Words of Jesus Christ in "Red" 
Every Christian should be interested in living the "Christian Life", but for many believers the alternatives are either licentiousness or legalism. In Galatians 5 God condemns both alternatives as fleshly, non-spiritual, not of Him. In verses 13 through 15 God condemns licentious living as incompatible with His way. There were a group of Christians (?) in the early Church who called themselves "Gnostics", and they believed that salvation in Christ freed you so that you could sin and pursue hedonism. There are many Christians (?) who follow this path today who feel like their action of "walking the aisle" and "publicly proclaiming Jesus through word and Baptism" gives them the authority to pursue guiltless sin. This is an aberration of the Christian life:
That is absolutely "not" supported in the Scriptures. If you are saved, you are a "new creature" in Christ, a son of God, a child of the King. To profess Christ in order that you be free to guiltlessly sin ignores the creative hand of God in the true Christian's life.
There was also a group of Christians (?) who claimed that unless you followed the Law after salvation, your salvation was not true. These early Christians (?), actually converts from Judaism, believed that salvation was both a work of God and a work of man. They held that, unless you remained true to the tabooism of the Law, you would "lose your salvation".
The Legalists ignored the fact that Jesus paid the penalty for all sin, and that He and He alone "obtained eternal redemption for us". By their blending of the Law with the Grace of the Cross they effectively "blasphemed" the pure offering that Jesus made. God hated and "still hates" the form of religion that sets man up as a god.
The Bible points out a third alternative, an alternative of Christian Living that is "neither" Gnostic nor Legalistic, and that is Life "by the Spirit of God". Galatians 5 gives us a wonderful resource to determine if we are living our lives by the Spirit of God, or by the flesh (Gnosticism/Legalism). God wants us to know that we can examine the spiritual output of our lives, compare that output to this list, then use it (as a sort of litmus test) to determine our status in Christ. This test is supported by the words of our Lord Jesus:
There are "three things" that the Christian should constantly bear in mind. "First", success in our spiritual lives "depends" on our knowledge of God's Word. If you do not know God's Word, you can "never" really know God. For example, it was possible, years ago, for western men to order their "brides" from a catalogue. This was a harsh, rugged country, and women often died under the trials of settling the new land. When a man lost his wife he wanted another, for harshness is one thing, but harshness "and" loneliness is much worse. Anyway, there were women who were poor and willing to become "mail order brides", and western men would look in catalogues and order a wife. Sometimes they got a good wife, sometimes they got a "prostitute". You never know what you're getting when you order a bride through a catalogue. In the same way, some of you may have become complacent in your Christian walks. You are willing to let someone else tell you what God said, rather than research His Word and find out for yourself. Now, don't get me wrong. There's "nothing wrong" with listening to your Pastor, or studying the articles at this site. However, "Open Your Bible" and see what it has to say, for goodness sake. If you're given a reference, look it up. Study the Word. You'll "never" learn Christ through another person's experience, you have to experience Him yourself through the Word of God.
"Second", you must be willing to put what you learn from God's Word "into practice" in your life. The Scribes were theologians of the first degree, Doctors of Theology. They knew everything about the Scripture from writing and writing it over and over again. Yet, though they knew the Scripture, they "never applied it" to their lives. Jesus always referred to the "theologians without substance" as:
"Hypocrites", two faced people. The Scribes and Pharisees had the abundant riches of the Gospel at their fingertips. They knew what God's Word said, but instead of applying that Word to their own lives they "misused" the Word to puff themselves up and tear others down. God expects us not just to study and know His Word, but to "Put It In Practice" in our lives. This is a tearing thing, a hammering thing, a fiery thing. Many times people walk out of Church mad, never to return again, because the Word preached was so offensive to their humanistic value systems. They were certain that the Pastor preached that Sermon, prepared that sermon just for them, picking from them from the pulpit. Foolish Christian, the Word was designed to tear at the soul. Do you not know that the Lord uses the Word to "tear away the chunks of apathy and sin" in your life so He can make you better, make you a work He can be proud of? Do not resist the Word of the Lord. Put down your foolish inconsistencies and let God have His way with your life. Let the Word tear, embed, route out the Old Sin Nature and make you a brighter Christian with a better walk with Him. You have two choices placed before you when confronted with the Scripture, blessing or cursing. "Bend under the mighty Word of God" and choose blessing.
"Third", and very important, remember that you are a "work in progress":
Do not receive the Word of God as a "suggestion" from God. This is a "dangerous" position to occupy. Some Christians (?) approach the Word as if it were a human catalogue, and suggest that only the portions that are palatable to us are to be regarded as valid. The Word is not a "suggestion", but a tool that God uses to shape the Christian. It can be likened to the tool that the potter uses to shape the clay, cutting away the unused bits in order to leave that which is useful to the Creator. When you liken the Word to a "suggestion", when you rob it of validity in your own reality, then you rob God of the power of His tool. You rob yourself of the creation God wants you to be. Listen to me, Christian: you will NEVER be blessed until you grow into what God wants you to be. You will NEVER be a blessing to others until you grow as He demands you grow, until you let Him shape you through this Holy Word, the Bible.
