Galatians chapter 5.
You, my brothers, you 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 neighbour as yourself.
If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
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.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious.
The acts of the spirit, 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.
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.
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are sinful should restore him gently.
But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Each one should test his own actions.
Then he can take pride in himself without comparing himself with somebody else.
For each one should carry his own load.
Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.
Thank you.
Great. Thank you, David.
Now, keep that passage open because we're going to work our way through it.
I'm going to move that plant because otherwise...
That will be on the YouTube video forever and ever and ever, and that's the only thing people will look at.
There you go.
I wonder as we start if I can ask you a question.
And the question is this.
What is your most significant contribution to West Kilburn Baptist Church?
In other words, what is it that you do, or if you're new here or you're just visiting this morning,
what is it that you could do or that you do in your church that has the biggest blessing to the life of the church together?
What is the most significant contribution to our effort to revitalize the ministry of the gospel here that you can make?
What is it?
Maybe, you know, you're thinking maybe it's the money that I could give.
Maybe it's the rotors that I could join.
Maybe I've got particular perceptive insights at church members meetings,
that ability to spot the mistakes that everyone else is making.
Maybe I've got years of experience in church and church leadership.
Maybe I've got great musical skill or a friendship network that means I can be inviting others to come to church every single week.
Maybe it's that you're a preacher.
What is it?
Well, I want to suggest to you from this passage that we've just read that for all of us,
including for me this morning,
our most significant contribution to the life of the church here
is a personal commitment to grow as a Christian.
To put the same thing the other way around,
it doesn't matter what you do here.
It doesn't matter if you have thousands of pounds to give
or hundreds of volunteer hours to pour in.
It doesn't matter if you can preach brilliant sermons.
If I am not and you are not growing as a Christian,
then in a profound sense,
we are not helping the church.
We're not.
Here's the point, as bluntly as I can put it.
If I don't grow,
the church will die.
If I don't grow,
the church will die.
Now that's a massive claim, isn't it?
So I want to first prove that to you from the passage,
and then I'm going to give you six points,
don't worry, they're not long,
about discipleship and Christian growth from the passage.
So here we go.
If I don't grow,
the church will die.
In a moment,
I'm going to try and explain to you a little bit more about Paul's freedom language in the passage.
But his big point here,
having explained over and over again,
and super clearly to the Galatian churches,
that they can only be saved from God's wrath and future judgment by faith alone in Christ alone,
he's now telling them that that life of faith has a particular shape.
It looks like something that needs to be lived.
And it's lived out, he says,
in a collective commitment to personal discipleship.
And you see that because you see the alternative painted in these verses.
Look at verse 15.
He says, this is the alternative to living the life of faith.
He says, if you bite and devour each other,
watch out or you'll be destroyed by each other.
Or again, down in verse 21,
I warn you, he says,
as I did before,
that those who live like this,
having listed the ways of the flesh or the sinful nature,
will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Or again, in chapter 6, verses 7 and 8,
just beyond the passage that we read,
do not be deceived, he says.
God cannot be mocked.
A man reaps what he sows.
Whoever sows to please their flesh or their sinful nature,
from the sinful nature or the flesh,
will reap destruction.
Whoever sows to please the Spirit,
from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
These are hugely strong words that Paul is using, aren't they?
In fact, in chapter 5, verse 15,
if you look back at that,
those are the Greek words used to describe wild animals in deadly battle.
They bite, they devour,
and they destroy one another.
And the point is clear that for us,
even as Christians this morning,
there remain in our hearts
ungodly, fleshly desires,
motives and practices,
that if we don't work hard to put them to death,
they will destroy not only us as individuals,
but also us as a local fellowship.
We need to be really serious about this, don't we?
The truth is,
if we are not committed to personal discipleship,
as individuals in a church,
we're not committed to putting to death
these desires and habits of our old sinful nature,
then it doesn't matter what else we do.
It doesn't matter how spectacular the church looks,
the church will die.
