September 21 - Galatians 6:1-18 - Can You Give Me an Example?

Some people are more abstract in their thinking and speech than others. I lean in that direction. I have been using my writing to learn to add more details to my broad strokes. Like yesterday, when I started to describe my dream. At first I had written something about “enjoying the sights, smells and sounds of the neighborhood.” Then, thankfully, my smarts kicked in and corrected, “Don’t tell them you saw; tell them what you saw. Don’t tell them you smelled; describe it so they can almost smell it, too.” My wife uses the question, “Can you give me an example” a lot in our conversations. She helps me to be more concrete, more practical. She helps me throw a lasso around my nebulous ideas and drag them down to earth.

Paul’s smarts are always kicked in. He regularly follows up a discussion where he establishes a principle with a section of examples to flesh it out. I’m looking at today’s text as a continuation of his exhortation to live by the Spirit. ‘OK Paul, I should live by the Spirit and then the fruit of that will be love, joy, peace, etc. But, can you give me some examples of what that would actually look like?’ Paul anticipated that question and gave us seven examples of what a life of fruitful Spiritual living looks like.

The fruit of the Spirit shows up in gently restoring a person who has sinned. I heard a person say that they were sinned against, so now they are ignoring that person to pay them back for the hurt. “How long have you been giving that person the cold shoulder?” “Twenty years.” “And who is that person?” “My brother.” “Twenty years!? Your own flesh and blood?!” How crazy is it that we would punish a loved one for decades rather than gently restore the relationship? But that’s what happens when we’re not living by the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit shows up in carrying each other’s burdens. Paul calls this the law of Christ; which is the law of love. Love cares. Love asks, “How can I help you?” If everyone carries their own burden, then the ratio is one set of hands for each heavy load. But if we bear each others’ burdens, there will be many hands; the weight is divided and lightened. We learn about each other and learn to trust each other in the process. That’s what living in the Spirit does.

The fruit of the Spirit shows up in each one carrying his own load. On the face of it, this seems a contradiction to what Paul has just said about sharing. But the distinction is this – we should care about others to lighten their load, but we must always be responsible for our own actions. I can’t roll my responsibilities off onto somebody else’s back. Others may be responsive to your needs, but they are not to be responsible for your actions. Own your own stuff. Blaming and comparisons for justification are not fruit of the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit shows up in being generous to your Bible teachers! I like this one a lot since I do instruct others in the Word. There is a rich deposit in Scripture, and those who can mine it and deliver it to others have done a valuable service. They have shared a very good thing with you. Share good things with them. That’s what living in the Spirit does.

The fruit of the Spirit shows up in sowing to the Spirit. The principle is unarguable; you sow corn seed, you get corn stalks. You sow apple seed, you get apple trees. You sow to the flesh, or the sin nature, you get the fruit of the flesh, which is destruction. You sow to the Spirit, you get the fruit of the Spirit, which is abundant life. Maybe this one still needs a concrete example. You sow to the Spirit with the seed of God’s presence. Worship Him. Pray. Study His Word. Absorb the beauty of nature. Enjoy the fellowship of believers. Seek and listen to every form of God speaking to you. Watch your spirit come alive!

The fruit of the Spirit shows up in taking every opportunity to be good to everyone. The sin nature thrives on strategic manipulation. The “good-for-nothing” is always good FOR something. Ulterior motives and discrimination rule the ‘good manners’ of fleshly people. Those who live by the Spirit are good because it is good to be good. They are good to anyone they have a chance to be good to. God is good to all, and those who walk in His Spirit are like Him. Who do you treat well and who do you treat less well? Why? Are you weary of doing well? The Spirit will revive you again.

Finally, the fruit of the Spirit shows up in boasting only in the cross of Jesus Christ. If we reconcile those who sin against us and lighten others’ loads, and accept our own responsibilities and share generously with our teachers, and practice the presence of God and do good to all kinds of people … and then brag about … we puncture and let the air out of all those beautiful balloons. There is no boasting in the life of the Spirit; there is only boasting in Christ. What HE has done is noteworthy, praiseworthy, not what I have done. You know you’re living in the Spirit when the one you really want to talk about is Jesus.

Pray: Holy Spirit, press the truths and principles of the Word deeply into my mind and heart, and also into my hands and feet. Help me to know how to do your Word and not just know it. Help me to understand the practical daily applications of Your noble concepts. Make my life a fruitful, Spiritual life.

September 20 - Galatians 5:12-26 - The Church of the Chattering Teeth

It was a dream. I’m walking through a neighborhood, blessed by the cherry-lined lane, the bouquet of barbecuing beef and the giggle-shouts of “Marco! Polo!” The residential lawns give way to Main Street, and then beyond the Mom ’n Pop stores rises a wrought iron fence. Chips of black enamel flake off the finials and settle at the foot of adjacent tombstones. Rusty hinges scream at me as the gate twists open, daring me to ascend the churchyard steps. With each step something changes. Children, now crying, are silenced at the sound of backdoor sliders slamming. The only aroma lingering is the vague scent of decay. And all the trees have gone to box elder.

I stare at the door handle of a poorly maintained church. A new sound fades in, slowly. High pitched tapping; rapid-fire tapping; castanets out of control? I jerk open the door. All across the vestibule and down the aisle, on the pews, the platform and the pulpit, two feet deep, are sets of chattering teeth. The rancid smell is repulsive now. The trees lose their balance, bursting against the window glass. Shards and twigs get sucked into the vacuum of the sanctuary. The children are crying again. It wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare.

I have to wonder if this bizarre visual doesn’t have some actual form of existence. Especially in light of what Paul says in today’s text. “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Isn’t that what it would look like? If everyone in the church kept taking big chunks out of each other; unabated soul cannibalism? In the end there’d be nothing left but the teeth, chattering away out of muscle memory; a snapping, writhing reminder of what happens if we live lovelessly and out of our sin nature.

Glean three instructions from this passage: serve one another, love one another, live by the Spirit. (Much easier said than done.) The natural desires in us are at odds with the desires of God’s Spirit in us. Both are struggling for the leadership of our soul. The natural is the sinful self and so sin comes naturally. Unchecked, the desires of the natural lead us into all sorts of destructive behaviors. Listing them is a breeze. Paul says, they are “obvious.” And by them, we rip at each other and wound and destroy each other.

The better way to live is the harder way to live.  It’s not natural; it’s supernatural. It’s Spirit led. But the supernatural self produces far better outcomes for everyone involved. In the natural, one gains while all others lose. And in the end, even the gains are hollow. In the supernatural, everybody gains, and the rewards are eternal.

In some ways, this is the test of the true child of God. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature …” Those who persist in sin as a natural way of life have no inheritance with the children of God. So, are you pursuing a life overflowing with the fruit of the Spirit and encouraging others to do the same? Or are you excusing your bad behavior as the natural, normal way of things, and in the process eating and being eaten alive?

Christian, live by the Spirit. Be led by the Spirit. Keep in step with the Spirit. Serve one another in love.

Pray: Holy Spirit, come alive in me and put to death my natural, sinful self.  Let me be consumed by You, before I start consuming everybody else around me. Fill us. Lead us. May we yield to You to make our churches orchards of abundant fruit. Elsewise, we will make them mass graves of chattering teeth.