Flesh
Or Spirit
“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 5:16-18,
Not long ago, we talked, at length,
about abiding in Jesus and bearing fruit. The need for
discussing the fruit is imperative. First, we must discuss the
choice. We must choose to walk by the Spirit. We must
choose to reject the works of the flesh. The Spirit of God
calls us to follow. True fruit will appear only as we follow
Him.
There
are as many formulas for telling whether a person is a Christian as
there are denominations of Christianity. I say this to our
shame because it is so clear in Scripture. Ministering to those
no one else wants to reach out to, we run into what I call “wake
up calls” quite often. This Sunday, after we gave short
service, one who was drunk the night before came to us for prayer.
He wanted God to touch an old back injury. As we talked to him,
we tried to convince him to find a church that teaches the Word of
God. His response was both definitive and abrupt, “No!
I won’t go to a church! There’s nothing but
hypocrites in there!” I suppose we could have said, “Oh
well, if you don’t want to go to God’s house, we can’t
help you.” and left. We have no idea what kind of event
caused this man to think this way, though. It could be an
excuse, not wanting to give up drinking. It could have been
experiences that drove him to drink. Since I don’t know
this man’s heart, unless God reveals it to me, I didn’t
think I had the right to judge his motives for drinking.
Instead, I asked if he knew Jesus. He said, “Yes, I do.”
Somehow, I believe he had given his life to Christ at one time, but
just to be sure he understood what I was asking, I explained how I
received Jesus. Then we prayed for healing, both spiritual and
physical. I want to see him restored.
Actually,
we run into scenarios similar to this quite frequently. The
last rally I went to last year, I had several individuals who said
something similar. One who sticks in my mind said, “You’ll
never catch me in a church, preacher, but please keep me in your
prayers. I need it.” Some, the Lord reveals to me
are just a show and they’re playing a game. Others, I
almost cry over, on the spot. Why? Because I know from
experience how often we Christians claim to have all the answers, and
yet don’t display even the basic fruits of the
Spirit.
Hopefully, in the next few devotionals, we
will cover the works of the flesh, in an overview and the Fruit of
the Spirit in detail. There is much to reflect on, especially
regarding the fruit of the Spirit. For now, let us remember and
dwell on the fact of Galatians 5:16, “If we walk by the Spirit,
we will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
The
Works of the Flesh
“Now
the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20
Idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions,
heresies, 21
Envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell
you before, as I have also told you
in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the
kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21 (KJV)
As
I said, we have as many definitions of being a Christian as we do
denominations. The usual range of beliefs range from “once
you accept Jesus, you can do anything, as long as you ask Him to
forgive you” to “you can’t be a Christian if you
smoke, drink or cuss.” Some of us think we are safe if we
don’t judge anybody, quoting the verse that says if we judge
not, we should not be judged. Others think we should live in
constant fear, being deathly afraid of making a mistake, of being
struck by lightening and sent to hell.
The bad part is that
most of us don’t remember all the details. If we stand on
this Scripture and condemn the drunk, we feel a twinge of
self-righteous pride because we don’t sleep with our neighbor.
All the while, we excuse our outbursts of anger because we were just
born with a hot temper. Likewise, another will condemn a
sorcerer, conveniently forgetting the division they created in their
church. Another will condemn someone for drinking a beer, all
the while, hating someone else’s guts and living in their
bitterness. Why do we make our own rules and look down on
someone else, all the while, conveniently forgetting our own
failings? Could it be an element of self-justification?
Can we expect God to interpret Scripture the way we figure He should
have meant it? Can we look at this list of descriptive words
and pick out adultery, idolatry and witchcraft as bad and excuse the
hatred, anger and envy? God forbid. Those who practice
any of the above will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The Lord
once told me to go talk to a man, who just walked out of a chapel.
What followed, I’ll never forget. In the middle of the
conversation, with no relevance, whatsoever, to what we were talking
about, he blurted out, “Oh, I admit. I pick out the
Scriptures I like and just don’t pay attention to the rest.”
I looked him in the eye and told him, “You can’t do
that! It’s either all the Word of God or throw it all
away!” It’s a true statement and I stand by it to
this day. What in the world are we going to do, though? I
know a lot of people who have never practiced witchcraft or adultery
or murder and don’t expect those who practice such to inherit
God’s kingdom. What about those who get jealous, argue
with someone or the one with a hot temper? According to this
Scripture, aren’t they in the same group, not inheriting the
kingdom of God? One thing all these things have in common is
self. Whether satisfying a sexual urge, seeking power in
witchcraft, or living in anger, it is all self-satisfying.
But,
it’s normal to hate someone who has done something you
despise. It’s normal to get angry at someone who has hurt
you emotionally or physically. It’s normal to envy
someone because they have something you don’t have…and
want. Yes, it’s normal. It’s the flesh.
