A Great Choice
Introduction
As I begin my last sermon as your pastor, let me take you back to what was almost my last sermon ever. It was almost thirty years ago. I was in seminary and was doing a placement as part of my Field Education. In general, I was a very nervous public speaker. This was especially true when I did presentations during my undergraduate degree. This continued on as I began preaching sermons, which as a youth pastor I only did every couple of months. My first number of sermons were reminders that I had a long way to go. I would shake and sweat and most important of all, I was aware of my complete dependence on God. If anything was going to happen in that sermon, it was going to be only because of God. I can still remember the intense but silent prayer that I had between standing up from my chair on the platform and walking over to the pulpit. All of this was a very good thing.
But there was one Sunday that I was preparing to preach a sermon that was a bit different. I had an idea that was quite clever, one that would illustrate our experience as the temple of the Holy Spirit in a unique way. I was very proud of that sermon and really enjoyed writing it. As I was sitting on the platform, waiting for my time to preach, I noticed something different. For the first time, I was not nervous to preach. Why? I was fully confident in the quality of what I had written that there was no possibility of failure. Even as I walked to the pulpit, I recognized that I did not need my usual fervent prayer because I had such good material that I was working with. I stepped up to the pulpit and preached what I believed to be a truly amazing sermon. As I preached, I noticed something about the congregation. This sermon was not having any impact on them, they would have been more interested in a tire commercial. In case you think I was overreacting, after the service there was none of the usual friendly comments, only awkward silence. I made up my mind that I was done as a pastor, even though I had not finished my first year of seminary. Thankfully, I did not follow through with that decision.
I am also thankful that I took time to reflect on what had happened. The problem was not just the content, although it probably was not the right sermon for the right congregation. The real problem was that I was preaching relying fully on my own strength and feeling no dependence on the power of God. That experience may have been the most transformative day of my seminary time.
As we conclude our series on Galatians, we come to the heart of Paul’s argument and it is one that is not that different from my experience in seminary. The Galatians were being tempted to rely upon the Law rather than faith. It is not that the Law is bad, as Paul has just explained that it can be summed up with loving our neighbours. The problem is that the moment you are relying on rules rather than faith, you are trusting in flesh and not the Spirit. So let’s dive in and figure out what the Christian life is ultimately about.
Walking in the Spirit
I need to bring up one more seminary story. I did take a course on Galatians and it was one of the best courses I took. But I had this ongoing struggle with what Paul was saying to his audience. Paul’s vision for the Galatians in particular but all Christians in general was that the Christian life was not about following concrete rules but walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit? What does that mean? I can agree in principle but what does walking in the Spirit look like? I have heard many Christians say God told me this or God told me that, how can we know if that is really the Holy Spirit or just the person’s natural desires seeking a spiritual authority? These are reasonable concerns. You cannot just live the way you want and say this what the Spirit is guiding you to do. This ends up being an alternate version of “The devil made me do it.” Sadly, this kind of abuse of what Paul says about walking in the Spirit has happened more than once.
Paul understand this and that is why he shares what he does in this passage. This is something that can help concrete thinking people like me to get their minds wrapped around what this looks like in real life. Paul does this by contrasting the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. The temptation would be to take this and turn this into another set of “Thou shalt not” and “Thou shalt” statements. Doing that misses the point even if Paul is hoping our lives will not exhibit the works of the flesh and will exhibit the fruit of the Spirit.
Take a look at the works of the flesh, Some of includes things that we could easily recognize as being unacceptable but some of it is also things that we regularly see in churches without much concern. This is not a list for us to check off in terms of what we avoid and in our avoidance we are justified. It is a test to see if we are walking in the flesh or in the Spirit. In many ways it is similar to a blood test that your doctor might order, looking for concerning signs that might indicate a serious issue. For Paul, the issue is not just the sins that are committed but what the presence of those sins mean about where we are at. The same is true for the fruit of the Spirit. They are all good but the point is not that if you do all of these things you are pleasing to God. The point is that if these things are present in our life, then that is an indication that we are walking in the Spirit.
A Church Walking in the Spirit
Here is the thing that is often missed when we look at these passages. We interpret what Paul is saying primarily in terms of individual experience. Am I walking in the flesh or am I walking in the Spirit? That is a great question to ask. But Paul is not writing this letter to an individual but rather a collection of churches in Galatia. How might that shape how we read this?
While 100% of a congregation will not be completely good or completely bad, there is an identity to a congregation. That identity might overlap with what Paul says here. Have you ever attended a church that has some of these: “enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy”? Probably most churches have some of these to a certain degree but some are actually identified with these things. Have you ever attended a church that has some of these: “patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness”? Again, every church probably has some of this but some are identified with these. The point of all of this is not to make a list from each group and check off what is present. The point is to do a diagnostic and get a sense of if the church is walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit. Ultimately, what I think Paul is interested in is what direction is the church going? Is it becoming more fleshly or is it becoming more Spirit-like? In other words, if we continue to go in the direction we are going, not just in programs, but the culture of church, what will the diagnostic test point to? This is a question for every congregation to ask, for the church of five people to the church of five thousand. Yes, we should be concerned about seeing the fruit of the Spirit in our own lives, but we must also look to see the fruit in the church.
Conclude
As I conclude, I want to address this congregation in particular. In the weeks and months to come, there will be decisions to be made. You will look at certain points of hard data, things like financial resources and the size of the congregation. You will look at aspects of this community and interest or lack of interest in church. I agree that these are important topics to consider.
But what has Paul been trying to get across to the Galatians which we have been looking at over the past number of weeks? It is not just details about the Jewish Law and the role of circumcision. The point is where do you put your trust? Do you trust in what you can accomplish with your own effort or do you trust in what God is doing through the power of the Holy Spirit? I am not talking about a blind faith that ignores all of the challenges. What Paul is saying in this letter is that there is something going on beyond what we can accomplish with our own effort. That is what faith is. Can you create results from just an abundance of resources? Of course you can. But the church is not just an organization or a business. The church is the visible body of Christ at work in the world. When we look at the ministry of Jesus, it was not marked by the traditional kinds of resources needed to make things happen. What we see with Jesus, even as the Son of God, is a dependence on the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit. Why would we expect the church to be any different?
I cannot predict the future for myself, much less for anyone else, but I would want to remind all of us that we are not limited only by what we can understand with our senses. As followers of Jesus, we must remember that God is at work and the Spirit is present. This is not just for our salvation but for our ongoing walk of faith.
