Freedom In Jesus and the Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5 is about living a life of freedom in Christ and living by the power of the Spirit. 

Jesus set me free; it is up to me to make sure I stay free by avoiding slavery to the law. This means I do not go back to believing and acting as if a set of rules is what will bring me closer to God. 

Jesus brings me as close to God as I can get. Only Jesus.

Galatians 5:1

“Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.”

Galatians 5:4

“For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.”

Grace is the reason I am able to approach a holy God. It is not my self-righteousness—my ability to follow the “rules” and impress God with my obedience. No human has been able to follow ALL the rules ALL the time. Only Jesus followed the law to perfection. That was why He came to earth, to follow the law for us, for me, so I could be free from trying to do something humanly impossible. Jesus was human and divine at the same time, and the Father knew only He could do what humans could not.

How hard that used to be for me to understand.

How hard that used to be for me to accept!

But not anymore. I’m filled with gratitude that Jesus lived and died on my behalf so I could be free from the trying to be perfect.

And some might say “Perfect is hogwash and nobody need even try. Nobody needs anyone else to be perfect for them either and we can each find our own way of living.”

Well, that might suit some, but not me. I believe in God! And the God I believe in, the Creator of heaven and earth, the holy God who lives and loves eternally, requires the highest standard. He requires perfection since He Himself is perfect.

Mind boggling, I know!

How hard that used to be for me to understand.

How hard that used to be for me to accept!

But not anymore. At some point in my life, I put God in His proper place, which is so much higher than any human that I cannot fathom how much greater He is. God is not like people. He does not lie. He does not fail. He does not stumble. He does not lose His temper in unholy anger. He does not cheat or abuse anyone. God is pure love and wisdom and truth all the time.

I cannot fully wrap my head around that because He is so unlike the humans I have lived with and seen with my own eyes, me included. It is hard to grasp.

Still, I believe He Is.

And when I fully believed, I had to logically proceed to the next step of wondering how in the world I could be in relationship with such a lofty being. How?

And that is exactly where Jesus enters the picture.

John 14:6

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

Another version—a combination of translation and paraphrase—the Voice, puts it this way: “I am the path, the truth, and the energy of life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

The energy of life. That is Jesus.

The truth. That is Jesus.

The path. That right there is Jesus.

And I believe it with every fiber of my being.

Why? Because I have tried and tried in my life to follow a set of rules that would make me a “good” person. And it has never worked.

There was a time when I thought I was right all the time. Until I found out I wasn’t. (Wisdom comes with age and the sad truth is sometimes age comes alone. I’m grateful I became wise “enough” to realize my need for someone to save me from trying and failing!)

So Jesus living a perfect life and dying for the sins of the whole world (yes, for ALL the world and ALL the people) is the path that led to me to belief in God.

Jesus came back to life. Rose from the dead. Is living right now in heaven with the Father.

That right there is what completes my faith and gives me freedom from following any law or set of rules in order to reach God.

Jesus reached God for me.

Jesus lived for me.

Jesus died for me.

Jesus rose from the dead and returned to the Father.

For me.

For you. (Believe it or not.)

So where does that belief and freedom lead?

Galatians 5:13

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters [those who believe in Jesus]. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature [which is a condition of every single human in all of history]. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love [not to lord over others or think yourself better than others]. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.”

Isn’t that beautiful?

True freedom comes from Jesus and living in it is meant to be expressed with love.

Let me say that again.

Freedom in Jesus should be expressed by loving others. And, if you look at the verse carefully, loving yourself is a step to loving others.

There was a time when I was involved in a group of brothers and sisters who put following the rules before loving others. Sometimes the love that was displayed wasn’t really love at all but a form of judgment.

The rules, they demonstrated, were what made one holy.

No! That is not what Galatians 5 says at all!

If Jesus set me free to live and love freely, then following the rules ought not to be my focus. It is following Jesus and living by the Spirit that helps me live right (I’ll get to more about living in the Spirit in a minute).

