Led by the Spirit win the battle within.

Sermon for Trinity 14, September 22, 2019

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Galatians 5:16–24  ¹⁶What I am saying is this: Walk by the spirit, and you will not carry out what the sinful flesh desires.  ¹⁷For the sinful flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful flesh.  In fact, these two continually oppose one another, so that you do not continue to do these things you want to do.  ¹⁸But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the control of the law.  ¹⁹Now the works of the sinful flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, complete lack of restraint, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, hatred, discord, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, heresies, ²¹envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things similar to these.  I warn you, just as I also warned you before, that those who continue to do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  ²²But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful flesh with its passions and desires. (EHV)

Led by the Spirit win the battle within.

Dear friends in Christ,

            When I was young, our local county fair featured a tug-of-war contest as a prominent annual event.  Teams of big strong men (and some who thought they were) would each grab hold of the thick rope and pull with all their might in opposite directions trying to overpower their opponents.  The teams would usually place their biggest and strongest puller at the end of the rope to serve as their anchor, and oftentimes, the team with the strongest anchor prevailed.  A flag in the middle of the rope would move back and forth as each side struggled until, finally, one team would gain the upper hand and pull the center flag, and often the other team, over the line to its side. 

In considering our text this morning, those tug-of-war contests picture well the constant struggle we face between the old sinful flesh and the new man of faith.  As we journey through this rugged world, your old sinful nature and your new life of faith continually battle for control, and there are likely times when you feel a bit like the rope in a tug-of-war contest, constantly being pulled back and forth.  In order to come away victorious with a sanctified Christian life, you need to have a strong and determined anchor on your side, a leader who pulls with you and gives you the strength and stamina to resist as your opponent tries to wear you out and drag you over to his side in defeat.  Our text shows us that our unbeatable anchor is the Holy Spirit, who with God’s Word pulls us to the victory won for us by Christ.  Therefore, dear friends, I encourage you; Led by the Spirit win the battle within.

The man of the world, and consequently, our old sinful nature, also has a powerful anchor in this struggle.  Satan is constantly doing everything in his power to pull you away from the salvation won for you by Christ.  Thus, we must constantly battle against the devil, the world, and our old flesh.

The Galatians, likewise, had to contend in this spiritual tug-of-war.  On the one hand, they wanted to follow the Gospel—the good news of Jesus’ salvation, while on the other hand their opponents continued pulling them in the opposite direction.  In reality, they were being pulled away from Jesus with a double attack.  First, the Galatian Christians felt the pull to go back to the pagan sins of the flesh, but they were also feeling the pull of enemies who taught a salvation by works of law.  Even as they wanted to trust that Christ had paid for all their sins and had done everything needed for their salvation, in this second attack, some teachers were trying to convince the Galatians that they still needed to obey the Old Testament Ceremonial Law in order to be saved.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, Paul clarifies for the Galatian people that the Law had been completely fulfilled by Christ, so that it no longer holds the Christian in bondage.

Earlier in this chapter, Paul wrote, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” (Galatians 5:1)  Because Christ accomplished perfect fulfillment of the Law, He set all Christians free from the burden of Law, because God counts Christ’s perfect obedience as ours through faith.  Furthermore, Jesus then paid the penalty that the Law required for all the sins of all people everywhere.  So, when Jesus said, “It is finished,” the Law’s use for our salvation was ended.  Thus, Paul wrote, “But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the control of the law.” 

While the false teachers wanted to impose the ceremonial law upon the Galatians as a condition of salvation, the Holy Spirit through Paul warned that applications of Law do nothing to help us.  The Law teachers were following the pull of their sinful nature.  The natural law, written in our hearts, tells us that we have sinned against God and something must be done to merit God’s favor, but that natural knowledge of law knows nothing of what Christ Jesus has already done to set us free.

Of, course, if obedience of the Law doesn’t gain us anything for salvation, there will always be some who will be tempted to ignore it and flaunt their freedom as the desires of the flesh pull them back toward the devil’s side.  This is a temptation that is a life-long pull against the believer as well.  Therefore, our text says, “Walk by the spirit, and you will not carry out what the sinful flesh desires.”  Likewise, we say, Led by the Spirit win the battle within.

Dear Christians, we don’t earn anything by following the Law, but if we allow the devil, the world, and our own fleshly desires to pull us back toward the devil’s side, we are succumbing to a team that cannot win eternal life.  Therefore, the Law still has usefulness for the Christian, for it shows us how to live God-pleasing lives, recognizing that the Spirit of God will never lead us astray. 

In his letter, Paul gives us two lists: the first list graphically shows us when we are being pulled back to the devil’s team, while the second list teaches us what being led by the Spirit really looks like. 

Paul wrote, “Now the works of the sinful flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, complete lack of restraint, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, discord, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things similar to these.”  This is quite the list, and every item is a pull against our sanctified will.  The first three address any kind of sexual immorality, including actions, thoughts, words, and desires.  The next two summarize the ways people turn away from God to seek other sources of power, help, or knowledge but end up worshiping something other than the One true God. 

