May I Never Boast, Except...

May I Never Boast...

One famous verse that many have memorized, stenciled on walls, made into refrigerator magnets, and posters and more is this one: "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).

The Greek construction makes the English translation, though accurate, seem weak. First, Paul makes a strong contrast between himself and his opponents in the Galatian churches who were trying to force gentile Christians to follow the law of Moses. He accuses them (Galatians 6:12-13) of being motivated by their "flesh," a realm that is in opposition to the Spirit (Galatians 5:17). He emphasizes that his motives are far from "fleshly," that is, not at all self centered. They might, but not me at all!

The "May I never..." part is also weaker in English. It would be more accurate (though more wordy) to translate it like this: "May I never ever, even a little, boast at all or in any way..." In Greek it's just two words" me genoito (μή γένοιτο), but the force of these two words is much, much stronger than "May I never." J.B. Philips puts it this way (Philips translation): "God forbid that..." Not literal, since "God" isn't in the Greek text, but it has the right force, and means basically the same thing in English that Paul was saying in Greek. My point: Paul is speaking forcefully and decisively here, and inviting us into his viewpoint.

So, what are some things Paul might have boasted about, other than the cross of Jesus? Well, he could have boasted about his faithfulness despite persecution (see Galatians 6:17). He might have boasted about his biological and theological heritage (Philippians 3:5-6). He might have boasted in the revelation he received first-hand from God through dreams and visions (2Corinthians 12:2-4). Or about a hundred other things.

Instead he says this:

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, 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 on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:8–11)  

What about us, what might we boast about? Maybe we have also had dreams, visions and other revelation from God. Maybe we have also been mistreated because of Jesus and are still faithful. Maybe we have an excellent Christian pedigree: children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren of a Christian family - an excellent heritage! Maybe we are part of a Christian movement or denomination that has changed and/or is changing the world - that's great too! Maybe we have a great prayer-life, or have a keen understanding of the fine points of theology, or know the Bible better, and read it more than most people we meet. Maybe we tithe faithfully, or go far beyond the tithe in our giving, attend worship regularly, or go looking for mid-week worship as well. Maybe we have taken courses, or gotten degrees, or attended conferences, or had hands laid on us by anointed leaders, or write books or blogs, or poems, or songs. Maybe we've become recognized for our accomplishments by others - perhaps in our local setting, perhaps far beyond. Maybe we have children who have done great things for God. Maybe we are personal friends with someone who is known by much of the Christian world. Maybe we're a pastor, or elder, or deacon, or worship leader, or nursery attendant, or Sunday School teacher, or Bible Study leader, or small group leader, or volunteer at the food bank, or for Love INC, or Habitat for Humanity, or... Maybe...

The list goes on and on, doesn't it? I see myself uncomfortably reflected in some of those potential boasts in the paragraph above. I have a big desire to be both known and admired. I suppose that's not all bad, since Paul says just a few verses earlier: "Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else" (Galatians 6:4). It's not totally wrong to find within oneself the "gold" God is producing, and be pleased to find it there. But how did it get there, if not as a result of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross?

...Except in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ

If we're gonna brag, we're gonna have to brag on Jesus!

He did what I couldn't; what we couldn't. When we were dead in sin, He saved us (Ephesians 2:4-5). He became a curse for us who were under the curse (Galatians 3:13). And in doing that He totally rearranged the religious landscape by putting the old covenant on the cross and creating a new one in His blood (Colossians 2:14; Luke 22:20). In fact, He created a whole new reality in which Jew and gentile are no longer significant distinctions (Galatians 3:28), or for that matter neither is social status (slave nor free), or even one's sex (male nor female). What He did was to reconcile everything to God (Colossians 1:20), and erase the boundaries of Israelite exclusivity (Ephesians 2:15). This has the qualities of a whole new creation (2Corinthians 5:17), where the Kingdom of God is breaking into our lives changing both us and our world.  We ourselves are recreated in Christ to do and be all God wants (Ephesians 2:10), and continue to be transformed by the continuing glory of His presence in our lives (2Corinthians 3:18). And that's just a beginning! Look at what He did!

What have I done, or what have you done that's worthwhile that doesn't depend on what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross? If we're gonna brag, we're gonna have to brag on Jesus!

