The Holy Spirit: THE Key to Living a Faithful Christian Life (Part 3)

or Christian friends to you.

I want you to carefully consider Christian friends.

Most of us in this room, we have a lot of friends and acquaintances

from all walks of life.

I'm not talking about just friends in general.

How important, how valuable are your Christian friends to you?

Think of it this way.

What kind of impact do they have on your life?

What kind of influence?

How do they help you live out your faith as a Christian?

Or do they?

Think about it this way.

What kind of influence, what kind of impact do you have

on the Christian life of your Christian friends?

How are you helping them to grow spiritually?

Well, how does it happen?

How is it that Christian brothers and sisters

can really positively impact each other's lives?

What would it look like?

Well, turn to Galatians chapter 5,

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

and we're going to look at what Paul says

about how we as believers

should and should not be treating one another.

How we should be helping one another,

not causing problems for one another.

Galatians chapter 5 is where we've been for the last two weeks.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

We've been looking at the big picture,

how the Holy Spirit, and I want you to look at that title,

how the Holy Spirit is the,

strongly emphasizing the key to living a faithful Christian life.

There's a lot of things involved.

We want to really know the Lord,

become more like Him,

make a difference in people's lives.

There's a lot of things involved.

You've got to be a person who knows what God thinks

by reading His Word,

knowing how He wants us to live.

You've got to spend some time with Him in prayer.

But no matter what we do,

as Christians,

we must have the indwelling power of the Spirit of God

to make it all sort of come together.

He is the key,

most important key,

if we're serious about living a faithful Christian life.

Now, two weeks ago,

we looked at what Paul said in verses 16 through 17,

16, 17, and 18 of Galatians 5,

he talked about how we've got to depend on the Holy Spirit's power.

The Christian faith is a supernatural faith.

When God does something in us,

it is something supernatural

where He changes us from the inside out.

He causes us to think differently,

want to live differently.

He regenerates us,

gives us a whole new perspective.

He puts His Spirit in us.

And so if we are going to be different from people

who are not Christians,

if we are going to develop real Christian character,

we've got to depend on the Holy Spirit's power

to enable us.

Last week, we saw that we must make the Holy Spirit

the dominant source of influence in our lives.

A lot of things influence us.

People influence us.

The world, the culture today influences us.

We have our own sinful desires,

our old habits.

We've got to make sure that it's the Spirit within us

that is the dominant force in our lives.

That's the only way that we're going to be able to

be loving and peaceful

and demonstrate kindness when it's not easy.

As Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit

in Galatians 5, verses 22 and 23.

Galatians 5:22

Well, today we're going to look at how the Spirit of God uses us

to make a positive difference in people's lives.

We're going to summarize it like this.

Demonstrate the Holy Spirit's fruit in all your relationships.

That's what this passage, beginning in chapter 5, verse 26,

through chapter 6, really verse 10, is telling us.

We are called by God.

God expects us in our relationships with one another,

brothers and sisters in Christ.

He expects us to demonstrate that love and joy and peace

and patience and kindness and so on.

Let's start reading it.

Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Let's read verse 25.

That's where a new paragraph starts.

If you've got a Bible translation that has paragraphs,

most likely the new paragraph begins in verse 25.

He says,

If we live by the Spirit,

let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Let us not become conceited,

provoking one another,

envying one another.

Brothers.

And that could be translated brothers and sisters.

If anyone is caught in any transgression or sin,

you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourself,

lest you too be tempted.

We're going to stop there

because we're going to look at this part

about our relationships with one another

over a period of about three different messages.

The way we are instructed to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit

in all of our relationships

involves both what we would call negatives and positives.

Let's look at the negative first.

How we should not treat one another.

Verse 26.

Let us not become conceited,

provoking one another,

envying one another.

Paul is beginning this

by

talking about their spiritual pride among you.

Their spiritual pride in the church.

It seems that those who

consider themselves to being,

to living Spirit-led lives,

they've become conceited.

They thought they were spiritually superior

to most other Christians.

Whenever I hear that word conceited,

I think about two guys

that I went to high school with

that are one year ahead of me.

They were best friends.

I want you to understand that at first.

They were best friends.

One of them,

he was just arrogant

because he thought he was a superstar athlete.

He was a good athlete.

But his best friend,

if he told him once,

he told him a dozen times

that I heard it,

his friend would say,

he's not conceited,

he's convinced.

That's what a conceited person is, isn't it?

Prideful, arrogant.

They're convinced about themselves that.

Paul is telling us

that there's people in the church

there's Christians

who are convinced

that they are more spiritually minded

than everybody else in the church.