If the rules are my focus and love is not, I become a judge of myself and others. I look to see who is following the rules and who is not.

Let’s, for the sake of ease (and truth), call failure to follow rules “sin.”

There is a shortcut to figuring out who is following God’s rules—doing it right—and who is not (sinning). It is found in God’s word.

1 John 1:8

“If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.”

Romans 3:10

“Here’s what Scripture says: No one is righteous—not even one.”

1 John 1:10

“If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that His word has no place in our hearts.”

So, the short answer is nobody. Not one human has ever been able to follow all the rules all the time, as Jesus did.

Even if we removed God from the equation (which I only do for illustration since I fully believe God exists and sent Jesus and loves me and all of His created beings eternally), it is still logical to say nobody is perfect.

If anyone thinks themselves without one single error in all of their life I suppose I have nothing to say to that one. We each believe what we will. But I’ve not actually met anyone who thinks themselves perfect.

However, I’ve met plenty of people who try to be perfect.

I was one of them for many years. And as I stated before, I was involved with a group of Jesus-believers who emphasized the rules over love. Having broken free from such a self-righteous mindset, I see now how damaging and deceptive it is to put rules above freedom in Jesus.

I suppose it stems from fear. The fear of grievous sins. The fear of displeasing God. The fear of damnation (which is silly since Jesus is a secure place for all who believe).

Fear is what keeps people hyper-focused on rules.

Freedom from the law is what keeps people living in love. 

Don’t get me wrong here. I am not saying rules are not important. Of course they are! We need rules to know right from wrong. We need rules to keep order. And I fully believe society must deal with those who break the rules in a variety of ways. 

If a minor rule is broken (humanly speaking), like jaywalking or rolling through a stop sign, and nobody gets hurt, there might be a ticket and a fine.

If a major rule is broken, like extortion or murder, one will have to pay a much higher price.

But when it comes to God and the human tendency to break rules—sin (which, again, we all do)—then punishment looks much more frightening. God is, of course, able to issue eternal punishment if He chooses. He is able to cause someone to cease to exist if He chooses.

But it is not how God wants to deal with human life. He wants to extend love and that begins with Jesus. (It also ends with Jesus.)

So, the dilemma is this: A holy God created humans. He loves humans. He requires their perfection. (Hey, this isn’t unreasonable since heaven is a perfect place. Who among us wouldn’t want to live in a perfect place, unblemished by the terrible things humans can do?)

Humans are incapable of perfection. God sent Jesus, His perfect Son, to be perfect for us.

I’ll say that again. Jesus is perfect FOR US.

So, the sanest step toward God is to believe in Jesus.

Stop trying and believe.

That is what I did over 30 years ago. But I did not become a person who puts love above rules overnight. No, it has been a long and hard and wonderful and painful and curious process for me to learn to put love above rules.

And I’m still learning.

But here is what I know: God loves me. Jesus is as steady as anything I could hope for. Steadier than anything found in this world.

And He loves me enough to die for me so I can stop trying to have a relationship with God by following rules.

So, if I am unable to follow the rules and Jesus loves me more than rules—enough to follow the rules for me, die for me so I can be free, and let me off the hook for my gross imperfections—how should I live?

Should I do what I want and to hell with the rules?

No. Not even close.

The second half of Galatians tells us exactly how to live. By the Spirit.

When Jesus left earth, the Holy Spirit came to show us how to live. It’s curious to think about how there are two ways to live. By the flesh (this is where I am doing whatever I want and partaking in rule-breaking, a.k.a. sin) or by the Spirit (this is where I am agreeing that God knows better than I).

Living by the Spirit is a place of surrender. It is me saying God’s ways are perfect and mine are not. It is saying I want to live as Jesus did, but I am utterly incapable of it (for more than, say, a few minutes).

Living by the Spirit is asking God to guide me and letting Him place new desires and new life inside of me.

