WAY TO WALK ROSS SMITH 22012015
GALATIONS 5:16 But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly NOT GRATIFY THE CRAVINGS AND DESIRES OF THE FLESH (OF HUMAN NATURE WITHOUT GOD).
Let me stop right here to address one word in this verse, a word that is key to evidencing the truth of this verse. That word is “HABITUALLY”, and is intended to convey the permanence or durability of the way we live. The dictionary describes it as “Designating an action or state that lasts for or is repeated over an extended duration”
I want to explore two aspects, firstly the “Life by/in the spirit” and secondly, “what are the lusts of the flesh”.
I need to be more than just sensitive to the inference the apostle Paul makes here, I have to drill down to the foundation, to the basics, and submit the essence of my nature to the refining work of the Holy Spirit. I think the term applicable here is that which the Lord has been sharing with us for some months and that is “WHOLEHEARTEDNESS”. I am trying to set a platform here for that which will confront me as I proceed in this study. SELAH
I like the ISV translation for this verse because it gives me a more secure and obvious purpose in adopting this position.
(ISV) So I say, LIVE BY THE SPIRIT, and you will never fulfil the desires of the flesh.
I cannot think of a more rewarding result than to be able to look back at the end of the day or at the end of the week and be able to say “I have not exercised any improper ambition this last day/week”.
For added clarity let me turn the verse around to read “if you live in the desires of the flesh will never fulfil a life in the spirit”. Hopefully this will become a sobering thought as we pursue this truth.
So often I come to the end of the day and look back to make an assessment of both my consciousness of the Lord and secondly if any progress is being made. And so I determined to identify the route, whether it be IN spirit or BY spirit, or GUIDED BY THE SPIRIT so that I would not succumb to the egocentric appetites that so often tend to obscure my vision of God’s purpose in my life.
There are several different translations of this verse that serve to confuse me more than educate me, they state:-
Walk BY the Spirit (ASV)
Go on IN the Spirit (BBE)
Guided BY the Spirit (CEV and WNT)
Live BY the Spirit (ISV)
Walk iN the Spirit (LITV and YLT)
Let your lives be GUIDED by the Spirit (YLT)
The “preservative” or “purifying “ingredient in this process, or in this “walk” is encapsulated in the word “SPIRIT”. The original Greek says in relation to the word “spirit”:-
Pneuma From G4154; a current of air, that is, BREATH (blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively a spirit, that is, (human) the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, daemon, or (divine) God, CHRIST’S SPIRIT, THE HOLY SPIRIT: – ghost, life, spirit (-ual, -ually), mind.
I like the initial description “BREATH” for it reminds me that all Scripture is God breathed, He breathed into man the breath of life, and He breathed upon the disciples and they received the Holy Ghost.
Galatians 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for THESE ARE ANTAGONISTIC TO EACH OTHER [continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do.
Verse 17 of Galatians 5 began to give me some clarity in the little phrase “antagonistic to each other”. So what was Paul referring to? Well he was speaking of where those things of the spirit and those things of my nature encounter each other, then there is a collision or conflict. The spirit and the flesh exclude each other, it is like that which James 3:11 says:-
James 3:11 Does a fountain send forth [simultaneously] from the same opening fresh water and bitter?
Definition of “Antagonism”. — Where one wills, chooses, desires, affects, that which is contrary to the other.
Prior to this the Apostle has gone to great lengths to describe the significant area of digression that will disqualify our participation in this walk, and that is where the tongue is uncontrolled, disorderly, improper.
YOU CAN TELL IF YOUR HEART IS IN TUNE BY THE CHORDS YOUR TONGUE STRIKES!!!
So when I find that there is some confusion, opposition, disruption, antagonism, egotism, and I can go on and on, I then have to realise that this “antagonism” that Paul refers to is a war going on because I am trying to straddle two different paths with a consequential result, I end up in a fight.
To be able to function as Paul has suggested seems to require a couple of things,
Dependency )
Consistency ) We may not get to analyse these today, but are food for study.
Progress )
Romans 8:4 So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [OUR LIVES GOVERNED not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].
Does this not now clearly bring into perspective the same truth as when we reversed the order in Galatians 5:16?
ARE WE PREPARED TO RELINQUISH CONTROL? I can tell if you are, by the evidences of the ethos of Wisdom I see, if you are easy to be entreated, gentle, peaceable, then there are lots of “brownie points” on offer, but if I insist that I am right, which I generally am!!!!! or insist on my rights, then the scoring is reset because I have to do the test again. So I must conclude that I am not “Walking By the Spirit” when these things occur, and there is “ANTAGONISM”.
