Going Back to the Basics-Markers of Success
Are you pursuing fleshly markers or spiritual markers of success?
I will start with the scripture today to highlight a section that stood out to me.
16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
17For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
19Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
21envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
26Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
Galatians 5:16–26 (NASB95)
The part that stands out to me are verses 19-21. That’s a harsh list of worldly activities set in an unflattering light. Most of us can find at least one thing on that list we enjoy, such as “revelling” which we spell as reveling. Here’s a definition for that word from Dictionary.com, and you aren’t going to like it.
revel
rev-uhl
verb (used without object),rev·eled, rev·el·ing or (especially British) rev·elled, rev·el·ling.
To take great pleasure or delight (usually followed by in): to revel in luxury.
To indulge in boisterous festivities, celebrate.
noun
Boisterous merrymaking or festivity; revelry.
Often revels. An occasion of merrymaking or noisy festivity with dancing, masking, etc.
Simply put, it’s having a good time, a party, or an event. Why is that bad? Why do we fail to inherit the Kingdom of God if we like to have a good time? Because it’s about the heart position and why we do it.
If we make our lives about having parties, living loudly, making a spectacle of ourselves for all to see, i.e., living boisterously, then yes, this is a problem. Making merry or celebrating someone’s birthday, a wedding, or other big event is not sinful, I don’t think.
That stood out to me and is only tangentially related to the Markers of Success in that if we are living to party, we aren’t living to produce fruits of the spirit. Those fruits are the markers we should be looking for. We should be moving our lives down a path that improves the crop of those fruits and reduces the distractions of those “works of the flesh” listed.
Pastor Lee didn’t open with that, though. She opened with a summary of the previous sermons and announced that this was the last in the series. We did Father and Son first. Now, it is time for the Spirit. She opened with a rhetorical question, “Are we ‘real’ Christians because we are at the end of learning the Basics?” She reviewed a list of things people get when they accomplish something: a t-shirt, gold star, sticker, etc. Something that denotes the successful completion of a goal. She told a story about a 5th-grade reading competition between herself and another young girl with so many stickers for the books they’d read they needed extra pieces of paper for their accomplishments.
The story got me thinking about the video games I love playing but have fallen by the wayside in recent years. Most of those games have what are called “achievements.” These games give you tasks to accomplish or lists of items to be found to construct a thing. When the task is done, or the item built, the achievement in the game is marked by a unique reward everyone else can see to know you did that thing. Players of these games love these achievement rewards, and the harder the task is to accomplish, the more prestigious the reward becomes the more coveted it is. But that sentiment got me thinking as well. These rewards, these marks of achievement, which are all public facing, outward signs for others to see, are all centered on one thing that is not spoken of well in scripture.
Pride.
Why do we want that sticker, that blue ribbon, the special limited edition signed and numbered print? So that other people will see it and envy us, covet what we have accomplished, and praise us for that accomplishment.
Am I suggesting we shouldn’t reward excellence with some outward token denoting who the excellence belongs to? No, not at all. I am saying that if we pursue that token specifically so others will compliment us, shower us with praise, or seek us out, we are pursuing it for the wrong reasons.
Pastor Lee pulled a quote from Fred Craddock at this stage.
“It is possible to get an A in Bible and flunk Christianity.”
Let’s contemplate that for a moment. We can memorize all the scripture we want, but if we don’t understand it AND turn that understanding into action and change in our lives, we have gotten an “A” in the Bible but flunked Christianity, as Mr. Craddock would say. If we don’t do and follow what we’ve learned from scripture, why are we studying it at all?
This sort of problem is not new to the church. In fact, it is not new to human beings at all. Everyone alive who has ever been asked for advice, given a piece of advice they know for a fact works, and has been ignored understands this. That is exactly what we do if we read God’s Word, understand what is said there, and then choose to ignore what we’ve been told.
Pastor Lee’s statement about this letter to the Galatians is that it was written to talk about these problems in the early church, specifically circumcision and food law, as outward signs of people committing themselves to follow The Way of Jesus Christ. Here is the opening paragraph summary to the book of Galatians from Biblehub.com by Jay Smith, which you can find HERE.
The book of Galatians is a Pauline Epistle (letter from Paul). It was written by the Apostle Paul about 49 A.D. prior to the Jerusalem Council, which had taken place in 50 A.D. This quite possibly could have been Paul’s first letter. The key personalities of this book are the Apostle Paul, Peter, Barnabas, Abraham, Titus, and false teachers. Paul writes this book to deal with the problem of circumcision and Jewish legalism toward Gentile believers.
Why must we show the world an outward sign of the inward change? Is that prideful? Perhaps, but recall that in those times and some places today, demonstrating you are a Christian draws negative attention. The media and some people work very hard to downplay the negative attention Christians get in today’s society. Still, those who live in the real world understand that negative attention is very real. In America, we do not generally risk going to jail or being killed for our faith, but that is absolutely not the case in many places today, like China or many countries where the predominant faith is Islam. We should every day give thanks to God for nothing else than the fact that we can manifest our Christian faith openly without fear of imprisonment or death.
At this point, Pastor Lee read her scripture for the sermon, though I have already posted it. She restated the Marks of Success title and asked what those marks looked like in a successful Christian life. She answered her own question by listing the spirit's fruits from verses 22 to 23.
We are fleshly creatures, but we are created with a spiritual component. Thus, there are two worlds: a fleshly world and a spiritual world. Human beings have feet in both camps. Pastor Lee began asking and speaking about the fact that we are granted freedom and liberty in Christ because we are His followers. This was from the opening of the chapter in Galatians, where the sermon’s scripture comes from.