“Hatred, discord, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition,” are all ways that we put our own desires above the needs of our neighbors and especially against the will of God.  “Dissensions, heresies,” are talking about disputes and, especially, religious opinions that lead that lead us away from the truth of God’s Word.  In fact, the Greek word for heresies often simply means, “opinions,” which is exactly what a heresy is—a human opinion that goes against what God’s Word states.  The rest of the list mentions other ways that people go against God’s Commandments. 

Paul lists seventeen different types of sin concluding with “and things similar to these.”  In other words, if we are involved in anything remotely similar to the things on this list we are being pulled by the flesh, and not by the Spirit.  The list isn’t intended to be exclusive, but rather, we are shown how to identify ways in which we are pulled back to the devil’s losing side, and that is the primary purpose of the Law for Christians—to warn us against turning back to the desires and evil deeds of the sinful nature, the devil, and the world.

The main warning is this, “those who continue to do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”  Our obedience of God’s Law will never merit our salvation, but disobedience shows that we are pulling on the devil’s side.  There is a constant tug between the Spirit and the flesh for our lives.  If we pull with the Spirit, we are following the faith that trusts in Christ as our Savior.  Anything else is following the flesh. 

Now, Paul isn’t condemning us here for those times when we stumble and fail to live up to the perfection of the Law.  Indeed, perfection is not something we will accomplish in this world.  Paul is condemning those who make a practice of flaunting the freedom Christ won as they live a life of sin—no matter how great or small those sins may look in our eyes of the world.  Practicing any kind of sin means denying the seriousness of sin and ignoring the gift Christ’s death on the cross gives us.

Now, on the side of life, Paul also shows us what the new life of faith looks like, saying, “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.”  Naturally, this list starts with love.  God’s chief command is to love Him with every part of our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  It is love that sent Jesus down to earth to live in perfect obedience on our behalf, and love that held Him on the cross as He suffered and died for the sins of the world.  Consequently, it’s God’s love that motivates us.  All the rest of the things on the list flow from the Spirit’s love working in us to return thanks and praise to God.  When we love God, it is because we are living in the knowledge that we have forgiveness and salvation through Christ.  His love gives us great joy and eternal peace.  When we focus on God’s love for us, as evident in Christ Jesus, the rest of the things on this positive list become not only easier but our greatest desire and motivation.

Still, we know the feel of that tug-of war between our sinful nature and the new man of spirit.  Our old man wants to look out for himself and doesn’t care about the needs of others while the new man lives to be the hands of God serving all who we meet.  The sinful flesh wants to be a god unto himself, but the new man bows in gratitude before the Lord of creation.

The sinful nature takes offense at any slight, injury, or defeat.  On the other hand, our new man of faith gladly puts up with anything this world might throw against him out of thanks for God’s mercy.  The new man never lets go of the faith the Holy Spirit has given him through baptism and the proclamation of the gospel, but empowered by the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacrament, the Christian believer holds on with all his might to the blessings God gives, realizing that though this world will soon end, we will live forever with our Savior in heaven.  Bound by the Spirit to the love of Christ, we imitate Jesus’ perfect life with patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control —avoiding sin and striving for perfection in godly living.  There is no law against these things because they describe a truly God-pleasing faith-life. 

So, dear friends, does this all make you feel like your sinful nature is winning the war most of the time?  As we look at a list of our sinfulness like this, it becomes scarily easy to feel that we spend way more time pulling for Satan than we do pulling with the Spirit.  Our sermon text closes by reminding us of what Jesus has done for us, saying, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful flesh with its passions and desires.”  We don’t crucify the sinful desires; Jesus did.  Jesus took all of the sins of our evil passions and desires on Himself, and He ended them by paying the debt for them on the cross.  Those who belong to Christ are all those who follow Him, trusting in Him, alone, for their salvation, and His perfection is credited to everyone who belongs to Him through faith.

There is one more warning; if we think we do anything to earn salvation, we are again turning to following the flesh.  That isn’t what Paul is telling us to do.  In fact, just the opposite: we crucify the passions and desires of the flesh when we trust solely in Jesus for forgiveness, salvation, and life.   This faith comes to us only through the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word.  So, what can we do?  We pull along with the Holy Spirit as we stay in God’s Word.  We are pulled by the Spirit as we hear the Gospel message of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.  We are pulled by the Spirit as we eat and drink Christ’s body and blood in the Supper He gave for our assurance, and we pull with the Spirit as we return daily to our Baptisms by confessing our sins of the flesh. 

My friends, when we pull with the Holy Spirit, it really isn’t us who are winning this tug-of-war. Rather, the Holy Spirit wins the victory on our behalf as He anchors us to the Gospel promise that all of our sins have been forgiven.  Pulling along with the Spirit, we can’t lose, because Jesus has already won the victory over sin, death, and the devil.  Led by the Spirit, we win the battle within.  Amen. 

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto everlasting life.  Amen.