Recently I felt impressed that I was being controlled by circumstance, but the Lord said that that was not his intention, but that I should rule in the circumstance. This does not mean that I could change the circumstance but that I was not to succumb and do things my way.
What is the most singular thing that I can do to walk in the spirit, well it is very simple to express but a little more difficult to apply, and it’s found in:-
Proverbs 3:6 In ALL your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and HE WILL DIRECT and make straight and plain your paths. (So that we walk in the Spirit … comments mine)
Do you notice some similarity here to Galatians 5:16, Paul used the word there “habitually” whilst Solomon uses the term “ALL”.
The result is the same, the consequences are rewarding, the outcome supported by the Holy Spirit by Whom we are walking…… Firstly, we will not fullfil the lust of the flesh and secondly, we will know Fathers directions for our life
So what constitutes the “Lust of the flesh”? Often we are quick to respond that this is immorality in its various forms, however amongst God’s people this should be an isolated aberration, whereas I think Paul’s intention was addressed to the wider church community.
I base my premise on the following, with an attempt to simplify the matter so that everything I do can come under the scrutiny of Paul’s injunction, and enable me to avoid the pitfalls, and remove all the excuses I make to myself as to why I messed up somewhere today.
In plain terms the “LUST of the FLESH” can be rendered down, macerated, simplified, and clarified, to several short words to cover a broad picture. These words are: –
I, ME, MY, MINE, WANT, WISH, WALLOW
Does that seem to be too much of a simplification to describe the “Lust of the Flesh”? In all these terms “self” is the centre or objective of the word. This can be summed up in one simple Scripture:-
John 3:30 He must increase, but I MUST DECREASE. [He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.]
Obviously these same words have uses that are positive and constructive, but that depends upon the heart behind the words.
We can gauge the appropriateness of the terms by applying what I call the “Pleasure Principle”, which is to seek the tendency for immediate gratification of any impulse, the “I, Me, My, Mine” syndrome.
The consciousness that we each feel is experienced by our strong sense of self, and by our thinking self – the ego. To want to gratify “SELF” I see as a form of arrogance, a need to satisfy ME rather than satisfy Father. Other names for arrogance are: egotism, conceit, grandiosity, and self-importance.
Romans 12:3 For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him. (here’s another dilemma, we need to review both our ability, God given that is, and our degree of faith so that we can comply with this scripture …. Comments mine)
We well know that each one of us has been afforded a “degree of faith”, but up till now we have failed to activate that faith, because we are still unsure as to the “Inconceivable Greatness” of God, for if we did understand that, then we would have “Unlimited Expectation”. (or Faith).
Do you remember the simplified definition of faith? For the sake of clarity let me refresh our minds: –
FAITH “The revelation of the Divine mind apprehended by a mortal spirit with such conviction as to overturn the reason of that mortal mind, and the evidence of the visual, also the persuasion of the majority so that the establishment of proper priority is not a matter of decision but a matter of fact.”
If I want to be a disciplined person, a spiritually disciplined person, walking in or by or guided by the spirit then there are some very important attitudes that I must maintain. One is to remember who owns me. That is to say I’m not really in charge of my life so I can’t follow my own impulses, can’t follow my own dreams and desires and wishes, because in many instances there is no “God Glorifying” component.
Philippians 2:13 [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work FOR HIS GOOD PLEASURE and satisfaction and delight.
All that I am and all that I do, the direction of my life must come into submission to the purposes of God which are unfolded in the Word of God and by the leading of the Spirit of God. So I must remember that I am not my own, as Paul put it to the Corinthians, for “I have been bought with a price”. I must bring my life into harmony (That is, no antagonism … comments mine) with the one who owns me, He who is my Father and I as an obedient child; He is my Lord and Master and I must be an obedient servant.
Romans 8:5-6 For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit. Now the MIND OF THE FLESH [WHICH IS SENSE AND REASON WITHOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].
We need to let the prompting of the Spirit be our guide, and the grace of the Spirit our strength, in the course of our life continually. This is being “led by the Spirit” and as an “orderly walking by the Spirit’, and the eternal consequences of “NOT FULFILLING THE LUST OF THE FLESH”.
The first seventeen verses of ROMANS 8 are compulsive/mandatory reading, not just once, but every day to remind us of who we are and what we can be.
OTHER VERSES FOR CONSIDERATION
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
James 1:15 Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.
The flesh has a built in law of failure making it impossible for the natural man to please God or serve God. It is a compulsive in a force inherited from the fall.
Ross Smith 