Maybe they know more,

maybe they know more about the Bible.

Maybe they've memorized more verses.

Maybe they are more gifted.

The fact is,

everybody's gifted differently,

some more so than others.

Maybe they were prideful

because they were involved.

I've known people who took pride

just because they were here

Sunday morning,

Sunday night,

and Wednesday night

as if that made them

some kind of spiritual giant.

You can be a doorstop

and be here Sunday morning,

Sunday night,

Wednesday night.

Makes no difference.

But they,

hey,

the people I'm talking about,

they were prideful.

They let you know

they were here Sunday morning,

Sunday night,

Wednesday night.

So,

I want you to think about it.

Let me,

let me mention something here.

We talk about Christian friends,

Christians in the church.

Most of the New Testament letters

were written

to a church

in a city.

Galatia,

Galatians,

that letter,

it was written to a group of churches

in a region called Galatia.

Here's what I want you to know.

When Paul wrote to the Galatians,

those people in the church,

they were all the Christians

they knew.

When Paul wrote to the church

in Ephesus,

the letter to the Ephesians,

most likely,

the only Christians

those people knew

were those who were part

of this Ephesian church.

We're not like that.

You may have more friends

who are committed Christians

outside this church

than you have inside.

Some of you may,

you have good Christian friends here,

but your life revolves

in another place, really.

Maybe you've got some good Christian friends

you work with.

Maybe there's a group at school

that you know.

They care about their relationship

with the Lord,

and so you hang out with them.

They're your,

they're sort of like

your church family.

They're your Christian brothers

and sisters

that you have a closer relationship with.

So as we go through this message,

I'm going to apply it a lot

to this church,

but I want you to understand

it applies to you

and your relationships

with other Christians

in other places.

So,

Paul's telling us

there's people,

Christians,

spiritually minded Christians,

who've maybe let their spiritual maturity

go to their head,

and they're very prideful.

They're condescending towards some others.

You know,

such attitudes are usually spotted quickly.

You pretty well can see it pretty early,

and it causes problems, doesn't it?

It causes problems at work.

It causes problems among your friends

when one person's sort of

looking down at everybody else.

it causes problems in the church.

An arrogant person,

condescending person,

they,

they provoke people.

They stir up trouble.

They stir up a lot of negative attitudes,

including envy.

Paul singles that out here.

I want you to picture the problem

in this church.

You've got a small group of members

who are probably more spiritually minded,

truly,

and they use their gifts and talents

in the ministry.

They're involved.

They're,

they're,

they're up front.

They're doing things.

People see them,

but they think they're spiritually superior.

And because of that,

they're really not all that spiritual.

They're displeasing to God.

Pride's one of the most serious sins.

It can ruin our lives.

It can ruin a lot of relationships.

But you've got another group,

they not only resent

these arrogant spiritual people,

they're envious.

They envy the gifts and talents

of those who are up front and serving.

These people feel spiritually inferior.

And the other ones,

these arrogant ones,

they feel spiritually superior.

Now let's apply that.

We,

we need to guard against

both an attitude of inferiority

and superiority.

No one is superior to anyone

in this church

or anywhere else.

I want you to understand that.

There's no pecking order

in the family of God.

We are all in this room sinners

that if we're Christians,

we're saved by the grace of God

and the grace of God's unearned.

I want you to understand something.

Not many people,

this may not apply to,

but God is not impressed with you.

God's not impressed with me.

You see,

God's standard is perfection.

And we're far from that.

God stooped down.

I better not do that again.

I won't get back up.

My knees aren't like they used to be.

God really bent way over

to make us His child.

And He didn't have to do that.

God chose to be gracious

and merciful

and not give us what we deserve,

but give us the gift of salvation

through the work of His Son,

the death of His Son on the cross,

that we just received by faith,

the gift of salvation.

We have nothing to feel superior about.

Whatever gifts we have,

they've been given to us by God.

Some of you in this room,

you have some real gifts and talents

that you use for God

in some visible ways,

some things behind the scene,

maybe not even in this church,

but in other realms of life.

You use what God's given you

and it's significant.

But He gave you those gifts

for you to serve Him

and serve other people,

not to make you feel superior.

So in light of what Paul is saying here,

the best thing for you to do this morning

is to forget about yourself.

Don't seek to be honored.

To be thanked.

Don't even seek to be noticed.

Just think instead

that you have the privilege,

by the grace of God,

you have the privilege

to use what God's given you

in a way that does

help other people,

that does help

serve God's purpose in this world.

number two,

that not only is no one superior,

no one is inferior.

