PASTOR OLUWASEYI OSANYINBI
[biblegateway passage=”Galatians 5:1-16″ display=”Galatians 5:1-16″]
We have the responsibility to stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. The liberty is not the freedom to sin but the grace to live righteously. We can easily get entangled with the yoke of bondage if we do not take our stand in the liberty of Christ. Our salvation is forever but we can lose it if we don’t stand fast in obedience to Christ. Many of us do not like to appreciate responsibilities. We have been given a liberty not to sin, because we are delivered us from the bondage of sin.
God translated us into the kingdom of His Son [Colossians 1:13]. Our minds, intellect, memory, spirit and soul should also take part in this translation. At the slightest provocation or discomfort, the minds of the children of Israel was still in the slavery and they wanted to go back. We are instructed not to become entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Yes, our salvation is forever, but it can be lost if we are not careful enough.
The whole Abrahamic covenant is predicated on the principle of circumcision. Keeping the commandments would be an exercise in futility without circumcision. In the same way today, if our hearts are not circumcised, we cannot please God. Another thing is the place of worship which is Jerusalem only. But Paul came to overwrite the fact that we need physical circumcision to access God.
God is always happy when he is involved in your standing. He does not want us thinking we can stand on our own. Standing up is not the issue, but rather how you stand up is. This is the function of grace. Anything we do outside the Spirit of God is null and void as far as heaven is concerned. Anything we do outside the Spirit of God is null and void as far as heaven is concerned. Our approach to the issue of seeking the righteousness of God should be different from that of the Jews who does not seek it by His Spirit.
Half of the new testament that Paul wrote was all about challenging inaccurate thinkings, errors and beliefs. This is because a slight inclination to error could pervert the whole conception of faith or misleads the whole church.
“A little leaven [a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers] leavens the whole batch [it perverts the concept of faith and misleads the church].”
Galatians 5:9 AMP
We must be on guard against every form of falsehood. Many wrong concepts and teachings from our tradition crept into the church and we fell into error. A man becomes a false teacher the moment he reject corrections.
“Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.”
John 4:20-23;
The place for worshiping the Father then was in Jerusalem. But now worshiping the Father can only be done in Spirit and in truth. The new testament operation explains to us the Spirit and truth.
Christianity starts by belief, but we cannot continue the journey only in belief, we need to gain understanding by faith. For instance, there are certain things that God told peter about the Gentiles now being able to receive salvation and he reluctantly did it. The new covenant has a new route, it is Christ and no longer circumcision. God shut down that door so that we can all come.
Love is not about being nice. Love has nothing to do with emotions, it is about the intention behind the actions. Love requires us to also resolve some issues.
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
Galatians 5:16
This is the conclusion of the chapter is that we should walk in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit is not being in the Spirit. We need to be perpetually and habitually guided, our response to the leadings of the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit means doing exactly what the Holy Spirit would have done in any specific situation.
“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”
Matthew 5:10-11
“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:19
We cannot operate in the things of God with our self-built reputation intact. Some of us are trying to build reputations, while we are killing ourselves. Opportunities come for us to act as the Spirit. Spirit walk is not about going to prayer mountains and praying for days. Every time we act based on the requirements of the Spirit, we walk in the Spirit. And walking in the Spirit is different from being led from the Spirit.
Man is a living soul, it has a Spirit, a mind and body. There are some organ components in our system that we cannot do without (e.g. brain, liver, heart etc.), the same way we have some crucial component of our mind (e.g. our will, conscience, memory, intellect and emotions.)
We don’t have the capacity to love if God has not put it there. We cannot even follow God without having a sound mind. We need a mind that can agree with the Holy Spirit when he prompts us to respond in a way and we do it.
“(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.”
Romans 4:17-18;
For Abraham, there was no basis for hoping, yet he believed in hope that he might become the father of every nation. Without hope we cannot walk in faith and cannot even walk in love. And to enjoy the Abrahamic covenant, you must be like Abraham. Even Sarah had to receive strength and believe in the promise of receiving Isaac. There are days when our emotions and understanding are going in different paths.
“Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.”
Psalms 86:11
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Romans 8:5-6
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.”
Romans 8:10-12
Any thing the Spirit does not approve, we should not walk in it. When we say Christ is in us, our Spirit is alive. Salvation does not stop in the purging of our conscience from dead works. Christ might be in us, but if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us, our mortal bodies becomes quickened. When we walk in the Spirit, we naturally operate outside the domain of condemnation. To walk in the Spirit, we have to mind it pay attention to Spiritual things. It is possible for believers who have Christ in them to age in the body and die. Their salvation had been worked in the body. Salvation can extend into the body thereby shutting out death in the body. This is made possible if the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us. The Spirit of Life swallows up death in victory.