Freedom Over Rules: Living by the Spirit

To live by the Holy Spirit is not about following more rules—it’s about freedom shaped by grace. This week at The Journey, we explored Galatians 5 and how Jesus invites us to release rule-based faith and learn a Spirit-led way of living.

This Week’s Sermon: What Are the Rules of Life?

Key Takeaways

• We all create “fence rules” to feel safe or right—but they can replace grace with judgment.
• Paul warns that trying to be “justified” by rules leads to a new kind of slavery and an “us vs. them” posture.
• Christian freedom isn’t “do whatever you want”—it’s learning to live led by the Holy Spirit.
• The real contrast isn’t “my rules vs. your rules,” but flesh vs. Spirit—self-centered living vs. Spirit-shaped character.
• The goal is visible fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—“against such things there is no law.”

Sermon Highlights: The Rules We Live By

Most of us are rule-followers… even if we don’t think we are. Put us in a new job, a new relationship, a new community—even a new hobby—and we start asking: What are the rules here? What’s expected? What’s allowed? What counts as “doing it right”?

And the tricky part is: the same rule can mean totally different things to different people. “I’ll see you at 7:00” can mean “arrive at 6:45,” “arrive at 7:00,” or “7:20 is basically the same thing.” We all live with unspoken rules—and we often assume our version is the correct one.

This week at The Journey in Westminster, we started a new series by talking about rules, grace, and the freedom Jesus offers. Because when it comes to faith, the stakes feel higher—and the confusion can get louder: What does it mean to live like a Christian? Which rules matter most? And what do we do when people disagree?

The Big Idea of This Week’s Teaching

The heart of the message was simple and freeing: Jesus didn’t set us free so we’d just find a new set of rules to obsess over. Jesus set us free for freedom—so we can live by grace, led by the Holy Spirit.

Rules can be good. Standards can be good. The problem is what happens when rules become our identity, our measuring stick, and our way of judging ourselves—and everyone else. That’s when “faith” can quietly shift into something else: fear, self-righteousness, and “us vs. them.”

Paul’s invitation in Galatians 5 is not to throw out morality, but to stop being enslaved by rule-keeping as the way we prove we’re okay. Instead, we learn to walk with God’s Spirit—so our lives become shaped from the inside out.

Key Scriptures

• Exodus 20 (The Ten Commandments) — The pastor pointed out that the commandments are good “codes of community,” but people often add “fence rules” around them that become the real rule—and a new basis for judgment.
• Galatians 5:1 — “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” This anchored the message: grace frees us from being yoked to rule-based righteousness.
• Galatians 5:4–6 (themes in the passage) — Paul warns that trying to be “justified by the law” alienates us from Christ and moves us away from grace—not because God stops loving us, but because we lose our way.
• Galatians 5:13–18 — Freedom isn’t permission to indulge selfishness; it’s an invitation to be led by the Spirit rather than controlled by the flesh.
• Galatians 5:19–23 — The contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit shows what life looks like when we’re driven by self vs. shaped by God.

1. The “Fence Rule” Problem: When Extra Rules Replace the Point

One of the most relatable parts of the teaching was how easily we create rules around rules. Sometimes we do it because we want clarity. Sometimes we do it because we want control. Sometimes we do it because we’re anxious—and extra rules help us feel safe.

The pastor gave a modern example: “Don’t drink and drive” is a good rule. But someone might add a fence rule: “Don’t drink if you might drive.” Then another fence rule: “Don’t drink at all.” Eventually the fences become the focus—and the original purpose gets lost.

This same thing happened historically around the Sabbath command. “Do no work” became “don’t carry objects,” which became “don’t lift anything heavier than a dried fig.” The point wasn’t rest anymore—it was rule management.

“Jesus didn’t set you free so you could obsess over the rules—He set you free for freedom.”

And here’s where it gets personal: we may not write our fence rules down, but we still live by them. We build expectations for ourselves—and for others—and then we silently grade people based on standards God never actually assigned us to police.

