Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is
GALATIONS 3:24-6:18 ACTS 15:1-21
The Balance of Truth
"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."
Could there be a better chapter in the bible on the practicality of living out the Christian life than we have in Galations 5? Our big struggle as believers is to figure out what these ideas of "freedom" and "live by the Spirit", and "law" really look like in our lives. More than that, to find the balance when definitions and lines are not always crystal clear. The reason they are not is because we are given the freedom to enjoy many things that can become idols in our lives or flesh feeding distractions.
In our thinking we usually separate flesh and law as two different avenues we can slide down in our walk. They are actually the same. Under Christ and the New Covenant, the law can actually feed the flesh. What do I mean by that? Well, it's quite simple really. We can feed our flesh by focusing on what we do or don't do as Christians and how that makes us more or less pious. Many Christians living this way look down on others feeding their flesh in other ways: "She spends too much money on her appearance", "they allow their kids to listen to secular music", and so on. When in actuality, they are feeding their own flesh with pride producing works. They are finding their salvation in their law abiding.
Then, on the other hand, we have the free spirited Christian. Their struggle is usually in letting things that are free to be enjoyed become determining factors in their happiness rather than Christ. They are encouraged to serve others, just the antidote to their tendency to serve themselves with too much indulgence. It's interesting that vs. 19 sums up aspects of both ends of feeding the flesh.
It's the age old comic strip of Christianity called "Calvin and Arminius" (as apposed to the more light hearted Hobbs :) The delicate debate of faith vs. works. Personally, I think both sides have a great deal of truthful perspective to give to each other.
Still, the dividing lines are the problem and men tend to lean toward prideful division with a side order of "my way is best". Paul has a strong admonishment for the church in this: "If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."
The key is in the above verse. This is one I'm committing to memory the past few months. Unfortunately I've had some pretty intense experiences with the law side of Christianity. I have an extremist personality so when I was around these Christians I became like Paul's description of them. Thankfully some tough things happened to open my eyes to the wrong of this distraction for Christ. Yet, now I struggle with the other side of it. So, this verse covers the whole solution. You are free from the law, but not free to indulge your flesh and grieve the Spirit.
So, how to deal with fellowship with other brother's and sisters who we feel are leaning one way or the other? Well, first I think is to take the log out of our own eye, and then pray these very words for them. "Lord, help them, and help me, to be led by your Spirit. Convict us of your will and ways and let truth set the scales of balance straight in our lives. Not so that I can think I'm right, or that they can feel right, but that you may be glorified in both our lives. Give me grace for them when I feel frustrated with their decisions and convict me to fellowship with them despite our differences so that we have unity. May I not participate in biting and dividing whether spoken, or unspoken. Let nothing distract from your glory and your kingdom purposes."
Tomorrow's reading is:Acts 15:22-17:15
GALATIONS 3:24-6:18 ACTS 15:1-21
The Balance of Truth
"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."
Could there be a better chapter in the bible on the practicality of living out the Christian life than we have in Galations 5? Our big struggle as believers is to figure out what these ideas of "freedom" and "live by the Spirit", and "law" really look like in our lives. More than that, to find the balance when definitions and lines are not always crystal clear. The reason they are not is because we are given the freedom to enjoy many things that can become idols in our lives or flesh feeding distractions.
In our thinking we usually separate flesh and law as two different avenues we can slide down in our walk. They are actually the same. Under Christ and the New Covenant, the law can actually feed the flesh. What do I mean by that? Well, it's quite simple really. We can feed our flesh by focusing on what we do or don't do as Christians and how that makes us more or less pious. Many Christians living this way look down on others feeding their flesh in other ways: "She spends too much money on her appearance", "they allow their kids to listen to secular music", and so on. When in actuality, they are feeding their own flesh with pride producing works. They are finding their salvation in their law abiding.
Then, on the other hand, we have the free spirited Christian. Their struggle is usually in letting things that are free to be enjoyed become determining factors in their happiness rather than Christ. They are encouraged to serve others, just the antidote to their tendency to serve themselves with too much indulgence. It's interesting that vs. 19 sums up aspects of both ends of feeding the flesh.
It's the age old comic strip of Christianity called "Calvin and Arminius" (as apposed to the more light hearted Hobbs :) The delicate debate of faith vs. works. Personally, I think both sides have a great deal of truthful perspective to give to each other.
Still, the dividing lines are the problem and men tend to lean toward prideful division with a side order of "my way is best". Paul has a strong admonishment for the church in this: "If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."
The key is in the above verse. This is one I'm committing to memory the past few months. Unfortunately I've had some pretty intense experiences with the law side of Christianity. I have an extremist personality so when I was around these Christians I became like Paul's description of them. Thankfully some tough things happened to open my eyes to the wrong of this distraction for Christ. Yet, now I struggle with the other side of it. So, this verse covers the whole solution. You are free from the law, but not free to indulge your flesh and grieve the Spirit.
So, how to deal with fellowship with other brother's and sisters who we feel are leaning one way or the other? Well, first I think is to take the log out of our own eye, and then pray these very words for them. "Lord, help them, and help me, to be led by your Spirit. Convict us of your will and ways and let truth set the scales of balance straight in our lives. Not so that I can think I'm right, or that they can feel right, but that you may be glorified in both our lives. Give me grace for them when I feel frustrated with their decisions and convict me to fellowship with them despite our differences so that we have unity. May I not participate in biting and dividing whether spoken, or unspoken. Let nothing distract from your glory and your kingdom purposes."
Tomorrow's reading is:Acts 15:22-17:15
2 comments:
It's so easy to end up on the extreme of either end is it?
Obeying the rules makes us feel safe, makes us feel like we have a measuring tool to see how we're doing. But relying on works is, as Paul said, no gospel at all.
On the other hand, it's also easy to twist the idea of Christian freedom to mean freedom to sin, which is clearly wrong.
I think the problem with both extremes is that the focus is on ourselves.
When we focus on God, when we spend time with Him, when we study His Word, when we learn about Him, when we focus on loving Him, when we worship Him - it's not so hard to achieve that balance after all!
Well said, ladies! It's interesting to read this, knowing we've got problems with this exact thing in our tiny little church right now. And yet, just this morning, our pastor ~ whom I love and respect ~ said something from our pulpit today that I disagree with. It was wonderful to realize that though I disagree, I had no inclination to criticize him or complain. I still think his sermon was biblically sound, but our interpretation of a certain principle is just different.
One thing that really stuck out for me in this passage is Galatians 4:15, where Paul asks them what has happened to their joy. In Sunday school, we just finished John Piper's "The Blazing Center" video series and his main point is that displaying His glory is God's whole focus in everything. Piper digs deep into his "Christian hedonism" principle, that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him, and that therefore, seeking joy (eternal satisfaction) in Christ should be a full-time pursuit for the believer.
So I found it interesting that Paul doesn't ask, "where's your commitment?" or "Where's your passion, your desire to serve God?" He doesn't even ask, "Where's your love?"
He asks What has happened to your JOY?" Out of our joy in Christ is going to come the overflow of love for others and a desire to spread the gospel so that others can know that joy as well.
(interestingly, there seem to be conflicting interpretations of that verse. My Bible is NIV, but even BibleGateway's NIV uses a different sentence there altogether. Weird.)
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