Keep in Step with the Spirit
Galatians 5:25-26; Remsen Bible Fellowship, 10/18/2020; LBC Evening Service, 10/18/2020
Introduction:
We’ve all heard that tired cliche, “life is a journey.” You’ve probably used it at some point,
perhaps you still do. If you’re like me and annoyed by it, that’s probably just because you’ve
heard it used so many times that it feels as if that metaphor has lost its meaning by overuse.
But the fact of the matter is this: life is a journey. But not some aimless wandering along,
journey for the sake of journey, eventually winding up somewhere “but wasn’t it the ride that
mattered anyway?”, type of journey. As we move through this life, we are all going somewhere.
Jesus, in Matthew 7:13-14, describes two types of roads, Enter by the narrow gate. For the
gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are
many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are
few.
One road is easy, but the destination is destruction. One road is hard, but the goal is eternal
glory. Which road are you on?
In Galatians 5:25-26 today, Paul is going to use a metaphor which is related to one he uses
earlier in the chapter, back in 5:16. In 5:16 he tells the Galatian Christians that one way to think
of moving along that hard road to life is to walk by the Spirit. He then goes on to unfold what
that walk looks like, and concludes his section with these words, If we live by the Spirit, let us
also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying
one another.
As we look at these words this morning we’re going to break our study into three sections: first,
we will overview 4 characteristics of the Spirit Led Walk. Second, we will consider 3 tools for
Keeping in Step with the Spirit. Finally, we will meditate on a landmine which lies along this
path.
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What is the Spirit Led Walk?
Before we answer this question, why use the phrase Spirit Led Walk, rather than Spirit led life?
The answer is of course in the text. Paul tells us to walk by the Spirit in v16, to be led by the
Spirit in v18, and to keep in step with the Spirit in v25. Now, it’s obvious from the first part of
verse 25, as well as just by looking at the paragraph as a whole that walking is a metaphor for
living. So why keep the metaphor instead of getting to the meaning underneath?
One thing we have to realize as we read the Bible is that the literal truth is often communicated
in metaphorical or other forms of poetic language. We recognize this in the Psalms of course,
perhaps Song of Solomon and Job if we ponder for a moment. But even here, in Paul’s
logic-packed, argumentation heavy letter to the Galatian churches, we find him using a
metaphor to communicate what living as a Christian is like. And he does so intentionally, and
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He wants us to meditate on how living as a believer is
like walking with someone.
There seems to be a sense in which Adam and Eve had a literal experience of walking with the
Lord (Genesis 3). But as soon as that is removed due to sin, the experience of knowing God
personally and living life in a way that honors him is characterized as walking with God. Enoch
walked with God 300 years (Genesis 5:22-24), and Noah is said to have walked with God
(Genesis 6:9). And Micah 6:8 famously asks, what does the LORD require of you but to do
justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? This idea of a walk is God’s idea.
We don’t need to get underneath the metaphor to find out what it “really” means-we need to
chew on this concept and let it shape how we think of the Christian life. So-what is the Spirit
Led Walk?
-The Spirit Led Walk is the walk of faith. Life through faith in Christ, Salvation being
available apart from the law-this is the great theme of Galatians. And walking by the
Spirit is only possible for those who have first trusted Jesus for their everything.
Galatians 3:2, Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law
or by hearing with faith? Paul’s rhetorical point is clear: nobody ever earned this gift of
the Spirit. Those who receive Salvation through Christ by faith are given this greatest of
all gifts, the very gift he promised to his disciples in the upper room (John 16:7): another
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comforter, advocate, helper, a paraclete. The Holy Spirit comes and indwells, he seals
those who by faith trust in Jesus. Continuing on in Galatians 3 we read, in verses 13-14,
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is
written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”--so that in Christ Jesus the
blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised
Spirit through faith. Jesus died for you, he took your sins, that if you trust in him you
would receive the gift of his Holy Spirit. So there is no walking by the Spirit, no being led
by the Spirit, apart from trusting in Jesus, the one who gives the Spirit.