Because of the cross, the resurrection was possible. Because of the cross and resurrection, the ascension was possible. Because Jesus is crucified, resurrected and ascended, He now reigns at the right hand of the Father. Because He is crucified, resurrected and ascended, the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost, and continues to be poured out over His people. Because of the cross, all this is possible. If we're gonna brag...

If we were left to fend for ourselves in our relationship with God, even if we had the whole rule-book (as Israel did), we wouldn't be able to do it either. We'd all be ruined. Left to ourselves we humans have an innate ability to mess things up, and to keep finding more grand and wonderful ways of doing so. I live in a culture that is so manic in it's busyness and noise, that one can only conclude that it is an a state of panicked avoidance of something. As I understand it, we are avoiding coming to grips with the depth of our own emptiness. We have it all, and yet the black hole of inner need keeps demanding more, pulling in even the light around it. This is what life without God is like.

We can't even live "the Christian life" apart from God. We try though, don't we? We try to live for Him, more than we try to live with Him. What are we thinking!? We couldn't do it without Him before we got saved, why do we think we can do it without Him now? Why would we even want to try?! Yet we sometimes do anyway. We like to be independent, even independent of God, and on some level we think we're supposed to be. But we're not created for that. We're not created for independence from God or from each other. We need each other, even as maturing believers. We need God, even as maturing believers. In fact, the more mature we are, the more we recognize that "doing it myself" is a desire of my immature self.

My confidence - my boasting - is not in what I can do, or believe I'm supposed to do, or in my tenacity to keep trying, despite my failures. My confidence - my boasting - is in what Jesus accomplished for me, and is continuing to accomplish in me through the cross and all that the cross made possible. My confidence is in Him--the one at work in me through His Spirit, making me a son of my True Father in heaven. The most I can do is co-operate with what He is doing in me, through me, and around me.

If we're gonna brag, we're gonna have to brag on Jesus!

And He will Lift You Up

Humble yourself... Part One

Most of us know the verse (James 4:10), and some of us know the old youth-camp song:

Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, (echo & repeat)

And He will lift you up, higher and higher, and He will lift you up.

(by Bob Hudson; © 1978 Maranatha! Music)

They fit with a spiritual posture that pursues humility and is always critical of pride. We sang the song, and recite the verse to remind us that before God we cannot stand on our own. Both the song and the verse remind us that in this world where self-promotion is the key to success, that the Kingdom of God doesn't work that way.

God sees us and knows us. No matter how well we might fool others with how amazing we are--at least at certain things--God knows our hearts; He knows all the ways we fall short. The only honest way to go to God is in humility. 

From our side, we recognize God's majesty, His holiness, His awesome power, His perfect justice. We see that He is "wholly other:" beyond our full comprehension, more than we can ever know or imagine. In the presence of His infinite greatness, our finitude and brokenness properly bows in humility before Him. 

Such a posture, such humility is foreign to North American culture, where we bow to no one. We stand on our own two feet and look in the eye whomever might cross our path. We take pride in ourselves, in our achievements, our accomplishments, and even if we have no notable achievements or accomplishments, we still consider ourselves great people of infinite value, and don't you dare make me believe any different. Lack of self-worth is often considered a direct cause of so many psychological and relational problems; believe in yourself and your life will be better.

But from Jesus (see Luke 14:11, for example), and from James, and from Peter (1Peter 5:6), as well as from the Psalms (Psalm 18:27), Proverbs (Proverbs 29:23),  and elsewhere, that God prefers the humble to the arrogant. "God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble" (James 4:6).

So far, so good.

The Second Half of the Verse

In our zeal to pursue humility, and perhaps in reaction to our culture, we really prefer the first half of the verse (James 4:10), to the second. Those of us who have been in the faith for a while, have been acculturated to humble ourselves, but not to let Him lift us up - and if He does, to make sure we get back down as quickly as possible.

Did you get that?

The verse has two parts, as do the other verses I cited above. The first part is that we humble ourselves, the second part is that He lifts us up. Let me suggest that not only do we prefer the first part of the verse, we often actually resist God's efforts to do the second part: lift us up.

As I was preaching on Galatians 6:4 this week, I brought up that point. This verse is really shocking, if we are of a mind to focus exclusively on humbling ourselves before God. The verse says this: "Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else."  