1It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1 (NASB95)
She then cautioned us that the liberty of Christ is not to be used to conduct sinful actions simply because Christ has freed us from the consequences of sinful behavior. Indeed, Paul states that fact in the very next verses of this chapter.
2Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.
3And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.
Galatians 5:2–3 (NASB95)
Paul’s point here is that circumcision is not just cutting off the foreskin of the male genitalia. It is the outward sign of the inward change. That inward change exists for both men and women, though women cannot be circumcised in the flesh for obvious reasons. Paul’s point is that if we do not observe what God commanded now that we are free of the consequences of breaking those rules, we are not demonstrating any inward change. The Law of God no longer condemns followers of Jesus to Hell because of rule-breaking because Jesus’ sacrifice washes us clean from that. It becomes a mark of success, if you will, demonstrating who has an inward change and how profound that change is, individual by individual. But, and this is important too, we do not keep the Law of God to be rules keepers. That also doesn’t get us anywhere because that fails to demonstrate our understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice. That’s Paul’s point in the next few verses.
4You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
5For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.
6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
Galatians 5:4–6 (NASB95)
Then, we get to the sticky part. How do we keep the Law of God in love to demonstrate our faith?
This is where Pastor Lee brought up the Greek word for Love, which is transliterated into English as Agape. I will post both the Greek word for Agape and the root word from which it is derived, which influences how the ancient use of this word was understood in Agapao.
Greek Strong’s Number: 26
Greek Word: ἀγάπη
Transliteration: agapē
Phonetic Pronunciation: ag-ah’-pay
Root: from <G25>
Cross Reference: TDNT - 1:21,5
Part of Speech: n f
Vine’s Words: Feast, Love, Love feasts
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
love 86
charity 27
dear 1
charitably+ <G2596> 1
feast of charity 1
[Total Count: 116]
from <G25> (agapao); love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast:- (feast of) charity ([-ably]), dear, love.
James Strong, “Ἀγάπη,” Strong’s Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (WORDsearch, 2020).
Now, the root word Agapao.
Greek Strong’s Number: 25
Greek Word: ἀγαπάω
Transliteration: agapaō
Phonetic Pronunciation: ag-ap-ah’-o
Root: perhaps from agan (much) [or cf <H5689> ]
Cross Reference: TDNT - 1:21,5
Part of Speech: v
Vine’s Words: Beloved, Love
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
love 135
beloved 7
[Total Count: 142]
Perhaps from agan (much) [or compare <H5689> (`agab)]; to love (in a social or moral sense):- (be-) love (-ed). Compare <G5368> (phileo).
James Strong, “Ἀγαπάω,” Strong’s Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (WORDsearch, 2020).
Why include the root word? Because Agapao flavors Agape love with the idea of loving in a “social or moral sense.” How is that important? It is important because we have to root that “moral sense” in something, and Paul’s point is that our Agape love for our neighbor is rooted in God’s Law, which is His moral sense of right and wrong.
I’m skipping a few verses for a minute because I don’t want to turn this into a commentary on this Galatians chapter. I may cover them later. However, Pastor Lee brought up the idea that we are to hold “brotherly Love” or the love of neighbor as ourselves, as Paul mentioned just before the passage she used for her message today. Here are those verses.
11But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.
12I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.
13For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
14For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 5:11–14 (NASB95)
Leviticus 19:18
Before we go on, I want to note those all-caps words are Paul quoting Old Testament scripture from Leviticus 19:18.
18‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
Leviticus 19:18 (NASB95)
God specifically commands us to love our neighbors as we want to be loved. This is not a New Testament idea, and everyone of Jesus’ and Paul’s time knew that. We should make a point of knowing that, too. It is important here because of that last verse where Paul warns us not to “bite and devour” each other.
How does all this mash together to form love and not turn into biting and devouring each other? It’s amazingly simple to explain but a lot harder to put into practice every day. Here’s how it works.
We learn how God says to live as His children. What our life experience has taught us, we pass on to those around us so they don’t make the same mistakes we made, don’t suffer the same hardships we’ve suffered, and how to make life's difficulties easier. But, and this is the easy part to say, but hard to do, when we look to pass on that information, we must first stop and think about how we would want to be told what we are getting ready to pass on. That’s the hard part. Sometimes, the person or people we are led to tell these things to do not want to hear them or are combative when confronted with the truth of God’s Word. Before we present that truth as we understand it, we must figure out how to best do that were we the person/people we are about to talk to. This is the brother love part where we must think, work out, and contemplate the best approach.
In truth, sometimes, the words won't be received no matter what you or I do, and that’s fine. That part isn’t up to us. For that matter, just because we know a thing doesn’t mean we have to share a thing. God isn’t always calling us to speak into someone else’s life. Sometimes, God calls us to keep silent and still for our own good. Whether to speak or not and how is left to each person, but it must always be done prayerfully in accordance with what God wants and not what Man wants.
So, how does all this liberty and freedom yet still keeping God’s Law tie together? How do we accomplish both that sometimes seem mutually exclusive? This is, again, easy to type out but harder to implement.
First, we must surrender our desires to God so they change from sinful acts to holy acts. This is a paraphrase of something Pastor Lee said. We seek God’s path and do our best to walk it the way we understand He is asking us to walk His path.
Second, we study and learn about the fruits of the spirit. We do this to shift our desires to live for the production of those fruits rather than the pleasures of the flesh. This moves more of our life out of the fleshly, sinful world and more into the spiritual and holy world.
Once we start working toward the spiritual fruits, we begin to produce more of them. The production of those fruits of the spirit becomes an outward sign of the inward change. As long as we pursue the production of those fruits from the goal of walking God’s path His way, those outward signs are free of the sinful taint of pride. Then, we begin to see those marks of success we are craving. God bless and Godspeed.