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Living Freely, Purely, Lovingly; Living By The Spirit; The Fruits Of The Old Nature And The Fruits Of The Spirit; Crucifying The Old Nature With Its Corrupt Desires; Living In Step With The Spirit And With The Other Members Of Messiah’s Community

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. Live freely. You don’t need a long list of dos and don’ts, a list of rules and laws like the Sinai Covenant in order to live well. In fact, that kind of living is not living well. That kind of religion is enslaving. If you know Messiah, you know what He is like. You know what’s important to Him. You know His principles. You know what pleases Him. You know what displeases Him. He is not enslaved to anyone or anything. Get close to Him and look to Him and be like Him and you will live freely.

Live purely. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh. Freedom doesn’t mean you are free to sin. It doesn’t mean you are free to indulge the sinful desires of the old nature. It means that God has liberated you from demonic control, from ignorance, from enslavement to the power of sin and the sin nature, and now you are free to live the way God intended human beings to live – according to His standards, according to the truth. Freedom means right living, holy living; God-honoring living. Live purely.

Live lovingly. Use your freedom to serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. Many human beings are unable to relate properly to others. They are insecure and want to compensate for their insecurity by dominating others. They only feel good about themselves if they show they are better than others. But Messiah set us free from that need to control others, to be seen as better than others. He set us free so we can relate to others the way God designed us to relate to other human beings – with love.

Messiah’s Community of salvation is made up of many people. God designed us to live in community. Freedom doesn’t mean that you are free to be isolated from Messiah’s Community, off alone by yourself. Freedom doesn’t mean that you have no obligations to the other sons and daughters of God. You do. So, now that you are free to relate to others the way God intends, use your freedom to serve one another humbly in love. Now you are free to serve others, not yourself. You are free to be humble, not arrogant, not selfish, not self-centered. You are free to love others, not just yourself. You are free to care for others, be generous and gracious and giving to others.

And, the Torah, the Law, the Sinai Covenant, if properly understood, teaches the same thing. It emphasizes the importance of loving others. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

The real way to fulfill the Torah is not by keeping a list of does and don’ts. It’s by knowing God and understanding this most important principle – love your neighbor as you love yourself. Then you will be able to fulfill the Sinai Covenant. You will care about your neighbor as you care about yourself. You will look out for the well-being of your neighbor as you look out for the well-being of yourself; you will look after the interests of your neighbor as you look after your own interests. You won’t murder him, steal from him, or take his wife from him. You will treat him the way God treats him – with kindness, grace, respect.

And, if Christians and Messianic Jews don’t humbly and lovingly serve each other, but are selfish and greedy, they will bite and devour each other, and be destroyed by each other – which, I am sad to say, happens all too frequently in too many churches and messianic synagogues.

Live freely. Live purely. Live lovingly. Easily said, but not so easily done because we are weak and all too often yield to the desires of the old nature. Yes, we have a new nature, and we have the Holy Spirit living in us, but the flesh, the old nature is still there. There is a battle taking place within each one of us. But we can overcome the old nature and its perverse desires if we live by the Spirit. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 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.

The desires of the flesh aren’t just physical. The flesh means the old nature with all of its perverse desires – wrong physical and sexual desires, but also wrong attitudes toward others and wrong thinking about God and truth and religion.

Walk by the Spirit – which means live in a way that you get close to God and stay close to God. If you get close to God and stay close to God, the Spirit working though your new nature will give you the ability to not yield to the corrupt desires of the old nature. The way to overcome the things that tempt us; the way to overcome our areas of weakness is not by committing ourselves to try harder and keeping a list of rules. It’s by walking by the Spirit, by getting close to God. When we do that, He gives us the power we need to not yield to temptation.

So, how do we live by the Spirit? How do we get close to God and stay close to God? We humble ourselves. We come to the Three-In-One God on His terms. We understand that God is God and we are not. We make a commitment to Yeshua as Lord. We nurture our relationship with God by practicing the Spiritual Disciplines like prayer and filling our mind with the Word of God.

We live by the Spirit by continual repentance. When we fail in our walk; when we realize that we are not close to God; when we realize we have sinned we admit it ASAP. We confess our sins, and we thank God for the forgiveness that is available to us because of Messiah, and we ask for God’s grace to do better the next time we face that temptation, and the God who forgives seventy times seven helps us get close to Him once again.

When we are close to God we are thinking about Him and what He wants. Each circumstance we face is with Him right there. His Word is in our minds and His Spirit is teaching us and so we know what to do. Each decision we make is done with Him right there, and so we know the right choice to make.