Many of us would read the first part of that verse and understand that by testing our own actions, we ought to be looking for more ways to humble ourselves before God by finding all those things that fell short. Interestingly this particular word for test in the Greek New Testament (δοκιμάζω: dokimazo) is almost always used to find out what is right or good about something, not what's wrong with it! I find that fascinating all by itself. How often do we look at ourselves to find out what's going right. How do we look at others, the church, our denomination or movement that way?

What is even more shocking to the "humility-minded" is what Paul says the outcome of such testing will be: "Then they can take pride in themselves alone..." Huh? Did Paul just say that? 

Yep.

It's true that in context Paul is saying more than that. He's talking about not comparing ourselves with others, and probably the temptation (in verse 1) to prideful comparison when restoring a fallen member. Yet, Paul's suggested remedy to prideful comparison is not to remind the Galatians to be more humble, but to find their pride elsewhere--namely in themselves. (Does this seems strange to you too?) He did say "Don't think you're something, you're not" (my paraphrase of Galatians 4:3), but then he goes on to tell us to take pride in who we are. 

Let's unpack that a bit.

If we are of the sort that pursues humility before God as a high value (as we should, IMHO), we would also need to be the sort that would receive without questioning God's response to us, and what God is doing in and among us. True humility would not try to wrestle the "lifting up" part out of God's hands, but rather humbly accept being lifted up. If we kneel as we go before God and He takes our hand and lifts us to our feet, I would assume that He intends for us to stand. True humility would not refuse the honor God gives us.

If you have been a believer for a while and therefore have the Holy Spirit in you, He has been working on producing His fruit in you (Galatians 5:22-23), and has been in the process of sanctifying you from day one. Has He made any progress in you? I trust that He has. He's good at His job! But do you see what He's done in you? Can you see how you are a better, more fruitful, more holy person than you used to be? If not, there's something wrong: stop refusing to cooperate with the Spirit's work in you! On the other hand, if there is progress, praise the Lord! Celebrate what He has done! No matter how much farther you have to go, you've come a long way already! Find satisfaction in that. Find pleasure in that. 

Conceit or arrogance compares itself to others. The Pharisee praying in Jesus' parable, prays arrogantly, comparing himself to tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). But don't forget the tax collector, who humbled himself, went away exalted (v.14). Paul says in this verse don't compare yourselves to others, but look at yourself; compare yourself to yourself and take pride in how far God has taken you! He has lifted you up so stand proudly where He is standing you!

Self-hatred also compares itself to others. If we're more prone to feeling bad about ourselves, or self-degradation has become the accent of our spiritual life, then we're more likely to compare ourselves with others negatively. It's not hard to find people who are better than we are at certain things - particularly things we think are important. Someone prays more, or more fervently; reads their Bible more, or more knowledgeably; has more self-control; is more loving; seems to have more faith through difficulties - and so on. I have two words for such a practice: Stop it!

Take a look at yourself today. Get a good mirror, not one that merely exposes your flaws, but one that shows you what God has done and is doing in you. Then you can take pride in yourself with no need to compare yourself to anyone else.

Don't deny it; celebrate it! God is at work doing amazing things in you! Me too!

Fulfilling the Law

As I've been preaching through Galatians--that letter of Paul in which he draws a thick, dark line between Gospel and law--I've been pondering a question: Why didn't God send His Spirit to us to make us exemplary law-keepers, rather than to set us free from the law (as Paul states in Galatians). In fact, he says, "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law" (Galatians 5:18).

It's a little shocking, really. Isn't it? It sounds a lot like Paul just said a very big part of the Bible (specifically what we call the Old Testament) no longer applies. Weren't all those laws, and regulations inspired to be written by the Spirit? Wouldn't setting them all aside constitute breaking a basic rule of listening to God in our day: "If it contradicts Scripture, it's not from the Holy Spirit"?

What's the Law For?

Setting aside Old Testament law for a moment, let's ask ourselves what civic laws are for. Why are there speed limits? A cynical answer might be: to raise money for local coffers. But that's not why legislators make speed limits; they make them for our safety - the safety of the one driving, and of those around the driver. In residential areas speed limits are slower because there are more people walking, including children. Speed limits on freeways are set based on the limitations of cars, expected traffic, and how the roads themselves are designed.