Because in our sinfulness,
we will eat one another up,
bite and devour one another.
Maybe even perhaps showing that we were never Christians
in the first place,
and so reap destruction.
I know there's a balance here,
and I don't want to overstate it,
so I want to get it right.
But listen,
understanding God's sovereignty,
knowing that we absolutely rely
on the work of his spirit,
knowing with confidence
that the life of our church
is in God's hands and not ours,
rightly understand that,
still there is a right sense
in which the future of West Kilburn Baptist Church
rests on our personal willingness
to fight anger,
envy,
sexual immorality,
pride,
gossip,
slander and the like.
So much so,
that when you're on your own at home,
when I'm on my own at home,
on my knees before the Lord,
asking for his help
to fight sin and love Jesus,
there,
in those moments,
I am serving West Kilburn Baptist Church
in the most useful way.
Because if I don't grow,
the church will die.
That means, doesn't it,
that this morning's sermon,
it's serious, isn't it?
And it's personal.
It's both those things.
It's serious and it's personal.
And I've been praying,
as I've been preparing this week,
that the Lord might use our time together
around his word,
just to shake us all up a little bit
in this area.
So let me try and give you six instructions
on Christian grace from the passage.
And then after lunch,
stay for lunch.
And after lunch,
you'll have a chance to ask questions
and for us to discuss it together
in more detail.
First thing is this.
Growth comes from freedom
and makes me a slave.
Growth comes from freedom
and makes me a slave.
Now, this first point
is a little theological,
but it's vital.
So get your brain in gear,
look down at your passage
and let's try and work this out together.
Look down at verse 13.
You, my brothers and sisters,
were called to be free, he says.
Is the clicker no longer working?
There you go.
That's it.
You can go sit down now for a bit.
Just sit on the front row.
That'll work.
No one else will ever want to do the clicker,
will they now?
Look down at verse 13.
They say,
You, my brothers and sisters,
were called to be free.
But do not use your freedom
to indulge the flesh.
Rather, serve one another humbly in love.
For the entire law is fulfilled
in keeping this one command.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
That little phrase there,
called to be free,
is really important.
It's working as a summary
of what Paul has been saying
so far in his letter to the Galatians.
So the Galatian Christians
are saved from hell for glory,
not by their own good actions,
not even by their own commitment
to personal growth and godliness.
Rather, they are saved
by the death of Jesus Christ,
the sacrifice of his blood,
which he says has set them free.
Free from the condemnation
which they deserve from a holy God,
given them a new life
which they could never have earned.
How this works is that
becoming a Christian
involves being united with Jesus.
So Jesus, when we talk as Christians
about Jesus dying for us,
it's not him dying for us
in a sort of abstract sense,
as if it's legal fiction.
You know, God's sort of playing
some legal hocus pocus
whereby someone else
just takes our punishment randomly.
Now, actually, what the Bible says
is we are included in Christ.
So as a Christian,
Christ on the cross
is taking my sin on himself
and bearing the punishment for it.
And I receive his righteousness.
If you look back at Galatians chapter 2
and verse 20,
just go back a few pages in your Bible,
Galatians chapter 2 verse 20,
Paul summarizes it like this.
He says,
I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me.
Being a Christian involves
the death of an old life
and a new life being lived,
a life of faith.
Now, coming back to chapter 5,
and Paul is assuming by this point
in his letter that we all know that.
And he's explaining now
how having been set free
from sin and the wrath of God,
having been united with Christ,
what do these new lives of faith look like?
He says, verse 14,
these lives are informed by the law.
God's moral law in the Old Testament,
a law which is summarized in its ethics
by that instruction from Leviticus
repeated by Jesus,
which says,
love your neighbor as yourself.
So here it is,
you have been called by God
to the freedom of salvation.
And that freedom is lived out
in love for others, he says.
If you look at the end of verse 13,
how is that freedom expressed?
Well, we don't indulge the flesh.
That's what we're free from.