How can you know that God is at work in your life? Because He gave us a litmus test, a means of looking at our lives and determining our spiritual condition. This litmus test is the "Fruit of the Spirit". The "Fruit" or KARPOS of the Spirit is a single unit of works that God the Spirit produces in the believer's life. Note that these are not called FruitS, but "Fruit" - Paul uses the singular word here. The Fruit of the Spirit are not a bunch of evidences that have no relationship to one another, but each of the nine virtues are presented as one unit. These virtues together have a harmony that produces the one singular Fruit. This is in direct contrast to the "workS of the flesh", plural. These non-virtues are disharmonious, scarring and destroying the Christian walk, whereas the Fruit are singular and harmonious. You cannot mimic the harmony of the Fruit of the Spirit, for they are a cohesive and unified whole.
There are people in this world who have love, love for their mates, love for their family, love for their neighbor in general. They may also be joyful, and at peace with themselves but be short tempered with others. You can have love, joy, and peace, but if you are impatient with others (without long-suffering) the Fruit of the Spirit is not evident in your life. You can show love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance - and yet lack gentleness, and you are devoid of the Fruit. We must possess all nine virtues in harmony with one another to have the Fruit of the Spirit. Look, the Christian today is often indistinguishable from the average heathen, and this is not God's way. The Christian is supposed to be on a higher plain than the heathen. Many believers (?) today have just enough religion to make them irritating, but do not have a relationship with God. Now that we are saved we are called to walk in the Spirit, to pursue God. We should be like the Psalmist:
Is the Fruit evident in your life? First, are you a Christian? Have you given your life to Jesus Christ (not Mary, the Pope, your Preacher, but to Jesus)? If so, then consider the illustration that Paul gives us on walking. When you were a baby you crawled from place to place. Your parents kept picking you up, holding you, and at a certain time they tried to get you to walk. You probably don't remember that time (I don't), but I'll tell you what I did with my kids. I put them on the floor, on their feet, and held the back of their shirts. They began taking tentative steps, one after the other, while I held them. After some time I released their shirts and it was up to the kids. They had to TAKE A RISK and step out on childlike faith. At first they fell frequently, and I always tried to catch them before they hit the floor. This scared them, and they often cried, but soon they stopped and we tried it again. Again and again, over weeks, perhaps a month, we went through the exercise. My kids had to try, to TRY, and to step out on faith. Daddy thought they could do it, and guess what? One day, they did! You can never learn to walk in the Spirit unless you're willing to do the same things you did as a baby. First, you have to trust Pa Pa. Trust His Word, rely on His Word. Second, you have to take RISKS. There were two Christian young men who were afraid to speak in public, but one day they got up and taught Sunday School. They were so frightened. What if someone laughed at them? Hey, this is a reality - I've been laughed at, but that's OK. Just as long as the tomatoes don't come out! They persisted, with childlike faith, and today one is Minister of Youth and the other Associate Pastor at a large Church in our area. When you get up in the morning, turn your life over to God, to Christ, and trust that He will guide your steps today. Yes, you'll make a lot of mistakes. If I had a dime for every mistake I made, I'd be able to retire now. You will make mistakes. But try your wings in Christ. Stretch them out, try to fly. If you hit the ground, cry a little, but get up and try again. Go to an older Christian, a Pastor, and ask him for guidance. If you try to fill a position in the Church and it doesn't work out, try something else. Seek God in prayer, ask for His guidance.
Do you think He isn't concerned about your growth? Do you think that, "I'll ask Him for bread and He'll give me a stone"? No, dear believer. The Father of all Creation wants you to grow, to become productive, to produce the Fruit of the Spirit. Imagine how the world would be changed if all Christians put away their pettiness and sought out a perpetual walk in the Spirit. Sadly, we cannot change all Christians. We can only change one person, cause one person to seek a perpetual walk in the Spirit, and that person is ourselves. I can make a commitment to study His Word on a daily basis, to pray to Him on a daily basis, to turn off that laxative of the mind (television) and meditate on His Word. I can make the decision to spread my wings in Christ and try to fly for Him. I can try new things: teach Sunday School or a Bible study class, sponsor impromptu fellowships at the Church, help guide the elderly to their seats at Church or visit the Nursing Home and love the forgotten. I can help a friend, or if I see someone stranded in the city with smoke billowing out of their car offer to help. I can shut my mouth long enough to listen to another's troubles, cook dinner for someone who has lost a loved one, visit believers who are sick at home or in the hospital. I can carry Communion to the shut in citizens, take a new Christian under my wing to help him or her grow, or mow the grass at Church. There are a thousand things that God needs the believer to do and be, a thousand ways to spread our wings and fly. Study, pray, grow, and fly. God needs walking in the Spirit believers. He needs all of you. Maranatha!
 Send E-mail to Russ: webslave for Christ ( russ@jesuswept.com ) with questions or comments about this web site and it's content. Last modified: 12/04/2002 |
