The Harvest of the Spirit
06/27/10
Galatians 5:13-26
Pastor Greg Smith
Do you enjoy gardening?
Thank God that summer has finally come! Even though the weather has been relatively cool, my tomatoes are finally turning red. First fruits: I’ll give it to Shirley because I know she will appreciate it.
Many of the Bible’s word pictures come from farming life: Jesus’ parables of the sower; his parable of the weeds in the field. Farming images are in Paul’s letters as well. In the verses before us he writes about “the fruit of the Spirit” and in the next chapter, “sowing and reaping.”
This section of Paul’s letter to the Galatians might be headed “How to Grow a Christ-like Character.” The first time you try to plant a garden, you would profit from a more experienced person to act as a gardening mentor. That’s where Paul can help: “Paul’s Gardening Guide to a Bountiful Spiritual Harvest.”
The first thing that “Paul’s Gardening Guide” tells us is that Christ-like character is from God, not us.
Paul gives us a description of Christ-like character in 5:22-23.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self–control. Against such things there is no law.
That is a portrait of Jesus. No man or woman has ever exhibited these qualities so perfectly as Jesus. And these words describe what Christians long to experience as well. They describe the Christian maturity that we desire to see springing up in our own lives.
What is the source of this Christ-like character? How does it come to grow in our lives? Paul says it’s the fruit of the Spirit — God’s Holy Spirit. Look at Galatians 5:24.
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Paul says that the Holy Spirit has given us new life in Christ: “we live by the Spirit.” Now it is our job to let the Holy Spirit direct our lives: “let us keep in step with the Spirit.” The source of this harvest of Christ-like character is not our higher selves, nor our best intentions, nor our firm resolve, but God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. So Galatians 2:20 says,
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Jesus said something very similar in John 15:4.
Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
In the end, keeping in step with the Spirit and “remaining in Jesus the Vine” are the same thing. When we “remain” in Christ, when we live in his presence, when we are directed by his power, then we are “keeping in step with the Spirit.” The fruit of the Spirit is something that God grows in our hearts. That means that Christ-like character is something to pray for, to seek out from God, and receive as a gift. If you haven’t been praying for the fruit of the Spirit in your life, it’s time to start.
A central issue at the church in Galatia was how to develop truly Christ-like character.
One group said that Christians needed to follow the Old Testament Torah, the Law more closely. But Paul was clear that the Old Testament Law could never grow a Christ-like character. The Old Testament itself says that something deeper is needed. Look at Jeremiah 31:31-33 (page 1182).
31 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the LORD.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
Of course, the problem was not the Law itself. The problem was that the Law plus our sinful nature just seemed to make things worse.
TNIV - 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
CEV - 17 The Spirit and your desires are enemies of each other. They are always fighting each other and keeping you from doing what you feel you should.
The Holy Spirit has done what the Old Testament Torah could not. Through the Holy Spirit God has engraved his will on our hearts— like we read in Jeremiah.
I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
So now, instead of a written law code to obey, we are lead by the Holy Spirit. Look at Galatians 5:14-16.
14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” When we read about love in the New Testament, we have to make a mental note that this is God’s love— the sacrificial love for others that God demonstrated for us in Jesus. It’s like John wrote in 1 John 4:9-11.
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Also Galatians 2:20.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Genuine, self-giving love, according to Paul, fulfills the Old Testament Torah. Earlier in the letter, Paul went to great pains to show us that the Old Testament laws of circumcision, food, and such no longer apply to the Christian. But the deeper meaning of the law is just as much our guide today as it was in the days of Moses: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Genuine love is rooted in our relationship with God. Romans 5:5 says that “God has poured out his agape into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Look at Galatians 5:13.
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful natured; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
It is easy to see the overwhelming challenge of this kind of love, and easy to see that genuine love takes more than human strength. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that is in the heart of every true Christian. We need to cultivate our relationship with the Holy Spirit!
The next thing that “Paul’s Gardening Guide” tells us might seem to contradict what we just said. Paul says that Christ-like character is natural in its growth.
The fruit of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit’s fruit. Given the right conditions, fruit grows abundantly. When the environment is wrong, there may be no fruit at all.
The fact that mature Christian character is a product of the Holy Spirit might easily lead us to suppose that we have nothing to contribute to the process ourselves. But the fact that the Spirit produces fruit means that there are certain conditions on which growth depends and for which we have to take responsibility.
Paul makes this clear in Galatians 6:7-8.
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow. 8 Those who sow to please their sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; those who sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Whatever a person sows, that person will also reap. If you want zucchini, you sow zucchini seeds. If the Holy Spirit is to produce good fruit in our lives, then we need to sow good seed.
