-There were fellowship problems.  These agitators would not eat with these uncircumcised Gentiles.  They would not share the Lord’s Supper with them.   Until they conformed to “God’s” standards of circumcision and keeping the Law of Moses, they would not fellowship with them.
-“If you want to be a real child of God” they advocated, “Then you had to become a Jew as well.  You need to be circumcised.” 
-This caused turmoil in their church.  “Should we follow the Jewish customs” wondered these Gentiles, “Or is this Christian thing enough.   Should we attempt to look like these Jews; wear the same clothes and eat the same food and honor the same holidays?  Should we be circumcised?”
-“Is our sanctification accomplished through the Law?” 
-Some were screaming one thing and others were hollering something else.  It was not a pretty sight.  It is never a pretty sight when churches fuss; over anything.

So, Paul wrote a letter.
-In the first part he told them the Gospel, he preached to them, was straight from Jesus and backed up by the Apostles in Jerusalem.  The Apostles had given them the right hand of fellowship! 
-Then Paul wrote it is all about Christ/Faith.  I have been crucified with Christ.  Salvation and sanctification and consequently, fellowship are all in Christ! 
-In the middle of the letter Paul talks about Abraham.  The promise made to Abe was that all the nations would experience the blessing through his kid; Jesus.  And they became Abe’s kids and heirs of God when they clothed themselves in Christ through baptism.  There are no second class citizens in Christ. We are all sons of God in Christ! There should be unanimous fellowship within the body!

We have now come to the last section of his letter; where the rubber meets the road; where the nitty meets the gritty; where the hitch meets the getty up; where the grease gets applied to the squeak; where the Band-Aid gets put on the ouchy; where the axe gets laid to the root…  You get the picture. 

NRS Galatians 5:13-15  For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.  For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
 
The fussing in the church was stopping the sanctification.  The body is called to be a sanctifying place.  But where biting and nipping are going on there is no sanctification.  This place is holy.  This place is precious.  This place is where the Spirit works to make Christians more like Christ. But when the church becomes a place of hatred, it stops being that sanctifying place.  Can you think of anything sadder?  

Note, the beginning of the context of the fruit of the Spirit is this biting and devouring verse.  Now skip to the end of this context; to right after the fruit verses.  Listen to the last verse of Paul’s thought.

NRS Galatians 5:26 Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

The brackets around this section are dealing with a church in turmoil. Ah Ha! “You mean, that this section on the fruit of the Spirit, is really about churches fussing and how to get along with each other at church?”  Bingo!  That is what I did not know in 1997, that I do now. 

*** You haven’t forgotten about the apple and the ornament yet?  Here is a thought; one is for decoration and the other is for consumption.  This is getting amazingly deep.

The brackets of verses 5:15 & 5:26 show that Paul is talking about fussing at church.  Now let’s look at the inner structure of the section. 

YLT Galatians 5:16-18   And I say: In the Spirit walk ye, and the desire of the flesh ye may not complete; for the flesh doth desire contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit contrary to the flesh, and these are opposed one to another, that the things that ye may will -- these ye may not do; and if by the Spirit ye are led, ye are not under law.

Now skip to the almost end right after the nine fruit and read.

YLT Galatians 5:24-25   and those who are Christ's, the flesh did crucify with the affections, and the desires; if we may live in the Spirit, in the Spirit also we may walk;

Right before and right after the fruit section Paul talks about the conflict between the Sprit and the Sarx and advocates that the way to handle fussing in the church is to… walk with the Spirit.  We rely on the Spirit. We ask for his presence.  We follow, as we hold to his hand.  It looks like this

Bracket: Fussing (Gal. 5:15)
   Conflict: Spirit and Sarx (Gal. 5:16-18)
                  
   Conflict: Spirit and Sarx (Gal. 5:24-25)
Bracket: Fussing (Gal. 5:26)

This is shaping up amazingly! Now look at the middle sections:

Galatians 5:19-21 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

These are the 15 works of the sarx, which we observed last week, are really in two parts; without and within.  In our context, of the brackets about church fussing, it is focused on the 8 within…  Now the fruit of the Spirit passage! 

Galatians 5:22-23   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

It looks like this.

Bracket: Fussing (Gal. 5:15)
   Conflict: Spirit and Sarx (Gal. 5:16-18)
      Answer: The fruit of the Spirit (Gal.19-23)
   Conflict: Spirit and Sarx (Gal. 5:24-25)
Bracket: Fussing (Gal. 5:26)

Paul has written an amazingly tight section! The fruit of the Spirit within the context of Galatians is the recipe for church harmony!  It is all about how we get along with each other and how we create and cherish the sanctifying community! 

*** Any more thoughts about this ornament or the apple?  One is a living, potentially, new tree if planted and nourished, the other is just for show.  Wow!

Let’s dig a little deeper and see how these fruit line up with the within acts of the Sarx:

Hatred,                  Love, Joy
Discord                  Peace
Jealousy                Patience
Fits of rage            Kindness
Selfish Ambition     Goodness
Dissensions            Faithfulness
Factions                Gentleness
Envy                      Self-control

Just look at the connections… These are more than just opposites, they are antidotes. That is what is going on in Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit.  He is not just giving us 9 characteristics to which we should aspire.  He is telling us as we rely upon the Spirit and ask the Spirit to interject himself into our relationships and as we follow his lead in dealing with each other, we can achieve a sanctifying community.  How do we create a sanctifying community? It is love and joy, instead of hatred, being produced in our lives.  It is his peace blossoming in our community, which squelches discord and so on.

The fruit of the Spirit within the context of Galatians is the recipe for church harmony!  It is all about how we get along with each other and how we create and cherish the sanctifying community!  That is what we will be doing for the next nine weeks.  Excited? 

*** Now, how do the apple and the ornament connect to the context of the fruit of the Spirit?  Here is the cool part of this sermon.  The real bottom line difference between the apple and the ornament is that one comes from a living tree and one is put on a tree for decoration.  That is real the bottom line difference in what sort of church we want.  Are we concerned with a church which looks good; with the glitter of appearances; with nice ornaments, or do we want a church which produces fruit?  Are we more concerned with appearances or being alive?

That is the fundamental choice that was going on in Galatia in 49AD.  The agitators wanted a church based on the parts of the law which were observable (glittery); eating, holidays, things which were on the outside.  But Paul is advocating no, those things don’t lead toward sanctification!  It is not the ornaments on the outside, the law, that are important.  They only lead to dissensions and envy.  Rather, we should want a church that has the living Spirit on the inside which produces the fruit of love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.

We want a church which:
-is alive, not so much glittery.
-produces fruit, not simply looking good.
-nourishes, fancy is irrelevant.
-is resilient, not fragile.
-has deep roots in faith, not which gets put in the attic of irrelevancy, except on Christmas.
-provides hope to others, is more than a show.
-is a place of sanctification, not self-glorification.

How do we do that?  We don’t.  Rather we rely, ask and follow the Spirit as he produces his fruit in our congregation.  Do we want a fruit bearing church or a glittery church? 

Los Alamos Church of Christ
September 6, 2009