Instead, we serve,
or literally,
slave ourselves to one another.
Let me try and illustrate it,
if I can.
Imagine it like this.
Imagine you have a child
who loves to sing.
They love to sing.
But the problem is,
they have a terrible,
terrible voice.
And every time this child tries to sing,
you know,
the cat starts screaming,
the glasses break,
the neighbors are banging on the ceiling,
and kicking in your door.
They love to sing,
but they have been born
with a terrible voice,
and they are a slave
to this terrible voice.
They can't change it.
It's ruining everything.
You're no longer friends
with your neighbors anymore.
There's not a glass in your house
that's intact,
because they've all been shattered
by the voice of this desperate,
singing child
who's ruining everything.
You've got a constant headache.
So at great expense,
you call London's finest doctor,
and you arrange for your child
to have a miracle operation,
whereby their voice box
is swapped out and removed,
and they are given
Ariana Grande's voice box instead,
so that they sing like her
and not themselves.
Now, Jen told me this week
that none of you would know
who Ariana Grande is,
but some of you do,
and if you don't,
you can ask the children
when they come back in.
Now, think about it.
After all that expense
for your child
to swap their voice box out
for another one,
what is it that you want
your child to do
more than anything
when they get home?
What is it that you want them to do?
You want them to sing, don't you?
That's what you want them to do.
Not to pay you back
for the operation,
not even because
if they don't sing,
it means the operation
wasn't successful.
Rather, you want them to sing
because that's what it was all about
in the first place, isn't it?
That was the purpose
for which you have been working.
Now, the same with being a Christian.
Everyone in this room,
including me,
without the Lord's miraculous intervention,
are the spiritual version
of a cat-screaming,
glass-breaking,
chaos-bringing sinner.
We create in our actions
many outposts of hell
as we shut God out of our lives
and live our own
self-destructive desires.
I'm battered by the
self-destructive desires of others
so that none of us
are capable in our own strength
of living a life
that pleases God.
Every time we open our mouths,
it comes out as a screech,
which means all of us
need an action of the Lord Jesus,
a miraculous action
of the Lord Jesus, actually,
received by faith
in response to his calling
where he can transform us
from the inside out,
taking our sin,
giving us a new life.
not Ariana Grande's,
but Jesus' life,
life by the Spirit,
a life which loves
to love others above itself,
a life which loves
to obey God's moral law
above its own desires,
not because it has to,
but because it was made to.
It's what it wants to do,
not because it must do,
but because it loves to.
And so that's Christian growth.
It's not earning credit with God
so that he somehow owes us stuff.
Rather, it's living the new life
that he's given us,
being who we now are in Christ,
which is a servant of love
towards one another.
It is singing with the new voice
that God has given us,
and he's given it to us
for that purpose
that we might sing.
Now that means, doesn't it,
this morning,
we need to ask ourselves,
before we consider anything else
about growing as a Christian,
you need to ask yourself,
I need to ask myself,
am I really a Christian?
Have I really experienced that?
And if you're not a Christian
this morning,
it's so good you're here.
I'm really pleased
to have you this morning.
But I want to be really clear with you.
You don't become a Christian
by living a Christian life.
That's not how it works.
Rather, you live a Christian life
because you have been made a Christian
by the Lord Jesus,
by faith in him.
And then if you ask yourself,
well, how can I tell
if I've actually put my faith in Jesus?
How can I tell
if I've been made a Christian by Jesus?
Well, you can tell
because you have this overwhelming desire
to live like him
and to love like him
because the new Christian life
longs to be lived.
And if those desires are not there,
don't try and rustle them up on your own.
Rather, come back to the Lord Jesus
and say, listen,
Lord Jesus, please have mercy on me
and give me a heart that loves you
and longs to live for your glory.
I can't earn your favor
or deserve your kindness.
Please hear my prayer and transform me.
So that's the first point.
Growth comes from freedom
and makes me a slave.
