Sermon Outline

Not Legalism, Not Lawlessness, but Love

Galatians 5.13

“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5.13 (NASB)

Introduction

The NT describes the Christian as no longer being a slave to sin but a slave to both righteousness (being right with God and doing what is right) and a slave to love. As we walk in righteousness and love we walk in the Spirit.

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A Flesh Indulging Church 1 Corinthians 2.12-3.4

1) The unbeliever – A man without the Spirit who does not accept the things of God and cannot understand them. Romans 8.9 describes this man as “in the flesh”.

2) The believer – A man who has received the Spirit and who can understand the things of God. Romans 8.9 describes this man as “in the Spirit”.

3) Fleshy and Fleshly Christians – A Christian dominated by the sensual, living as if he were “in the flesh” even though he is “in the Spirit”. Infants in Christ living sensually and selfishly though they should be mature Christians. Not lacking in knowledge or spiritual gifts but unwilling to yield to God’s will which is demonstrated by serving others in love.

4) The goal of faith is love. 1 Corinthians 16.13; 1 Timothy 1.5; Galatians 5.6

Conclusion

The – love others this week – challenge. Discover how yielded to God you are by serving others in selfless love.

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MEDITATIONS FOR THE WEEK

[Take some daily quiet time alone with God]

Monday: Read Colossians 2.20-23. Does legalism have the power to deliver from the flesh? Take time to praise God for giving you His Spirit to deliver you from flesh.

Tuesday: Think about Romans 6.1-2; 15. Should we just sin (lawlessness) and satisfy the flesh because we are under grace? Take time to thank God that we died to sin in Christ.

Wednesday: Read Galatians 5.16. What is God’s way to live a holy and loving life? Take time to ask God to lead you to yield yourself more fully to God.

Thursday: Meditate on 2 Corinthians 5.14; 1 Corinthians 9.19-23. What motivates Paul? How does Paul practice this love? Take time to thank God for His love for you and the love He has put in your heart for Him.

Friday: Think about 1 John 4.7-21. Wow! What a message of God’s love for us which then pours out to others. Take time to worship this God of Amazing Love.

“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”        Galatians 5.6

In Love With Christ

Legend has it that a wealthy merchant traveling through the Mediterranean world looking for the distinguished Pharisee Paul encountered Timothy, who arranged a visit. Paul was, at the time, a prisoner in Rome. Stepping inside the cell, the merchant was surprised to find a rather old man, physically frail, but whose serenity and magnetism challenged the visitor. They talked for hours. Finally the merchant left with Paul’s blessing. Outside the prison, the concerned man inquired, “What is the secret of this man’s power? I have never seen anything like it before.”

“Did you not guess” replied Timothy, “Paul is in love.”

The merchant looked bewildered. “In Love?”

“Yes,” the missionary answered, “Paul is in love with Jesus Christ.”

The merchant looked even more bewildered. “Is that all?”

Smiling, Timothy replied, “Sir, that is everything.”

Sermon Notes

Not Legalism, Not Lawlessness, but Love Galatians 5.13

–Verse 25, our theme verse, says, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit”. …Christians who are spiritually alive, because God has put His Holy Spirit within them, are to walk in the Spirit. …We are to walk in the Spirit by knowing we are free from the penalty of sin, by knowing we are free the condemnation of the law, by knowing we are fully justified in Christ, and by not indulging the flesh. …We are not to give any opportunity, not one inch, to the flesh. …Rather we are to serve one another in love.

-The NT describes the Christian as no longer being a slave to sin but a slave to both righteousness (being right with God and doing what is right) and love. …As we walk in righteousness and love we walk in the Spirit.

-This morning I want us to look at a local church that spent more time indulging the flesh than walking in the Spirit. …1 Corinthians 2.12-16 [Read]

-In these verses we once again find two descriptions of people, descriptions we have already read about in Romans 8.9. …We have the unbeliever who is described in verse 14 as a “man without the Spirit”. …This is the description of the unbeliever who is “in the flesh” and not “in the Spirit” because the Spirit of God does not dwell in him. …Verse 14 goes on to say, “the man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned”. …The man who is “in the flesh” and does not have the Spirit of God within him does not accept the things of the Spirit and cannot even understand the things of the Spirit because he does not have the Spirit in him. …That man’s nature is all flesh because he has no spiritual capacity.

-By contrast in verse 12 we have the description of the believer who is “in the Spirit” because he has the Spirit of God living in him. …“We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” …The man who is “in the Spirit” does understand the things of God and has the capacity to live in love and holiness by walking in the Spirit.

-Now let’s read 1 Corinthians 3.1-4. [Read]

-In 1 Corinthians 1.2, Paul identifies the Corinthians as believers. …He calls them the church of God in Corinth. …He calls them saints. …“Called to be holy” should be translated as “called holy or called saints”, “to be” is added by the translators. …He identifies the Corinthians with “all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours”. …Paul has no doubt that the Corinthians are believers who are “in the Spirit” because they have the Holy Spirit living within them.

