Hey my friends, it's Matt. This is the 10-minute Bible hour podcast. And a couple of days ago, I started running with this way overused movie illustration from the Star Wars movie Rogue One, where you got this sort of space samurai character who he mystically he's always trying to deeply connect with the force, which you know in this sci-fi universe is I don't know, it's sort of uh well, this entity that runs through everything that is a marker of truth and reality. And in doing so, he somehow, in in one particular scene, is able to march out into this incredibly perilous, difficult situation, not by the power of his own skill or talent. He's blind in the movie, but depending on the force and walking in the power of the force. Obviously, it's pagan and everything, I get it, but it's uh an overused, but I think somewhat useful illustration for what we're talking about as we continue to try to make sense of Paul's constructive proposal in Galatians, which is that the life we now live in the body, that we are living by the spirit and not by the flesh is the way forward. This is either such a complicated idea that it's very challenging for somebody like me, or it's such a simple idea that it's hard to believe that it's that obvious and that easy. And we've been grinding through all of that the last few days, and we'll wrap up that part of the conversation today, right after my buddy Jeffrey Foote plays some music and we get after it. All right, here we go. In Matthew 10, Jesus sends out the disciples. They are not polished, they don't understand everything about theology or whatnot, but he just tells them go out. Don't take a bag for the journey or an extra tunic or sandals or a staff. Just go to these villages, find somebody who's a person of peace or a worthy person to stay there until you leave. Keep your peace on that house and go out with the following message: the kingdom of heaven is near. That's it. And then Jesus, over the course of Matthew 10, he gets into all of this stuff about there are gonna be people who are gonna hate you because of me. And he goes on to say, Don't be afraid of them, because there's nothing that's concealed that won't be disclosed or hidden that won't be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight. What's whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Don't be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. He tells them in Matthew 10, you're gonna get arrested, you're gonna get flogged, you're going out into this perilous battlefield. I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves. But Jesus says, when that happens, when you get arrested, don't worry about what you're gonna say or how to say it at that time, you'll be given what to say, for you won't be speaking, but the spirit of your father speaking through you. You know, all the way back in the first season of this podcast, when you and I were talking about Matthew and we got to Matthew 10, we were talking about how this speech of Jesus has multiple epochs in view, right? Part of what he's telling them about is hey, here's what it's gonna be when you go out right now on this little trip here early on in my public ministry. Then he shifts gears into a wider view. Here's what it's gonna be like when you go out later, after you're more equipped. And then he shifts into this very long view. Here's what it's gonna be like when future disciples go out, when Christians go out later on down the road. This is how the whole thing is gonna play out. Well, when you and I were looking at that back in our season in Matthew, all we could really have in view was this moment in the context in Matthew, early on in their ministry. Well, now we're well into the age of the church, and we're thinking about where we fit into it. And so, because of that, the latter two-thirds of Matthew are coming into view. And what is it that Jesus says there in Matthew about our situation? The situation about for anybody who goes out to do kingdom things and to obey God and to be a son, a daughter, an agent, an heir, an ambassador of the kingdom, what does he say is going to happen? He says, All right, it's tough out there, it's perilous. There are laser bolts and blasters and enemy fighters and all of this stuff. I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves. He also says, therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. I think there's a little bit of a nod there to this life by the Spirit. And if we were to think that that's only a nod that Jesus is giving in that turn of a phrase, that commissioning there in Matthew 10, 16, then he goes on to say the thing right after that about when they arrest you, don't worry about what to say or how to say it, for it won't be you speaking, but the spirit of your father speaking through you. He explicitly spells out this concept of life by the spirit as you wade out onto this perilous battlefield that you have no chance of navigating by your own will and your own decision making and the powers of your own body which fail and flag because of injury and disease and age and the basic limits of the human physicality, and eventually the flesh fails altogether. But life by the spirit is different. Life by the spirit enables us in this finite body, in our finite flesh, to be a part of things that are grand and redemptive, the things of the kingdom, the things of God. That's pretty open-ended, and that's pretty exciting. And that's the promise and characterization of things that Jesus gave to the original disciples in the moment, to the original disciples when they would really be pressed, when Jesus was ascended to the right hand of the Father, and they had to take this out into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth on their own. And it's the characterization and the promise that is for us. And Paul is relaying a bunch of that same stuff right here. So I say live by the spirit, and you won't gratify the desires of the flesh or of the sinful nature. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh, they're in conflict with each other, so you don't do what you want. But if you're led by the spirit, you're not under the law. It's okay if this feels hard and like it isn't crystal clear on what five things you are supposed to do to make it so that everything works perfectly. This is more of a be question than a do question. Be in the spirit versus do things that look Christian. In most religions, the do is the whole thing, and out of the do flows the be but in Christ, the being is the place where it starts. The be is first, and the do cannot help but flow out of that. And in just a minute, here at the end of Galatians 5, Paul is famously going to talk about something called the fruit of the Spirit. How does fruit happen? Well, if it's rooted in the source of its energy and its nourishment, it kind of can't help but grow. And that's where the conversation is going next. Thanks for letting me take a bunch of time to unpack this. This unpacking isn't just for your benefit, by the way. But you might get the impression sometimes that because it's media and I'm talking into a microphone, you know, sometimes that just scrambles our senses, and we imagine that if anyone is doing that, well, clearly they've already solved all the things and they're just reporting back to me all of the things that we've solved. But that is not the case with the Bible. I didn't write this document. I don't understand everything about it. I am legitimately working on this with you, and I'm legitimately trying to live a Christian life. I'm legitimately trying to walk by the Spirit and understand what that means. I'm a Christian. I want to understand this. I want to be who I am in Christ. And if if this is what the Christian life is, then dang it, I want it. If some of you are looking at this and you're like, eh, we kind of lingered for like two weeks on this one idea. Well, uh that's a product of me really caring about it and me reflecting on it every single day and reading this again and again and again and again and again and working it through for my own benefit. So forgive me for, you know, to whatever degree that's selfish. I know there are probably a lot of you who are like, yeah, I get it after one day, but this podcast is a product of my curiosity in many ways. And this was an important one to me, and I I really wanted to work it through. So now we're ready to pivot on to a contrast that Paul's gonna make between stuff that is a product of the flesh and stuff that is a product of the spirit, indicators in the life of a person as to whether you are walking by the spirit, walking in the spirit, or otherwise. And that's gonna be dynamic because we're gonna get to look at some uh fascinating words for pretty screwed up behavior over the next few conversations. It should be lovely. All right, that's plenty for now. I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. Let's do this again soon.