-The Spirit Led Walk is freedom. We see this in v18, But if you are led by the Spirit,
you are not under the law. The Christian life is not bound by law-but more than this, an
even more glorious, we are no longer bound by sin! We are going to see this in the next
couple of points, but I want to point out a verse in Romans as well. Romans 8:2 says,
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and
death. We often think of freedom as the freedom to do whatever we want, without
restraint. But the freedom that comes from walking by the power of the Spirit, of
following where he leads, is that we are no longer bound by the sinful desires that once
ruled us. We have been set free to follow Jesus. Which brings us to our next point.
-The Spirit Led Walk is a fight. The ruins the nice peaceful imagery of our walk, doesn’t
it? Should walking through life being led by God’s Holy Spirit be this tranquil
experience, a lovely stroll through a rose garden? Instead what we find--both in
Scripture and our own experience--is something more akin to following Gandalf through
the mines of Moria. Sea Monsters behind, Goblins all around, a Balrog waiting in the
depths.
And this throws a lot of believers for a loop. Why do I still struggle with sin? Well, it’s
clear from Galatians 5:16 that our flesh still has desires that want gratified. Becoming a
Christian doesn’t mean the disappearance of the flesh, but because we are now free to
say no, it means the fight is on. Note the combative language in v17, against, against,
opposed. The apostle Peter speaks of the battle in 1 Peter 2:11, where he says, Beloved, I
urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage
war against your soul.
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Fighting against sin is an indication that I am being led by the Spirit. If you are living a
life which contains no battle against the flesh, walking a walk with no fighting, let me
quote the puritan John Owen, Be killing sin, or it will be killing you. Or to use Paul’s
words from v24, And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its
passions and desires.
-The Spirit Led Walk bears fruit. Of course the most famous verses in Galatians 5 are
the fruit of the Spirit in v22-23. When you look at this list, does it feel familiar to your
life? But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. While we’ve
already established that there is a war within the believer, the plain reality of what Paul
writes here, especially on the heels of his list of works of the flesh, is that the longer we
are led by the Spirit, the more our lives will be characterized by the tendencies, these
virtues. The more Holy Spirit fertilizer gets worked into the soil at the root of our vine,
the more these lovely and beautiful fruit will be the result.
So those are the things that characterize the Spirit Led Walk. It’s a walk of faith, of freedom, of
fighting, and of fruit. But If that’s what it looks like, how can we make sure that we’re sticking
close to him? How can we be sure to keep in step with the Spirit?
How to Keep in Step with the Spirit
This is of course, the burden of v25. If you live by him, keep in step with him! Your translation
might again use the word walk in this verse, but it is a different Greek verb than is used in v16.
The idea of the word in this verse, stoicheō, is not only to walk but to do so in a certain fashion,
following a pattern, or a particular order. Thus the ESV’s, keep in step. I just want to offer three
simple ways to keep in step with the Holy Spirit. This won’t be anything earth shattering or
new for someone who has been walking with God for a long time, but to quote Paul from
Philippians 3:1, To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. So,
here are our practical steps:
-To keep in step with the Spirit, we must feed on his Word. Have you ever noticed when
you are walking with someone that it is much easier to hold a conversation when you are
walking side-by-side? If you’re out walking with someone and begin to lag behind, if
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they begin talking to you that will motivate you to catch up and match your pace to
theirs. So with God’s word. He is speaking here. And if we come with open ears and
submissive hearts, he will be glad to speak. Do you take a walk in his word every day?
Do you come to church expecting to hear a word from the living God? Do you believe
that he speaks through every word, every thought, every metaphor, every story, every
dot and stroke written herein? The Spirit will take this word, the word he inspired, and
will work it down into the corners and crevices of our lives--the bone and the marrow,
we might say--shaping and conforming us to the image of Christ.
-Just a practical question-do you ever go for a literal walk and meditate on God’s word? I
don’t have a verse telling you to do so. But I would encourage you, on one of these fall
days, to pick a verse, and walk around for five or ten or fifteen minutes and think about
it. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way
of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and
on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2). To keep in step with the Spirit, we
need to know the cadence of our walk. And that cadence is laid out in the Word of God.
