Sermon am 09102005

9th October 2005

LIVING BY FAITH IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Pastor Colin Meadows

Main Readings : Galatians 3:1-9, 23-25, John 14:15-18

(Others Readings to consider on this subject: Galatians 4:6-7, 4:29, 5:16, 25, 6:8, Romans 5:5, 8:9-11, 13-16, 26-27, 1 Cor 2:10-14, Ephesians 1:13-14, 3;14-17, 4:30, 5:18, 6:18)

Ø Accept the Good News by faith: Just how good is the Good News! Throughout history, people have struggled with their fallen nature, their natural propensity to do bad things. However there is good news. God has broken through with the solution, the gospel. Christ died for our sins, and he rose again, according to the Scriptures. This gospel of Good News can now become ours by faith through the grace of God. In the light of that, let us live by faith, says Paul, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Many of the Jewish Christians at Galatia were struggling with this gospel of grace. They wished to add parts of their Jewish heritage, in particular circumcision, to the gospel. Paul said that was totally unacceptable and by doing that this would create a different gospel altogether. You mustn’t add anything to the Good News.

He echoed the words of the song:

“Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling,

Naked, come to thee for dress, Helpless, look to thee for grace,

Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior or I die.”

That is the essence of the gospel. We go empty handed to the God of grace, confessing our sins and pleading for his mercy. Naked before the cross of Christ. Why then would anyone want to add to the gospel?

Paul however knew where these Jewish Law Christians were coming from. He had been there himself. Let’s revisit his past.

Ø Imagine you are Saul: You would have been born around the time of Christ, in the city of Tarsus , with the privilege of Roman citizenship. But as a young person you were struggling to understand who God is and what he wants of your life. Your family background has placed you in a group of people called Pharisees. Member of a conservative Jewish sect that arose in Roman-occupied Palestine in the 2nd century BC in protest against those favoring compromise with Greek culture. A group that emphasized strict interpretation and observance of the Mosaic Law in both its oral and written form. Saul grew up as part of that select group On his CV in Phil 3:6 he noted he was circumcised by his parents on the eight day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a zealous persecutor of the church, faultless in legalistic righteousness. He was a true blue religious activist, seeking with all his heart and strength to meet what he felt were God’s requirements in his life.

Then Saul met Christ and everything changed. He became a new man, a new creature in Christ! He realised that all his efforts at upright living had been a total waste. He could never in his own strength live in a way that pleased God. Hear his story from his own lips…

Phil 3:7-9 “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”

Yes, Saul the once self-righteous Pharisee now became Paul the apostle by faith of the Good News of grace concerning Christ, Paul a man living by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. But this good news goes back to even earlier times. Paul takes us back to the life of Abraham.

Ø Imagine you are Abraham: OK, says Paul. You are a little unsure about my life. Look to the life of Abraham, the father of your Jewish faith, the bedrock of all that is Jewish. How did Abraham gain favor with God? The Bible is very clear. He gained God’s favor by living a life of faith.

Galatians 3:6 “Consider Abraham: ‘He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’”

Abraham was accounted to be righteous before God, not because he kept the law. The law had not yet been given. It came 430 years later. He was credited as being righteous because of his faith. The gospel had thus been announced before the coming of the law…

Galatians 3:8 “The “Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’”

Because of the work of Christ, we enter into a relationship with God by faith alone. Paul believed that there was nothing any of us could do to earn the love of God or to win his favor. Do we believe that today? Paul preached a gospel of free grace. He believed that all we needed to do was accept with grateful hearts what God had done for us in Christ. We today need to respond in the same way.

What then was the purpose of the law, says Paul? Why did God give the law to his people so long ago and what is its relevance to us today as people living in the power of the Holy Spirit?

Ø Understand the purpose of the law: Why did God give the law to his people? If the way of grace and faith is superior to the way of the law, why introduce the law at all? Paul explains the reasons in the letter to the Galatians. The law came to make us aware of sin, says Paul. Where there is no law, there is no sin or transgression. Now that the law is here, we find ourselves breaking it each moment of the day. If there were no law, it would be different. If there is no speed limit on the road and you drive at a fast speed, you have not transgressed for there is no law.

