Recently, in the spring, there
was an exhibition of photographs and paintings of well known Scottish writers
and celebrities – I think it was in the gallery in
Scottish Portraits
? Images of
Well, the organisers of the
exhibition chose to call it Divided Selves…. why ?
Because many people have said
that’s what the Scottish character is like - passionate but dour, courageous
but fearful, enterprising but thirled to tradition, sometimes sunny in mood,
other times not such good company, sometimes confident, other times less self
assured.
It is a fact that one of the
most widely read books of the 1960s, called ‘The Divided Self’ was written by a
Scottish psychiatrist. ‘Divided Selves.’
Is this what Paul is speaking about here in Galatians ?
At first sight, if we turn to
Galatians 5, this is what we might think Paul is talking about. For yes, here he is speaking on the one hand about
our human nature, and on the other the riches of the life
of the Spirit. At first it looks as if
Paul is talking about two sides to our character. Our ‘divided selves’ - that
we are, on the one hand, men and women subject to the passions, and the drives
of human life, of human nature, but with a ‘spiritual side’ on the other. A bit
like, in those Tom and Jerry cartoons, the way a little devil appears on one
side of Tom’s shoulder and an angel on the other. One says – go ahead do it ! the other says No, don’t do
it……
But what the New Testament is
speaking about here is something else……
What ?
Well, first of all, the conflict of Christian life,
that
Christian life, a life following Jesus is often one of conflict…..
Paul writes:
17
For the sinful nature
desires what is contrary to the
Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful
nature. They are in conflict with each other….
and
it is as well to be reminded of this, to be reminded that
as believers, we sometimes are only too aware of conflicting choices – which path to take, which decision to make, what words to say, what things to do……
Looking back we can see only
too clearly
that
our life is one of going on forward, but falling back,
sometimes
succeeding sometimes failing,
so
yes, there is conflict in Christian life.
But we are not simply pulled back and forth our life long through……!
If we read the whole of
Galatians
we
find that the Word declares this - that we are sinful men and women, weighed
down by the darker sides of our human nature and its forces. But throughout our
lives, through it all, the life of Jesus is at work within us,
that
the Spirit of the living Jesus Christ is at work within us to bring us
life, renewing us and the very deepest
root of our lives.
This is why Paul writes to the Galatians – a people known for their quick temper, their rough, impulsive, impetuous way of life…..
19
What human nature does
is quite plain. People become
enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and
ambitious. They separate into parties and groups;
21
they are envious, get
drunk, ……. and do other
things like these. I warn you now as I have before: those
who do these things will not possess the
And really Paul’s question in
chapter 5 is this:
How are we to live as Christian men and women ?
What are the marks of your character and mine to be ?
Wherever we
live out our lives, in whatever background or context.
What are the marks of your character and mine to be ?
that’s
Paul’s question:
and a
deep question it is too – to us,
as
life unfolds – with its twists and turns, its bruising and battering,
What will the marks of your
character and mine be ?
Will we be embittered
? unforgiving ? resigned ?
stoic ?
Well - Paul’s message to the
Church in
the Spirit of the living Jesus Christ is at work within us to bring us
life.
and
this is the very purpose, the plan of our loving Father in heaven…..
Paul speaks of the fruit of
the Spirit as that fruit develops and ripens in life
when he
says…..
22 ….the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23
gentleness and
self-control.
Now, if you look at the
gospels you will see
Jesus, living this life
living
to God, living for others,
in
gentleness, living always in the Spirit.
The only person who has ever
lived this way is Jesus Himself.
But – here is the glorious
wonder,
He has done this for us.
This was all along the
Father’s loving purpose for us………
for
as Paul says in Galatians 4.20
“now
God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts”
Jesus Christ pours upon us the
Spirit as a gift – and the Spirit’s work is to bring to us, the life of Jesus. So that we share the life of Jesus Christ each one of us as
believers. Because the life of
Jesus is at work in us by the Spirit we are no longer dominated by, steered by
our sinful nature. There is another source of life at work in us, the life of
Jesus Christ himself.
And He shares with us the fruit of the Spirit !
22
But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23
gentleness and
self-control.
So, though often thrown back
in life, often all too conscious of our own failure, our own weakness, the sinfulness that distorts all that our life might have been,
we know where our strength lies….!
we
know where the source of life is – it is in Jesus Christ…..
If we look only at ourselves
how ready we are to despair at our own emptiness, our dryness, our lack of
understanding, our sinfulness,
But to look to Jesus Christ
is to
know that life is at work, His life is at work within us,
and
to know the fruits of the Spirit, His Spirit, and
22 ……the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23
gentleness and
self-control.
AMEN.