-In chapter 3, Paul addresses the Corinthians believers as “fleshy and fleshly”. …He does not say they are “in the flesh” because as believers they are “in the Spirit” but he calls them “fleshy and fleshly”. …Even though they are saints in Christ they are living just as if they are unbelievers and still “in the flesh”. …They are indulging the flesh and not walking in the Spirit.

-In verse 1, Paul acknowledges that they are brothers in the Lord but says he cannot address them as spiritual but must address them as “fleshy”. …This Greek adjective means “made of flesh”. …Paul is saying to the Corinthians believers that even though God has put His Spirit into them he must write to them not as spiritual men, but as men of flesh. …Paul cannot write to them as men controlled by their renewed spirits and the Holy Spirit because they are walking like men of flesh who live from the flesh and not from the Spirit.

-The Christian has a spirit that is alive by the Holy Spirit and that new life desires to serve God. …The Christian also has a body that was once a slave to sin and can easily be dominated by the flesh. …We will not have new bodies until resurrection day. …The Christian also has a mind and that mind is either governed by the renewed spirit or governed by the flesh. …The Christian chooses if he will transform his mind and control his body and say no to the flesh and glorify God, or if he will let the flesh control the body and the mind and dishonor God with ungodly attitudes and actions. …In the case of the Corinthian believers they were choosing to let the flesh rule their lives.

-Twice in verse 3, Paul says they are “fleshly”. …This is a slightly different adjective than “fleshy” in verse 1 and means, “dominated by the flesh”. …Here Paul actually describes the Corinthian believers as dominated by the flesh.

-Paul describes their fleshly behavior as equal to “infants in Christ”. …He says that their capacity to receive teaching is on the milk level and not on the solid food level as it should be. …I want to remind you that Paul spent 1 ½ years in Corinth teaching the church, so this group was not lacking in their access to good teaching. …Paul tells them in 1.5, “in Christ you have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge”. …The Corinthians church was even divided into followers of Paul and Apollos and Peter, the best teachers of the time. …The Corinthian believers were not lacking in Biblical knowledge. …The problem in Corinth was not a lack of knowledge, it was that they were unwilling to turn away from the world and the Devil and the flesh, and yield to the truth of God. …They chose to continue to indulge the flesh and never grew up spiritually.

-The Corinthian believers were spiritual infants. …I have had to opportunity over the last couple of years to watch infants. …Infants are sensually driven. …They react to the world in relation to how they feel. …Sensual satisfaction dominates their lives and their reaction to others. …They are dominated by a craving for comfort and the satisfaction of their desires.

-Infants are also selfish. …Some of the first words infants learn are “me, mine, give me”. …The world revolves around them. …“I am of utmost importance. …Serve me, make me feel good, satisfy me, give to me” …That is how the Corinthian believers were living – sensual and selfish-centered lives. …They were not walking in the Spirit but were indulging the flesh.

-The Corinthian church was full of spiritual gifts. …Paul writes in 1.7, “you do not lack any spiritual gift”. …Not only did the Corinthian church have access to all kinds of knowledge but they also had the full functioning of spiritual gifts. …The only problem was that they were not walking in the Spirit but were indulging the flesh even as they boasted of their knowledge, practiced spiritual gifts, and held regular services of worship together.

-Paul says in chapter three that their jealousy and constant quarrelling was the proof of their spiritual infancy and their indulgence of the flesh. …As Paul proceeds through the letter he points out the depth of their pride. …In the Corinthian church there was a man who was having an immoral relationship with his step-mother. …Instead of being filled with grief at his sin and putting this man out of the fellowship the church was proud. …Perhaps they were boasting of their Christian freedom in Christ. …How deep was their pride and how it blinded them to the evil of sin among them.

-The Corinthians believers were taking each other to court. …They were getting drunk and disregarding the hungry at the Love Feasts. …They were disorderly in their worship services with everyone wanting to be the center of attention. …They were indulging the flesh and not walking in the Spirit. …The Corinthians were believers but they were proud, selfish, self-seeking, sensual, and unloving because they chose to indulge the flesh rather than walk in the Spirit.

-The city of Corinth at the time when Paul visited was between six and seven hundred thousand people, two-thirds of whom were slaves. …Corinth was likely the most vile and corrupt city in the known world. …It was an international city for politics, sports, business, trade, entertainment, and philosophy. …It was Los Angeles and New Orleans and NYC all rolled into one. …Paul wrote Romans 1 from the city of Corinth and wrote down what he saw every day from his living room window and as he walked through the local market. …To call someone “a Corinthian” was to call them a wasteful and reckless person. …“to Corinthianize” meant to engage in prostitution. …On the topmost peak of Acrocorinthus there was a temple to the goddess Aphrodite. …This Temple had a thousand female prostitutes consecrated for the free use of visitors/worshippers to the temple. …Many other idols and gods were worshipped in Corinth. …Corinth was an immoral and godless city.