When I believed in Jesus, I asked God to fill me with His Holy Spirit. And He did. I was praying, face down to the ground, and when I opened my eyes, I was looking up toward heaven and washed in a warm sensation of new life.

That, I believe, was the Holy Spirit making me new.

And ever since I’ve lived a life of flesh vs. Spirit. And maybe that sounds unpleasant to some, but it is not. It is a journey of becoming.

It is a path toward more and more freedom.

It is my sinful self being less like my sinful self and more like Jesus.

And I can testify that it is wonderful to get closer to Jesus and know more fully how much God loves me. Because living life according to the Spirit produces so much goodness. The fleshy stuff I used to consider fun is rubbish to me now. And when I step out of line (because yes, I still do), it doesn’t feel like fun or freedom at all. It feels like the pain of the things Jesus died for to set me free.

Feels. Like. Pain.

Sure, there is temporary feel good in doing wrong things. A dopamine hit, perhaps. Why would anyone be tempted to do something wrong if they didn’t think it was going to produce some sort of positive feeling? (I suppose addiction is something that has left the arena of temporary feel good in many cases, but I’m not talking about that.)

At any rate, the “feel good” becomes less and less good as I learn to live for Jesus more and more.

Because I’ve tasted and lived how good it is to be walking in the Spirit and following Jesus—right with God.

It feels better than anything this world has ever offered me.

Galatians 5:16-18

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law…”

In other words, God isn’t asking me to follow a law. He is asking me to let the Holy Spirit guide my life. I don’t need to follow rules to live and love like Jesus. I need to surrender—stop trying—and let the Spirit move me to live and love like Jesus.

I do it.

Or—

The Spirit does it.

For me, it’s a no-brainer. Maybe I’m simply old enough to realize I can’t do it!

Why wouldn’t I want to accept Jesus dying in my place, paying a price for my own sins, coming to life to give me life and a Spirit that will guide me into all of God’s goodness possible in this world (or in spite of it) and then go on to live in a place where there is no more suffering or pain or deep sorrow?

Why?

The sinful nature (which lives inside every single human, believe it or not) is rife with quarreling, jealousy, selfishness, envy, lust, and all sorts of things that cause problems for the people of this world. More than simply problems for people, but these things are the reasons for murder and hatred and divorce and addiction. Who really wants all that?

The Spirit, however, is rich with love and joy and peace and self-control. I love that last one. Spirit-led self-control is a real thing and is unlimited whereas willpower is a real pain in the … you know what!

Who among us has unlimited self-control? (Again, the short answer is nobody.)

I love the last verses of Galatians 5

Galatians 5:24-26

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”

I have nailed my bend toward sin on the cross. Crucified, like Jesus. Crucified, with Jesus. And I strive to live in the Spirit, which is not really striving at all but surrendering.

I give up!

Uncle!

When I was a girl, my brother would sit on me and rub his knuckles on my head until I cried “Uncle!” It wasn’t nice at all, but he thought it funny. I was forced by discomfort to cry “Uncle!”

Then, he would stop.

Sin is the same, I think. It holds me down and causes discomfort. And the Holy Spirit inside me, not sitting on me forcefully like a bullying big brother, waits for my surrender. 

The pain is being caused by my unwillingness to surrender to the Spirit.

The sin is the rub. And my stubborn heart is the bully.

But as I practice this Spirit-walk more and more, I get better at it. And I love it!

And the love produced by the Spirit in me is the Jesus-love this world needs. I need it. You need it (believe it or not) and the entire world needs it.

Because it is not a love that says, “Follow the rules or else…”

It is a love that says, “I followed the rules for you. Now, follow the Spirit and be free. 

As for the last verse in Galatians 5 about not becoming conceited, provoking, or jealous, that is remedied by putting love before rules.

When we follow rules, we use those rules to measure ourselves against others. How am I doing? How are they doing? Gross! Such comparison is ugly and damaging and a death sentence for love.

When we follow the Spirit, love is the natural byproduct.

Again, Galatians 5:1 —

“So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.”

Stay free!