Relationships

Orientation, Lines, and Shouting in the Office

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25And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.26For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. Galatians 3:25-29

 

 

One of my kids was bullied, shamed, yelled at, and banished by a teacher for not colouring in the lines. It was awful. If I could have, I would have erased the lines on the paper and used them to draw a new vision of education all the way from the office to the classroom.

 

Now, I know we like our lines. They bring us some measure of comfort and normalcy. We feel threatened when someone colours outside the lines.

 

And here’s a truth, the Gospel has erased some lines we like.

 

Do you claim Jesus as Lord? If yes, get your social eraser out.

 

Paul is inviting the Galatians to a Gospel Orientation. The lines have been redrawn. Who’s in and who’s out? Who’s up and who’s down? In Christ Jesus we are in the family as equal partners no matter our race, status, or gender. The implications are dramatic. A new social code has been written through His blood. When we resist the pull of the Gospel against our social and cultural conventions that oppress and limit people based on race, status, or gender, we are fighting Jesus. We are neglecting the common ground at the foot of the Cross bought through His blood.

 

So what to do? Raise the bar of the conversation. The Apostle Paul keeps pointing to the dramatic realities of the Gospel and acting accordingly. Let’s do the same!

 

The Forgotten Context

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6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love….

13For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another….

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

26Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

 

Have you memorized Galatians 5:22?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

 

We would do well to be very familiar with all of Chapter 5.

 

The Apostle Paul is in a debate regarding change dynamics. How are people who follow Jesus going to change? How will this new community of Jews and Gentiles gathered in the name of Jesus Christ embody the character of God. To be crass: One group is asking, “When will pagans start being good?” This group is arguing for conformity to the Law and to the community and cultural standards of the Jews.

 

Paul argues for a spiritual dynamism empowered by the Holy Spirit given to all those who receive forgiveness of sin through faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

The Gospel-shaped community vision: faith, freedom, fruit.

Faith in Jesus working through love.

Freedom to serve one another through love.

Fruit borne of the Spirit’s dynamic work in our lives.

 

The Fruit of the Spirit is a vision of Gospel-shaped community. Life in Jesus’ community is the forgotten context for The Fruit of the Spirit.

 

The Moment

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1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,

so pants my soul for you, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

Psalm 42:1-2

 

The moment when you have been still enough in the wild to see a deer quench its thirst in the waters of a stream.

 

The moment when you have been still enough to drink deeply from the stream of God’s Presence.

The Love That Messes With Us

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41Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 42Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. John 12:41-43

Glory. Praise. Adulation. Affirmation. Acceptance. Applause. Being in.

We usually discover our love for the glory of people when we find ourselves on the outside or when we find our status threatened. This is a love that will mess us up. The insecurity will create a whirlwind of self-destruction. It kept the Pharisees who believed in Jesus from identifying with Him. It will keep us from saying to Jesus Christ, “I am affectionately yours.”

This love for the applause of people will mess us up. We crave their delight. In fact when they cheered we thought we were becoming somebody; but then we learned their praise is conditional. They could never bear the weight of our soul and our soul could never bear the weight of their demands.

Looking to Jesus, we hear his invitation to life and the glory of God. We can see how He lived in the Belovedness of the Heavenly Father’s glory, praise, affirmation, acceptance, and applause. When Jesus experienced the unbelief, rejection, condemnation, dishonour, and contempt of people He framed it in a larger problem and He abided in His relationship with the Father.

44And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.45And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.46I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.47If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.48The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.49For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.50And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” John 12:44-50

The world and even our friends will not see us through the lens of our affection for Jesus Christ when our obedience to Jesus runs counter to what they want. They cannot. Paul insisting on the Gospel of grace in Christ, would write of this challenge of understanding motives when he says, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10

Did you see it? The love for the glory of people will enslave us. The love for the glory of God through the grace of Jesus Christ will usher us into His freedom.

 

Natural Spirituality

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12Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

14The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:12-16

The Gospel frames “spiritual” as a condition brought about by the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ. So for the Christian living in my setting of people claiming “spiritual but not religious” some sophistication is required to maintain the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel.

The same Jesus who was present at Creation with the Father, and Holy Spirit is with us. The same Jesus who lived among Israel and died on the Cross is present with us. The same Jesus who was raised from the dead and ascended to Heaven is with us. The same Jesus who will return again some day is with us.

For the “natural” “Spirituality” is the common language that retains the common grace of intrinsic worth emerging from the image of God. Even the “natural” may recognize their need for love, for respect, for righteousness, for power and yet deny Jesus Christ.

Now, In Christ, we have Him and He has us, by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is working so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.

We have been given the mind of Christ. Now we are no longer “natural.” Now we are made to be “spiritual” in the truest sense by means of the Gospel. Yet we affirm the “natural” in their quest and desires that correspond with the glory of God and His Kingdom.

Jesus is with us. Our spirit is alive to God through the work of Jesus Christ. Now we are truly spiritual as the Gospel frames “spiritual.”