MISSED INHERITANCE
GALATIANS 5: 16-26
MAY 19, 2002
INTRODUCTION: Star Wars mania! Do you remember the story line? Do you remember “The Force?” Do you remember the struggle between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker? What was the problem and what did Darth Vader offer his son? The Dark side of the Force was the temptation that Darth Vader gave into, but his son, Luke, would not! Have you ever felt “The Force?” Have you ever felt the Dark calling you, or even the converse, the Light side calling your name? Is there a struggle going on within you?
Tim McGraw has a song called “Angry all the time,” Here we are what is left of a husband and a wife with four good kids who have a way of getting on with their lives and I’m not old but I’m getting’ a whole lot older everyday it’s too late to keep from goin’ crazy I’ve got to get away.
CHORUS: The reason that I can’t stay don’t have a thing to do with being in love and I understand that lovin’ a man shouldn’t have to be this rough and you ain’t the only one who feels like this world’s left you far behind I don’t know why you gotta be Angry all the time.
[Our boys are strong now the spittin’ image of you when you were young I hope someday they can see past what you have become and I remember every time I said I’d never leave but what I can’t live with in memories of the way you used to be
CHORUS:
Twenty years have come and went since I walked out of your door I never quite made it back to the one I was before and God it hurts to think of you for the light in your eyes was gone and sometimes I don’t know why this old world can’t leave well enough alone
CHORUS:]
TRANSITION THOUGHT: Today our scripture lesson helps us reflect on the reality of the Holy Spirit. Today is Pentecost Sunday. It has been fifty days since Easter and this Sunday we celebrate the coming of the Promised Holy Spirit that was to be pour out on all flesh. The reality for us today is whether or not we are being led by the Spirit or if we are living as if the Spirit had not been given. I feel we have a real problem, our lives are not reflecting the leading of the Holy Spirit! Star Wars is a good analogy of what it looks like, the battle between being Spirit led or being led by our own desires. Tim McGraw’s song continues to bear out the reality of the fruit of the flesh verses the fruit of the Spirit. What I believe our text teaches is that God has a plan and His plan is not that we live by the Flesh but that we Live by the Spirit He has so generously sent to be our guide!
THESIS SENTENCE: To choose to not be led by the Spirit of God is to miss inheriting the Kingdom of God!
SO WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO MISS OUR INHERITANCE?
I. MISSED INHERITANCE IS MISSUNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT (VV. 16-18)
A. The Call and Promise (v. 16)
1. The key question for Pentecost Sunday is how are we to live in light of the coming of the Holy Spirit as promised of the Father and Son? This is the very question that the Apostle Paul answers for these Christians struggling with others telling them that they must live according to the Law of the Jews. Really there are two callings on these new Christians, the call of the enemy and the call of the culture! Both desire to bring these new believers out of relationship with their newfound Savior!
2. The Apostle’s reply, “Live by the Spirit,” this is your high calling in Jesus Christ! And with every High calling comes a great Promise!
3. The double negative: “No Never”, “You will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” THIS IS A PROMISE!! IT IS AN IF THEN STATEMENT!!
B. The Conflict and Promise (v. 17-18)
1. So what’s the problem? “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 do not do what you want (v.17).”
2. Now, what happened to the promise? This is the real struggle of our text and even a greater theological argument.
3. At this point, I agree with Greek Scholars and Wesleyan Theology. What the Language is stating is that before one chooses there is a great battle raging. This is seen in Romans chapter 7: 7-25. The battle is between our allegiance to self and to God. Before we know God there is no real struggle. Only when we come into contact with the Holy Spirit does the conflict begin. AND only until we choose does the conflict become manageable! By manageable, I mean, the ability to see the right and do the right although you may want to do the wrong, you will know the difference and have the power, not your own, but of the Spirit, to do what is right. If you struggle at this point, refer to I Corinthians 10:13!
4. Verse 18 is our promise: “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” What it is clarifying for these new Christians is that you don’t have to follow the Law of the Jews to follow Christ.
TRUTH: THE SPIRIT IS ALLPOWERFUL
II. MISSED INHERITANCE IS A WRONG FOCUS (VV. 13–15, 19-- 21)
The Apostle James asks, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight…You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (4: 1-2, 4).”
A. Wrong Focus: Sinful Nature
1. First things first. The Apostle Paul states that these things are so obvious that everyone knows they are wrong whether stated by Law or public opinion. Bottle line here, Everyone knows this stuff is bad!
