How the Holy Spirit Transforms Daily Life

As I was diving into it and looking at particular passages I began to realize that there’s a lot more to the work of the spirit and what Paul is arguing than we like to give credit for.

So it made me ask a couple questions about myself, my theology, the way I’d organized my categories. So that was the genesis of me tapping you on the shoulder and saying, “Hey, why don’t we talk about this? I think this would be a good thing for us to wrestle with because Paul says some things that are pretty powerful about the spiritual work in ministry that I think would be really important for believers to understand.”

So I see there’s a note here that you’ve written to me. It says, “We ask how do I know I have the spirit and we answer because you believe the gospel.” Then you say, “Paul asks” – that means something’s going on, “How do you know the gospel is true.” He answers, “Because you have the spirit.” Flush out that difference for me –

But Paul’s dynamic or his question was really very, very different. He did not approach the spirit as a deduction, shall we say. Something that we can just believe by faith that we’ve got.

He actually approached it on the front end. It was actually the proof that he used to show that his gospel that he had put to –

If you’re in the Old Testament and you’re unclean you can’t go to the Temple and fellowship with God. So you engage in a sacrifice or washing that restores that relationship, but the point isn’t just simply to say, “Oh, I’m clean now. I can go on with my life.” No. The point of being declared clean is you’re now put in the position of being able to fellowship directly with God again in the context of the Temple.

The salvation’s very much the same picture. You’re unclean. Forgiveness of sins cleanses you or washes you. Now that you’re a clean vessel, the spirit of God can come in and dwell you and enable you to walk with God from that point forward.

So what I wanted to talk about was unpacking that. Why does he make that argument? What is the end result? How are we to think about that even today in terms of our own walk with the spirit and in the lives of those to whom we minister.

You and I both teach here at the seminary. We desire to both form our students academically, but also spiritually. It really made me reflect on the question how can I tell that I’m having a spiritual affect, positively forming my students in the image of Christ.

So a lot of what Paul addresses I think hits right on that particular question. It sort of gives us a way to diagnose our ministries and ourselves. How do we know that we are, in fact, all on the right path. It’s going to be because of the work of the spirit. Paul gives us some ways to unpack that and think that through and to actually apply it.

Part of the issue that’s happened in our time is is that our discussions about how the spirit of God works has launched out into different other areas, areas of controversy and I think in part we miss this most fundamental part of what the spirit is all about and why the spirit is important to Paul.

In fact, one place that we really love to go to is Galatians 2:15 through the end of the chapter ‘cause that is sort of the quintessential statement about justification by faith alone and not by works.

So if I could say it this way, just thinking it through and reading the text, in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, I’m in great shape. Paul’s matching what I think. He’s saying exactly what I would expect him to say, but when I get to Chapter 3 starting in Verse 1, he does something that really brings me up short.

Working through this particular passage was where I had my aha moment. So let me walk through it and I’ll point out some things.

He starts off by saying, “You foolish Galatians.” How’s that for being friendly to your congregation?

His point being is that they were being pulled away from the gospel by some opponents in their midst. It’s a little unclear if they’re Jewish missionaries or if they’re Christian Jewish missionaries, but somebody was pulling them away from the gospel message that Paul had preached to them.

Then he gets even worse. You thought the first statement was bad. He says, “Who has cast a spell on you?”

“The only thing I want to learn from you is this.” Here’s where it gets interesting. “Did you receive the spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?” Paul basically sets up the spirit, the presence of the spirit in their lives as a proof.

What’s the deduction that we draw from it. His deduction that he basically asked them the question to force it, is that they received the spirit by believing what they had heard. So in other words, the presence of the spirit in their lives enabling them, granting them power to live in a holy way that God would be pleased with, that was the evidence that he was pointing to. To me that was really the aha moment because he didn’t go back and say, “Let me show you the historical proofs. Let me talk you about the apologetics of the cross and the empty tomb.”

He pointed to something that they had in their very lives at that moment, the work of the spirt, the enabling of the spirit –

Let me go a few more verses ‘cause he reiterates this in a number of ways –

The argument that he’s saying is are you now trying to finish off and the idea would be completion, perfection, ending our maturity in Christ by doing works. No. His point is you’ve got to finish on the same path that you began in.

So he continues on a few more lines. “Have you suffered so many things for nothing if it indeed was for nothing.”

This next verse just blows me away. “Does God then give you the spirit and work miracles among you by doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard?” God was doing something in their midst. That’s, again, incontrovertible proof. They could all say, “Yes, we agree God is doing something. He’s given us the spirit and he’s at work.”

He was forcing them to realize that was not from being obedient to the law or by doing. It was from believing in the gospel message.