No one is inferior

to anyone in this church

or anywhere else.

We're all made in the image of God.

There's people,

everywhere you go,

there's people who battle

this thing about self-image.

I want you to know,

as a human being,

even if you're not a Christian,

as a human being,

you were created

in the image of God

and that gives you automatically

worth and value.

We should treat

all human beings,

no matter what their walk of life,

with worth,

with value,

with a sense of dignity

because they are created

in the image of God.

And if you're a Christian,

you need to think

a little bit more.

Jesus Christ died for me,

gave up His life,

suffered for me,

for my sins,

so that I could be forgiven

and not suffer.

That does make you

worth something,

doesn't it?

Worth a lot.

Now,

if someone is more gifted

or talented than you are,

and somebody is,

always,

that's not their fault.

Don't be mad at somebody

because they're smarter than you,

they're sharper than you,

they can do certain things

that you can't do.

If you've come on Sunday nights some,

you spiritually minded people

who come on Sunday nights,

you know that a lot of times

we have done some video studies

with Matt Chandler.

He's one of my favorite preachers.

And I know

he's better than me.

I mean,

he just communicates,

I can sit and listen to him

for an hour.

I couldn't listen to me

for an hour.

Some of you have made it plain,

you won't listen to me

for an hour.

So,

I get that.

But I really like Chandler.

And I'm thankful

that God gave him

those gifts,

he's helped me

in some ways,

taught me some things,

I've learned some things

from him.

I can honestly say

I'm not jealous of him.

I'm thankful for him.

And I recognize

that he's more gifted

than me.

We need to learn

to do that.

Learn to do that

in whatever realm

of life you're operating in,

that there are people

better than you,

so what?

If they're just more

naturally gifted,

or they've just got that drive

that makes them better,

your problem

is not with them,

your problem's really

with God

because he made them

that way.

Why be jealous

of somebody

who is quicker than you,

faster than you,

in whatever sports

you play?

God made them

that way.

So,

accept that.

But instead of

being jealous,

just appreciate it.

And in the church,

if there's somebody

who's serving

more than you,

they're just more faithful

than you,

they're more gifted

than you are,

or they're having

a greater impact

than you are,

instead of being jealous,

why don't you just try

to follow their example,

maybe?

Learn from them,

maybe.

Serve like they do.

Be involved

like they are.

What I want us to see,

what Paul wants us

to see here,

there is no place

for an attitude

of superiority

or inferiority

among Christians

in any setting,

in any setting,

and that is especially

true in the church.

But if we are either,

looking down

or looking up,

feeling inferior,

feeling superior,

either way,

if that's true

about us right now,

that means we're not

living in the power

of the Holy Spirit,

we're giving in

to the temptation.

We're giving in

to the temptation

to let how someone else is

affect how we are

and how we actually function

in the church

or even among our friends.

That's the negative,

how we should not

treat one another.

Let's move on.

He tells us how we should

treat one another.

The first thing

he tells us

is in verse 1,

and this is very hard.

We're just going to look

at verse 1 this morning.

I want you to think

about it as we go

through this.

What we're going to look

at is something

God expects you and me

to do in each other's life

when necessary.

We hope it's never necessary,

but it may be necessary

for you to do something

in a person's life,

in my life.

Look at what he says,

verse 1.

Brothers,

brothers and sisters,

if anyone is caught

in any transgression,

you who are spiritual

should restore him

in a spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourself

lest you too be tempted.

Paul's telling us here

we need to learn

to confront sin

in one another's lives.

Now he's not telling us

to pronounce judgment

on somebody

and just write them off.

He's not telling us

to have this judgmental spirit

and just looking for faults

and trying to condemn people.

He's talking about

confronting someone

that we know,

that we care about,

that we see something

happening in their life

and we want to help them

and not let it hurt them.

Let's look at it.

The time to confront.

If anyone is caught

in any transgression.

The NIV says

if anyone is caught

in a sin.

The idea here now

is that,

let's just say,

let's just talk about

the church.

But it applies to you

and your friends at work.

It applies to you

and your friends

at church,

at school.

Let's just say

you've got a friend.

We're not talking about

nitpicking someone,

looking for trouble.

We're not talking about

getting our spiritual

microscopes out

and trying to find

flaws in people.

That's not what

he's talking about.

Here's what he's talking about,

something serious.

Maybe you notice

your friend.

It seems,

it seems inappropriate

the attention

they're giving

to someone

of the opposite sex

and it's not their spouse.

Or maybe it's

one of your friends

you go to school with

and you know

they're too involved

with the person

they're dating.