The law thus came to define sin, but please note this: the law cannot cure sin. The law is like a laboratory blood test that gives the diagnosis of your illness but cannot offer you a cure. The work or purpose of the law is thus to drive us all to God to seek His grace. The law leads us to Christ.

Galatians 3:25 “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.”

The law, says Paul, is like the old and trusted household slave in Greek times who was in charge of a child’s education. He must lead the child safely to and from his place of schooling each day. That is the role of the law, to lead us safely to Christ where we can learn each day to live by faith. The law makes us aware of where we are falling short and of where we need to ask for God’s forgiveness and cleansing. Then each day as new people in Christ we need to step out in faith to live in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ø Live in the power of the Holy Spirit: Saved by grace through faith, we are to live by grace through faith, not in our own strength but in the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul admonished the Galatians for their foolishness in not being aware of this. It should have been obvious!

Galatians 3:1ff: “You foolish Galatians: Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish: After beginning in the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”

Through the grace of God by faith we have entered into a relationship with God. At that time, the Spirit of God came to dwell in our lives. This was the clear promise of Christ:

John 14:16 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.”

God’s Holy Spirit now indwells all Christians. Paul makes this very clear in his letter to the Romans:

Romans 8:9 “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”

As God’s children we have thus all received the Holy Spirit to indwell our lives, to be with us forever. But the important question is this – Are we relying on God’s Holy Spirit to empower our lives for daily living? Do we invite Him to empower us each day to live in a way that honors God? How can this be true in our lives?

Ø Keep in step with the Holy Spirit: Paul uses this very special phrase to help us understand what we must do. We will examine what this means. As we face each day, we need to remember that the Holy Spirit is present in our hearts. Somehow we often get disturbed from this truth and go back to how we were living and thinking before we came to faith in Christ.

If a computer program is disturbed, it tends to go back to the way it was initially set up initially. This is called the default position. There is the temptation for us too to go back to using human strength, human wisdom, human thinking, to revert to the default position in our lives. We are easily dragged back to seeking to live in our own strength. No, says Paul, live in the power of God’s Spirit.

Does this mean that we are just robots with God at the control panel? Not so. St Augustine commented “We do the works, but God works in us the doing of the works.’ It is a partnership of action. Anthony Bloom noted ‘Christian action should be defined as an action of God mediated through a person.’ Listen to the quiet prompting of God’s Holy Spirit, those inner nudges that gently guide us in the way God desires. This is put so clearly further on in Paul’s letter:

Galatians 5:25 “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step by the Spirit.”

This is an interesting turn of phrase here. Lit. means ‘let us walk in line with the Spirit of God’. The Setswana Bible in Africa says in a literal translation ‘let us go on a journey with the Holy Spirit’. Let us keep together.

Are you walking together with the Holy Spirit today? It is only as we do that that we will sense his power flowing through us, enabling us to live a life of godliness. This will make all the difference.

Many years ago, Poland ’s famous concert pianist and Prime Minister, Ignace Paderewski was booked to play at a theatre and a mother took her young son to hear the master play. While she was talking with a friend, her son slipped away unnoticed. When the curtain was suddenly drawn to begin the performance the shocked mother saw her son up on the stage seated at the piano. The audience twittered in amusement as the boy began to pick at the keys the tune ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’. His mother struggled from her seat in an attempt to drag him from the stage but before she could, Paderewski appeared near the piano, sat next to the boy and said “Don’t quit – just keep playing”. He reached his left hand around the boy to add a rich bass segment to the music and then the right hand to add the treble. Together the old master and the young novice held the audience spellbound.

The Holy Spirit wishes to do the same with our lives, to work in our lives, producing the music of life that brings praise to his name. And he is saying to us this morning, ‘Don’t quit – just keep playing’. Live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray…

Every day I need Thee, Lord, but his day specially.

I need some extra strength to face whatever is to be.

This day more than any day I need to feel Thee near,

To fortify my courage and to overcome my fear.

By myself I cannot meet the challenge of the hour.

There are times when human creatures need a higher power,

To help them bear what must be borne and so dear Lord I pray,

Hold onto my trembling hand and be with me today.

Amen

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