It is the reason we must die to the flesh and live to Christ.
The key is in verse 21. “… those who practice
such…” We aren’t talking about a mistake
here. We aren’t talking about someone having a bad day.
This is talking about those choosing to live in that bad day.
If we choose to walk by the Spirit, the very fruit of the Spirit will
overpower the works of the flesh. We have that promise!
If any should have a bad day or find ourselves in any of the sins
listed here, it is our choice. Let us choose to come to Jesus,
walk away from that sin and stand on the promise that if we walk by
the Spirit, we will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Let
us choose to walk by the Spirit.
Deeds
or Fruit
Galatians
5:19, 22 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are
these;
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 22 But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace . . . . KJV
Looking
at this passage, the usage of words caught my attention. When
talking about the works of the flesh, Paul uses the “ergon”,
which is translated as “works” in the KJV and as “deeds”
in the NASB. When he talks about the Sprit, though, he doesn’t
use the word “ergon”, he uses the word “karpos.”
In translation, he doesn’t say the “works of the Spirit”,
he say the “fruit of the spirit.” Why?
When
I looked up the actual translations of the words, it was no real
surprise. The Lord had already ministered to me that works are
something one does. Fruit, on the other hand, grows.
Let’s look at the definitions, as rendered by Strong’s
Concordance and Thayer’s definitions.
works -
ergon
From hñãù
ergoô
(a primary but obsolete word; to work);
toil
(as an effort or occupation); by implication an act:—deed,
doing, labour, work.
fruit - karpos
Probably from the base of G726; fruit
(as plucked),
literally or figuratively:— fruit.
As
we think and pray about the Holy Spirit’s choice of words in
these passages, it just becomes so clear. As a carpenter works,
he measures, he saws and he hammers. He also levels, sands,
primes and paints. The end result may be a house, but all the
things he does are part of the work he does as he sees the end
result. So it is with the flesh. There are many deeds or
works of the flesh, but the end result is separation from God.
Adultery is an act that is done. Idolatry is something that is
done. Strife, anger, dissentions, drunkenness: they are all
part of the work aiming toward an end. As we are told in
Galatians 5:17, the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit.
The flesh works, toils and labors against the Spirit of God in us as
if it were a dedicated worker. If we allow ourselves to be led
by what we feel and what seems right to us, as the world teaches us,
we allow the flesh to do its work and divide us from the very Spirit
of God who we strive to follow. Is it any surprise that we
progress from bad to worse when we follow our heart? It
shouldn’t be. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is
more deceitful than all else. No, we need to put a bridle on
our desires and, instead of justifying our actions, let the Spirit
who dwells in us to take control. Like I said before, it is a
choice.
When speaking of the Spirit, on the other hand, works
is not used. Instead, the word fruit is used. Fruit
doesn’t infer an action and it doesn’t infer toil.
Nor does it infer labor or work. If the branch stays on the
vine, fruit simply grows. Jesus even tells us that the
caretaker of the vine, our Father, even takes care of the branches,
pruning or cleaning them as He wills. But we live in a society
that demands that we DO something. We can feed ourselves the
Words of Christ, for the Word of God says that His words will abide
in us. We can find that quiet place and seek the Presence of
God for the Word of God says “I will be found by those who seek
Me with all their heart.” We can choose to resist the
devil, who uses our flesh to temp us, for the Word of God says that
he will flee from us when we do. We can choose to walk with
God, for the Word of God says that if we do, we will not carry out
the desire of the flesh.
As we make these choices, the
fruit simply grows.
Choice
Fruit
Galatians
5:22, 23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law. KJV
In
contrast to the works or deeds of the flesh, Paul uses a singular
form of the word fruit. It’s just a thought, but one
person may be given to anger, while another lets lust rule him,
leading to adultery. One could practice sorcery while another
loves to argue. Each individual vice is a work and each will
lead us away from God. Fruit, however, is singular, leading me
to think of all these items as attributes or characteristics of one
type of fruit. If the branch takes on the nature of the vine,
then it would make sense that abiding in Christ, in the same manner,
would result in us taking on the attributes or the nature of Christ.
Just as a natural fruit has many phases and changes as it grows, so
it is with the fruit of the Spirit. All the attributes are
ours, but some may not be so obvious, yet. A red delicious
apple is green and doesn’t taste too good, when it is
immature. When it grows, though, and ripens, it is both red and
delicious. In the same way, as we grow and walk with Jesus, the
attributes of this fruit becomes more obvious.