Maybe it's someone

you work with

and you've,

you have found

something that gives

you the idea

you're almost,

you're 99% sure

they're embezzling

from the company.

We're talking about

something serious

that is sinful.

Something that would

not please God

if he sees it

in one of his children.

we're supposed

to confront them.

Now how do we do it?

Well,

we don't ignore it.

How do we respond

to these situations?

We don't ignore it.

That's the natural

thing to do.

You just don't,

you shake your head.

Don't,

just ignore it.

I didn't see that.

Stick your head

in the sand.

We do that sometimes.

We,

we should not respond

by exposing it

to other people

and gossiping.

You don't go

to somebody else

and say,

you know what I'm thinking?

You know what I've seen?

That's not what he's saying.

And right here,

he is not talking about

passing on

what we know

to somebody else

like in the church.

He's not saying

go and tell the pastor

or another church leader.

No.

There may be a time

and place for that

but initially,

if there's a Christian friend,

you see something

going on in their life

that it needs

to be dealt with

and they need

to be confronted

and the Lord

lays it on your heart

and you see it

and you know it,

you've got to do that.

That's a part of living

a spirit-filled life,

bearing one another's burdens

that when someone

is caught in a sin

and we're talking

about privately,

everybody doesn't know

this yet

according to what

we're reading here.

We'll go to them

privately

with the prayer

that God will help us

help them

to turn around,

to stop it

and hopefully never even

be publicly exposed.

Now there are exceptions

to be made

for crimes.

Child abuse,

nothing private.

child abuse,

we call the police

or the sheriff's department.

Child abuse,

I want to know it.

It will not be ignored,

it will not be swept

under the carpet.

Spousal abuse,

the church for too long

has tried to just

close their eyes,

hope things go away,

stick their head

in the sand.

That should not be.

So we're not talking

about covering up

crimes.

We're not talking

about failing to do

what we're supposed

to do.

We're not talking

about protecting

children or other

vulnerable people.

We're talking

about friends

who are doing

something and no one

else knows it

but you find out

about it,

you can intervene.

Number two,

look at the person

who confronts.

He says,

you who are spiritual.

The spiritual would be

those people who are

seeking to obey

the Holy Spirit's

leadership.

They're people who

are growing in their

faith.

They demonstrate

Christian character.

They're not perfect.

No one is perfect

but some people

are more spiritually

minded than others.

Some are more

mature than others.

This is the kind

of person who could

deal with such an

issue in love

and try to help

the person,

not hurt them.

Don't ever get

involved in trying

to deal with

someone else's

sin.

If you don't have

that spirit-given

maturity

and wisdom

and you can do

it in love.

Number three,

the way to confront

is in a spirit

of gentleness.

Gentleness is part

of the fruit of the

spirit.

That's why Paul says

only the spiritual

can do this.

Now,

such gentleness

does not mean

leniency.

intimacy.

We're not talking

about overlooking

a problem.

Sometimes love's

got to be tough.

You know that.

Sometimes love

has got to be tough

in families

and among friends.

The idea here is

that the work

of restoration

should be done

with sensitivity,

care,

concern for the

other person.

Number four,

the goal of

confrontation is to

restore.

You're not trying

to punish.

The sin you have

seen in this

person's life

has alienated

them from God.

Their relationship

with Him is strained.

And so you're

wanting to bring

them back to a

right relationship

with Him.

You're wanting

to help them

to be restored

to where they

need to be

in their walk

with the Lord.

So the purpose

of such confrontation,

the purpose of

church discipline

is always to help

never to hurt.

It's always

redemptive,

not punitive.

Number five,

the caution

about confrontation.

If you don't

hear anything else,

you listen to this.

He says,

keep watch on

yourself,

lest you too

be tempted.

There's no place

in the whole

kingdom of God

for this spiritual

pride where you

think of yourself

as something,

you're above sin,

you're above what

somebody else can do,

and you just look

condescendingly down

at them,

and you're going

to correct them

because you're so

much better than

them.

None of us

are immune

from any kind

of temptation.

None of us

are above any

sin.

Some people

in churches

today,

and we're a

church today,

some people

need to really

let that sink in.

If you don't

see in your own

life a personal

battle with sin,

that means you

have a very

poor understanding

of what sin is

and how holy

God is.

If you have

any understanding

at all of how

holy and pure

God is,

and how

repulsed he

is by

sin,

you'll know

I am a

sinner.

I'm not

above anybody.

I could fall

in a lot of

different kinds

of ways.

No matter what

you see in

another person's

life,

you could,

under certain

circumstances,

you could fall

in a very

equally bad

way.