The kind of seeds we sow is a key to spiritual growth. Paul says we can “sow to please our sinful nature” or we can “sow to please the Spirit.” By “sowing” the apostle means the whole pattern of our thoughts and habits, our lifestyle, life-direction, and life-discipline. It includes the company we keep, the friendships we cultivate, the stuff that fills our minds and imaginations, the pursuits that occupy our free time — everything that consumes our energy and dominates our minds.
The decisions we make, over time, shape our character. I heard it put like this:
Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
We have a choice either to sow to our sinful nature or to sow to the Spirit and each reaps a different harvest.
• One harvest is described as destruction: steadily deteriorating character in this life and utter ruin in the next.
• The other harvest is eternal life: a deepening fellowship with the living God now and fullness of fellowship with him in the life to come.
Paul says that we cannot alter the laws of gardening (verse 7): “God cannot be mocked.” The Greek verb translated “mocked” is very graphic. It means “to turn your nose up at” someone. We cannot treat God with contempt or despise the laws that he has established. We dare not turn our nose up at God! Growth comes when the right seed is planted. Only what is sown can be reaped. So, don’t be surprised that you’re not reaping the fruit of the Spirit in your life if you haven’t been planting the right seed!
We need to ensure that we sow good seeds and that the conditions for growth are right. If we take care of the seeds, the Holy Spirit will take care of the fruit. To put this another way, we need to follow the disciplines of the Christian life, and thus open ourselves to the means of God’s grace that give spiritual growth.
How might your life be different if you spent 15 minutes per day, for six months, in Bible reading? How might your life be different if you followed that by 5 minutes of prayer— 20 minutes total? How would the Spirit grow that seed in your life?
Do you want a heart that worships the Lord with joy? Then choosing to be in worship each week with full preparation and participation will make a difference.
Do you want Christ-like character? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” You won’t gain the heart of a servant until you choose to do the work of a servant.
Remember: Christ-like character matures gradually.
Every gardener knows that fruit ripens slowly: leaf, bud, blossom, hard and small, softening and the first blush of color; and finally the ripe, juicy fruit of summer. It’s a very gradual process. My tomatoes are there, but it will take a while before many are mature enough to harvest.
God works in the same way: it takes time, often a long time, to produce ripe Christian character.
An emphasis on gradual Christian growth is not meant to condone our continued sinfulness, or to encourage laziness, or to lower our expectations. Rather it warns us against quack gardeners who offer ripe fruit on the spot. There are lots of “how to” books, teachers. We wonder why there can’t be a new, more effective technique. But the Holy Spirit does not follow our timetable. Character is the product of a lifetime.
Let me give you some examples.
• Celebrate Recovery: change is a long term commitment.
• Strong marriage: culmination of 1000’s of decisions for faithfulness, for honesty, and forgiveness. It takes time to cultivate a relationship!
It takes time and patience— but don’t give up!
Look at Galatians 6:9-10
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
There are lots of risks in farming. You have to have the heart of a gambler. There are so many things that you can’t control. But with the Holy Spirit, the outcome is certain and sure!
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
What to do?
Pray that the Holy Spirit will grow his fruit in your life.
3:1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?
“Sow to the Spirit” means giving God the opportunity to grow some crops in your life. Get in some cultivation time!
• That means taking time to be in the Bible, learning and growing in your relationship with God.
• Make your small group, or Celebrate Recovery, top priority.
• Be here for worship. Paul says the Spirit works in our lives through hearing and believing. Be where you have the opportunity to hear God’s word shared.
In Galatians 5, Paul underlines the freedom we have as Christians.
CEV - Gal. 5:1 Christ has set us free! This means we are really free. Now hold on to your freedom and don’t ever become slaves of the Law again.
But we need to let Paul define freedom.
CEV - 5:13 My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love. 14 All that the Law says can be summed up in the command to love others as much as you love yourself. 15 But if you keep attacking each other like wild animals, you had better watch out or you will destroy yourselves.
At the heart of genuine Christian freedom is a paradox: our freedom depends on whom we serve. In Romans 6, Paul says that there is no such thing as absolute freedom. How free we are depends on whom we serve.
Romans 6:16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Freedom can’t mean, “do whatever you please.” Paul makes clear that that kind of lifestyle leads to slavery, not freedom. True Christian freedom is freedom to serve each other in love.
5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful natured; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
We are free— but are there limits to this freedom? We are free to say “No!” to what enslaves us and harms others. And we are free to love, love guided by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is at the center of what he has to say. See 5:16.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Consciously put the fruit of the Spirit into action. Look at Galatians 5:13.
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful natured; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
So be very specific:
• love,
• joy,
• peace,
• patience,
• kindness,
• goodness,
• faithfulness,
• gentleness and
• self–control.
