Let us keep in step with the Spirit

Galatians 5:15-26 (TNIV) -

15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. 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.
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions

21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

My thoughts -

Conflict is inevitable and lamentable. Within the context of the church you would think that we would be in lock step with the Spirit and with each other and wouldn't need to hear things like "If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other." Clearly that idea of harmony is a fallacy. It's not that we don't mean well. It's not that we aren't honestly following after God and trying to do God's will. It's just that we're human, and everything we do is tainted by sin. There is nothing in this world that has not been affected.

No matter how honestly we follow in Christ those Spiritual desires are in conflict with our sinful nature. We Methodists believe in Christian perfection, but I don't know any of us that have achieved it yet. Even if some of us have, and I allow for that possibility, if we ALL haven't then it doesn't really matter. There will still be conflict.

Now, Paul goes on to list some sins as "obvious". Take a look at them:

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

This is not comprehensive list, as indicated by "and the like". There are obviously many more ways to sin. But these sins are pretty obvious, right? You won't find much of a pro-drunken orgy lobby within the church. Some of my more conservative friends may argue that day is coming but it ain't here yet.

Well, I say that these sins are obvious, echoing Paul here, and yet a few of them jump out at me. It may not be that we can't identify these things as sin in others or in an academic sense, it may just be that we have a hard time identifying them in ourselves or, perhaps more likely, we have an easier time justifying them in ourselves. Hatred is a tough one. Discord, too. How can you tell if you REALLY hate someone or if you just correctly identify them as having undesirable qualities and want nothing to do with them? And what does discord even mean? Jealousy is a tough one. It's a natural reaction. How do you keep from having those? And what about selfish ambition? Can't we use our ambition for the good of others? And how do we check against it to see what's selfish and what isn't?

We have this view of everything divided neatly in to black and white; wrong and right. And yet there is so much grey. We have a much easier time identifying what's wrong in others than we do critically engaging our own attitudes and behavior. And yet it is a far more useful thing to identify your own sin and work to correct it than it is to compel others to do so. More on this tomorrow.

So Paul has shown us what's wrong, but that's not all, How about what's right:

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.

I can't tell you if you hate someone or not. But you know if you love them. If there's no love there then most likely there's some hate. We need the good of God to counter the bad in us. People who are at peace aren't prone to fits of rage. People who are patient and kind usually don't struggle with anger, jealousy and selfishness. If you have self control you will probably not get caught up in sexual immorality and drunkenness.

These Spiritual things counteract our sinful natures and desires. If we pursue, with Christ, these fruits of the Spirit then we can, through the Grace we have in Jesus, be made righteous and holy. Sin is still here, but through the Grace of God we have in Christ Jesus our Lord we can overcome it.