You may not

be as susceptible

to the same

sins as somebody

you know,

but there are

other ways

the devil tempts

us and traps

us if we're not

on guard

and seeking to

be faithful.

We need to

always guard

against pride

and self-righteousness,

and that is

always present

in many churches.

Some Christians,

I don't understand

it,

just have this

smug attitude

as if they are

above

other Christians.

Confronting

someone in their

sin is a very

uncomfortable

thing to do,

but it's an

important thing

if you really

love your

brother or

sister.

sometimes it's

just,

you just got

to be

uncomfortable

because you

love them

enough.

You're going

to say

something,

you're going

to step

up before

they ruin

their family,

before they

lose their

job,

before they

ruin their

reputation,

before they

ruin their

life.

It's also

important for

us to realize

somebody may

need to talk

to me

someday.

if somebody

comes to

you that

you know

is a

godly

person,

you know

that they're

saying it

because they

just have

to,

they don't

want to,

and you

know they're

coming to

you because

they love

you,

swallow your

pride and

listen.

It may be

that it's

not true,

but listen

to them,

find out why

they're coming

to you.

Something has

caused that.

We all need

to be open

to such

confrontations

because that's

how the Lord

may intervene

to help us

or save us

in some way.

Are you

demonstrating the

Holy Spirit's

fruit in your

relationships with

other people?

Let me ask you

this, are you

involved in

meeting relationships

with other

Christians?

Christians?

Do you have,

I mean,

real,

close relationships

with other

Christians in

this church?

Maybe in other

settings.

Maybe your life

is mostly at

work, at

school, and

you're just

here on

Sundays.

You don't

really have

the opportunity

to know that

many people

here.

Are you

involved with

other Christians

in a meaningful

way, have

meaningful

relationships?

relationships.

You need, I

need, every

Christian needs

the blessings

that come from

other Christians

who demonstrate

the fruit of the

Spirit toward us.

Your friends need

it from you.

Not just your

friends in general,

but your Christian

friends need it.

Will you be this

kind of friend?

It may be that

you need to be

more intentional

about developing

better, deeper,

more meaningful

friendships with

other Christians.

You may need

some help in

doing that.

You may need to

think, I've got

good Christian

friends, but we

only talk about

sports.

We only talk

about the

weather.

We only talk

about our

families.

families.

Why don't you

work on developing

a relationship

with them in

which you can

talk about

spiritual things?

Maybe if

they're a member

of this church,

talk about this

sermon.

There's you in

opening.

Talk about how

God is working

in your life.

If you're a

really good friend

and you trust

Him, talk about

how you need

God's help in

certain areas of

your life.

Talk about some

of your struggles,

some of your

weaknesses.

And if anybody

ever does confide

in you that way,

that means you've

got to keep it

confidential.

You don't tell

your spouse, you

don't tell anybody,

you just don't

mention it.

It may be that

you ask somebody

to pray for you.

That's an opening.

Maybe you even

get together and

pray together.

God works through

His Spirit and

His people to

develop us into

the people He

wants us to be.

I want to

encourage you,

make sure you

are in the

position to

grow, to

develop more

Christ-like

character by

living in

obedience to

the Spirit of

God who

indwells you and

by living in

closer fellowship

with other

Christians that

God's put in

your life to

also help you.

let's pray

together.

Dear God,

help us to

think about

what you have

said here in

this passage

about how we

should and

should not live

in relationship

with one another.

If there's sin

in our lives,

if there's

shortcomings,

failures,

convict us,

make it clear and

help us to know

what we need to

confess and turn

from, show us

how we need to

change specifically.

Father, if there

are some situations

that you have

touched us about

that we see in

another person's

life, Lord,

help us to be

willing to get

out of our

comfort zone and

because we love

that person so

much, help us to

confront them in a

spirit of love

gently.

Father, if

somebody comes

to us, help

us to listen

and receive it

as something

done in love by

a brother or

sister in Christ.

Lord, if there

are people in

this room who

are not

Christians, and

all through this

message, we've

talked about

Christians, Christian

friends, you've

convicted them that

they're not one of

yours, they're not

one of your

children.

They don't have

any real Christian

friends.

Lord, so work in

them right now that

they have a desire to

turn from the way

they've been living

away from you.

Call them to truly

trust Jesus as their

Savior and Lord and

surrender their lives

to Him now.

help them to begin

today to start

developing real

Christian friendships.

And let's just

pray.

Listen to the Lord

and you obey Him

during this time.

And if I can pray

with you, I'm here

at the front, happy

to do that right

now.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.