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Summer Quarter 2023: The Righteous Reign of God
Unit 3: God’s Eternal Reign
Sunday School Lesson for the week of August 6, 2023
By Jay Harris
Lesson Scripture: Galatians 5:13-26
Key Verse:
For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. (Galatians 5:13)
Lesson Aims
- To introduce Unit 3 in our summer series and how it develops the theme of God’s reign
- To discover how our freedom in Christ is curtailed and how it is maximized
- To appreciate the guardrails that prevent a life of self-indulgence and living in social conflict
- To learn the tension between being free from the written law and living God’s rule and reign
- To explore a life led by the Spirit in which we are not subject to the law
- To name and understand the works of the flesh
- To name and understand the fruit of the Spirit
- To learn how the passions of our flesh are crucified with Christ, so that we die to self and sin
- To explore the ways we are guided by the Holy Spirit
Introduction to Unit Three
The summer quarter’s study has been devoted to “The Righteous Reign of God.” In Unit 1, we explored the reign of God through the lens of some of the prophets. In Unit 2, we encountered through Matthew’s gospel the way that Jesus developed the idea of the reign of God in his teachings on the kingdom of heaven. We looked particularly at the parables of the kingdom contained in Matthew 13.
In all the scriptures we have studied so far, we have not merely been taught
about God’s reign, but we have been invited to participate in God’s reign and rule in the world. We have been invited to see it and imagine it. Jesus invited us to live as if the kingdom is not some distant reality in time or space, but as if the kingdom has come near to us and is breaking into our lives.
In Unit 3, we continue our exploration of God’s reign through the teachings of Paul. If you do a search of Paul’s use of the word “kingdom,” you realize that Paul refers to it far less often than Jesus did. Jesus’ mission was to point people to the reality of God’s reign. Paul’s mission was to point people to Jesus Christ. Paul knew that with Jesus you get the kingdom.
In today’s lesson from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Paul’s mention of the kingdom is brief. He describes what it is like when we are prevented in life from inheriting the kingdom. Although this mention of the kingdom is brief, it forms the backdrop for the rest of what Paul teaches. The passage that we study today is known for what it teaches about the fruit of the Spirit. Pay close attention to all the verses that come before and after the actual listing of the Spirit’s fruit in our lives.
God Wants the Maximum Amount of Freedom for Us
One of the important themes in Galatians 5 is the freedom we are meant to experience in Christ. In fact, the chapter begins: “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” The phrase, “for freedom Christ has set us free,” sounds redundant. But don’t you know of people who have used freedom as a pretext to do whatever they want? They then end up making decisions that rob them of their freedom and put them into a type of bondage.
Paul picks up this theme again beginning with verse 13, the first verse in the passage we are studying.
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.
According to Paul, one of the features of the freedom that Christ gives us is freedom from trying to live in strict obedience to the law of Moses by our own willpower. Trying to do this on our own willpower dooms us to failure. We will learn in a moment how God has provided another way to live under God’s rule besides our own willpower.
At this point, Paul wants us to know that freedom from the law should not be used as a license for self-indulgence because that gets us into sinful patterns that, in turn, throw us into bondage. At the same time, freedom does not mean that we are free from all obligations. Freedom does not mean that we can become an island unto ourselves.
Paul reminds us that the law of love obligates us. Love obligates us to one another. Paul, in fact, doubles down on this idea by saying that love makes us slaves or servants of one another. This obligation of service to one another is something that we choose voluntarily.
14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
All of the ethical demands of life are summed up in the single command to love our neighbor as ourselves. We first see this command in Leviticus 19:18. The whole chapter in Leviticus talks about our obligations to our fellow human beings. Jesus himself told us that this command summed up all the ethical demands in the law. Jesus also took this command to a whole new level by saying that his disciples were obligated to love their enemies. In the reign and rule of God, every member of the human family is our neighbor.
Paul wants us to understand that our freedom in Christ is one of God’s best gifts to us, but there are guardrails that are designed by God to be put in place to maximize our freedom. These guardrails do not diminish our freedom, but instead expand and intensify our freedom. Paul already mentioned the guardrail preventing us from a life of self-indulgence which throws into bondage. The other guardrail prevents us from living a life free from any obligation to our fellow human beings. There are negative consequences when we live a life that ignores our obligation to our neighbor.
15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
The negative consequences of a life that ignores our obligation to our neighbor is the law of the jungle. The law of the jungle says “eat or get eaten.” Paul says if you submit to the law of the jungle, and you bite and devour one another, then you must accept the consequences of that lifestyle. The implicit message is, “Why do you want to live that way?”
