Monday, April 30, 2018
Final frontier
Galatians 5:17
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
A few years ago, I was at a church for an event and offered to assist one of the presenters who was struggling with the technology. Somehow, at the end of the presentation, I got tangled up in the cables and a piece of equipment fell to the ground and was damaged. I hastily offered to pay for its replacement.
The offer to pay for the replacement was, as I said, hasty. It was an event where the organisers had responsibility and should have undertaken to take care of the matter. But, by the time I had taught it through, I had already run my mouth.
Now, this would have been all well and good if it ended there. However, logistics and time got in the way and the payment I offered to make was delayed. After a while, I got a call from the pastor’s wife. She was pretty upset that I hadn’t yet made the payment, even though, by her own admission, the piece of equipment was working and did not necessarily have to be replaced.
The reason I am telling this story is that it had a very bad ending. The pastor’s wife, upset with me that they hadn’t yet received the payment, threatened me that if she did not get the money that day, I would see her other side. I was in shock. I said to her that I would not have expected that she “had another side.” I couldn’t understand how this pastor’s wife could have behaved the way she did that day.
This brings us to the issue being referred to here as the final frontier. The term ‘final frontier’ has been used in several ways. It was used in the opening narration of the Star Trek TV series as a description of outer space. It was used to describe aspects of the scientific exploration of the human brain and artificial intelligence. Initially, it was used to describe a border between two territories or countries, or, before settlement, a place beyond which is wilderness.
Essentially, the final frontier is a place or space to be conquered and tamed. Mankind thinks of that as the vast wilderness or the limitless outer space, but often that place to be conquered is just inside of us. It’s our other side.
The Apostle Paul, in the complex arguments of his letter to the Galatian church, confronts the issue of law and grace and, to explain it, uses the two sons of Abraham, “the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.” Galatians 4:22. By the time he gets to chapter 5, Paul is now applying this doctrinal teaching to the practical issues of daily living for the Christian.
Paul’s reasoning about the children of the bondwoman and the freewoman leads down to the issue of law and grace and living after our fleshly nature or living after the Spirit. There is a conflict going on between the spirit and the flesh. He states in verse 16 that the solution to living right is to Walk in the Spirit. “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16.
We have talked a lot about the warfare we are in, but the final frontier is this internal conflict. Our sinful nature, driven by the enemy, puts us in a warfare with the Spirit that is considerably intense. The point here to note is that, even after our salvation and relationship with Jesus, this war rages on.
The desires and urges of our flesh are at war with the desires the Holy Spirit has for us and this war is constantly played out in our thoughts, speech, and actions. Later down, Paul outlines the evidence of the war, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like;” Galatians 5:19-21.
The Christian should be demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23. However, to not display the fruit of the Spirit is to show that we are not yet winning the war internally. When we don’t win the war on the inside we tend to show our other side.
We are at a place where we know better and desire to do better but often we exhibit tendencies and behaviours that are inconsistent with that which we know and desire. Paul struggled with this himself. He was very open about it in his letter to the Romans saying, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” Romans 7:19. Then going on to say, “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Romans 7:22,23.
This is our final frontier. We can wage war all over the place. We can pray for people to be saved, we can pray for people to be healed, and we can pray for people to be delivered from all kinds of bondage. We can drive out demons and do mighty works but still struggle in the inner war.
Our challenge remains conquering and taming that wilderness of the flesh within. My friend, the pastor’s wife, must conquer her final frontier, but she is not the only person here who has another side.
Think on these things:
- Do you display any of the works of the flesh described in Galatians 5:19-21?
- How evident is the fruit of the Spirit in your life?
- What do you need to do to advance the war within to tame and conquer your final frontier?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would experience victory over the desires of the flesh day by day.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex