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We are
alive. We are living. Is there a right way to
live? It seems like a very simple question, but
it’s not. If you ask enough people, you will get
lots of different answers like: “It’s not important
how you live.” “Live anyway you want.” “Live the
way that seems best to you.” “Do what feels best.”
“Live according to the Ten Commandments.” “Live
according to the teachings of my religion.” “Live
according to the teachings of my philosophy or
ideology.”
Rabbi
Paul, one of the wisest men who ever lived, writing
to Messiah’s Holy Communities in Galatia, answered
this question. In his letter to the Galatians,
he told us exactly how we are to live.
First,
We Live Because of the Grace of God
In this
letter, Paul repeatedly talks about grace. Grace
is the unmerited, undeserved, unearned goodness
of God given to undeserving, unworthy creatures.
We are created by grace. We exist by grace. We
have our life and being, talents, resources and
opportunities, solely because of God’s grace.
We do not enter into spiritual life, or experience
salvation, and will not experience eternal life,
because of our merits, worthiness or accomplishments.
There is not enough we could ever do to enable
us to enter God’s Kingdom. We cannot be reconciled
to the Holy One by doing good works, or by any
of our own efforts. We are saved by grace. We
come to life by grace. Do you recognize this truth?
We
Live by Faith
In 3:12
Rabbi Paul reminds us of a principle Israel had
already learned: “The righteous man shall live
by faith.” We are born into this world dead
- spiritually dead - dead because of trespasses
and sins. We are not alive to God. We are dead
to God. We are headed to the First Death - physical
death, and then to the Second Death - eternal
death. We are dead to eternal life.
We must
come to life! We gain life by faith. The righteous
live by faith. Faith can be understood as
believing things that can’t be seen; knowing things
that are true without having seen them. Faith
is knowing something, believing in something,
trusting something, relying upon something.
Faith
can also be understood as a positive response
to knowledge. God lets us know that He is real,
and we believe it, and start to act according
to this new information. God reveals to us that
Yeshua is the Messiah, and we accept that, and
start to live according to that truth. That’s
faith.
God exists.
God sent the Messiah. We must respond properly.
We must believe that God sent the Son, and that
Yeshua is the Son. We must believe in the Father
who sent the Son, and the Son who was sent by
the Father.
We begin
to realize that God the Father is a person, and
Messiah the Son is a person. Faith means knowing
this, and then acting accordingly: we develop
a personal relationship with God the Father and
with God the Son. We live by faith, by positively
responding to the things we learn about God, and
by entering into a close, warm, interactive relationship
with the Father and the Son.
The
righteous will live by faith. When we develop
faith, God the Father and God the Son send the
Spirit that they share to be with us and live
in us. The Spirit of God and Messiah causes us
to be born again. We are born from above, spiritually
transformed, given a new nature - the nature of
God. The Holy Spirit comes into us, lives in us,
and further awakens us to God and Messiah. The
Spirit helps us understand the all-important Word
of God. The Scriptures come alive! They become
meaningful. They become like bread to a hungry
man, water to a thirsty soul. We read them, we
study them, and they start popping into our minds
and we apply them to the various situations that
we encounter. The Holy Spirit sensitizes our conscience
to righteousness. He makes us hate what is wrong,
and impels us to do what is right. He pours out
love for God, and love for human beings, into
our hearts.
The righteous
live by faith, as opposed to trying to live by
being part of religious systems, or by trying
to observe a set of laws. The Maker of Heaven
and Earth didn’t create us to primarily follow
laws. Laws are a guide that can enable us to better
understand how to live, but they are not a substitute
for faith - for coming to know who God really
is, and then having a personal and living and
interactive relationship with God and Messiah,
and being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We need
laws, but we are not created for laws, or to be
parts of complex religious systems. We look to
the laws of God for guidance, recognizing that
Jews and Gentiles have a different relationship
to the Law of Moses, and understanding that the
covenant made at Sinai is a broken covenant, and
that both Jews and Gentiles are living in the
New Covenant.
We
Live to God
In 2:19
the great Rabbi from Tarsus tells us that we are
to “live to God.” Living to God means having a
close and personal relationship with the Supreme
Being. God is a Person - the Supreme Person. He
has mind, emotion, will. He thinks, He reasons,
He feels, He loves, He communicates with others.