Paul’s message is that our freedom is not curtailed but is instead truly maximized with life-giving guardrails put in place. One of the guardrails prevents us from a life of self-indulgence, and the other prevents us from living a life of selfish disregard in relation to our fellow human beings. When we say that our freedom is maximized, we mean that we will experience more freedom, more peace, more joy, more fulfillment.
In what times in your life have you chosen what you thought was more freedom only to lose some of your freedom? What do you think of the idea of guardrails that prevent us from a life of self-indulgence and a life where we bite and devour our fellow human beings? How would you explain to someone that there is more freedom to be found within the guardrails?
If We Live by the Spirit, We Are Not Subject to the Law
Paul wanted believers to know that their life in Christ was not to be spent on living in strict obedience to the law of Moses, because such an endeavor is doomed to failure. The law itself does not give us the power to live it. Trying to live according to the demands of the law is like living on a treadmill—working hard, but never getting anywhere. If the law does not give us the power to live it, then the law makes us feel condemned and defeated. The law can also be used to give us a false sense of self-righteousness, which also prevents us from fulfilling God’s laws. Yet, living in the reign of God calls us to live under God’s righteous rule. It is the path to abundant life, joy, and peace. This suggests that some means other than using our own willpower to fulfill God’s laws is required.
The prophet Jeremiah foresaw a new covenant that God was making with his people. Under the new covenant, God was promising to put his law within his people and write it on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). The new covenant that Jeremiah described was and is one of the most astounding announcements made in the Old Testament.
The best thing is that we don’t have to just imagine what this would be like. We can experience it, because we live in the age of the new covenant. We can be empowered to live under the reign and rule of God. We were never meant to live it on our own willpower. We were never meant to live that life of constant frustration. Paul describes how we can live a life under the reign and rule of God without our main focus being on the demands of the law.
16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.
The alternative to trying to live in strict obedience to the law by our own willpower is to live by the Spirit. What it means to live by the Spirit requires some unpacking. Paul starts to do this by contrasting living by the Spirit and living according to the flesh. According to Paul, our willpower is affected by the flesh.
What does Paul mean by referring to the
flesh? Obviously, on some level,
flesh refers to our bodily existence. Our body is complex, and it should be understood as a gift from God. Everything depends upon on how we view the role that our bodies are intended to play in life. The best way to sum it up is that our bodies were meant to serve as our servant and not our master.
When our flesh becomes the master, it can lead to a life of self-indulgence and a life of unbridled ambition, selfishness, and greed that put us in conflict with our fellow human beings. When our flesh is made to be a servant, then our body, with all of its desires, becomes the gift that God intended.
In order for the body to be our servant and not our master, it requires that we consciously choose another master. We choose to live by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, working with our own spirit, becomes our master. Paul wrote that what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the desires of the flesh. He said that this inner conflict is what prevents us from doing what we want. This is why we often experience frustration rather than freedom. Paul describes this inner conflict in even more detail in Romans 7:14-25.
The good news is that when the Spirit becomes our master and our body becomes the servant, then the Spirit directs our desires. Instead of the feeling of being prevented from doing what we want, our wants become aligned with what God wants, and we are enabled and empowered to live both what we want and what God wants for us. When all of this is happening, then something else happens.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.
What does Paul mean by this? If the Spirit is leading us, then we are being led in the center of God’s will. We are not going outside the guardrails God has set up for us. Our desires are being governed by the Holy Spirit. We are not running on our own willpower, but instead we are empowered to live God’s way by the power of the Holy Spirit living within us. We are not subject to the law because we are living a life well within God’s laws without thinking about God’s written laws.
The Holy Spirit is both guiding us and empowering us to live according to God’s laws. It is through the Holy Spirit that the law is put within us and written on our hearts, just as Jeremiah envisioned. The ability to live God’s law is happening internally through the Holy Spirit living within us, instead of through some external engagement with the written law of Moses.
How would you explain the difference between the benefit of being free from the law and the benefit of living under the reign and rule of God? How would you explain that these benefits are not in conflict with one another? What does it mean to you for God’s laws to be written on your heart? How would you explain to someone the role of the Holy Spirit in this?
The Works of the Flesh that Prevent Us from Inheriting the Kingdom
Paul listed the outcomes when the desires of the flesh become our master.
19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Notice that the desires of the flesh are not only sexual in nature. Sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery, of course, are examples of the works of the flesh that are aligned with sexual desires and unbridled sensuality. We should remember that these works of the flesh are not benign in terms of their consequences. They have led to the ruin of marriages, families, and the exploitation of the most vulnerable members of the human family. They have also brought ruin to the witness of many believers and ended the ministries of those who had a divine calling from God.
