“I should honor Jesus with my body,” we think, but our flesh counters, “Sure, you could…but there’s a half-gallon of ice cream in the freezer, and Netflix is calling. Let’s not rush into this righteous-living business.”
If you are in Christ, part of you desires his righteousness. A part of us wants to be like Jesus, with the fruit of the Spirit defining our lives; however, another part of us—our flesh—rebels against righteousness. Paul describes this all-too-familiar battle as the flesh waging war against the Spirit (Romans 7:23, Galatians 5:16).
One reason Jesus saved us is so we might become righteous—not merely righteous in Christ positionally, but also righteous in our actions. Christ redeemed us so we may become like him: loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled (Galatians 5:22-23).
How do we become righteous when our flesh fights us at every turn? We must cultivate a lifestyle that the apostle Paul calls walking according to the Spirit.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. – Romans 8:3–4
To walk in accordance with something means to structure your life around whatever that something is—a guiding principle for living. If I walk in accordance with the flesh, I organize my life around what my flesh tells me I need: food, water, shelter, clothing, companionship, and security. While they’re all completely legitimate needs, the flesh seeks to meet them on our own apart from God. Furthermore, the flesh is never satisfied by meeting basic needs; it always goes further. The flesh tells us we need recognition, control, success, beauty, ice cream, Netflix, the newest gadgets, and so on. If those needs and wants are satisfied, says the flesh, then life will be wonderful. The problem is that they are rarely fully satisfied, and even when they are, we find that the flesh always desires more. Walking according to the flesh leads to suffering.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. – Galatians 5:19–21
The alternative to walking in the flesh is walking in the Spirit, which means structuring our lives around one guiding reality—that we have been united with Christ through his Spirit, who now indwells and empowers us (Ephesians 1:13-14). If we walk in the Spirit or shape our lives around who we are in Christ and what he promises to do in and for us, Jesus produces his righteousness within us.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. – Galatians 5:22–25
The Spirit’s fruit depends on whether or not we walk in him. If we don’t walk in the Spirit, there will be no fruit. Conversely, if we walk in the Spirit, we can expect Jesus to produce His righteousness through us.
So how does one walk in the Spirit? Is this walk a literal walk? If it is, where do we step? If it’s a metaphor, what does it represent? What actions should we take? Is there a prayer we are supposed to say, a program, a class, or a baptism we should undergo? Paul does not explicitly tell us. He offers some insight when he says, “Those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5), but he doesn’t go into detail.
It is one thing to hear, “walk in the Spirit,” but it is entirely different to see and learn how to take each step. Starting the Sunday after Easter, we will begin a sermon series titled Keeping In Step With The Spirit to understand how to go about walking according to the Spirit. Mark your calendars and plan to walk alongside the church as we learn to keep in step with the Spirit.