We make laws to restrain evil, and promote good. Old Testament law does the same, though the scope of Old Testament law includes not only human interaction, but also our relationship with God.

One other thing that laws do for us is tell us which side of the road to drive on. It's not that one side is better or worse than the other, but a convention is necessary for all of us to be safe. The same is true for standards of currency, measurement and even the voltage of an electrical outlet. In this case, laws are more cultural than anything else--they aren't about restraining evil or promoting good, they simply state what our culture needs to function efficiently. Other nations do things differently. We would never say that the British are immoral for driving on the left side of the road, or that Canadians are evil for using the metric system, or that Australia is in danger of God's judgment for sending 230V, 50Hz power into people's homes. Of course not. But each nation, each culture has to decide on it's own internal standards for such things.

I would suggest one purpose of Old Testament law was to create Israelite culture. Israel had just come out of slavery in Egypt, which had a pagan culture. God intended to establish a distinct people, distinguished from their Egyptian past, but also from the peoples that would be surrounding them in Canaan. What I'm suggesting is that much of the Old Testament laws governing diet and clothing are there in part (at least) to create a culture (not because pork is bad for you, or because blending cotton and linen is immoral, e.g.). It's not wrong per se to eat catfish (it has no scales, and is considered "unclean" by Old Testament law), it's just something Israelites weren't supposed to do. It's not better to eat locusts (as John the Baptist did - they are not considered unclean by Old Testament law), no matter how "gross" it may seem to most North Americans.

Love Fulfills the Purpose of the Law

How is it Paul can say "Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law?" (Romans 13:10), or "the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Galatians 5:14)? For example, how does loving my neighbor fulfill the command to stone to death a bull that has gored someone to death (Exodus 21:28)?

One could, at this point, suggest all sorts of ways that would link stoning such a bull, along with the other regulations about this that follow in that passage, with being loving toward ones neighbor. This would establish bull-stoning as a loving thing to do in such situations. Would shooting it, instead of stoning it count? Is that what Paul is saying?

No.

What hit me in the middle of preaching on the last half of Galatians 5 last Sunday, when I got to the passage that says "if you are led by the Spirit you are not under law" (Galatians 5:18), is that the Spirit leads us to fulfill all the purposes the law was intended for. No law exists simply to be a law; laws exist for a reason. This includes both human law and God's law. God didn't make the Old Testament laws simply to have laws; the laws were intended to restrain evil, promote the good and create a culture distinct from the world around them. The Holy Spirit is doing the very same things within us and among us.

Paul's answer to the problem of restraining the flesh through the law (the presumptive message of the Judiaizers Paul combats in Galatians), is that faithfully following the Spirit does a much better job of this than following the Old Testament law. He's not saying just do whatever you want, you're under grace (as some "hyper-grace" teachers in our day are saying). He's saying, if you live by the flesh you cannot inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21). He's also saying, if we live by the Spirit we won't be living by our flesh (Galatians 5:16).

The Spirit is producing fruit in us: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These things are not opposed to the law (see v.23b), rather these things fulfill the purpose of the law. Everyone of these fruit have both a personal and a relational aspect. We aren't just supposed to be loving, we're supposed to love others, not just be joyful, but share our joys (etc.).

This is why when we are led by the Spirit we are not under law (v.18). Where does the Spirit lead us, but into the ways of God Himself, into the character we need to live in the Kingdom, into lives that always seek what is good for ourselves and others, and into the culture of Heaven itself? I'd also suggest that if we are always and only living for the good (for ourselves and others), we simply won't have time for evil, and so we need not worry about restraining something we have no interest in.

When we live by the flesh (out of our mere humanness), often the best we can do is a little better than we used to. This is because our flesh can never overcome itself. It always has a bent to operate apart from God. Romans 7 explains this: the harder I try the worser I get. Trying harder doesn't work. This is also why legalism fails: it relies on our humanness to do (or not do) things on a list. We either need a manageable list, or we need to live in hypocrisy--pretending we're better than we are.

Living by the Spirit means living in joyful dependence on the Spirit's leading and empowerment to follow Him. We can't do it without Him. Our flesh thinks we can, but even that thought is rebellion against His work within us.