What about idolatry and sorcery? Right now, I am praying for someone I know who is being drawn to the occult and at the same time manifesting deeply anti-social values and behaviors and harboring nihilistic thoughts. I can see how Paul would include in his list these pseudo-religious perversions in the spiritual realm. I am truly scared for this person. He has moved into a world of his own making that is as far from God as I can possibly imagine.
Unfortunately, when Paul lists enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, and envy, he is including behaviors that he has witnessed in congregations and has written about in his letters to these churches. Notice that most of the works of the flesh in his list are related to these all-too-common features of family life, congregational life, social life, and political life.
Drunkenness, carousing, and “things like these” round out the list. These works of the flesh could be seen as “fun,” but compared to what God intends for us, they become desperate attempts to fill the God-shaped hole in us that only God can fill.
These “works” of the flesh are the natural outgrowth of when we are led by the desires of the flesh. Notice that these are examples of how our desires can take us beyond the guardrails God intended in order to maximize our freedom. Some of the examples show us what happens when we go beyond the guardrail that is intended to keep us from a life of self-indulgence. Some of the examples show us what happens when we go beyond the guardrail that is intended to keep us from a life where we bite and devour the very people who are supposed to be the neighbors whom we love.
Paul’s warning is that those for whom these works of the flesh have become habits will not inherit the kingdom of God. There is a finality to this statement that sounds quite harsh. It helps for me to remember that the point is not to sound merely punitive and condemning, and certainly not to sound arbitrary. I believe that Paul is saying that the works of the flesh
naturally prevent us from experiencing the reign of God. There is nothing arbitrary about this. God is not some distant and remote deity in heaven who is eager to bar us from his reign. God desires that we not be ruled by the flesh and miss the wonderful benefits of his reign and rule in our lives. In the words of Paul, God wants us to live by the Spirit, and not live solely to gratify the desires of the flesh.
To which of the works of the flesh do you feel you are the most susceptible? Why is this the case? In what ways do you feel that these works of the flesh prevent you from experiencing the kingdom of God in its fulness?
The Fruit of the Spirit Is the Key to Living Under the Reign and Rule of God
After listing the works of the flesh, Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit.
22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
No one would argue that these are good qualities that are worth valuing. What is important is that we see these nine qualities fully in their proper context. I saw a meme recently that said, “I can do all things through a Bible verse taken out of context.” This is funny, but it makes a good point. We cannot do all things through a verse of scripture taken out of context. The same is true when we take Paul’s listing of the fruit of the Spirit out of context.
We are not meant to obtain these virtues merely through human striving. This misses the point. If we were look at these virtues in terms of human striving, we are dooming ourselves to failure. These qualities are the fruit of a life in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us to live these qualities.
Notice that we talked about the “works” (plural) of the flesh, but we talk about the “fruit” (singular) of the Spirit. What is the distinction being made? We do not pray one week for love, and the next week for joy, and the next week for patience, and so on. When we live a life in the Spirit, all nine qualities are produced as a package deal. These virtues are outgrowths of life in the Spirit.
Jesus said that we know who the false prophets are and who the true disciples of Jesus are by their fruits (Matthew 7:20). “Fruit” also means “evidence.” Let’s explore the nine qualities that provide evidence of a life in the Spirit.
LOVE: Love begins the list because God is love. We love because God first loved us. Love centers us and fills so many voids in our life. The love of God is the greatest motivator of human behavior. Love puts us in the center of God’s will. Love puts us in proper relation to God, our fellow human beings, and ourselves. Life flows out of these relationships.
JOY: What can we say about joy? The Westminster Confession says that the chief end of humankind is to glorify God and enjoy God forever. The more we live to glorify God, the more we enjoy God, and vice versa. When we enjoy God, we experience joy in life. When we reduce the Christian life to human striving, we tend to make overworking a badge of honor, and we tend to become joyless Christians. Joyless Christians do not make a good witness. Are you experiencing enough joy in your life?
PEACE: One of my colleagues introduced me and my fellow clergy to a diagnostic tool of sorts called a Peace Index. The question to us was, “What is your peace index?” Our peace index says a lot about our life in the Spirit or perhaps a lack thereof. If we are at peace, then what is true about us that makes us feel that way? Our level of peace is an important indicator of lots of things. There is nothing like God’s peace to make us feel at home and at ease in our own skin. A sense of peace can also fill us at times like a big draw of fresh, life-giving air that we inhale and release. God’s peace is God’s shalom, which refers to a deep sense of wellbeing. In the words of the hymn, God has taught us to say, “It is well with my soul.”
