Unyoked

Galatians 5

Let me ask you this, “What do you think about when you think about God?” Do you see Him as a scorekeeper in heaven? Do you think He’s up there making a mark every time you do good or making a mark every time you do something bad? Do you see Him as a grandpa sitting on His rocking chair just rocking the time away? Do you think He’s not really all that concerned with your life; He started everything and just let it go? Or do you see Him as a big question mark; maybe you’re not really sure if He exists?

How does our view of God practically affect us today? In Galatians five I think you will see that the Galatians were teetering on a wrong view of God and the false teachers had totally gotten it wrong. Do we believe that God has the ability to set us free? Do we believe that He even wants us to be free? Let’s take a look at this chapter.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

The Christians in Galatia had already been set free by Christ. God was commanding them to do two things: stand firm and to not let themselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. It wouldn’t make any sense for a prisoner to walk back into the cell and close the door when he was a free man.

What is the “yoke of slavery” talked about in this passage? I believe it was the teaching that we can be justified by observing the law. The Judaizers (or Pharisees) were trying to convince Christians in Galatia that they had to obey the Law in order to be saved (or justified). I believe this because in Galatians 1:7 Paul says, “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” In Galatians 2:15-16 Paul says, “We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” The subject in these two verses is justification. This is the once-and-for-all act of God in declaring the sinner not-guilty, therefore, free from the penalty of any sin. Later on in chapter three of Galatians this point is brought up again, “Clearly no one is justified before God by the law...” (Galatians 3:11). And as we’ll see later on in chapter 5, “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” (Galatians 5:4).

A yoke was a device that farmers would use to bind two oxen together. From the Old Testament to the New Testament it’s often used as a symbol of bondage or slavery.

“Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:2-6

I think that this passage deals heavily with our misunderstanding of God and His graciousness. God loves to give. In Isaiah 30:18 it says, “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion.” Jesus said, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45) God gives good things to those who seem to deserve it and to those who don’t deserve it at all.

So, if I believe that the physical act of circumcision or any other outward act of obedience will earn God’s favor then I must believe that God needs something from me. It’s like going to a pawn shop to sell one of your possessions. If you or I believe that the owner is in need of our item then we have room to negotiate. That’s what gives someone leverage in a negotiation. If I have something that someone wants or needs then I’m able to get something that I want, money. But if the other person has no need for what I have then I lose the leverage. God doesn’t need anything we have. Paul says, “if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.” (Galatians 5:2) In other words, if we bring attention to Christ, His grace and the cross then we are saying that we’re spiritually bankrupt and have nothing to negotiate with. Christ is all. That’s it. Nothing else. If our obedience to the law could earn our forgiveness then why did Jesus have to die on the cross to pay for our sin?

Paul goes on to say, “Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” (Galatians 5:3-4) The New King James Version translates verse three as, “And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.” A debtor is someone who is under pressure to pay back what he or she has borrowed. So, in opposition to the views of the false teachers, God doesn’t want to deal with us in that way. He wants to relate to us on the basis of a free gift, not works.

In verses five and six in essence Paul is saying, “What do you think God values the most? Some would say that paying back all your debts through outward rituals is what pleases God. Others would say that avoiding outward rituals is what pleases God. But the truth is that God values neither one over the other. He values love: “But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:5-6. I will talk a little bit more about this idea in a moment. Let’s move on to Galatians 5:7-12.

“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” Galatians 5:7-12

Zombies are a huge craze among people today. There are movies about zombies, clothes with zombies on them, pens with pictures of zombies. Recently, I heard of a zombie marathon in Laguna Province in the Philippines. One reporter said this,

 “In the Philippines, running a marathon isn’t just about getting from start to finish. It’s also about avoiding shambling hordes of flesh-eating zombies.

 In Laguna Province, 5,000 runners recently ran a three-mile survival course that included 200 actors dressed as post-apocalyptic zombies. The undead hid behind trees, bushes and hills and attempted to “eat” runners by stealing flags attached to their waists.

 According to organizers, the stunt was meant to help runners stay focused and dispense with the boredom that can plague long-distance runs. Mission accomplished, we say. Killer zombies definitely aren’t boring.”

These marathon runners would be “running a good race” until someone cut in on them to try to keep them from getting to the finish line. It was the same way with the Judaizers that “cut in” on the Galatian Christians trying to steer them off course. These false teachers were doing more than adding a few extra laws to the mix. They were presenting a totally wrong view of God. That was the underlying problem. Their teachings portrayed God as being needy and ungracious. We know that circumcision or uncircumcision wasn’t the root issue because in Acts 16:3 Paul had Timothy circumcised probably to improve their witness to the Jewish people. In Galatians 2:3 Paul says, “Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.”

“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Galatians 5:13-15

A judge doesn’t let someone out of prison to give the prisoner more chances to steal and murder. There’s a lot of freedom we have as Christians but we have to evaluate our choices by one question. Am I doing this out of love? We’re not set free in order to do whatever we want. We’re set free in order to love. It’s hard to love someone when you’re in a prison. You’re confined to four walls 24 hours a day. Love is also the way to fulfill the requirements of the law. The Ten Commandments say don’t murder, don’t steal and don’t lie. I can’t love someone and murder them or steal from them or lie to them. And that moves me to the next question. How can I love someone and not indulge in the sinful nature?