2. So, what is the stuff?
a. Sexual immorality: unlawful and immoral sexual relationships: key thought: prostitution.
b. Impurity: sexual impurity and looseness in a moral sense
c. Debauchery: Barclay: “a love of sin so reckless and so audacious that a man has ceased to care what God or man thinks of his actions. “Immoral and excessive indulgence (Webster).”
d. Idolatry: worship of an image, worship of something other than God.
e. Witchcraft: The dispensing of a poisonous substance. Sorcery.
f. Hatred: hostility
g. Discord: strife, quarreling, wrangling or contention.
h. Jealousy: a desire to have for oneself what another possesses.
i. Fits of rage: expression of anger or rage. An outburst of passion in a negative sense.
j. Selfish ambition: Canvassing for office! Office seeking. Self-devotion to one’s own interest.
k. Dissensions: seditions or divisions. “Violent disagreement; strife; discord (Webster).” “Incitement of rebellion (Sedition – Webster)”
l. Factions: I choose for myself, pertaining to a group. Referring to heresies. Non-Christian groups that separated from themselves from the truth.
m. Envy: ill will, malice.
n. Drunkenness: referring to strong drink.
o. Orgies: festivals honoring the gods, denotes drunkenness. Reveling and carousing.
p. THE LIKE: WHAT EVER ELSE YOU KNOW TO BE WRONG! No real organization is at work here, but only a listing of many possibilities.
B. Right Focus/Wrong twist: Our Call (vs. 13-15)
1. “You, my brothers, where called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
2. This is the beginning to The Apostle Paul’s argument. The problem is not what God through Christ Jesus has called us to, but how we have chosen to live. The reality of it all is if we don’t live up to our calling in Christ Jesus, WE WILL BE DESTROYED! AND THIS BY EACH OTHER! Is it clear yet?????
C. Promise of Focus: “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (verse 21).” This is Missed inheritance!
TRUTH: THE KINGDOM WILL NOT BE INHERITED BY SELFISH DESIRE
III. MISSED INHERITANCE IS FAILURE TO FOLLOW THE SPIRIT (VV. 22-25)
HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED THE POWER OF THE “BUT”/CONTRAST OF SCRIPTURE?
A. The Spirit’s Fruit
1. The contrast is that God through the Holy Spirit has a much better plan for our lives and it is to be led by the Spirit!!
2. As the Spirit leads us, we will bear the FRUIT; NOT Fruits as in eat the kind you like, but the all encompassing group of reflective evidence of HIS NATURE!
3. So what does it look like to be led by the Spirit:
a. Love: Agape love: Faith expressing itself through love. Self-sacrificing as reflected in the life of Jesus.
b. Joy: Associated with righteousness, peace and hope, it refers to a happiness derived from being “in Christ” and being “in the Spirit.”
c. Peace: a sense of personal wholeness made evident through beneficial relationships based of the foundation of being in Christ and of God.
d. Patience: Steadfastness/Longsuffering in the face of persecution and provocation. An endurance of wrong without anger.
e. Kindness: An attribute of God and a virtue expressed by God’s people – Kindness, Goodness, and Honesty.
f. Goodness: Righteousness.
g. Faithfulness: The human virtue of faithfulness that is produced in the believer’s life by the faithful God through His Spirit. A reflection of the Character of God.
h. Gentleness: Considerateness or gentleness toward others, which is the opposite of an arrogant and self-assertive spirit. Also has the connotation of teachableness or submissiveness to God and His will.
i. Self-control: Passion under control. The opposite of overindulgence. The control the appetites.
B. The Spirit’s Call (vv. 23b –25)
1. At this point, The Apostle Paul takes us back to the summation of the law found in a single commandment as stated in verse 14, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” To this long list of virtues The Apostle states there is no Law, because you have superseded the law, you have gone beyond the law. You have entered into the Spirit’s leadership.
] 2. Therefore He adds, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”
3. The summation then is the call of the Spirit or The Apostle’s call for us to follow the Spirit, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
4. HOW OUGHT WE TO LIVE?
TRUTH: THE SPIRIT LEADS TO HIS INHERITANCE
CONCLUSION: If George Lucas placed you as a character in Star Wars, where would you fit in: THE DARKSIDE OR THE LIGHT SIDE? If Tim McGraw wrote a song about you, would it be entitled, “ANGRY ALL THE TIME/ CONTROLED BY YOUR SINFUL NATURE?” If you stood before the Lord at this moment, where would He say you stand, IN LINE FOR HIS INHERITANCE, Or Missed Inheritance? IF you need to do business with the Lord of Inheritance, come to the Altar, it is open for you! AS the Praise Team sings, “Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy” Hymn 334 Let the Spirit lead you today!