Secondly, we're going to move
a bit more quickly.
Growth is war.
Let's notice this quickly.
Growing as a Christian
will feel like war.
Not a war with other people,
but an internal war,
a war with what Paul calls
the desires of the flesh
or the desires of the sinful nature
in verse 16.
Listen to his explanation,
verse 17.
Look down at your Bibles.
For the flesh desires
what is contrary to the spirit
and the spirit what is contrary
to the flesh
or the sinful nature.
They are in conflict with each other
so that you are not to do
whatever you want.
Surely this is all of our experiences
if we're a Christian this morning,
that living the Christian life
turns out to be way more difficult
than we thought.
not so much because those around us
make us difficult,
although they do at times,
but because actually within me
rages this battle
with the desires of my sinful nature
against what I now want to do
as a Christian.
So much so
that the growth of our local church
is the lived out experience
of this transforming work of Christ
is hard.
because at one fundamental level
the work of growing as a Christian
involves not doing
what you want to do.
Do you get that?
It means deliberately ignoring
the desires of the flesh.
An athlete won't compete
at the highest level
if they don't kill that desire
for an extra donut.
Or a great musician
won't perform the best
if they don't fight that desire
to watch TV
instead of practicing.
So as a Christian this morning
we won't grow
unless we double down
in war
against a whole set of desires
that would ruin
our Christian lives
if we let them.
You know,
if your Christian life,
if I can put it like this,
if your Christian life
this morning
is largely shaped
around doing
whatever it is
that you just want to do,
if you come to church
when you feel like it
or you read your Bible
when you want to
or if you pray
when you're in the mood,
well then let me tell you
you're losing the war.
You're losing the war.
Because the Christian life
is a war,
a battle
against a whole set
of desires
which if we let them flourish
will ruin our Christian lives.
Thirdly,
growth is seen
in relationship with others.
This is Paul's list
in verses 19 to 21.
It's worth looking at again.
Let me read it to you.
The acts of the flesh
are obvious.
He says,
sexual immorality,
impurity,
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.
This then is the battleground
of the Christian life.
This if you like
is the psalm
of discipleship
or the D-Day beaches
of Christian growth.
It's personal relationships.
Personal relationships.
This is where the battle
for Christian growth
and life
is the hardest.
And on the one hand
you notice
it's for sexual purity.
That's where
the battleground is.
Sexual immorality,
the word that's translated
like that in our Bibles
is the Greek word
porneia.
It's a catch-all word
that covers
not just what we might
consider the worst
sexual sins
but it covers
all sexual activity
outside of the marriage
of one man
to one woman.
And Paul is saying
that for all of us
every one in this room
our flesh
will push against
and fight
that version of purity.
All of us in our flesh
will long to deviate
from God's version
of sexual purity
in a myriad of ways.
None of us
will ever
only want
what God wants
for us sexually.
And there will be a war
a war against impurity
fighting the desire
for porneia
in all its forms
whether it's the
longing for pornography
whether it's flirting
with someone
I'm not married to
whether it's
hooking up
for casual sex
whether it's
taking part
in gay sex
sexual purity
is not the battle
of the few
it's the battle
of us all.
Paul says
it might have a
slightly different
shape for each
of us
but none of us
are free from this
and even age
doesn't take it away.
You will not
grow out of this
because says Paul
this is the battle
ground of Christian
growth
and it's a
controversial one
isn't it?