Who can you serve? How can you serve this week?
Pastor Greg Smith
Do you enjoy gardening?
Thank God that summer has finally come! Even though the weather has been relatively cool, my tomatoes are finally turning red. First fruits: I’ll give it to Shirley because I know she will appreciate it.
Many of the Bible’s word pictures come from farming life: Jesus’ parables of the sower; his parable of the weeds in the field. Farming images are in Paul’s letters as well. In the verses before us he writes about “the fruit of the Spirit” and in the next chapter, “sowing and reaping.”
This section of Paul’s letter to the Galatians might be headed “How to Grow a Christ-like Character.” The first time you try to plant a garden, you would profit from a more experienced person to act as a gardening mentor. That’s where Paul can help: “Paul’s Gardening Guide to a Bountiful Spiritual Harvest.”
The first thing that “Paul’s Gardening Guide” tells us is that Christ-like character is from God, not us.
Paul gives us a description of Christ-like character in 5:22-23.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self–control. Against such things there is no law.
That is a portrait of Jesus. No man or woman has ever exhibited these qualities so perfectly as Jesus. And these words describe what Christians long to experience as well. They describe the Christian maturity that we desire to see springing up in our own lives.
What is the source of this Christ-like character? How does it come to grow in our lives? Paul says it’s the fruit of the Spirit — God’s Holy Spirit. Look at Galatians 5:24.
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Paul says that the Holy Spirit has given us new life in Christ: “we live by the Spirit.” Now it is our job to let the Holy Spirit direct our lives: “let us keep in step with the Spirit.” The source of this harvest of Christ-like character is not our higher selves, nor our best intentions, nor our firm resolve, but God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. So Galatians 2:20 says,
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Jesus said something very similar in John 15:4.
Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
In the end, keeping in step with the Spirit and “remaining in Jesus the Vine” are the same thing. When we “remain” in Christ, when we live in his presence, when we are directed by his power, then we are “keeping in step with the Spirit.” The fruit of the Spirit is something that God grows in our hearts. That means that Christ-like character is something to pray for, to seek out from God, and receive as a gift. If you haven’t been praying for the fruit of the Spirit in your life, it’s time to start.
A central issue at the church in Galatia was how to develop truly Christ-like character.
One group said that Christians needed to follow the Old Testament Torah, the Law more closely. But Paul was clear that the Old Testament Law could never grow a Christ-like character. The Old Testament itself says that something deeper is needed. Look at Jeremiah 31:31-33 (page 1182).
31 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the LORD.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
Of course, the problem was not the Law itself. The problem was that the Law plus our sinful nature just seemed to make things worse.
TNIV - 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
CEV - 17 The Spirit and your desires are enemies of each other. They are always fighting each other and keeping you from doing what you feel you should.
The Holy Spirit has done what the Old Testament Torah could not. Through the Holy Spirit God has engraved his will on our hearts— like we read in Jeremiah.
I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
So now, instead of a written law code to obey, we are lead by the Holy Spirit. Look at Galatians 5:14-16.
14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” When we read about love in the New Testament, we have to make a mental note that this is God’s love— the sacrificial love for others that God demonstrated for us in Jesus. It’s like John wrote in 1 John 4:9-11.
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Also Galatians 2:20.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Genuine, self-giving love, according to Paul, fulfills the Old Testament Torah. Earlier in the letter, Paul went to great pains to show us that the Old Testament laws of circumcision, food, and such no longer apply to the Christian. But the deeper meaning of the law is just as much our guide today as it was in the days of Moses: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Genuine love is rooted in our relationship with God. Romans 5:5 says that “God has poured out his agape into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Look at Galatians 5:13.
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful natured; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
It is easy to see the overwhelming challenge of this kind of love, and easy to see that genuine love takes more than human strength. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that is in the heart of every true Christian. We need to cultivate our relationship with the Holy Spirit!
The next thing that “Paul’s Gardening Guide” tells us might seem to contradict what we just said. Paul says that Christ-like character is natural in its growth.
The fruit of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit’s fruit. Given the right conditions, fruit grows abundantly. When the environment is wrong, there may be no fruit at all.
The fact that mature Christian character is a product of the Holy Spirit might easily lead us to suppose that we have nothing to contribute to the process ourselves. But the fact that the Spirit produces fruit means that there are certain conditions on which growth depends and for which we have to take responsibility.
Paul makes this clear in Galatians 6:7-8.
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow. 8 Those who sow to please their sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; those who sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Whatever a person sows, that person will also reap. If you want zucchini, you sow zucchini seeds. If the Holy Spirit is to produce good fruit in our lives, then we need to sow good seed.
