Being attractive without having to look good

(The following are edited highlights of the message that was preached by Michael Larsen on June 2, 2019.)

In this overview message what I want to do is look at this makeover idea.  I want to talk about the picture of the makeover.  I want to talk about the problem.  And I want to talk about the plan.  All of that is found in one chapter in the New Testament: Galatians 5.  We’re going to take a look at that.

Let’s start by looking at the picture of attraction.  

Galatians 5:22. “When the Holy Spirit controls our lives He will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.  Here there is no conflict with the law.”  

Paul says, What’s really important – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – none of those are going to offend your laws.  Let’s focus on what’s really, really important.

Some of you might be sitting there thinking, “If all of these nine things are available to me free, how come when I look at my life and I do a self-inventory of my life that these fruit of God’s Spirit are absent? How come I’m not producing them in my life?”  

Good question.  It leads us to the PROBLEM.

Galatians 5:17  “The old sinful nature loves to do evil which is just opposite to what the Holy Spirit wants.  The Spirit gives us desires that are opposite to what the sinful nature desires.  These two forces are constantly fighting each other.  And your choices are never free from this conflict.” 

So if you’re not producing the fruit of God’s Spirit there are a couple options.  

First, maybe God’s Spirit isn’t in you.  But if  you have believed and received God’s Spirit then the Scripture says to us that’s there’s a conflict going on.  That many times, especially when we’re left on our own, our tendency is to satisfy our old sinful nature.  It happens every day, all the time throughout the day.  

There are other kinds of fruit that are reflected in our internal ugliness.  They’re what I would call the bitter fruit of the selfish spirit.  Here’s what the Bible has to say.  Galatians 5:19. “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature [I’m not going God’s route.  I’m going my own sinful flesh nature.]  Your lives will produce these evil results. Impure thoughts, sexual immorality, eagerness for lustful pleasure, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties and other kinds of sin.”

That’s why I need an inner makeover.  Thankfully you and I don’t have to live at this problem stage if we don’t want to.  

So let’s move on to the PLAN.

It’s a plan for attraction. Galatians 5:16 “So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit.  Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.  If we’re living now by the Holy Spirit let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”  So there is the plan.  What I want to do now is unpack that plan a little bit.  

Let’s talk about how we help God’s extreme makeover get started.

A – Act as if God has given you these gifts.

Act as if God has given you already these fruit of His Spirit.  Because if you have a relationship with God and He’s filled you with His Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control are available to you.  If what God says is true – this is the fruit of My Spirit – then we can assist the makeover process by acting as if those fruit have been given to us.  

While I’m acting as if God has given me these gifts at the same time I’m acting as if God has given me these gifts I …

 B – Believe that God is the only source for a true makeover.  

Because if I don’t believe that God is the only source for true makeover, all the “A” becomes is an act. It’s just an act.  But if I believe that while I’m taking these action steps, I believe that God is the only true source, that empowers me to keep taking those steps.

Jesus told us that He is the source of a true makeover. John 15:4-5  “Jesus said, ‘Remain in Me and I will remain in you.  For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine.  And you cannot be fruitful apart from Me.  Yes, I am the vine and you are the branches.  Those who remain in Me and I in them will produce much fruit.  For apart from Me you can do nothing.’”  

Jesus the God-man is saying, I am the vine, you are the branches, I am the only source that is going to help you produce this fruit.  

So I’m acting as if God has given me these gifts. All the while believing that God is the only source for a true makeover.  Then ultimately that I would…

C – Choose God’s way at every encounter

This is what it means by living in the Spirit.  Walking in the Spirit.  I’m choosing God’s way at every encounter. 

God says, “I created you to be attractive.  I created you to be spiritually attractive.  I created your inner world to be attractive.  I want to do that.  Let Me do the impossible and you just take the little steps of the possible and let’s do this together.”  

The sermon in a sentence.  God’s plan for an extreme makeover is an inside job – It’s an inner job – and it promises to make you look good.