Because our world
has a very different
view of sexual purity
to God.
we don't have time
to go through the list
in lots of detail
but you'll notice
that most of the
other words in this
list are also
relational
not sexual
relationships
but just all
relationships
we're tempted to
envy and to
anger
to be ambitious
to get ahead
of one another
in other words
it's not just
disordered sexual
desire that will be
a challenge for
our Christian
growth
but also a wrong
sense of being
in competition
with one another
in church
that feeling that
the success of
others is my
failure
or that church
is a place
where I
accumulate power
by taking it
off other people
all of that is
wrong
it's like being
given a new
voice but insisting
on singing out of
tune
in the voice
that breaks
stuff
but let me try
and land this
really specifically
for us this
morning if I can
in a church
revitalization like
ours
it is likely that
relational hurt
and trouble in the
church is something
we're just going to
have to face up to
and deal with
because all of us
in the room
will have at times
behaved in ways
that are touched
on in this list
here
a church under
stress is bound
to experience that
even more
than normal
and if we don't
address that
if we don't repent
of that and seek
reconciliation with
one another and
learn to sing with
our new voices
then we won't
grow as Christians
and if we won't
grow as Christians
the church will
die
because my
individual
Christian growth
is my vital
contribution to the
fellowship here
and you will see
that Christian
growth where
primarily in my
relationships with
others
that's where you'll
see it
so listen this
morning perhaps
there's someone in
church that you need
to say sorry to
perhaps there's even
someone who has left
the church who you
need to say sorry to
maybe there's a
relationship that
needs to be repaired
maybe there's a
bitter root that
needs cutting out
well don't delay
and don't put it off
because we all need
you to do that
because Christian
growth is seen in
relationships with
others
fourthly then
growth is beautiful
there's obviously
lots that we could
say about the list
of the fruits of
the spirit and I
know we touched
on this earlier
I think it for a
start it's a really
brilliant illustration
of how Christ's work
on the cross
transforms our
personal godliness
it's way better than
my voice illustration
because although
fruit on a tree is
inevitable isn't it
it comes as a result
of being a fruit
tree still the
great thing about
this illustration is
that the fruit comes
slowly even if it's
inevitable so
Christian growth
comes slowly
requires cultivation
and pruning even
probably also
significant I think
that Paul calls
this a singular
fruit with lots of
different aspects
so you're not to
think that there's
lots of different
fruits the fruit of
love joy peace
patience kindness
goodness self-control
but actually there is
one fruit which is
itself love joy
peace patience
kindness goodness
self-control so
these things are
describing the one
thing but I want us
to see just briefly
at the end of verse
23 what he says
there look at it
with me what does
he say against such
things there is no
law now that just
might sound an
obvious point but
the point seems to
be not only does the
fruit of the spirit
fulfill this law to
love others that we
saw at the beginning
but also that there's
a universal beauty and
obvious commendability to
this fruit no one has
anything to say against
it they can't so that
for us as a church this
commitment to grow as
Christians to be
disciples of the Lord
Jesus and to follow
his way to live
pleasing him that will
bring about something
beautiful in the life
of our church something
beautiful in its fruit
of peace and patience
and kindness and
goodness a group of
people who don't fly
off the handle when
things go wrong who
are kind and
forbearing with gentle
and full of peace who
don't moan or gossip
or slander who are
not jealous of the
gifts of others wanting
them for themselves
they're not envious of
them wishing that they
weren't so good but are
self-controlled do you
see this is the opposite
of what the flesh
produces do you notice
this our fleshly desires
the desires of our
sinful nature in the end
kill us and destroy
those around us our
fleshly desires are
uncontrolled a taste a
foretaste of hell itself
but the fruit of the
spirit builds the sort
of place that everyone
longs to be don't you
long to be in a place
of peace and patience
and kindness and
goodness and self-control
that is a taste of
glory growth is
beautiful fifthly
growth requires
membership of a church
jumping over to chapter
six and you can see
that Paul's assumption
here is that it takes a
church to grow a
Christian so first in
verse one Paul's
assumption is that in
the life of a church
people will sin and
will be caught in sin
so even in a healthy
church we're not to
assume that it will be
sinless that's
unrealistic isn't it
this side of glory
but when people are
caught in sin the
church are not to make
them pay for it
they're not to make an
example of them but
neither are they to
ignore them instead
we're told they're to
