Sermon Tone Analysis

Loving Actions Produce Loving Feelings

Galatians 5:16-26

 

This morning we’re going to begin a series that could revolutionize your life.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that if you’ll apply these principles you’ll grow in your faith, cultivate a godly character, and experience the power of truly healthy relationships.

For the next several weeks we’re going to focus on a section of scripture that describes what’s known as the “fruit of the Spirit.”

Here you’ll see that Christianity is not a religion of dos and don’ts.

It’s about a transformed life.

God wants to remake us into people who clearly reflect Him.

His desire is to restore his image in us.

The primary indication of godly spirituality is healthy relationships.

Before we look at these characteristics it’s important to establish a theological understanding about ourselves.

If you’ve crossed the line of faith by placing your complete trust in Jesus Christ a spiritual exchange took place.

God recreated you.

Spiritually speaking, you were born again, created anew.

You gained forgiveness from God, eternal life, and the presence of the Holy Spirit living within you.

You have a new relationship with God and a desire to do his will.

You would think that you’d live a perfectly sinless life after coming to faith, but if you have experienced God’s grace you know that you are still apt to sin.

You see, even though you’ve been created anew and have God’s Spirit residing in you there’s a war within.

\\ 1. THE WAR WITHIN

So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit.

Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just the opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants.

And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires.

These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict.

But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.

Galatians 5:16-18 (NLT)

If you’ve come to faith in Jesus Christ, you have everything necessary to live without sin.

The problem is that you still have this thing called the “sinful nature.”

Other translations of the Bible call it the “flesh.”

It is that part of our nature that is still in rebellion against God.

It’s almost like a split personality.

There is a part of you that, more than anything, wants to serve and please God.

But that other part wants to do its own thing and ignore or oppose him.

As a result, there’s a war within us.

You can tell which part your yielding too by the fruit that you life produces.

\\ 2. THE FRUIT OF THE FLESH

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin.

Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21 (NLT)

All of these descriptions point to a person caving in to their sin nature.

If you’ve never come to faith in Christ you have no alternative but to give into these kinds of desires.

You may do a good deed every now and then, but ultimately, the flesh wins.

Even the good things that you do will be underpinned by wrong motives.

The person of faith can also cave in to their sin nature and produce the same ungodly results.

The results of the fruit of the flesh is destruction of relationships, ruin in this life and forfeiture of your inheritance of the Kingdom of God.

The cuckoo bird never builds its own nest.

It flies until it sees another nest with eggs in it and no mother bird.

The cuckoo quickly lands, lays its egg there, and flies away.

The thrush, whose nest has been invaded, comes back and gets to work hatching the eggs.

What happens?

Four little thrushes hatch, but one large cuckoo hatches.

When Mrs. Thrush brings one large, juicy worm, she finds four little thrush mouths, and one big cuckoo mouth.

Guess who gets the worm?

A full-sized thrush ends up feeding a baby cuckoo that is three times as big as it is.

Over time, the cuckoo gets bigger and bigger, and the smaller thrushes get smaller and smaller.

You can find a baby cuckoo’s nest by walking along a hedgerow until you find dead little thrushes, which the cuckoo throws out one at a time.

Paul teaches in (Romans 8:5-8) that spiritually speaking, you’ve got two natures in one nest.

The nature that you go on feeding will grow, and the nature that you go on starving will diminish.

If you feed it you’re going to have to live with it.

Those who go after godliness produce diametrically different results.

This is called …

\\ 3. THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

Here’s what it will look like: But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

Here there is no conflict with the law.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

It’s a sure sign that you being controlled by God’s Spirit dwelling within you if your relationships have these characteristics.

Not only are your relationships healthy, but you are reflecting the image of God by living this way.

You can produce the fruit of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit if you’ve accepted Jesus Christ by faith.

Here’s what it comes down to.

\\ 4. IT’S YOUR CHOICE

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

Let us not become conceited, or irritate one another, or be jealous of one another.

Galatians 5:24-26 (NLT)

Jo Guerrero, a pastor, wrote, “My five-year-old daughter, Barbara, had disobeyed me and had been sent to her room.

After a few minutes, I went in to talk with her about what she had done.

Teary-eyed, she asked, "Why do we do wrong things, Mommy?" "Sometimes the devil tells us to do something wrong," I replied, "and we listen to him.

We need to listen to God instead."

To which she sobbed, "But God doesn’t talk loud enough!"

Does that seem like the problem to you?

I think that kid nailed it.

As followers of Christ we want to do what’s right.

We want right relationships.

We earnestly desire to please God, but sometimes, or most of the time, that other voice speaks so much louder.

I have good news for you today.

You can turn down the noise of the sinful nature and amplify the voice of God’s Spirit within you.

You do this by implementing spiritual disciplines into your life.

A spiritual discipline is a simple activity you can do that, through practice, strengthens you and enables you to do the harder things God calls you to.

Let’s take love as an example.

You’re commanded to love, but you may not feel like a loving person.

That’s okay.

What you have to do is act in small loving ways and it will open you more fully love God’s way.

If you practice spiritual disciplines that strengthen you ability to love you’ll begin to feel like a more loving person and then you actually be a loving person.

How?

By allowing God’s Spirit to fully love through you.

Let’s look at …

\\ 5. HOW TO “PUT ON” LOVE

Just in case you don’t believe me about acting in love before feeling love, look at this next verse: And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Colossians 3:14 (NIV)

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