Spirit's Fruit or Law's Demands (Galatians 5:13-25)

Disciples of Jesus live under a "new covenant" with God, one that is based in freedom and love. In this covenant we are called to use our freedom and love to serve one another in humility. Our service is motivated by our common desire to help one another "keep in step with the Spirit," (Galatians 5:13-18)---not by our desire to make sure we all measure up to the demands of law.

Of course, living under law gets quicker results. In the short term, it even "looks better," which may be important in some instances. If someone speeds through a school zone and risks killing a child by their reckless behavior, the law and its consequences are in place to make them reconsider their actions. The law, any law, gets compliance, not because the individual is disposed to do the right thing but because there are consequences, sometimes quite costly, attached to their violation.

Yet, the quickest way to destroy a church is to start enforcing law, to pick at one another to achieve compliance. The apostle Paul had to warn the churches in Galatia not to "bite and devour one another" or they would be "consumed by one another." Instead, if anyone "is caught in a transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness." (Galatians 6:1) It takes someone who is mature, someone possessed by a spirit of gentleness, to address sin in another person's life. The last person churches needs to send on this mission is a "hall monitor."

If people are not in our assemblies because they want to willingly serve God, if they are not voluntarily trying to escape sin's influence over their lives, no amount of law-enforcement will pressure them into it. We should encourage one another to "keep in step with the Spirit"... and if we aren't sure how to do that without twisting one another's arms then it's probably a job we should leave to someone else.