July 21, 2013

First Things First: Who's Your Master?

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SERMON:

In 2006 the United Nations World Drug Report called meth the most abused hard drug on the planet. Seven years ago the number of meth addicts in the world was 26 million. That’s about four times the current population of Washington state.

Meth has hit the West coast especially hard. In 2005 more than half the inmates in Portland were meth users. At that time, meth was the leading cause of property crime in Oregon, as well as the leading cause of children being placed in foster care.

When meth enters the body it targets the reward center of the brain and releases huge amounts of the pleasure chemical called “dopamine”. Meth then holds the dopamine against the brain’s receptors causing an intense and extended feeling of euphoria. For this reason, few people are capable of trying meth only once.

But along with that feeling of euphoria come grim consequences. Meth users experience a variety of hallucinations and psychotic behaviors. Some see shadow people, or feel as if they’re being constantly watched. Others hear voices; either a cacophony of jumbled words, or distinct voices telling them to do specific things. Meth addicts commonly imagine that there are bugs burrowing just beneath their skin, and cut or scratch themselves to get them out.

In just a few months of use, meth begins to break down the body causing teeth to crumble, bone and muscle density to wither away, and the heart to malfunction—either racing dangerously fast, or slowing to a near stop.

Without intervention, meth, and  the lifestyle that accompanies it, will end in death.
So, what if I told you that scientists have come up with vaccine for meth-death. Not a cure for the addiction, or the side-effects, but a death preventing inoculation. If you took this meth vaccine then you could have as much of the drug as you wanted, and it couldn’t kill you. It would still have all the same effects, good or bad, but you couldn’t die from it.

How would that sound? Good deal?

No, not so much. Who cares if you couldn’t die from it, your life would still be ruined by it. A meth-death vaccine just wouldn’t be enough.
Through Jesus Christ you and I have received a sin-death vaccine. Our sins are many. But Jesus took them all on himself. He suffered hell for my sins and for yours when he died on that cross 2,000 years ago. And God showed that he accepted that offering by raising Jesus from the dead. Now, through Christ we have been set free from the ultimate consequences of our sins. We are forgiven, and eternal death can no longer touch us.

But for God, that’s not enough. He wants to give us more than an eternal home in heaven. When the Holy Spirit approaches people through the Gospel of Christ, he intends to save them from both the ultimate consequences of sin, and the immediate side effects of sin.

Just as meth becomes the master of person who uses it, sin also rules over the person addicted to it. But in Christ Jesus we are set free.  

Today we continue our study of Paul’s letter to the Galatian Christians. Here Paul speaks of the freedom that we have in Christ. Freedom from sin’s ultimate consequences AND freedom from sin’s immediate side effects. We read…

Galatians 5:1, 13-25 (NASB)

    1   It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

  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.
  14   For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
  15   But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
  16   But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
  17   For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
  18   But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
  19   Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
  20   idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
  21   envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
  22   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
  23   gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
  24   Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
  25   If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
To begin with, I’m going to address verse one. Listen to that verse again.

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1 NASB).

Here Paul is encouraging the Christians of Galatia not to be enslaved by work-righteous teachings. False teachers were telling the Christians in Galatia that they needed to observe certain religious ceremonies in order to earn God’s forgiveness.

The Gospel of Christ reveals that our sins are forgiven because of what Christ did for us, not because of anything we do. So accepting any system of working your way to God is like putting a heavy wooden harness back on your shoulders. Paul says, “No! It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us free! Why would we go back to some hopeless attempt to earn forgiveness when Christ has already given it to us as a gift?!”

Because of Christ we stand free from sin’s ultimate consequences.
But Paul knew that it’s hard to escape a master that lives within. A slave can escape from an abusive master, or slavery itself can be abolished in a country. But what do you do if your vindictive master lives inside you?

That is the case with every human being that is born into this world. We are born with a sinful nature. An inner evil self which seeks all that is selfish, perverted, sick, and ugly. The B ible calls this inner nature our “flesh”.

Now, when Paul uses this term, he isn’t referring to our physical flesh and blood. When Paul says, “flesh” think “sinful flesh” or “inner sinful nature”. 

The Bible teaches that in heaven we’ll have perfected bodies. There will be no sinful nature lurking inside to trip us up. But in  this life we have to struggle along with a traitor inside. But the Holy Spirit wishes to free us from this traitor’s daily influence.

When the Holy Spirit comes to a person and creates faith in Christ through the Gospel message, the Holy Spirit comes to stay. He takes up residence in a person’s heart and mind. And through the Bible—read from the page, and retained in the heart and mind—the Holy Spirit begins to work against our sinful flesh.

Look again at verse 13. Paul writes…

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.
         14  For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
         15  But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
         16  But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
         17  For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
         18  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law” (Galatians 5:13-18 NASB).