The paradigm shift to me was recognizing that Paul was pointing to undeniably the work of the spirit as proof that they were on the right track. We – I won’t say we. I’m not gonna pull you into this, but maybe I was thinking it’s all a matter of what we confess and what we believe, but this was a rhetorical tact. He could point to something about what they had experienced. The power of the spirit, the undeniable power of the spirit to change them and make them more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul is trying to wrestle with how do people get in and become children of God. James is saying, “If you’re confessing that, what do I expect to see?” Interestingly they both end up in the same place. We’ll talk in a little bit about the last two chapters of Galatians, but they both say that the one who is truly saved is going to be producing things that bring honor and glory to the Lord.

Now that product isn’t a requirement for salvation. It’s actually a proof that salvation has taken place.

That’s definitely part of our Christian faith, but that’s not the sum total. What Paul is saying how do we know that we believe properly there’s the work of the spirit in our midst.

As I was thinking this through I began to expand it out even to my own ministry. Like I said, you asked the same question. How do I know that I am having a proper effect on the lives of my students?

We get a great privilege of working with students sometimes for two or three years as they take our classes. The question that Paul would have us ask is not what are they knowing, but what are they experiencing.

One of the remarks that I like to make is that Christianity is actually all about change and yet change sometimes is a four-letter word in the church. I go, wait a minute that doesn’t work. The whole point of the spirit coming into my life is to renew me, to transform me.

It’s not that it’s a matter of right or wrong in terms of which you focus on. It’s a matter of both and.

It’s a couple of passages that we’ve already looked at, but the point is is that there is a wonderful transformation that is guaranteed by those who respond to the gospel.

We talked before about Galatians 3:14. “In order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the gentiles so that we could receive the promise by the spirit of faith.” That word blessing is very powerful.

It’s referring to the work of the spirit. So the spirit that he’s pointing to, the spirit that he is referencing and saying, “We all know that the spirit is at work”, this is a powerful blessing from God that he designed from the very beginning for us to receive. It’s part of his overall plan of salvation that we receive the spirit and that we have a changed life.

A little bit further down towards the end of this chapter, he brings up another term. He talks about being an heir. So in Verse 29 at the very end of this Chapter 3, he says, “If you belong to Christ then you are Abraham’s descendants. Heirs according to the promise.”

Now he’s gonna flesh this out, but we have to start here with this idea of heir. He’s setting up this metaphor of a person who is an heir to a father or a parent –

So in Chapter 4 he begins with this metaphor, pretty familiar metaphor about when we were children, when we were immature, when we were minors, we were under guardians and managers, but something has changed. The spirit has now been given and so, therefore, we’re now going to, shall we say, grow up into a new behavior.

So he’s playing with this metaphor of this new behavior, this new life in a lot of different ways.

So the point is there’s something that’s radically different that’s new that’s changed and that’s a proof that the gospel is true. What he’s wrestling with is these Galatians are thinking about turning away.

So he’s drawing them back to the fact that God had worked in them and that’s the proof that they don’t need to leave. They don’t need to leave his gospel. There’s nothing new outside of what’s been proclaimed that’s gonna bring them any type of benefit. In fact, it’s gonna be a negative if they turn away and go a different direction.

So it’s, again, part of Paul’s proof. It’s not what they believed. It’s but what they’ve experienced that is powerful for them.

His basic point to the Galatians is you have the spirit. The spirit has been at work in you. There is change that we can all point to and recognize. So, therefore, the gospel that you believed is right. Don’t turn away from it, but the danger is somebody could take that and say, “Oh. I am supposed to do something to make the spirit do his work.”

But Paul wants to set the stage a little bit differently. The spirit is going to do his work because God has given it and the spirit is completing God’s plan for our salvation. Our responsibility is to live in a way that’s yielded to the spirit. That cooperates with the spirit in a way.

So what Paul says is basically you’ve got the spirit. Now you need to participate with him in maturity and in living in a way that pleases the Lord.

So in Verse 13 he kind of rewinds a little bit and talks to the Galatians about the ultimate goal of why they were saved. He says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another.”

His point is is that we’ve got a choice now to make. If the spirit is at work in our lives and we are now free and not bound by sin anymore and automatically doing what sin requires of us, we’ve got a choice to make. Are we going to do what God desires or are we gonna do our natural desires which are only gonna pull us in the wrong direction.

So he gives some admonitions about loving one another. That’s pretty important. We’re gonna talk about that in a little bit about in Verse 14 the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment. Namely, you must love your neighbor as yourself.

Verse 6 is really a nice clue into that because it says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight.” That’s where they were focused. That’s what was causing all the static in Galatia was the debate about circumcision.

Then he says this. “The only thing that matters is faith working through love.” So that’s like your target.