-To keep in step with the Spirit, we must fellowship with his people. In a parallel
passage to this, over in Ephesians 5:18-21, we read the following, And do not get drunk
with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord in
your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. There the
analogy for having a Spirit-guided life shifts from keeping in step to being filled. But
notice how it works itself out: addressing one another. Submitting to one another. It’s
not an original thought, but the Christian life simply can’t be lived in a bubble. We must
be in community with other believers. How better to experience walking with the Spirit
than to be walking with other people who have the same Spirit of God living inside of
them?
-Hebrews 3:12-13, Take care brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving
heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day,
as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of
sin. How does the author to the Hebrews think that we will be prevented from sliding
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into hardened evil and unbelief (which is surely a work of the Spirit)? Through the
instrument of meeting regularly with brothers and sisters in Christ who will exhort us!
One of the primary safeguards for Christ’s sheep is to stay with the flock. We keep in
step with the Spirit by walking with other believers who are seeking to do the same.
-To keep in step with the Spirit, we must fall wholly upon him. To be totally honest, the
word depend or rely would probably be better. But I wanted to keep the alliteration.
What do I mean by fall wholly on him? Simply this: we must realize that all we do to
keep in step with the Spirit, every fruit we produce or fight with the flesh undertaken in
our walk with him, is something which we don’t have the power for on our own. Every
bit of it is coming from him. 1 Corinthians 15:10, I worked harder than any of them,
though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. And Philippians 2:12-13,
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence
but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Every
work, every fruit, every step of the walk is wholly dependent upon the grace of God
poured out because of Christ through the Spirit. As we seek to keep in step with the
Spirit we must constantly cry “help!” Because he is the One with the power.
A Potential Landmine
Having covered all of that ground, v26 can almost feel jarring. Let us not become conceited,
provoking one another, envying one another. Why bring up this topic of conceit right now?
Well, notice what comes right before v16 (where we first saw Paul use “walk by the Spirit”
language): v13-16, For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as
an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled
in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one
another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. So there must be a connection
between walking in the Spirit’s power, keeping step with Him, and the unity of the church.
Have you ever thought about the church as the temple of the Holy Spirit? Many of us will be
familiar with that language in reference to the individual Christian in 1 Corinthians 6:19, where
Paul uses that fact to argue against sexual immorality. But earlier in the same book, 1
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Corinthians 3:16-17, we read these words: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and
that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For
God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. Now it’s important to note that in both of those
verses the word “you” is plural in the Greek. Which is to say, he is speaking of the entire church
as a body, a temple, indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. The early chapters of 1 Corinthians are
largely dealing with divisions in the church, and the apostle here tells the believers that they
need to realize what they are doing when they cause splits in the church: they are attempting to
set fire to God’s dwelling place, and he will not treat that lightly.
To take that back to Galatians, I think what we see is this: we can strive for all the personal
holiness, and try super duper hard to walk by the Spirit, and that’s great. It’s imperative, even.
But if in all of our doing we become consumed with our own pride, our own conceit; if we start
provoking others so that they see how awesome we are and turn green with envy, or we in turn
are envious of them, then we must look out. We’re setting fire to the very thing we’re seeking to
build. To become proud because of your walk with the Spirit would be like going for a walk and
then pulling out a pocket knife to start cutting your foot off. It’s counter-productive, it’s
wrongheaded. Notice in v20-21, that enmity, strife, jealousy, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
envy-these are all listed as works of the flesh alongside sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
sorcery, etc. Paul wants us to be careful not to turn our walk with the Spirit into yet another
attempt to proudly earn our own awesomeness. In the words of Martin Luther, we are beggars,
this is true.
Conclusion
As we conclude, I just want to remind you how amazing this all is. The God of the Universe, the
Lord of Angel Armies, wants to walk with you. If you are hoping in Christ alone for your
salvation, he sends his Holy Spirit, the third Divine person of the Trinity, to reside with you
and to walk with you. To keep in step with him is not a burden-it is a blessing. The road he
leads us on may be hard, but it is strewn with flowers of joy, and at the end of the road the Lord
has commanded his blessing: life forevermore.