“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 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 do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” Galatians 5:16-18

The answer to loving people and not indulging in the flesh is to “live by the Spirit” or “walk by the Spirit” as it says in the ESV. This is an amazing promise. Over the years I’ve heard people ask the question, “Is it possible for me to avoid sin for an entire day or an entire hour or an entire minute?” The answer is “yes”. If we “live by the Spirit” we “will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” I think it’s an inaccurate statement to say, “We cannot avoid sin.” But I also think it’s an inaccurate statement to say, “We can always avoid sin.” To say that “we cannot avoid sin” is to say that the promise in Galatians 5:16 is not true. To say that “we can always avoid sin” is to say that the theological principle in Galatians 5:17 is not true when Paul says that the Spirit and the sinful nature “are in conflict with each other.” We don’t have to sin, and yet, there is a battle between sinning and not sinning. The passage doesn’t say that if we live by the Spirit the sinful nature ceases to exist. If we get caught up in the issue if we’re sinning or not sinning then I think we’ve missed the main point of Galatians 5:16-18 which is, “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” It’s impossible to know every sin that we’ve committed at every moment of the day. It will drive you crazy to think about that.

Let me ask you this. When you became a Christian did you confess every single sin you’ve ever committed plus confess every single sin that you were going to commit? Of course not. Even though we didn’t see all of our sins cast upon Jesus when He was punished on the cross, we do accept it by faith. We don’t accept it because we saw it. We accept it because we trust that God is telling us the truth. It’s true that we need to repent in order to be saved. But repentance is not cleaning ourselves up or beating up ourselves. It’s a once-and-for-all act believing what God says about us. We need to confess that we are sinners with no power to negotiate. We no longer see Jesus as something to add to our list of things to do. We see, as Paul says in Galatians 5:2, that Jesus’ sacrifice is valued above all other means of salvation. His sacrifice was sufficient to forgive every single sin whether you know a particular action was sinful or not. That’s the grace of God. He doesn’t pour out forgiveness with a tea cup from time to time but places us under a tsunami of forgiveness covering and washing away the sins you are aware of and the sins you’re not aware of.

True Biblical freedom is being able to fulfill the demands of the law through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is explained in Romans 8:3-4, “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” The Spirit has the power to do what the law cannot do. Think about this illustration.

We institutionalize someone who is insane because they hurt themselves or they hurt others. They don’t have the internal restraint to avoid committing crimes. So, what do we do? We put them in an asylum. We box them in on all four sides and don’t let them out. We restrain them with external restraints. And sometimes they’re restrained with a jacket or with medicine. This is like the person who is trying to restrain themselves with the law. The walls, the jacket and the medicine don’t produce any desire within them. It just restrains them. This person in imprisoned. But the person who becomes a Christian is set free. The Holy Spirit gives that person the internal ability to be restrained. They can walk out of the prison a free man or free woman. He or she still lives within the bounds of the law but they do it outside the confines of the prison walls.

The law of God never produced relationship. Adam had a relationship with God before the law was given. Abraham was considered a “friend of God” before the law was given. Recently, we’ve been going through a series on Law and Grace. Carl gave an overview of Exodus through Deuteronomy. Then we started learning about law and grace in the book of Galatians. In Exodus 20 God gave the Ten Commandments. Do you know what the first words out of God’s mouth were in that chapter? This is before He gave all the rules. He said, “I am the LORD your God...” (Exodus 20:1) He didn’t say, “I will be the LORD your God when you obey these rules...” He said, “I am the LORD your God...” The relationship came first, the rules came second. According to Romans 4:13, “It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.”

Think of it this way. When we lived in Wilmington we had a fenced-in backyard. Our dog, Cletus, could roam freely. The fence didn’t create our relationship with our dog. That happened when we purchased him from the dog pound and adopted him into our family. But he got out of the fence many times. He’s an incredibly smart dog. I tried to impede his bad habit. My first effort to keep him inside the fence was to place a hook screw in the latch. This would keep him from pushing the latch up with his nose. But he still got out. Next, I would add another layer of strategic defense by closing the gates with a bungee cord. He ate through the cord and got out again. Next, I wrapped a chain between the two gates, plus another bungee cord and the hook screw. I finally had him trapped! When little Houdini escaped from our backyard he didn’t cease to become our dog. Matter of fact, we went in search for him. But lucky for us he would only go to the neighbor’s yard or be taking a nap on our front porch waiting for us to come home. In the same way, when the people of Israel broke the law they didn’t cease to belong to God. After all, the law didn’t come until after the relationship was started. In Deuteronomy 7:6-8 Moses reiterates this point,

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.  The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh King of Egypt.”

Even in Deuteronomy we see that God is gracious because He is gracious. His choice of the people of Israel was not based on their performance to keep the law. In other words, their ability to keep the law didn’t make them worthy of a relationship with God.