Now, most of us learn how to follow the Spirit over time. We don't hear clear and specific messages from Him about what to do, or how to do it -- at least not at first. Some may, many don't. That's okay. Like an infant learns to identify sounds and then words and then meanings, so we too learn the Spirit's language a bit at a time. Being in His presence is the important thing. We'll catch on after a while. He's a patient but also a good teacher.

Living by the Spirit

Last week I wrote about the deception of legalism and moralism, since they rely on the flesh to either establish or maintain our relationship with God. Paul is telling us in Galatians that what really is important is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6). If you missed it you can read that whole blog here: The Only Thing that Counts.

This week I want to write about following our flesh as opposed to following the Spirit

First [Cityname] Church of the Flesh

While no one would really name their church, "Church of the Flesh," what we find in many churches are activities and ministries that are primarily driven by the flesh rather than the Spirit. I suppose I'll need to explain.

What is "the flesh?" 

What does Paul mean by "the flesh" (Greek: σάρξ; sarx) when he says things like "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love." (Galatians 5:13)

In the old NIV (© 1984), we find the term "the flesh" (NIV 2011) translated here as "the sinful nature." Is that right? I don't believe so. As I said last week, as Paul uses the story of Hagar and Sarah to illustrate his point, he describes the birth of Ishmael as "according to the flesh" (Galatians 4:23). In the story Abram takes Hagar as a wife in order for him and Sarai to have a family. The story as originally written and as recounted by Paul does not emphasize that this was sinful as much as it emphasizes how it was merely human. I believe this is what we find throughout Paul's epistles when He uses the term. Whether believers even have a "sinful nature" is very debatable, and I believe it would be difficult to defend Biblically (if our old nature is dead (Rom.6:6), how can it still be operating?), but we certainly have a tendency to do things out of our mere humanness. (I'm glad the new NIV has reverted to a more literal translation here.)

Acting out of the flesh is not necessarily to do something that is sinful in itself. We can even be doing something with the best of intentions. However, we're operating in the flesh, if we're doing it on our own, apart from God's help, direction and without a need for His presence--that is, out of our mere humanness. Our flesh wants to do what it wants, in the way it wants, when it wants, and all to make the flesh feel good about itself--whether doing "good" things or bad things.

So, if acting according to the flesh means to act out of our mere humanness--without a need for God's wisdom, power or presence--then we have a lot of Christians and a lot of churches who are ministering in the name of God, but out of the flesh.

Why is ministry so hard?

I heard someone with a healing ministry once say "Healing ministry is only hard, if you think you're the one doing the healing." What if we substituted "preaching ministry" for healing ministry, or "pastoral care," "administration," "leadership," etc.? What if all the ministry is supposed to be simply God working through us, instead of us trying to do it for Him?

It seems to me that a lot of ministry is actually done out of mere humanness. This is how I was trained: to excel in ministry competencies more than in prayer (particularly "listening prayer"). Great books are written on how to do the different aspects of ministry in ways that get results. My church's mailbox is often full of offers for programs that will reach the lost, feed the hungry, care for the sick, etc., etc. Few use as much ink telling us how to pray as they tell us what to do. In other words, they tell us how to be more effective in living out of our flesh. Is this why we're so burnt out, so depressed, why we see so little fruit, etc.?

A recipe for hypocrisy

Living by the law, by moral rules, by competence, by what has been proven to be effective elsewhere, are all recipes for hypocrisy. All of the above tell us that it's not what's in our hearts that really matters, what matters are behavior, numbers, outcomes, and so forth--what matters is what can be seen and is measurable. We will be quick to say that we really care about what's in our hearts, but over and over again we see outwardly successful ministries fall when the hypocrisy is exposed. Let's just admit it: we don't need to be transformed by the power of Jesus to build a big ministry, or a big church. Womanizers, control freaks, abusers, and sex addicts (among others) have been doing it in our day, and we never would have known, unless someone spoke out the ugly truths. How many more are out there?

There are many causes for such behavior among leaders, but one of the biggest contributing factors is that we're running our ministries out of our flesh--out of our mere humanness. And as long as it's looking good on the outside, we're happy, we're good with that.

