We seem to want to complicate Christianity by adding rules to “prove” we are a follower of our Lord. In Galatians, Paul was explaining to the believers there that following rules and keeping rituals do not make you a follower of Jesus. They make you a follower of rules. To follow Jesus, we must follow the Spirit. Paul wrote in Galatians 5:16, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh”.
In John Chapter 3, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh (normal human birth), but the Spirit gives birth to spirit (life lead by the Spirit). 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.”
Born Again means giving up the “Driver’s Seat,” or control of our lives journey, and being totally surrendered to the leading of the Holy Spirit is what we are called to do. Verses 22 and 23 say, “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” The Fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of Tom. I must let the Spirit be in control of the journey.
Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross covered all sin for all time. What makes someone a Christian, a child of God, is to accept that the Father made a way to fellowship with Him through Jesus’ sacrifice and then allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives by surrendering to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Our culture does not use the word lord. A lord has total control. It is not just a respectful title.
Paul wrote to the Galatians in 5:16-26-
“16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. 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 flesh 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, forbearance, 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 flesh with its passions and desires (selfish desires are surrendered). 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.”
Paul uses the word flesh. We would use the word self-centered. The root of all sin is being self-focused. If my thought pattern is “me first,” what pleases me, what makes me happy without regard for others, my actions will become sinful. If my focus is others first, and I let the Holy Spirit guide my thoughts and actions, the result is the Fruit of the Spirit. “Against such things there is no law.”
So that makes me ask the question, who is in the driver’s seat of my life? My natural desires, Paul calls “the flesh,” will typically become self-focused. In the list above called the “acts of the flesh” there are things we all probably would say we would never do. But what about “ hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy”? Do I ever act like that?
Look again at the Fruit of the Spirit. The first thing I noticed is it is not plural “fruits,” but singular “fruit.” It is not a list of things I try to do to become a better person. It is how I act and think when the Spirit is in control of my life. That makes me think of the Parable of the Sower and the four soils.
In Matthew 13:18-23 Jesus gave His disciples the meaning to this Parable.
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the Sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
The acts of the flesh are in the first three soils. I can hear the Word but living by the flesh (self-centeredness) and not being surrendered to the Spirit, it is meaningless to me, and I become fruitless. However, even the “good soil” is not always totally fruitful, “This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Sometimes I am more fruitful than other times. Only when I am totally surrendering to the Holy Spirit can I be totally fruitful.
I like the analogy of who is in control of the “trip” of my life. As a twenty-year-old I started out in life on this trip in the driver’s seat. In my mid-thirties, I heard the Gospel message and invited the Holy Spirit to join me on my trip through life. Today I realize that I have three options.
1. I can drive and occasionally ask the Holy Spirit for input on decisions.
2. I can drive and frequently ask the Holy Spirit for input on decisions.
3. I can get out of the driver’s seat and let Him totally direct my decisions.
Our Lord will not block our free will to decide which option we follow, but option 3 will obviously yield the greatest blessing. Paul wrote in Galatians 6:7-8-
“7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh (or myself), from the flesh will reap destruction (useless things, not fruitful, burned up in the end); whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Things with Kingdom value.
It is my choice how I spend my life, my time, talent, and treasure. How much of my life is Kingdom focused is up to me. It is not so much what I do, but the purpose of what I do. For example, if I want to go fishing how can I make it Kingdom focused? Fishing alone can be a wonderful time for meditating and talking with our Lord. It can also be an opportunity to take my grandchild with me and share with him the wonders of God’s creation. Looking at the way I invest my time, talent, and treasure is a great way to determine my fruitfulness for the Kingdom. Letting the Holy Spirit have the Driver’s Seat has opened my eyes to eliminate time that is “a chasing after the wind” and helped me become more fruitful for the Kingdom. It also creates great peace instead of trying to control an uncontrollable world.
Christian Life Coach 