And, He created us so that we could have a close
personal relationship with Him. We are to love
Him. Are you? We are to think about Him. We are
to talk to Him. We listen to Him as He tries to
talk to us. Do you ever hear the voice of God,
maybe not audibly, but thoughts that come to you
that you sense are from God, communicating to
you, “I love you. Help so and so. Don’t do that!
That’s not right! That will harm you. Resist that.
That is not My will. Do this instead. Don’t give
into that!”
Living
to God means that God comes first above all else.
Are you living for God, or for something else?
We live for God, not for self. Are you living
for yourself? Are you living to be comfortable?
Are you living for the American Dream, or to fulfill
God’s plans? Are you living for a good career,
for family, for friends, for money, or are you
living to advance the Lord’s agenda and goals?
If you are living for anything other than God,
you are not living for God. You are living for
something less than God, which makes you an idolater.
Is God the focus of your life? Is God at the center
of your thoughts?
God is
the Maker of all things. God is the Supreme Being.
God is the King of kings and Lord of Lords. Since
He is the Creator, and we are His creatures, living
to God means that we are obligated to live in
a way that is pleasing to the One who made us.
Our attitude is that we are here to serve. We
must find out what He wants, and then do it. We
must find out what His will is, and then make
His will our will. Can you say that the Creator
is your King? That He is your Lord? Are you here
to serve Him? Can you honestly say that you are
living to God?
We
Live by Faith in the Son of God
In 2:20
this great Emissary sent to us from the Lord tells
us that we live by faith in the Son of God. Ever
since God the Father sent His Son into this world,
who loved us and died for us, we must live for
the Son. It is not enough to live for the Father
and not the Son. To deny the Son is to deny the
Father. To ignore the Son is to ignore the Father.
To not honor respect, love, serve and fear the
Son is to dishonor, hate and rebel against the
Father.
Rabbi
Paul tells us in this same verse that we can only
live if Messiah lives in us. If Messiah is not
living in us, we are not really alive. We are
not really living. We are not spiritually alive.
We are not headed to Heaven. We will not enter
the New Jerusalem, and experience life in the
New Heavens and New Earth. We may think we are
alive, and headed in a good direction, but the
reality is we aren’t. We may delude or deceive
ourselves, but it is just that - delusion or deception.
Messiah
must live in us. How does Messiah live in us?
Not in person. He is seated at the right hand
of God. The way He lives in us is through His
Spirit, who is also the Spirit of God. When we
gain knowledge about Yeshua, and develop faith
in Messiah, and respond positively to that knowledge,
God sends the Spirit of Messiah to lives in us.
Therefore Messiah lives in us. Therefore we are
really alive. Alive to God, alive to Messiah,
and alive forever!
We
Live by the Spirit
In 5:16
Paul tells us to “walk by the Spirit” - which
means that we are to live in such a way that we
close to the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, taught
by the Spirit, led by the Spirit, empowered by
the Spirit. We can only live by the Spirit when
we are connected to the Spirit of God and Messiah.
He comes to live in us in a way that is only possible
when we have faith in God and Messiah.
To live
by the Spirit, we must “sow to the spirit.” We
must create an environment so that the Spirit
has full reign in our lives. We must cultivate
spiritual things: we must engage in regular prayer
and worship. We must train our minds to think
about God and His Word during the day. The Spirit
is holy and so we must avoid sin. We must resist
sin. When we sin, we must admit it, and confess
it, ask the Lord’s forgiveness, ask Him to fill
us with His Spirit once again, and then we move
on.
We can
tell if we are living by the Spirit - if the Spirit
of God is helping us to live. If the Spirit is
helping us to live the way God wants us to, then
the things that Paul describes in 5:22-23 will
be happening: we will have love - more love for
God. We will have passion for God. We will have
greater love for humanity. We will be less selfish.
We will have joy even in the midst of live’s circumstances
and trials. We will experience more peace. Even
in the midst of trials, we will have a sense that
all is well. We will have more patience. We will
not get frustrated and angry when things don’t
go our way. Our meanness will be replaced by kindness.
We will be gentle - not harsh. O, there are time
for toughness and discipline, but we will temper
those times of necessary toughness with love and
gentleness and kindness.
We will
produce goodness. Doing good things for others
will become increasingly important. Faithfulness
will be generated in us - faithfulness to God;
faithfulness to the Scriptures. We won’t twist
them out of their meaning. We won’t deny them.