In the first verse that we read for today, Paul set up two opposing masters: Christ as Savior vs. the Law as Savior. Here, Paul sets up two other opposing masters: the Holy Spirit as our guide in life vs. the Flesh as our guide in life.

The question is, who’s your master?

You see, after the Spirit brings us to faith in Christ, we still have choices to make in life. And when it comes to right and wrong, these choices all boil down to either choosing the way our sinful flesh directs us to go, or following the way the Spirit leads us.

Some boil Christianity down to “trust in Christ and you’ll be saved”. And while that is true, God has things for us to do in this life. Not things that we need to do in order to be saved, but still God has work for u s to do. Through the Gospel message, the Holy Spirit has called us to live the remainder of our earthly lives serving one another in love. Living lives that reflect the life of our great Savior, who loved us and gave himself for us.

When we follow the guiding of the Holy Spirit, we actually begin, in little ways, to keep the law of God from the heart. Not because we’re afraid of being punished, but because the Holy Spirit is creating a new and perfect us inside.

You remember that Old Testament story about Joseph, Jacob’s son? He was sold into slavery by his brothers and ended up in Egypt. While there he became an important slave at a rich man’s estate. But the rich man’s wife wanted to have sex with Joseph. And when she propositioned him Joseph replied,

Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:8-9 NASB).

This was the Holy Spirit working in Joseph. Joseph avoided adultery NOT because he was afraid of punishment, but because it would be an offense against the God he loved and trusted!
It’s human nature to think that if you want to change behavior, you need to make more laws. But laws don’t change behavior. Even if your police force can watch each citizen, their hearts will still rebel against you.

Paul says, the real way to avoid carrying out the sinful desires of the flesh isn’t to make more laws. The real way to shun temptations is to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice.  To listen for and order your steps according to the Spirit’s direction. He’s the one who brought us to faith in the first place, I think we can trust him!

There’s going to be fighting inside, because the sinful flesh and the Holy Spirit don’t get along. But there is comfort even in the middle of this fight. Paul knew that the Galatian Christians were struggling against sin. And so he gave them some Gospel comfort from Paul in  verse 18. There he reminds them…

“…if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law” (Galatians 5:18 NASB).

In other words, fight the good fight against sin, but remember, with Christ as your Savior, and the Spirit as your guide, you are not under law’s condemnation.
Back in Paul’s day, some people had the idea that since the Gospel offered complete forgiveness, Christians could then indulge in sinful behavior as much as they wanted. But this isn’t the Holy Spirit’s teaching at all.

The Holy Spirit who creates faith through the Gospel message, leads us to serve one another in love, not to selfishly gratify our own desires. The Holy Spirit leads us to love each other, not bite at each other like animals. The Holy Spirit leads us to do good things, not celebrate wickedness.

But again, Paul knew there’s a fight going on in each of those Christians at Galatia. The sinful flesh inside each of them was at war with the Holy Spirit, battling for mastery over the individual. So Paul laid out a list of behaviors to avoid. Behaviors to avoid because they come from the flesh. Look at verse 19 again…

“ 19  Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
   20  idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
   21  envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21 NASB).

It’s pretty simple. Paul says, if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re going to fight against these behaviors. But if you’re practicing these, if one of these is your accepted lifestyle, then the flesh is your guide, not the Spirit, and you will not enter God’s kingdom.

Sometimes we don’t know any better. We just follow our instincts, and don’t realize that the things we want so bad are rally harmful to us. But the Holy Spirit loves us, and through His word he teaches us better ways. Like a gardener who has taken over a rioting garden, he patiently weeds, and seeds, and waters, and prunes until our garden begins to produce good fruit. Things like…

“…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” (Galatians 5:22-23 NASB).

It’s not hard to see which list is more desirable. Which master is better to serve.
We started today by talking about meth and how it masters and destroys people. It’s tragic how a single dose almost always begins a life of hardship. Even if a person gets help, it’s going to take a lot of work to resist the temptation to slide back into using.  

And it’s the same thing with the forgiven sinner. Our last verses say…

“ 24  Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
   25  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25 NASB).

Much like the drug addict must say “goodbye” to the person they once were, and let that person die. The Christian must also let go of the sinful nature and let it die. In fact, Paul gets more graphic than that. Paul says we must crucify the flesh with its passions and desires. Each day we do this in prayer when we confess our sins and ask God to forgive us because of Christ. This crucifying the flesh needs to be an ongoing thing until God removes us from this world and seats us at his side. Until that day, we need to let that last verse ring in our ears…

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25 NASB).

You and I are spiritually alive, connected to God, because the Holy Spirit brought us to faith in Christ. Let us now live our lives the way that the Holy Spirit directs us to in the Bible. Then we will be sure of blessing in the next life, as well as in this one.

We are alive because of the Spirit. So, let’s live our daily lives by his direction also.

Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

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