-My point is that these converts grew up in the sin, corruption, pride, self-centered, self-seeking, unloving, false philosophies, sensual lifestyle of Corinth. …A new Christian in Corinth could not easily disconnect from his past habits and the surrounding culture. …But by the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit it was possible. …Paul expected them to live holy and loving lives because he knew what God had done in them. …Even while living in a cesspool of sin the Corinthians were to be a holy and loving people.

-The Corinthian believers had knowledge, and they had spiritual gifts but that was not enough to disengage them from indulging the flesh and participating in God’s process of sanctification for them. …They needed to learn a key point in walking in the Spirit and that key point was to serve others in love.

-At the end of chapter 12 after writing about spiritual gifts Paul writes, “And now I will show you the most excellent way”. …Paul begins to write of God’s selfless love which is to dominate their Christian life. …“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

-Then Paul writes in 14.1, “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts”. …“Follow” is the word “pursue” I mentioned last week. …Pursue means to passionately chase after something, like a persecutor fiercely chasing their victim. …“Pursue” is a much stronger word than “desire” which is used for spiritual gifts. …Paul is making a contrast between love and spiritual gifts. …Your energies should not be focused on spiritual gifts but on love. …Spiritual gifts are important but love is all important. …You can miss the spiritual gifts but do not miss serving in love. …By following love you will not indulge the flesh and you will break yourself away from the immoral culture around you, and the Devil, and the flesh.

-As Galatians 5.13 says, “My brothers, you were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather serve one another in love”.

-In Paul’s closing words to the Corinthians in 16.13 he writes, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.”

-In 1 Timothy 1.5, Paul writes to Timothy, “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith”.

-In Galatians 5.6, we read, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love”.

-So the way to live out our freedom in Christ is not through legalism by trying to keep a behavior based on law. …Nor does our freedom in Christ mean living a lawless life which fulfills all sensual desire. …Freedom in Christ is separation from sin to serve others in love. …Serving others in love is the walk of the Spirit. …Do not measure your life by Biblical knowledge which only puffs you up, or by spiritual gifts, or Christian service. …Measure your life by the love of God that serves others.

-God’s love that serves others shows a Christian’s willingness to submit to God and to abandon their lives to God. …When I encounter a Christian who is addicted to a certain behavior or to a specific sin, or who cannot disengage from conflict, or who cannot seem to move ahead in spiritual maturity, more often than not the problem is not knowledge. …The problem is certainly not that God has not provided all that is needed for full Christian maturity, because God says He has provided all that we need to live godly lives in Christ Jesus. …Most often the problem is an unwillingness to yield myself, my rights, my destiny, my dreams, my hopes, my desires, my free time, my happiness, unto the Holy Spirit in order to obey God and do His will. …The key to walking in the Spirit is abandoning ourselves to God. …We abandon ourselves to God when we walk in love and serve others. …Full abandonment to God is the source of peace, joy, power, insight into Scripture, wisdom, and fruitfulness. …Yielding is the key to walking in the Spirit and fullness of the Spirit.

-When you pray, do not ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit but ask God to help you to yield all of yourself to Him so that the Spirit can have His full control over you. …We are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart and strength and mind. …We are called to serve others in love. …We love God and serve others in love by yielding ourselves fully to God. …That is walking in the Spirit.

–I want to challenge you this week to discover how yielded you are to God. …I want to ask you to deliberately determine to meet every person and every situation you encounter this week as a slave to righteousness and love. …I want to challenge you to meet every person and situation with a right attitude, and right thinking, and right action, with a readiness to serve that person and that situation with selfless love.

-Make sure that you charge up on God’s Word and prayer every morning because you will need to be connected to God’s Spirit if you take up this challenge. …Without the living spring of God’s Spirit flowing in you, you will miserably fail to love others with God’s love. …Failure will show you how much you need fellowship with the living God in your daily life, and how much more you need to yield your life to God.

-I can guarantee that you will not have an easy week. …In fact you will likely have a miserable week. …You will feel physically drained by the end of each day. …Your flesh will scream out with self-pity at not having had its needs met. …You will experience self-crucifixion. …You will become impatient, irritated, and even angry at the rudeness and selfishness and insensitivity of others. (This is a sign of a need for God’s love in your life as well as theirs). …You will feel like you are being taken advantage of by others, and like you are not making any gains for yourself and just giving out all the time, always loosing out to the advantage of others.

-I can also guarantee that you will be spiritually renewed through this exercise. …You will sense a need for deeper fellowship with God. …You will better understand what Christianity is all about, and you will understand more the depravity of sin and how deeply rooted the work of the flesh is in your life and in the life of others. …You will see yourself as you really are and you will see how much more you need to yield your life to God. …You will also see how regularly loving others can bear lasting fruit for God.

-Determine to be a slave of love to all those in your path this week and see how you react and how others react to you. …Let me know about your week.

-Next week as we come to the Lord’s Table we will take another look at God’s Word on the topic of love and how love fulfills the law of God.