Galatians 5:13-21 – What Not To Use Your Freedom For
Look at some of the things Paul mentions here. V15: Biting and devouring one another. Those words describe what animals do to one another. But they also describe what churchgoing people do to one another. So how is your speech? How do you speak to your fellow Christians? How do you talk about them if they’re not there. People in the world are absolutely vicious in how they talk about one another. Christians should stand out as different.
In V19 we have sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality. We live in a society that’s obsessed with sex. Have you stopped trying to swim against the tide? Are your thoughts and actions in this area different because you’re a Christian?
And then look at some of the sins mentioned in v20. ‘Strife’. Do arguments seem to follow you around? Are you always falling out with people? If so, that’s a warning sign that you may not actually have the Holy Spirit within you.
Then there’s rivalries and envy. Are you always looking at other peoples’ lives and wishing that yours could be more like theirs? In the last verse of the chapter, Paul will come back to envying again. It’s a big deal. And notice that he’s talking about envying other Christians. He uses the word one another.
The last two works of the flesh in v20 should be particularly uncomfortable reading for Scottish Presbyterian churches. ‘Dissensions’ and ‘divisions’. There are divisions in congregations, splits in denominations. Occasionally these may be for the sake of truth. But so often they’re little more than personality clashes dressed up in pious language. Beware of the tendency which says: ‘if I don’t get my way, I’m going to leave’.
Seeing some of the sins on these lists should frighten us. Now that’s not to say that if you commit any of the sins listed here you mustn’t be a Christian. This is a war. There are times you will stumble and fall. But the pattern of your life will be in the opposite direction. The pattern of your life will be one of obedience. And not reluctant obedience, but as v17 says, you’ll want to do it. The overwhelming desire of your life will be to please God.
Questions
- What is the warning about these sins?
- What should be the pattern of our life?
Prayer Points
- Pray that we would put sin to death in our life.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.