So in Chapter 5 Verse 16 he says, “But I say live by the spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.” Now when I was a young man I always thought of this as the emphasis falling on live. I’m supposed to act and, as I can, get help from the spirit, but the emphasis is really different. It’s live by the spirit.

But then he gets into something that’s a real challenge. Academics like to talk about these vice lists and virtue lists ‘cause they show up in a lot of literature. Well these are some of the best examples within the biblical text.

So he starts off by talking in Verse 19 about the works of the flesh and these are bad stuff. He gives this laundry list, sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, et cetera, and similar things. He’s got this catch all in Verse 21 that shows even if I haven’t named it, there’s all kinds of things that fall into this category.

What I mean by that is if you go through this list and you ask how many of these things are relational, how many of these things touch the way I interact with other people. It’s pretty obvious pretty quickly that almost every one of them does.

Verse 21 says, “Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” But here’s where he really hits home. In Verse 22 he says, “But the fruit of the spirit is love.” Now it’s very interesting that the word fruit is singular. The implication is is that this is the one thing that the spirit is going to produce, but it’s multifaceted in character.

The word fruit is also really critical. Just like you said about the image of the gospel being a seed that’s definitely going to produce, this means that if you’ve got the spirit, this will definitely be produced. There will be no doubt. The spirit will produce his fruit in you by producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

It’s interesting and I’m gonna make this over dramatic and a little vivid, but it isn’t that the fruit of the spirit is the Nicene Creed or the Apostle’s Creed or something like that. The fruit of the spirit is expressed. It is demonstrated. It connects with people and engages.

Now what’s really interesting is that’s sort of the theology of the work of the spirit. In Chapter 6 he gets into the particulars and some of these particulars are very powerful.

So Chapter 6, Verse 1. “If a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness. The spirit is gonna produce restoration as we care for one another in the body.”

Carry one another’s burdens, Verse 2.

In Verse 6, “Now the one who receives instruction must share all good things with the one who teaches it.”

The lawyer asks one question. “What must I do to inherit eternal life.” Jesus asks him back, “Well what do you see?” The lawyer says, “Well, love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus says, “Well do this and you will live.”

Unfortunately the guy’s a lawyer so he doesn’t ask one question. He has to follow it up. When he follows it up he makes a mistake ‘cause he asks, “So who’s my neighbor?” The text says he’s trying to justify himself.

So I tell people, “When he’s asking this question he isn’t just asking the questions on the surface. He’s asking another question that’s underneath it.”

The way I like to illustrate it is when my wife says to me, “Honey”, and beware of any sentence that begins with honey, “Are you going to the store?”

Off of that, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. Then he turns around at the end and he says, “Now go be a neighbor.” So I’m not supposed to concern myself with who I’m interacting with. I’m supposed to be a certain kind of person.

We’ve already mentioned Verse 6 about sharing good with those who teach with you. A good diagnostic question a pastor could ask about the work of the spirit in his congregation, is how are they responding to you as the minister. Are they sharing. Are they blessing and benefitting.

So the bulk of this section is just getting the details of life behind this theology of what the spirit is gonna do within the particular individual.

Now this doing good is not amorphous. It’s defined by the good of the spirit. What the spirit is creating in us. What the spirit is prompting us to do.

I love the way he says it in Verse 10. “So then whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people and especially those who belong to the family of faith.”

So it becomes almost a diagnostic question. If my salvation has only been about me, myself and I, the unholy Trinity, then where’s the evidence. The evidence of the spirit is in me working and touching those lives, doing good to those around me in such a way that they see the patience, they see the gentleness, they see the kindness of the spirit that’s being produced in me.

So it becomes in some ways a diagnostic question. Again, it’s not that our confession is not important, but Paul here is not asking what’s your confession because that’s very clear. He established that from the very beginning. The question is what is the spirit producing in your life. What is tangibly the result of the spirit acting and working in your midst. Are you being led by the spirit. If so, you’ll see it. Are you living by the spirit. If so, you’ll see it.

Kinda’ to put a little bow on it, what Paul has done is he’s taken the Galatians not from a doctrine to conviction, but from experience to maturity in a lot of ways. He’s wanting them really to wrestle with the work of the spirit in their lives as the defining sum proof that they are, in fact, part of God’s family.

So that’s the paradigm he’s working with. So he’s using it as an opportunity to help them to go on towards that full maturity in Christ in the Holly Spirit and ultimately to produce these things that create a stronger congregation that show the love of Christ to those around and create an opportunity for the church to really be the church and to show the love of Christ.

So that’s part of what the Lord intended to communicate through Paul is that part of our confirmation that we’re in the family is by the work of the spirit in our lives and the sign of maturity is participating fully with that work.