A South Korean missionary couple gave greetings in the service. They are from a University Presbyterian Church in South Korea where Rev Erlo Stegen preached some years ago. South Korean Christians are very missionary minded. They mentioned that a group of South Koreans doing mission Aid work in Afganistan was recently kidnapped. The group’s pastor and one other have been shot by the Taliban and they threaten to kill the other 21 who are mostly women. We should remember them in prayer. The Missionary couple then sang beautifully, in Korean, the well-known hymn, “I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me has been made known.”
Galatians 5
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
1) The flesh and its desires.
Many people battle with the flesh and its desires. We read in verses 19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Notice that outbursts of anger and jealousy are mentioned together with sorcery. We tend to make light of an outburst of anger, but God sees it in the same light at sorcery. Christians can even be jealous of each other in God’s work. But these are only things that the heathens do. They should not be found amongst God’s people.
If you are wondering whether you’re on your way to heaven or not, God makes it clear in these verses that if these things are found in your life, you will not see the Kingdom of God; unless you repent.
2) Overcoming the deeds of the flesh.
The answer to overcoming the flesh and its desires is to walk in the Spirit.
If you want to keep a vegetable garden weed-free, you must remove the weeds regularly. But unless you plant vegetables once the weeds are removed, you will continually remove weeds and eventually become despondent. Once the vegetables start to grow, they also make it more difficult for the weeds to grow, because they take up the space and sunlight which the weeds need to grow.
So too in your life, once you are cleansed by the Blood of Jesus, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit and daily walk in the Spirit. Then your life will be a blessing and bear fruit.
3) The joy of walking in the Spirit.
Verse 22, 23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
Consider each of these fruit of the Spirit and see whether it is found in your life. Have you made progress in your spiritual life since you’ve met the Lord.
Those who walk in the Spirit make progress in their spiritual life and are ready for God’s service at any time.
If you walk in the Spirit it becomes a joy and delight to do God’s work.
4) The fight between the Spirit and the flesh.
In your life the Spirit and the flesh are constantly at odds with each other. The one which you feed will win.
When you are strong in the Lord when the devil attacks you, it is easy to overcome him. But if you are spiritually weak when he attacks, you will be found wanting.
One of the most dangerous times in a Christian’s life is directly after a victory. Just after Peter had experienced the great revelation that Jesus is the Son of God, he became a tool in the devil’s hand because he did not walk in the Spirit. Jesus had to rebuke him, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Matt 16:23).
We must be continually in tune with God and walk in the Spirit.
We read in 2Kings 6 how Elisha walked in the Spirit. When his servant despaired because of the enemies around them, Elisha prayed for him, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see”. And then he saw God’s wall of protection around them.
May this also be your prayer that God would open your eyes to see as He sees. It will revolutionise your life so that you will strongly long to walk in the Spirit.