John MacArthur says, “You know what Christian liberty is? It’s the freedom to follow the leading of the Spirit in my life independent of any external controls. The rules haven’t changed. God’s morality hasn’t changed, but I’m not confined by it externally. It’s produced internally through the Holy Spirit.” (Fallen from Grace, Part 1). Again this is a misunderstanding of God’s nature. Do we really believe that the Holy Spirit is able to produce a changed life in a fellow Christian or in us for that matter? That leads me to my next thought. How can we know that we have been justified and that the Holy Spirit has set us free?

“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. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21

This first section shows us what is produced by the flesh. I don’t think it’s an exhaustive list but you get the point. These are the characteristics of someone who hasn’t been set free. On the other hand, Galatians 5:22-26 show the fruit of the Spirit.

When I got the assignment to teach on Galatians 5 I knew it would be difficult. I immediately began to think about the list of things that the flesh produces and I thought about myself. I remember times that I had selfish ambition among other missionaries. I also thought about the times that I’ve been angry with Sarah or Miriam. I’ve envied other people’s ministries. During our first summer missionary project to Wilmington I was struggling with loving people. It felt like I had lost my desire to love others. I was doing good work but feeling like I was losing my concern for people. I brought it up to some of the guys I was discipling and to a couple pastors who were in my life. I received good instruction and good encouragement from those guys. But I think the biggest help came a little later. I realized that I was waiting for love to happen in my life. I wasn’t taking the effort to make sacrifices for others. After all, Jesus did say that the greatest love we can have for one another is to lay down our lives (John 15:13). I was waiting for others to initiate with me rather than initiate with others. In those moments when I decided to love I experienced the power of the Spirit to help me love. As I trusted God by obedience He rewarded me with help.

The thing that was encouraging to me was to know that Jesus has lived the perfect life. And He’s offering to live His life in me, an imperfect person.

“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. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Galatians 5:22-26

I grew up on an apple farm. Someone once told me that there are over 10,000 cultivars of apples in the world. What’s the best way to tell them apart? Look at their fruit. In the spring, before apples started growing my grandpa could tell the difference between the trees just by looking at the leaves. But most people don’t have that ability. I have to wait until the fall in order to see what kind of apple tree it is. I don’t think God needs to see the fruit in order to know if we’re justified or not. But the fruit does show whether we’re under the law or in the Spirit.

And this is where Paul ends his explanation about our new freedom: by talking about the Holy Spirit. What does Galatians 5 say about the Spirit? Number one, he mentions the word “Spirit” eight times in this one chapter. In 2 Corinthians 3:17 Paul emphasizes the importance of the work of the Spirit in our freedom by saying, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Number two, since God gave us the Holy Spirit when we believed the gospel we know that He will finish what He started in us. He says that “by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.” In other words, we are not all that we hope for or all that God hopes for but the Spirit gives us hope that we will be. In Philippians 1:6 we see that, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” 

Number three, if we live by the Spirit we won’t carry out the desires of the sinful nature. Justification is the once-for-all judicial act of God declaring us to be innocent. Sanctification is the ongoing process of becoming holy (or more like Christ). Justification is by grace and sanctification is by grace. In Galatians 3:2-3 Paul asks, “I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” This doesn’t mean that we have no part in our spiritual growth. We do need to walk by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is setting the pace in a march or leading out in a dance. According to Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5 we can walk in the Spirit if we fill ourselves with God’s word.

Number four, walking in the Spirit is a process of learning. In Galatians 5:25 we see that we are commanded to “keep in step with the Spirit”. J. Vernon McGee says of this word “walk”, “A professor in a theological seminary called my attention to the word walk in this verse several years ago, and it has meant a great deal to me. As you recall, back in verse 16 a ‘walk in the Spirit’ is parapateo, but here ‘walk’ is a different Greek word. It is stoichomen, which is basic and elemental, meaning ‘to proceed or step in order.’ In verse 16 we were given the principle of walk; here in verse 25 it means to learn to walk. Just as we learned to walk physically by the trial and error method, so are we to begin to walk by the Spirit--it is a learning process.” (McGee, Thru the Bible. Vol. V. Page 192.) How did my daughter, Sarah, learn to walk? Did I give her a book with detailed pictures and verbose explanations? “You see, Sarah. You just do this and this and this. Got it?” At this point she would laugh and begin to gnaw on the book with her two teeth. It doesn’t make sense. She learned as she stood up and held onto the couch. She would take one step then fall over. She would get up and try again. Then fall over. This would be repeated for months until she learned how to walk.

I could share a few things that would help in learning how to be filled with the Spirit. Like I mentioned earlier, filling our minds and hearts with God’s word is part of the answer. But Galatians 5 doesn’t go into many details on how to walk with the Spirit. But one thing we do know from this passage, it takes practice. It’s not a spectator sport. You can’t become an Olympian by watching the Olympics on TV. Some of the greatest athletes in the world have fallen down numerous times before they got it right.

So, what do you think about now when you think about God? Has your view of God grown? Are you more confident that He is gracious? Do you believe that outward physical obedience isn’t the real issue to God? Do you see what the role of the Holy Spirit is in your life?