A Different Gospel – 09/21/2025

Podcast

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us here today
There are days
when the choices
before us are stark
Crystal clear
Forcing us to choose
This or that
Good or evil
Life or death

Other days creep up on us
Saddling along side
And we are
Hardly noticing
the reality of
The new conditions
The new situations
The new demands

Hardly noticing
Our new,
Greater
Present
Need of you
With our weakness made bare
In fresh ways
The vulnerabilities
Of those we love
Laid bare
The power
we have relied upon
Stripped bare
Our resources no longer enough.

It was always a lie that we
Should manage on our own
An illusion that we even could
Because the security in our lives
never came from us
Or our group
Or our intelligence
Or our following the rules
Or our wallets
Or our rights

Always, always, always
Our security
Our hope
Our life
Is rooted in you
And your great love

Make this a day
Where our need for you
Is plain
And your loving care
For each and every person
Is just as crystal clear
And once again
we give ourselves
To you
wholly
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the desires of the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do Galatians 5:16-17

Intro: Paul has chased a serious concern through his entire letter

So it is not surprising that near the end, he would present an the ultimate challenge of the Christian life
– in verse 16 Paul begins last segment of his central message
• what follows in chapter 6 is his concluding remarks and directions
– what we have in verses 16-25 is this chunk of scripture that tracks one theme
• Paul makes this clear by marking where it begins and ends
•it begins in verse 16, “walk by the Spirit,” and in ends in verse 25, “live by the Spirit”
◦ in scripture, framing a passage this way is common, and is referred to as an envelope structure or closing circle
◦ anyway, the literary structure reveals the heart of the passage–it’s one key point

Before moving on, we need to know what he means by “flesh”

It sounds like Paul is referring to our physical bodies of flesh and blood
– in the past, some believers assumed that’s what he meant
• in all sorts of odd ways, they mistreated their bodies

St. Francis famously referred to his body as “Brother Ass,” and treated it like a donkey that needed training to become useful to its master, yet did not require much work as to its welfare or compassion regarding its burdens, and that the body was meant to suffer like Christ through self-denial. St. Francis, for example, subjected himself to severe fasting and slept on a stone floor rather than on a bed or mattress. However, before he died he did ask his body’s forgiveness for how he treated it.

– the human body is not naturally corrupt, sinful, or evil
• self-control isn’t denying the body’s basic needs, like food, shelter, and the family unit
◦ the body’s drives are related to our intrinsic animal nature
◦ but unlike animals, we have knowledge of good and evil
• later, God’s law given to Moses was meant to regulate our human drives
◦ but something with in us rebels against God’s law
◦ that rebellious nature or impulse is what Paul calls the flesh
“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Ro. 8:7-8)

Paul identifies the spiritual dynamics of two opposing forces

These forces account for an internal conflict and its external manifestation
– this is the core challenge of the Christian life: flesh vs Spirit
• between the Spirit and the flesh, there can be no truce, no alliance, and no compromise
• but the point he makes, is not that we must battle the flesh
◦ that was the old struggle of trying to be right with God through law-keeping
◦ we weren’t able to win that wrestling match
– Paul turns our attention in a different direction
“Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh”
• remember Enoch? He walked with God – so did Noah
◦ they enjoyed God’s companionship
• Paul reveals something even more intimate and profound
◦ the Spirit of God living with you, inside of you
◦ his thoughts becoming your thoughts; his ways becoming your ways

The next point Paul makes is rather simple
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law Galatians 5:18

Walking by the Spirit is God’s alternative to law-keeping
– the Spirit enables us to be what we could never be on our own
and to do what we could we could never do on our own

Our sinful nature produces “works”
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissentions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God Galatians 5:19-21

Reading in the Old Testament, what comes to my mind are the artisans and sculptures who made idols
“The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. The it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it” (Isa. 44:13-15)
• I wanted to emphasize this, because of the contrast Paul makes
• our sinful nature produces works, the Spirit produces fruit
– we won’t go over every item on the list of works
• instead, there’s a specific theme I want to highlight
◦ for me, the words that stand out are:
◦ enmity, strive, rivalries, dissensions, and divisions
• the first picture we’re shown is of a divided person
◦ someone within whom a battle is raging
◦ the Spirit against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit
▫ but the picture we’re shown now is a divided community

In my lifetime, I’ve never seen our country more divided
– never so much open hostility, aggressiveness and abusive speech
• the heartbreaker is I’ve never seen Christians more divided
◦ the fundamentalists have always criticized the liberals,
◦ and the liberals have often ridiculed the fundamentalists
• but there has never been so much open warfare and hate expressed openly
– I wish that the message in every Christian church today was:
“Remove the barriers, build a bridge, repair the broken relationship, love one another, love those on the right and those on the left, love everyone, even your enemy”
• Paul told the Christians in Rome,
“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the teaching you have been taught; avoid them” (Ro. 16:17)
• be safe, avoid people who harm, upset, offend, and divide
◦ however, there may be another possibility

Thursday morning I was reading in 1 Peter and came to this:
“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing” (1 Pe. 3:8-12)
– immediate my reaction was:
“How could that possibly be achieved in a Church so radically divided as it is in the U.S. right now?”
• before I finished asking the question, an answer came:
“Look for unity of mind in a realm that transcends political and theological commitments and disagreements”
• if all we attempt is to force people to agree with us, we lose the kingdom of God, that transcends every earthly empire
– look again at what Paul says about the works of the flesh:
“I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”

Fruit is grown on the other side of the fence
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires Galatians 6:22-24

There is not just one fruit (though the English word is singular)
– this is more like a fruit bowl
• the seeds of most fruits are carried inside the fruit
◦ so the DNA of love produces more love, and DNA of joy produces more joy, and so on
• so let’s ask, “What does the fruit of peace look like in practice or in a person?”
or the fruit of patience, kindness, etcetera
◦ and what does this person who is an entire fruit bowl look like?
– I can tell you this: Worse than death is a fruitless life
• this list ends with a statement like the previous list
• crucifixion is a brutal and gruesome image
◦ but it reveals the intensity and seriousness of Paul’s concern
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20)
“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14)

Paul closes the circle
If we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another Galatians 5:25-26

Paul tells us we do not have to live in frustration over the flesh
– we can go through our lives on another path – “live by the Spirit”
(Although I’m convinced that verse 26 actually belongs to the next chapter, there’s still something in it worth considering now)
• even at this point, we can still be sabotaged by conceit
• the Greek word suggests an empty glory
◦ maybe you take pride in winning an argument, but the cost of it is division
◦ it turns out to be a worthless victory

Conclusion: I don’t know if there’s been a more difficult time to walk in the Spirit than it is today

The entire world has become overwhelmingly materialistic
There are entire nations ruled by governments devoted to “dialectical materialism”
It would be naive to assume the Church has not been infected
But there is hope
We can go through life by a different path
It is possible to walk in the Spirit
and in the energizing power of his might
Turning to Jesus,
he never leaves us hanging out to dry
Rather, his promise is,
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”
And that promise is good for today