The first
characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit is love. Many of us
are familiar with the Greek words translated “love” in
the New Testament, phileo and agape. Paul doesn’t use
“phileo” here. If he did, he would be depicting a
tender affection and it would be a type of love common in coffee
clutches, fellowship circles or even strong friendships. It
would be a kind of humanitarian type of love. One could walk in
idolatry and have a “phileo” type love for his fellow
idol worshippers. Have you ever seen a “happy drunk?”
He or she just loves everybody. He has all kinds of friends and
he’s not usually too obnoxious. He’s usually fun to
be around until he makes a pass at your wife, which he probably won’t
remember, since he’s too drunk to know what he is doing.
This phileo type of love would be common in a number of humanitarian
causes. This phileo type of love isn’t bad, mind you.
It is good to have friendships and a “brotherly” love for
those around you. All I’m saying is that you can have
this type of love and still be unsaved and walking in the
flesh.
Here in Galatians 5:22, Paul uses agape, the same word
that John uses in 1 John 4:8, when he says God is Love. In
fact, the whole verse reads, “The one who does not love, does
not know God, for God is love.” In verse 16 of the same
chapter, we are again told that God is love and that if we abide in
this agape type of love, we abide in God and God abides in us.
In the next verse, we are told that this love gives us confidence in
the day of judgment. In 1 John 4:18, we are told that there is
no fear in this type of love, but perfect love casts out fear.
We are also told that the one who fears is not perfected in love.
The word John uses for perfect means complete or mature and infers
growth. When this love is mature, there is no room for fear.
This Godly love just casts all fear out. This is the kind of
love that it took Paul all of 1 Corinthians 13 to describe.
This kind of love is the attitude that God has toward His Son,
described by Jesus in John 17. It is also the kind of love that
“God so loved the world” with in John 3:16. This is
a Godly love.
It is appropriate that this kind of love is
listed first in the fruit of the Spirit. As this fruit of the
Spirit grows and matures in us, it is this kind of love that will be
the dominant characteristic of the new creature we are in Christ.
When Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that
you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” He
spoke of this type of love, agape love that grows in us as we walk in
the Presence of the King of kings.
This
Joy is For You
Galatians
5:22, 23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law. KJV
Although
many confuse them and/or lump them together, the Fruit or the Spirit
is not like the Gifts of the Spirit. The gifts are individual
empowerments given to individuals for the good of the entire Body of
Christ. One may receive one gift, while another receives an
entirely different gift. If nothing else, I believe God chose
to divide up the gifts “severally as He wills” so that we
would need each other. In that regard, at least, we are all
different. The fruit, like we saw yesterday, is singular.
If you have the Spirit within you, these characteristics are there
also. This fruit is what the Spirit produces. All these
characteristics are yours, in Christ.
As we walk in Christ and
choose to walk by the Spirit, these attributes grow. It starts
with love, that Godly love. In Revelation 2:1-5, Jesus is
talking to the Church at Ephesus and names all the good things that
they are doing. They were doing a lot for the kingdom of God.
They were exposing false apostles, not putting up with evil, and
labored for Christ. They even had great patience
(longsuffering) and had not fainted. Still, with all that,
Jesus says in verse 4, “But I have this against you, that you
have left your first love.” The word for love?
Agape! Interesting! Does Jesus commend them for growing
mature? No, He chastises them and tells them to remember from
where they had fallen. He tells them to do the works they did
in the beginning. He tells them to repent. That’s
pretty harsh words for a body of believers who are doing great things
isn’t it? Not really. That first love is what kept
them in touch with God. That first love was their safeguard
against religion. They could have still done all the things
they were commended for, but all the good deeds in the world are
nothing without love.
Holding fast to love, as we walk with
Christ, all the other traits of this fruit grow, including the love,
itself. As we grow in Christ, this fruit ripens and everything
listed in these two verses blossoms. Joy that we couldn’t
explain before becomes joy, unspeakable at a much deeper level.
Peace becomes peace that passes all understanding.
Patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control all grow and mature. This fruit, if we allow it to
grow in us, will make those around us hungry, hungry for that which
only God can give.
The only thing we can do to stop this
fruit from growing is to cling to the works of the flesh. We
don’t have to cling to anything like fornication or murder.
We could cling to anger. We could even doctor up our rebellion
and instead of arguing, just to argue, we could argue about
Scripture, just to be ornery. That way we could “look
good” while we cling to our fleshly nature. It would also
accomplish the task of putting on a show of godliness while we miss
everything the Lord wanted to bless us with. Could this be how
many look real good on the outside, but are empty inside? God
forbid that we do such a thing!!!
Galatians 5:24 tells us,
“Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires.” We put to death the deeds
of the flesh so the fruit of the Spirit can grow without being
choked. Are we lacking in faith, in kindness, in self-control
or any of these traits? Let’s put a sentence of death on
the works of the flesh and walk by the Spirit. The fruit will
grow.