PATIENCE: I believe that one of the benefits of God’s peace is that it can make us a non-anxious presence in an anxiety-filled world. God’s peace is key to being patient with others and patient with life. Patience is needed in our world more than ever. Are you a patient person, or do you struggle with patience? Another word for patience is long-suffering. Are you short with people?
KINDNESS: Patience and kindness are related. Kindness is therefore related to our peace index. Kindness is definitely related to love. Kindness is deeper than niceness. The loving kindness we show others are reflections of our appreciation or lack of appreciation for the loving kindness that God has shown us. I hear more and more people talk about the lack of kindness in the world. We can witness to our faith by showing kindness.
GOODNESS/GENEROSITY: Since different versions of the Bible translate this word into either goodness or generosity, I think it is best to keep both words and meanings together. You have probably noticed that there are two kinds of people in the world. There are givers, and there are takers. Those who are takers lack a generosity of spirit, and goodness is prevented from coming through their lives. Those who are givers are generous in their spirit and their actions, and their goodness comes through. One of the table blessings that children say early in life begins with the words, “God is great, God is good.” God’s greatness refers to God’s might and majesty. God’s goodness refers to his generosity toward us. All of creation is God’s own self-expression, not only of God’s majesty and might, but also God’s deep goodness. God’s goodness is reflected in all of God’s creation. Do people witness God’s goodness reflected in your words, actions, and countenance?
FAITHFULNESS: Faithfulness is our faith in God expressed through loyalty, fidelity, dependability, covenant, staying true and pure, unwavering consistency, and sticking closely to God. When people’s faithfulness stands out in our minds, it is because their faithfulness to God permeates all their other relationships, interactions, and commitments. They also give us the impression that what we see in their public persona is only the tip of the iceberg. We know there is so much more to their faithfulness that is going on beneath the surface, which is their life hidden with Christ. Remember that our faithfulness, as in the other eight qualities of the fruit of the Spirit, is not produced through mere human striving.
GENTLENESS: Is enough said about gentleness in today’s world? Do you ever come through in your interactions like a bull in a china shop? Do you ever notice when people seem to have a need to call attention to themselves that it comes through in their interactions with people? Do you ever catch this tendency in yourself? Do you come on strong to get your way? Do you feel a need to prove yourself or feel you must struggle to remain seen and remain relevant? Gentleness is related to patience and being a non-anxious presence. I notice that when we encounter gentle people, we find ourselves leaning in to listen to them. Because I am coming under conviction for needing to be gentler, I find myself wanting to focus on this quality. Looking at any of these qualities of the fruit of the Spirit in isolation misses the point. This is not about human striving. What am I lacking in my life in the Spirit that might happen to be showing up now in my struggle with gentleness? What are the deeper issues to which I need to attend with God’s help?
SELF-CONTROL: Having control of our thoughts and actions is not something that we can do in our own power. The paradox is that self-control does not come from ourselves. It is a part of the fruit of the Spirit. Self-control happens through our life in the Spirit, or it does not happen. We might exercise self-control on our own power for a limited time, but when the pressure builds too much, it has got to go somewhere. Self-control is the result of the Holy Spirit satisfying deep needs within our spirit so that we stay within the guardrails that prevent us from self-indulgence, on the one hand, and from biting and devouring others, on the other hand.
Which of these nine qualities are you experiencing more than others? If it is not about human striving, what do you think may be behind the instances where you are lacking? What are your deeper issues and needs that are not being met in your spiritual life?
Diving Deeper into a Life in the Spirit
Now that Paul has named nine qualities of the fruit of the Spirit, Paul says more about what is involved in this life in the Spirit.
24 And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
The fruit of the Spirit cannot be obtained by wanting these virtues in our lives. There is this conflict that exists related to the desires of the flesh. The flesh, with its passions and desires, must be crucified with Christ. This idea is one that must be unpacked.
Life in the Spirit and our life in Christ are brought together through the Spirit living in us. The Holy Spirit lives to serve Christ and to bring us to Christ and bring Christ to us. Paul helps us understand how the Holy Spirit joins believers with Christ in his death so that our flesh is able to be crucified with its passions and desires. This is what happens when we choose to die with Christ to self and to sin, and we choose this every day afterward. Every day is an opportunity to die and then rise again with Christ.