This is a entirely different and superior way of relating to God than following a list of commandments and does and don’ts and Sinai Covenant law-keeping, which is why Paul writes: But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Those who are living by the Spirit have a changed relationship to the Sinai Covenant. They are not under its authority like the Jewish people were before Messiah came. Instead, we have a close relationship with the living God, who is continually leading us and guiding us and empowering us for right living.

The Lord’s divinely-inspired Representative has told the Galatians about not gratifying the desires of the flesh and the need for them to live by the Spirit. To help them better understand what he means by the flesh and the spirit, and what this looks like, Paul gives them two lists – a list of the fruits of the flesh and a list of the fruits of the Spirit. First is the results that are produced by the old nature. The acts of the flesh 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.

The acts of the old nature fall into three main categories: The first is inappropriate physical pleasures – sexual immorality and impurity which includes pornography, homosexuality and adultery; debauchery, which includes wild parties with sex, alcohol and drugs and sensual music.

The second area that characterizes the old nature is wrong thinking about God, truth and religion: idolatry and witchcraft. It includes false religion and the occult. I would add atheism, agnosticism or any world view or ideological system that isn’t Bible-based Christianity.

The third area that reveals the acts of the flesh is bad attitudes toward others: hatred, discord, dissensions, factions – the inability to get along with others. Fits of rage – giving into anger. Jealousy, envy and selfish ambition – self-centeredness, selfishness and wanting to be above others and wanting what belongs to others.

These three areas: inappropriate physical pleasures; wrong thinking about God, truth and religion; and bad attitudes toward others – characterize the flesh, the fallen nature, the sin nature.

So, since actions speak louder than words; and since you can tell a tree by its fruit, if someone claims to be a Christian or a Messianic Jew, if these bad fruits characterize their lives, those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Their lives make it obvious that they have not been redeemed from the control of Satan and the demons, sin and the sin nature and death.

Now, a Christian or Messianic Jew will struggle with one or more or all of these areas. He might fight against anger and on occasion give into his anger. He might fight against sexual impurity and fail from time to time. That doesn’t mean he isn’t saved. That doesn’t mean that he will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul is talking about an individual whose life is characterized by these things. He is constantly giving into sexual immorality. He enjoys going to wild parties. He all too often rejects good religion and dabbles with false religion. He frequently yields to anger, hatred, discord, jealousy or selfish ambition. If these bad fruits characterize his life, we are to recognize it and know that this person will not inherit the kingdom of God. Does that make us judgmental? Does that violate: “judge not, or you will be judged?” No. It makes us fruit inspectors, not judges. It makes us discerners, not haters.

A bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree produces good fruit. There must be evidence of good fruit if a person has been saved; if a person is part of Messiah’s New Covenant; if a human being has a new nature and if the Spirit of God is at work in that person. Here Paul gives us a second list to help us better understand what living by the Spirit looks like – the good results that living by the Spirit produces.

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. The fruit, the results of the Spirit’s activity in those of us who have been reconciled to God, are:

Love: the desire to be other-centered, not self-centered. The desire to help, bless, do for, care for others – not based on what you will get out of it, but simply how it will help them. The old nature is selfish. The Spirit working through our new nature produces love.

Joy: a happiness that is not dependent on circumstances. A happiness that flows from knowing your sins are forgiven; knowing you are in a right relationship with the eternal God; knowing that God is your Father and Messiah is your brother, and you can trust the Three-In-One God; knowing that you will live forever. It’s hard for the fallen nature to be happy independent of circumstances. The Spirit working through our new nature produces joy, a happiness not dependent on circumstances.

Peace: a sense of well-being that is also independent of circumstances. A sense of well-being that can be experienced in the midst of hardships because you know that, in spite of life’s trials, it is well with your soul. The old nature lacks peace: peace with God, often peace with nature, or with others, or with self. The Spirit working through our new nature produces peace – a state of well-being, wholesome relationship with God, with man, with nature, with self.

Patience: the fallen nature is impatient; quick to judge; hasty to make decisions; ready to go on the attack. The Spirit working through our new nature produces patience. We take time to think things through before responding; put up with inconvenience; are quick to forgive; give people second and third chances; give others time and opportunity to improve; are slow to dismiss others for their sins or inadequacies.

Kindness: gracious, considerate, thoughtful about the needs or desires of others. The fallen nature can be cruel, thoughtless, inconsiderate. The Spirit working through our new nature produces kindness.