We with be faithful not just to God and the Scriptures,
but to our promises, to our marriage vows; to
our employer. We will show up at work regularly,
and on time. We will work hard. We won’t steal
from the company.
We will
be faithful to our congregation - we will come
faithfully. We will show up on time, get involved,
and participate in some way. We will serve, help
and give. We will have the ability to control
ourselves. We will have self-control. We will
be able to not give into the wrong things that
tempt us. We will be able to disciple our time
and schedules. We will be able to set proper goals,
and then move steadily toward those goals.
If the
Spirit is living in us, and we are cultivating
a proper environment for the Spirit, He will help
us to live the way God wants us to. Live by the
Spirit, and we will not carry out the desire of
the flesh. Our old nature has corrupt desires.
It is strong. Our spirits may be willing to do
what is right, to do what is courageous, to do
what pleases God, but our flesh - our human nature,
is weak.
The Spirit
of God strengthen our new nature. He gives us
the extra “umph” that we need to resist temptation,
overcome our bad habits, bad attitudes, and wrong
thinking, and instead live for God.
The Spirit
helps us overcome our old nature, crucify our
old nature, die to our old nature. The Spirit
strengthens our new nature, the nature that knows
truth, that knows God, that wants to be holy and
righteous, and do good.
So, when
we are living by the Spirit, we won’t be carrying
out the corrupt desires of the old nature. We
wont be giving into sexual immorality, impurity
and debauchery, orgies; we won’t get drunk or
drugged up. We won’t be engaged in idolatry and
witchcraft, false religion and the occult and
New Age junk; we will not give into feelings of
hatred and have fits of rage. There won’t be discord,
jealousy and envy, selfish ambition, dissensions,
factions. The Spirit helps us live a life that
is genuinely pleasing to God. He helps us live
well, live right. Are you?
We
Live to Love
In 5:5,
Rabbi Paul tells us that neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision means anything, or has any
value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing
itself through love. What is of ultimate importance
to us is not Jewish identity, or any national
identity; it is not religious rituals and ceremonies.
What is really important, and the thing we must
concentrate on, is faith working through love.
If we have faith - if we truly believe in God
and Messiah and the Scriptures, and have that
close personal relationship with God and Messiah
that we should, we concentrate our energies on
loving others. Love means being actively involved
in doing good things for others. Love causes us
to serve one another, to help each other, to bear
each others burdens. Love is not selfish or self-centered.
We don’t seek to be loved, but to love - to bless
others, to elevate others, to benefit others,
to encourage others.
Finally,
We Live in Hope, Expecting to Reap Eternal Life
At the
conclusion of this letter, in 6:8-9, Rabbi Paul
writes: “the one who sows to the Spirit will
from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not
lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will
reap if we do not grow weary.” Acknowledging
that we live by God’s grace, and living by faith,
living to God, living by faith in the Messiah,
living by the Spirit, living to love, is not easy.
This world is hostile to the God of Israel. It
is antagonistic to the Messiah. It opposes Lord’s
values, goals and agenda. When we are faithful,
and won’t go along with the world’s values, we
face opposition, rejection. The disapproval of
a godless world becomes tiring. The rejection
wears us down.
To motivate
us to continue to do good, and not grow weary
and give up the battle, we need to have a living
and vibrant hope. Those who serve the Lord must
know that our efforts will be greatly rewarded.
We should know that the Lord has amazing and glorious
things prepared for us which our human eyes have
not seen and our ears have not heard. We live
gain eternal life and live in unending bliss.
Do you know that? Do you believe that? Does that
motivate to you to endure?
Summary
How are
we to live? We must live recognizing God’s grace.
We must live by faith. We must live for God. To
live for God, we must have faith in the Son of
God. When that happens, we receive the Holy Spirit,
who transforms us and empowers us to love God,
love Messiah and love our fellow man.
Do you
believe in God the Father? Do you have a close,
warm, personal, intimate relationship with God
the Father? Do you talk to Him, bring Him your
concerns, listen for His still small voice? Do
you believe in the Son? His sheep hear His voice.
Do you? Do you have the Holy Spirit living in
you? Is your live characterized by the fruits
of the Spirit? Are you loving God and your fellow
man? Are you sure of your hope, and motivated
to continue living for God?
Shalom,
Rabbi Loren
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