According to Paul, this experience of being buried with Christ and rising again to new life is symbolized in baptism. In the baptism ritual that my tradition uses, we say that through baptism we are incorporated into God’s mighty acts in Jesus Christ. According to Paul in Romans 6:1-14, we are incorporated into the death and resurrection of Jesus.
If a part of our life in the Spirit is to enable us to die with Christ to self and to sin, and rise again to new life in Christ, we must consider how we do this practically. One way that quickly comes to mind is in confession, repentance, and pardon. In our confession of sin, we are laying before God that to which we want to die. In repentance, we are praying for the strength and guidance to turn away from our sin and live the new life Christ offers. In pardon, we experience the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ won for us by the sacrifice Jesus made willingly on the cross. This grace enables us to move on from the guilt and sense of worthlessness that weigh us down. The Holy Spirit and God’s sanctifying grace empower us to continue the ongoing process of transformation so that we conform more and more to the image of Christ.
You will remember that confession, repentance, and pardon are features of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The sacrament of Holy Communion is a real means of God’s grace. When we say that the flesh is being crucified with all of its passions and desires, we are talking about a process of transformation that goes beyond mere human striving. We are mystically joining with Christ in his death and resurrection through the power of the Holy Spirit.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
The role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer happens on many levels, but one of these is guiding believers in their spiritual journey. The Holy Spirit guides, directs, prompts, opens doors, and closes doors. The Spirit also activates both our conscience and our consciousness of God.
Our conscience is given to us by God, but our conscience is not perfect because it can come under other influences. I once heard the conscience being compared to a sundial. A sundial can tell the time when it is the sun’s light that falls on it. But under some other light, say the moon’s light, a sundial won’t give the correct time. In the same way, our conscience can serve as a reliable guide when there is engagement with the Holy Spirit, through prayer, confession, meditation, scripture reading, times of solitude, and reflection. Through these means of grace, the Spirit gives us the gift of holy discernment to guide us.
The Holy Spirit activates not only our conscience, but also our consciousness of God. As we discern our way through life, we can know where God’s abiding presence is accompanying us. In the words of a benediction I use, we can know where God is going before us to guide us, behind us to guard us, beneath us to uphold us, above us to inspire us, beside us to befriend us, and in us to give us peace.
A devotional practice that I have shared before is called “Examination of Conscience” and “Examination of Consciousness.” During the day at different points, and at the end of the day, we enter a moment of solitude and silence and ask the Holy Spirit to help us make an examination of our conscience. What felt good and what did not sit well with our spirit in terms of our thoughts, feelings, and actions during the day? We also ask the Holy Spirit to help us make an examination of consciousness. Where and when was I most conscious of God’s presence during the day, and least conscious? What else was going on? What does this teach me?
The scripture passage we are studying ends with the following words:
26 Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.
When our life in the Spirit is bearing fruit as it should, then we will stay well within the guardrail that keeps us free from a life of conceit and self-indulgence on the one hand, and on the other hand, we will stay well within the guardrail that keeps us free from a life of competition and envy in relation to our fellow human beings. Through God’s power and direction, we will avoid the works of the flesh and being ruled by the desires of the flesh. Instead, we will produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives in all of its manifold expressions.
The freedom that we crave is not found in a life of unbridled self-indulgence, or a life free from obligations to others, for this kind of freedom is a counterfeit freedom that ultimately leads to bondage. The freedom we crave is found in a divinely directed and empowered life, which is lived in the center of God’s will. We are free from external adherence to God’s written laws, because they are written on our hearts and they are being lived out through the Holy Spirit living in us.
We realize that the greatest freedom is found when we are experiencing more and more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The benefits that such a life grants us enable us to experience the reign and rule of God. We get to live a blessed life as heirs of the kingdom.
What passions of the flesh need to be joined with Christ’s death on the cross and die in you? Are you praying to be guided by the Holy Spirit? Are you paying attention enough? Do any of the devotional practices that have been mentioned appeal to you? What other devotional practices are coming to your mind? What is your plan?
Prayer
Gracious, Generous, and Good God, You send your Holy Spirit to fill us, renew us, guide us, and bind us to Christ. Awaken in us a desire for more of your Spirit through the means of grace available to us, that we might experience more love, more joy, more peace, more patience, more kindness, more generosity and goodness, more faithfulness, more gentleness, and more self-control, through Christ our Lord, who reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
Dr. Jay Harris serves as the Superintendent of Clergy and District Services for the South Georgia Conference. Email him at jharris@sgaumc.com. Find his plot-driven guide to reading the Bible, the “Layered Bible Journey,” at www.layeredbiblejourney.com.
