“Three Enemies of the Spirit” Galatians 5:25-26
“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk (live) in the Spirit. 26 .Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another.” The issue under question in this verse is about living in the Spirit and not according to the dictates of the flesh. In Galatians 5:16-17 Paul wrote about the war that goes on within us: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would.” You are probably aware of the struggle that all of us have with the desires of the flesh and the holy urgings of the Spirit. You are also probably aware of the three things given in this text that I am calling, “Three Enemies of the Spirit.” These three things almost seem natural to us and can mute our witness and ruin our fellowship with other Christians. The admonition in verse 25 was, “If we live by the Spirit, let us walk (live) in the Spirit.” Verse 26 tells us what we will need to avoid if we plan to effectively live in the Spirit. First, we are to “not be desirous of vainglory.” This means that we are not to be conceited. People who are conceited have an overblown view of themselves. The Spirit leads us to humility instead of conceit, but the flesh desires to have first place and to be superior. Conceit is a destroyer of fellowship within the church. Some people feel that they are in control and that they should have the full authority as to what goes on in the church. They refer to the church as “their church.” We need to be aware of the tendency toward conceit within ourselves. The temptation to focus on self is powerful. We need to be aware of this tendency and remember that we are not led to conceit by the Spirit. Our desire as Christians should be to be controlled by the Spirit instead of by the flesh. The tendency to focus on ourselves and our own authority is subtle and is a great tool of Satan. Second, we are told to avoid “provoking one another.” There are several Greek words in the New Testament that are translated as “provoke.” The word that is translated in this verse is “prokaleo.” What it means is “to call forth, as to a contest, hence to stir up what is evil in another.” (Vines Dictionary of New Testament Words) Basically, what this means is to look for a fuss. It is easy to get into a fuss with somebody, all we have to do is choose an issue that we know will cause a fuss and go to it. This is not done under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, but is an action of the flesh. Sometimes there are people that we just have a difficult time with and we want to fuss with them. We need to see this as a temptation to sin and that it will only cause confusion. This obviously happens frequently in churches, and causes the whole church to suffer. It is also a poor witness to the community. Churches that are growing are churches that avoid silly quarrels. It is one thing to discuss an issue and disagree, it is quite another to provoke an argument because of that disagreement. Satan will have us provoking one another if we are not careful. Disagreement among Christians is a natural thing, provocation is a sinful thing. Watch those tendencies within yourself! Third, we are told to avoid “envying one another.” One of the main tenets of the gospel is that we love one another. Envy and love are at opposite ends of the scale. Envy can cause us to be conceited, focused too much on self, and can cause us to provoke someone else. When we envy someone we are admitting that we want what they have. If they have a spiritual gift that we do not have, we want that gift for ourselves. We forget that God gives us different gifts of the Spirit in order to carry on the work of His church. Envy is always of the flesh and is never of the Spirit. The Spirit will not lead us to envy other people. The Spirit will lead us to focus on our own gifts and do the best that we can using those gifts. We need to be aware of these enemies of the Spirit and avoid them at all costs. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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