A church committed to discipleship

Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

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

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

and verse 20,

just go back a few pages in your Bible,

Galatians chapter 2 verse 20,

Galatians 2:20

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.

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

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