By the way, it's not just non-charismatic or non-Pentecostal churches that minister out of the flesh. To my surprise, I have found many charismatics and Pentecostals have taken on ministry techniques and strategies that rely simply on our mere humanness (AKA the flesh). Such churches have a theology of empowerment, but a practice that doesn't rely on it. This itself speaks to the how we are attracted to living out of our flesh--doing it ourselves. At least this gives us the idea that we are in charge and in control.

First [Cityname] Church of the Spirit

Paul gives us very clear instructions: "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want." (Galatians 5:16–17). He's saying this in the context of showing why law-keeping is anti-Christian (cf. Galatians 5:4). He's not been talking about how to keep sin in check, but how law-keeping is trying to get right with God by means of the flesh (Galatians 3:3). Living by the law is quite the opposite of living licentiously, but it's still living by means of the flesh!

What Paul is saying here is much more than "if you're follow the Spirit, you won't sin so much." What he's telling us is that if we walk by the Spirit, we won't be walking by our flesh--we won't be doing it out of our mere humanness. He's telling us to live by the Spirit (NIV84), to go through our day-to-day lives, taking each step guided by, empowered by and accompanied by the Spirit.

The Dynamic of Divine Dialog

In the Church of the Spirit, all life and ministry are how that church is walking by the Spirit. Notice that I didn't say that their life and ministry are born out of that walk, but their life and ministry is that walk. We don't go to the Spirit for a while and then leave Him to go do what He told us to do. That would be returning to the flesh--doing it out of our mere humanness (even if He told us specifically what to do!), No. We must walk with the Spirit all the time, doing what He's telling us, in the empowerment He's giving us, and in His presence.

This doesn't happen by mere study of Scripture, though the Church of the Spirit had better be solidly in the Word! This happens in a dynamic relationship with God that includes listening prayer and hearing His voice. Is God calling us to help at the homeless shelter, or the food bank? How do we know? We have to ask Him.

Some church teachers will balk at this, saying it elevates experience over Scripture. This is actually just a cop-out.  Scripture tells us to seek God and to seek His wisdom. The Old Testament is full of examples of kings and others seeking a word from God on how to proceed. This is a totally Biblical practice, even if it's not a practice in some Bible-thumping churches. The objection is that we might get it wrong. Let me just make this clear: we are likely to get it wrong (at least from time to time)! Seeking God's will for a specific ministry situation or opportunity, and getting it wrong, is no worse than not seeking His will at all!

If Paul is telling us to live by the Spirit (Rom. 8:5), and to be led by the Spirit (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:18), and to keep in step with the Spirit (Gal, 5:25), what we can expect is a dynamic relationship characterized by dialog: a conversation that includes listening and speaking on both sides of the conversation.

Living Inside-Out

Living and walking by the Spirit also means that we are being transformed all the time. He is producing in us and among us the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 6:22-23). But the main point, the main ministry of the Spirit is not to fix people, but to restore their relationship with God. A by-product of people restored to God is that everything in us that needs fixing gets remade into something beautiful.

This means we live inside-out. Where the law only addresses what can be observed: externals, the Spirit addresses primarily what cannot be observed: the heart. When our inner life is transformed, what we do is a reflection of who we are, rather than what we wish we were, or are pretending to be. The one who loves, loves because he or she knows the loving of God (1John 4:7-8). In fact, Paul sums up what the Christian life is supposed to look like by reminding us that if we are loving people, we are doing what the law was all about anyway (Galatians 5:14). 

The moment we begin living by our flesh--out of our mere humanness, the moment we rely more on our own experience, competence, judgment and abilities than on God, we are living in opposition to the Spirit (see Galatians 5:17). As we live led by the Spirit, we are not under any law (Galatians 5:18), because the Spirit will never lead us to a place that is illegal for us to go!

Living by the law means keeping our attention on the law. Living by the Spirit means keeping our attention on the Spirit.

Progress Report:

I admit, we're on our way. We're learning to be Church of the Spirit, and not Church of the Flesh. We're not perfect in it. We sometimes revert to the flesh (often disguised as "wisdom") to make our decisions. Sometimes we really don't trust the Spirit as much as He can be trusted - or maybe it's our ability to know what the Spirit wants that we don't trust. But we are on the way, we're on the journey, we're getting there, we're farther down the path than we were. What's more we are seeing evidence of just how great the Holy One is among us (cf. Isaiah 12:6).