seek to restore them and
to do so gently now we
don't have time to go
into all the details of
this but this is really
talking about church
discipline which is
church discipleship it's
the idea that the body
of the church is involved
in the life of its
members seeking to
restore sinning members
to the fellowship by
gently encouraging them
to repent and turn back
to the Lord Jesus
creating together a
community where repentance
is normal and notice this
isn't just the leaders
doing this the passage
doesn't say listen if
someone in the church is
caught in sin drag them
to the leaders and let
them tell them off it
doesn't say that does it
no this is brothers and
sisters in the church
this is the the whole
church working together
who together seek to
restore the church
member whilst also verse
two being very conscious
that they themselves are
tempted by exactly the
same things
now there are some
really practical
implications of this
aren't there it means
that if you're a member
of the church here and
let me say if you're a
Christian this morning
you've been baptized and
this is your spiritual
home you should be a
church member right a
membership of the local
church is an invitation
to the church to say
listen church hold me
accountable for my
statement of faith in
Jesus Christ gently
restore me when you catch
me sinning do it
quickly and early
please hold me to
account if I stop
attending in other
words as members of a
church in our
faithfulness to live the
Christian life is not
just a personal matter
it's a corporate one
because and this is it
one of the best tools
that God has given us
to grow us as
Christians and that
this includes me as
well as all of us is
the love prayers
and gentle correction
of the church
fellowship that's what
it's there for it's a
tool given to us by
God to grow us as
Christians the church
membership if you like
is like driving a stake
in the ground and
saying listen I stand
here in faith in Jesus
Christ I want to live
for him I want to live
a life that pleases him
I want to live for his
glory I'm driving this
stake into the ground
now in my membership
of the local church
but I know my heart and
I'm likely to wander
away so please if you
see me wandering away
bring me back to the
stake that I've driven
in the ground here
will you please
I know we're all
fellow strugglers
growth requires
membership of a local
church that we might
call one another to
account finally then
growth requires
personal responsibility
now without
contradicting anything
that we've just said
Paul comes on to be
very clear that while
the church seeks to
disciple one another
brothers and sisters
working together
still verses four and
five we are each
responsible for
ourselves look at
verse four each one
should test their own
actions that's what you
should be doing this
morning then they can
take pride in themselves
alone without comparing
themselves to someone
else for each one should
carry their own load
well so for you and me
this morning the church
is not ultimately to
blame for any lack of
growth in my Christian
life I am and I need
not to look around
others and think well I
might not be doing great
as a Christian this morning
but I'm sure doing better
than they are so I must
be okay no I'm not to
do that rather I'm to
look to carry my own
burden and seek before
the Lord to grow as a
Christian myself looking
at the plank in my eye
before thinking about the
speck in everyone else's
and I do that because I
know that if I don't grow
as a Christian the local
church will die because
our sinfulness will kill
it as we devour one
another so let's return to
where we started what can
you do to serve the
church here what will
help us revitalise the
work and witness of our
church family well here
it is this is what you
can do you can get on
your knees and pray
commit yourself again to
growing as a Christian
to live the godly life
that God has given you
in the gospel to commit
to membership of the
fellowship that we might
pray these prayers
together for one another
and if all of us will do
that together well then
church life will be a
taste of future glory
and it will be brilliant
but if we won't do it
our church will die
let me pray for us
maybe take a moment just
to think and reflect on our
own
and then I'll close in prayer
heavenly father it's
remarkable to us that you
would put something as
precious as the local
church in our hands
and give us this opportunity
to contribute to it by
growing as Christians
and Lord as we look at
our lives we see really
clearly our failures in
this area and so we say
again individually and
corporately please restore
us we turn from our sin
and we turn to Christ we
ask for your help to live
life by the spirit not led
by the flesh we pray that
our church life together
might be a taste of
glory we know that these
characteristics here are
very counter-cultural so
please we pray make us an
outpost of future glory that
others might see something
beautiful and wonderful here
that's not done by us it's
done by you as we sing life
with these new voices that
you've given us as we pray
in Jesus name amen amen
thank you so much for