Goodness: goodness is similar to love. It’s the desire to do something beneficial for others; to give to them something that will bless them, something that will elevate them, something that will uplift them. Goodness is based on what is right and true and genuinely beneficial. You are not doing good if what you are trying to give turns out to be harmful. The Spirit working through our new nature produces goodness.

Faithfulness: the fallen nature is not faithful. People are unreliable, often disloyal, sometimes betrayers. God is faithful and true. His Spirit living in us and working through the new nature produces faithfulness – faithfulness to God; loyalty to the Word of God; faithfulness to the people of God; faithfulness to your word. Your yes means yes. Your no means no. Your promises and vows will be kept.

Gentleness: the old nature can be tough, harsh, aggressive toward others. The Spirit working through our new nature produces gentleness, which is a mildness that is not to be confused with weakness. It is a mildness toward human beings. It is a mildness toward God that cooperates with God.

Self-control: The old nature is weak and lacks self-control. It is easily overcome by temptation. It frequently yields to wrong desires, often not even realizing a desire is wrong. The Spirit working through our new nature produces the ability to know what is right and the ability to control ourselves: control our language; our anger, our temper; our habits and impulses and behaviors; our eating, drinking, smoking and spending habits; our sexual desires.

The results, the evidence, the fruits of the Spirit of God living in those with a new nature is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

So, if you are saved, genuinely born again, a true son or daughter of the living and eternal God, headed to Heaven – there should some fruit, some evidence of it: there should be a desire to love others and do good things for others; there should be some peace and joy that are not dependant on circumstances; you should have more patience, kindness and gentleness toward others; there should be evidence of a desire to be more faithful to God; more faithful to the Word of God; more faithful to the people of God; more faithful to your word, your promises and vows; and there should be more self-control in your life.

If these good qualities are in your life and are increasing, you can be sure that you are a child of God. Do these things characterize your life, or is your life characterized by continually giving in to inappropriate physical pleasures; wrong thinking about God, truth and religion; and bad attitudes toward others?

Living by means of a new relationship to God and a new nature and the indwelling and empowering of the Spirit so that these great results are produced – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control is a entirely different and superior way of relating to God than following a list of does and don’ts and laws and commands and Sinai Covenant law-keeping. Which is why the Rabbi writes:Against such things there is no law.

One of the purposes of law is to restrain evil. Those who are living according to the new nature and by the power of the Holy Spirit and who are producing these fruits don’t need laws and threats of punishment for violating laws to motivate them or restrain them. They are operating with a superior ability and motivation that is generated from within us, not from without.

One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control – the ability to control the old, fallen, sinful nature and its corrupt desires. To reinforce this important truth, the Rabbi puts it another way. Those who belong to Messiah Yeshua have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. You belong to Messiah if you know who He is and have become loyal to Him and His Father. Then, the Father and Son send their Spirit to live in you. They give you a new nature. The Spirit, combined with the new nature and a new understanding, enables you to have the power to overcome your old, corrupt fallen nature so that it is unable to control you.

Think of it this way: Messiah was crucified. And if you belong to Him, you are united to Him, and the Crucified One knows how to help you crucify your old nature. He has a lot of experience in that area; and He has all the power needed to help you kill your sin nature.

Brothers and sisters, this is the right way to live. This is the way to experience victorious living. This is the way to live the way God intended those made in His image to live – not by following a list of rules and regulations, commandments and laws, does and don’ts. We need the Messiah! We need to belong to Him. We need His Spirit. We need His mind. We need the new nature He alone gives.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. This is the way to live – by the indwelling and empowering and leading and guiding and teaching of the Holy Spirit. So, let’s live that way! Let’s keep in step with the Spirit – really being led, guided, directed, taught, empowered by Him, not by anything else, including law-keeping and mere human effort.

Let’s keep in step with the Spirit, and let’s live in step with the other members of Messiah’s Community. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Don’t be like the false religionists, the judaizers/legalists – conceited, thinking they were better than Paul, acting superior to Paul; envious of Paul, provoking others by bad attitudes and false teaching.

Lord, help us to live freely, purely, lovingly. Amen?

Lord, help us to live by means of Your Spirit, which means living in a way that we get close to You and stay close to You. Amen?

Lord, we believe that the Spirit working though our new nature will give us the ability to not yield to the corrupt desires of the old nature. He will produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in us. May those fruits truly be produced in each one of us. Amen?

Lord, enable us to crucify the old nature with its corrupt desires. Amen?

Lord, help us keep in step with the Spirit and with the other members of Messiah’s Community. Amen?