Sunday message · Who Wins? series
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Message Summary
After a week of questions about who will win as a result of our votes, Pastor Phillip Santillan opens the Who Wins? series with Galatians 5 and a more important question: who wins as a result of the decisions of our everyday rhythms, especially in our time, relationships and resources? He hopes followers of Jesus will not be swept into the current wave of moralism that treats saying Jesus is still on the throne as a cop-out.
This week’s question is who wins when Jesus defines our love, or rather, who wins when anything other than Jesus defines it. Phil frames it with Ephesians 6:12: our fight is not against flesh and blood but against evil powers in the unseen world. Jesus has already won the war, but it still rages.
The Galatians were split between two extreme camps: one turned freedom in Christ into legalism, the other into permission to live however felt most authentic. Paul answers both: do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love, because the whole law is fulfilled in loving your neighbor as yourself, and if you bite and devour one another, you will be consumed (Galatians 5:13–15). Loving others is how we demonstrate our love for God. Phil notes that the idea of loving God, apart from actually being a lover of God, has led to the Crusades and witch hunts, and can even lead to cancel culture and public shaming among believers. Jesus told his disciples that loving each other as he loved them would prove to the world they were his (John 13:34–35).
Paul then urges believers to walk by the Spirit rather than the flesh (verse 16). Phil says there is a difference between the direction of our lives and our good intentions. The works of the flesh include outbursts of anger, dissensions and factions; the fruit of the Spirit includes love, joy, peace, patience and self-control. The proof of our love is not our rhetoric or ideology but our spiritual fruit. Phil sees Christians canceling one another as the greatest danger facing the church in the coming years. Jesus did not die to solve secondary problems, however important, but because we are sinners who need a Savior. And loving others includes brothers and sisters in Christ we disagree with politically.
He closes with three truths about spiritual fruit. Our root determines our fruit, so stay connected to Jesus. Fruit grows slowly and is usually noticed only in hindsight, like a child’s growth in old photos. And fruit comes from connection, not effort: a branch cannot bear fruit unless it remains in the vine, and we remain in Jesus’ love by obeying his commands (John 15). Phil says he wept this week over Jesus’ promise of joy, grieving the division and animosity between people. When anything but the love of Jesus defines our love, the evil one wins. Yet God will build his church, and Phil asks whether we will join that move of God or watch it in passing.
Questions about Galatians 5
It means Christian freedom is for serving others, not for indulging ourselves: “do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13). The Galatians had split into two camps, one turning freedom into legalism and the other into permission to live however felt most authentic. Paul answers both, and Pastor Phil adds that loving others is how we show our love for God.
It means letting the Holy Spirit set the direction of your life, so that you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). Pastor Phil notes there is a difference between the direction of our lives and our good intentions. The test is not rhetoric or ideology but fruit: love, joy, peace, patience and self-control rather than outbursts of anger, dissension and factions (5:19–23).
Paul calls them “the acts of the flesh” and lists them in Galatians 5:19–21: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions and envy; drunkenness and orgies. Pastor Phil points to the ones churches easily excuse, outbursts of anger, dissensions and factions, and he sees Christians canceling one another as the greatest danger facing the church.
It is Paul’s warning that a church at war with itself will destroy itself: “if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another” (Galatians 5:15). Pastor Phil applies it to public shaming and cancel culture among believers, including fellow Christians we disagree with politically. Jesus said our love for one another would show the world we are his (John 13:34–35).