Bible Text: Galatians | “Called to Freedom” Galatians 5:13-26

Introduction:  What freedom means and why it is so hard to protect and maintain

Saddam’s vacuum, Egypt’s sniff of Arab Spring, immigration fences and wiretaps

I.        Called to Freedom

A.     (v13) “You were called to freedom [from the Law]”

1.      “Do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge the flesh”

2.      Use your freedom to “through love serve one another.”

B.     Jesus (and Paul) spent much time attacking the sin of the self-righteous and comforting sinners.

1.      (v15) “If you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”

2.      (v26) “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

II.       The Works of the Flesh

A.     (v19) Paul begins by listing sex sins: “porneia, akatharsia (viciousness), aselgeia (lewdness)”

1.      Big problem then and now with rape, affairs, pornography, and “friends with benefits”.

2.      Tough to define the terms without biasing to either justify ourselves or condemn others.

B.     (v20) “idolatry (isms), pharmakeia (sorcery/witchcraft/drug abuse)”—It’s about control and power

C.     (v20-21) “strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy” –About lost power

1.      Strange when these sins are on display in the groups protesting against the sex sins.

2.      How can we not be accused of rivalries and envy as we launch competing ministries, attack and condemn fellow Christians, and strain out gnats of questionable theology?

3.      “Those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

III.      The Fruit of the Spirit

A.     (v24) “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

1.      Christ does deliver us from works of the flesh, an often long battle that includes wounds

2.      How one engages the battle is critical to the church and troops who fight beside us

B.     The fruits of the Spirit are prescriptions to fight the flesh

1.      Against works listed in II.A employ love, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control

2.      Against works listed in II.B employ joy, peace, and patience

3.      Against works listed in II.C employ ten minutes submerged in a baptismal tank.

Conclusion:   Psalm 15:1-2, “Lord, who may live on your holy mountain?  The one whose walk is blameless.”

(v25) “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the spirit.”  Only then will we be free.