The kind of seeds we sow is a key to spiritual growth. Paul says we can “sow to please our sinful nature” or we can “sow to please the Spirit.” By “sowing” the apostle means the whole pattern of our thoughts and habits, our lifestyle, life-direction, and life-discipline. It includes the company we keep, the friendships we cultivate, the stuff that fills our minds and imaginations, the pursuits that occupy our free time — everything that consumes our energy and dominates our minds.
The decisions we make, over time, shape our character. I heard it put like this:
Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
We have a choice either to sow to our sinful nature or to sow to the Spirit and each reaps a different harvest.
• One harvest is described as destruction: steadily deteriorating character in this life and utter ruin in the next.
• The other harvest is eternal life: a deepening fellowship with the living God now and fullness of fellowship with him in the life to come.
Paul says that we cannot alter the laws of gardening (verse 7): “God cannot be mocked.” The Greek verb translated “mocked” is very graphic. It means “to turn your nose up at” someone. We cannot treat God with contempt or despise the laws that he has established. We dare not turn our nose up at God! Growth comes when the right seed is planted. Only what is sown can be reaped. So, don’t be surprised that you’re not reaping the fruit of the Spirit in your life if you haven’t been planting the right seed!
We need to ensure that we sow good seeds and that the conditions for growth are right. If we take care of the seeds, the Holy Spirit will take care of the fruit. To put this another way, we need to follow the disciplines of the Christian life, and thus open ourselves to the means of God’s grace that give spiritual growth.
How might your life be different if you spent 15 minutes per day, for six months, in Bible reading? How might your life be different if you followed that by 5 minutes of prayer— 20 minutes total? How would the Spirit grow that seed in your life?
Do you want a heart that worships the Lord with joy? Then choosing to be in worship each week with full preparation and participation will make a difference.
Do you want Christ-like character? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” You won’t gain the heart of a servant until you choose to do the work of a servant.
Remember: Christ-like character matures gradually.
Every gardener knows that fruit ripens slowly: leaf, bud, blossom, hard and small, softening and the first blush of color; and finally the ripe, juicy fruit of summer. It’s a very gradual process. My tomatoes are there, but it will take a while before many are mature enough to harvest.
God works in the same way: it takes time, often a long time, to produce ripe Christian character.
An emphasis on gradual Christian growth is not meant to condone our continued sinfulness, or to encourage laziness, or to lower our expectations. Rather it warns us against quack gardeners who offer ripe fruit on the spot. There are lots of “how to” books, teachers. We wonder why there can’t be a new, more effective technique. But the Holy Spirit does not follow our timetable. Character is the product of a lifetime.
Let me give you some examples.
• Celebrate Recovery: change is a long term commitment.
• Strong marriage: culmination of 1000’s of decisions for faithfulness, for honesty, and forgiveness. It takes time to cultivate a relationship!
It takes time and patience— but don’t give up!
Look at Galatians 6:9-10
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
There are lots of risks in farming. You have to have the heart of a gambler. There are so many things that you can’t control. But with the Holy Spirit, the outcome is certain and sure!
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
What to do?
Pray that the Holy Spirit will grow his fruit in your life.
3:1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?
“Sow to the Spirit” means giving God the opportunity to grow some crops in your life. Get in some cultivation time!
• That means taking time to be in the Bible, learning and growing in your relationship with God.
• Make your small group, or Celebrate Recovery, top priority.
• Be here for worship. Paul says the Spirit works in our lives through hearing and believing. Be where you have the opportunity to hear God’s word shared.
In Galatians 5, Paul underlines the freedom we have as Christians.
CEV - Gal. 5:1 Christ has set us free! This means we are really free. Now hold on to your freedom and don’t ever become slaves of the Law again.
But we need to let Paul define freedom.
CEV - 5:13 My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love. 14 All that the Law says can be summed up in the command to love others as much as you love yourself. 15 But if you keep attacking each other like wild animals, you had better watch out or you will destroy yourselves.
At the heart of genuine Christian freedom is a paradox: our freedom depends on whom we serve. In Romans 6, Paul says that there is no such thing as absolute freedom. How free we are depends on whom we serve.
Romans 6:16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Freedom can’t mean, “do whatever you please.” Paul makes clear that that kind of lifestyle leads to slavery, not freedom. True Christian freedom is freedom to serve each other in love.
5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful natured; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
We are free— but are there limits to this freedom? We are free to say “No!” to what enslaves us and harms others. And we are free to love, love guided by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is at the center of what he has to say. See 5:16.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Consciously put the fruit of the Spirit into action. Look at Galatians 5:13.
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful natured; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
So be very specific:
• love,
• joy,
• peace,
• patience,
• kindness,
• goodness,
• faithfulness,
• gentleness and
• self–control.
Who can you serve? How can you serve this week?