{"id":2499,"date":"2017-09-16T19:55:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-17T02:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=2499"},"modified":"2017-09-16T20:26:50","modified_gmt":"2017-09-17T03:26:50","slug":"galatians-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=2499","title":{"rendered":"Galatians 5"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have been so busy the last few months, that I have barely updated the site. \u00a0I&#8217;m sorry about that. \u00a0The reminder of the bill for the web site reminded me that it needed to be used or abandoned. \u00a0 So here is this week&#8217;s Sunday School lesson.<\/p>\n<p>Galatians 5:13-15\u00a0 <strong>Liberty has Responsibility <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The purpose of our calling is clearly stated in verse 13, we were called to freedom. \u00a0What is the freedom to which Paul is speaking?\u00a0 It if a freedom from the Law. \u00a0We are free from that struggle to keep a code that we just can\u2019t keep.\u00a0 Free from the overwhelming fear that we will never measure up to God\u2019s standard.\u00a0 We are free because Christ set us free when He made us righteous in God\u2019s eyes. \u00a0And although that Law written on stone no longer enslaves us, we are still slaves. \u00a0But now, we are slaves to Christ and His righteousness. \u00a0You can\u2019t run far enough to get away from God. \u00a0You will never get away from the Holy Spirit that lives within you.<\/p>\n<p>In the past few weeks, we have all tried to approach this from a balanced view, and reminded ourselves of things we know well. \u00a0We all know that we were not saved to do whatever we want. \u00a0I was reading about this and your response was very Jewish. \u00a0The Jews believed that if the rules and punishment was not there, people would do whatever they want. They didn\u2019t or couldn\u2019t imagine the power of the Holy Spirit living inside a person, directing and convicting concerning what?\u00a0 Sin, Righteousness and Judgment to come.\u00a0 (John 16:8)<\/p>\n<p>We all know that God\u2019s revelation to man has been progressive but the message has never changed, just gotten more specific.\u00a0 We also know that God never changes.\u00a0 And yet we wrestle with the question of has God\u2019s moral law changed?\u00a0 It has not.\u00a0 The ceremonial law is now useless that the true Lamb of God has completed the complete sacrifice, but the moral law continues.<\/p>\n<p>I would suppose that if God didn\u2019t know everything, He would be amazed that we return so easily to slavery.\u00a0 The Bible teaches that we are delivered from<\/p>\n<p>Galatians 5:13-15\u00a0 <strong>Liberty has Responsibility <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The purpose of our calling is clearly stated in verse 13, we were called to freed<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Penalty of Sin (Eternal Separation from God) &#8211; Past<\/li>\n<li>The Power of Sin (Death) \u2013 Present<\/li>\n<li>The Presence of Sin (Heaven) \u2013 Future<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This verse reminds us of the 2<sup>nd<\/sup> state, our present state. We were called to freedom.\u00a0 With that freedom, comes a choice that we will all be faced with, a choice to either choose the first part of verse 13, or the second part.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Part One:<\/span>\u00a0 You might choose to use your new found freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Part Two:<\/span>\u00a0 You might choose to use your new found freedom as an opportunity to serve one another through love.<\/p>\n<p>Those seem to be the only two choices. \u00a0Every choice either falls under serving the flesh or serving one another through love.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What are some guidelines from this passage that we might draw on to give us instructions as we deal with living in our freedom?<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong><u>We are not free<\/u><\/strong> to indulge the flesh \u2013 (v. 13)\n<ol>\n<li>What could Paul mean by indulging the flesh? It is the nature that you and I were born with and still seems to raise its ugly head from time to time. It is a question of who controls your decisions.\u00a0 Is it your desire to please God, or your desire to pursue your own pleasures? \u00a0This isn\u2019t always the pursuit of sexual sin.<\/li>\n<li>This includes but is not limited to the sins of selfishness, gossip, and idolatry. Fear and its close friend, worry, are also listed as sins the church tends to overlook. (Fear believes the object of your fear can overcome God\u2019s power. Lying to impress others \u2013 the Pharisees were big offenders of this, they portrayed they were spiritual but it was only an external veneer.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>We are not free<\/u><\/strong> to exploit others \u2013 (v.15) This happens when we use other people to get our way in this life. In verse 15, the picture is that a person is using others to satisfy their own needs.\u00a0 The picture is of physical needs, but this could be true in any sense of the misuse of others.\u00a0 It might be physical, emotional, or whatever.\u00a0 Another note that Paul says clearly is that those who live by that principle, will be devoured by it as well.<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>We are not free<\/u><\/strong> to disregard the needs of others. \u2013 (v,14) If you are obeying verse 14, you can\u2019t be guilty of doing 13 or 15. If you have the principle in your life of loving others as yourself, you are truly permitting God to live and love through you.\u00a0 And by the way, this doesn\u2019t mean giving others everything they desire. \u00a0You don\u2019t give yourself everything you desire.\u00a0 Why would you want to do that to someone else? \u00a0What does loving our neighbor as ourselves mean or look like practically?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Learning How to Walk \u2013 Galatians 5:16-25<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I suppose it would have been a little empty if Paul hadn\u2019t given us some sort of gauge to assist us to know what it meant to walk in Christ.\u00a0 This passage, preceded by exhortations to enjoy our liberty is going to describe what that liberty looks like.\u00a0 Not only that, Paul is going to contrast the life of appropriate liberty with the life of living in the flesh.\u00a0 The contrast is easy to recognize and the state of someone who walks on either side of the fence is obvious to all.<\/p>\n<p>I know that I am not an old sage who really deserves to be heard about this, but this next section I have often referred to as the stop signs in the Christian life. \u00a0These are the things that when you notice them in your own life, you should stop, look both ways, and probably do a U turn.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Deeds of the Flesh<\/strong> (Four categories)<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><u>Sexual<\/u> \u2013 (Immorality, Impurity, &amp; Sensuality)<\/li>\n<li><u>Religious<\/u> \u2013 (Idolatry &amp; Sorcery)<\/li>\n<li><u>Personal Relationships<\/u> \u2013 (Enmities, Strife, Jealousy, Outbursts of Anger, Disputes, Dissension, Factions &amp; Envying)<\/li>\n<li><u>Excessive Alcohol Consumption<\/u> \u2013 (Drunkenness &amp; Carousing)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>What does Paul mean when he says \u201cthose who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God\u201d?<\/li>\n<li>By the way, this is a possible list of things that mislead Christians can be trapped by, or fall prey to. However, true believers happen into sin and sense in their own beings the regrets for living a life that is not pleasing to God. A non-believer will go there and stay there.\u00a0 Can we tell the difference?\u00a0 Maybe, maybe not, but God knows.\u00a0 There is a verse that concerns me but it is the council of God so I trust it.\u00a0 (Matt. 13:24-30 \u2013 The parable of the wheat and the tares.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have been so busy the last few months, that I have barely updated the site. \u00a0I&#8217;m sorry about that. \u00a0The reminder of the bill for the web site reminded me that it needed to be used or abandoned. \u00a0 &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[128],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2499"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2504,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499\/revisions\/2504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}