2. The Trap of “Being Right”: When Righteousness Turns into Self-Righteousness

Paul uses strong language in Galatians 5 because he’s naming a real danger: when we try to be “justified” by rules, we end up yoked to a new kind of slavery. We start believing, If I follow the right rules, I’m right. If you don’t, you’re wrong.

That’s where “us vs. them” takes root. We may call it theology, conviction, values, or “being biblical,” but the posture underneath can become self-righteousness: Look how right I am.

The pastor offered a humble and needed reminder: all of us are wrong about some things—even things we feel confident about. It’s okay to not be perfect. It’s okay to be learning. And it’s okay to let other people be learning too.

Paul’s warning isn’t meant to scare us into shame. It’s meant to wake us up: when rule-keeping becomes the center, we lose power and effectiveness. We stop living with grace. We can still look “religious,” but we become less like Jesus in the process.

3. Freedom Isn’t “Anything Goes”: It’s Spirit-Led Living

A big misconception Paul addresses is this: if we’re saved by grace, does that mean we can do whatever we want?

Paul’s answer is no—not because God wants to control us, but because selfish living always leads to breakdown. It fractures relationships. It feeds addiction. It fuels resentment. It creates conflict. It leaves us restless and unhappy.

So Paul reframes the entire battle. It’s not “my rules vs. your rules.” It’s flesh vs. Spirit. Not “me vs. them,” but what’s happening inside me: am I being led by God, or led by my impulses, ego, and appetites?

And the pastor took time to explain the Holy Spirit in a simple way: God is not far away. In Jesus, God came near—“Emmanuel, God with us.” And through the Holy Spirit, God is not only with us, but in us. If you’re a follower of Christ, you’re never navigating life alone. You can ask for wisdom. You can ask for help. You can ask God to reshape your character from the inside.

4. What It Means to Live by the Holy Spirit

Paul’s list of the “acts of the flesh” is long—and honestly, it’s sobering. But the pastor pointed out something important: Paul isn’t just handing us a new rule list. These lists vary from letter to letter because they’re diagnostic, not performative. They reveal what kind of life we’re living.

Then comes the hopeful contrast: the fruit of the Spirit.
Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-control.

“When the Spirit shapes your life, the fruit becomes obvious—and against such things there is no law.”

This is what grace produces when it’s actually shaping us. Not perfection, but transformation. Not an “image,” but fruit—visible, tangible, recognizable.

And Paul ends with a stunning line: “Against such things there is no law.”
In other words, when the Spirit is forming your life, you don’t need a fence. You don’t need to build an “us vs. them” identity. You’re not trying to prove you’re right—you’re learning how to live like Jesus.

Practicing This Week: Walking with the Holy Spirit in Everyday Life

Here are a few ways to respond this week, rooted in what the pastor invited us to do:

1. Ask for freedom in prayer.
   Take a few quiet minutes and pray honestly: “Holy Spirit, where do I need freedom right now?”
2. Notice your “fence rules.”
   Where have extra rules become your measuring stick—either for yourself or for others? Ask: Is this leading me toward grace… or toward judgment?
3. Pick one fruit of the spirit to practice on purpose.
   Choose one: patience, kindness, self-control, gentleness, etc. Ask God for help, then look for one real-life moment to practice it.
4. Trade “us vs. them” thoughts for a Spirit-check.
   When you feel judgment rising, pause and ask: What would it look like to respond with grace? What might the Spirit be forming in me right now?
5. Make one “kindness in action” move.
   Send the text. Offer the help. Give the encouragement. Do something concrete that looks like love.

Questions for Reflection

1. Where in your life do you feel most tempted to turn faith into rules—either for yourself or for other people?
2. What “fence rules” have you absorbed over the years that may not actually be the heart of Jesus?
3. When you feel the pull of “us vs. them,” what’s usually underneath it—fear, insecurity, anger, past hurt?
4. Which fruit of the Spirit do you most want others to experience when they’re around you right now? Why?
5. What is one area where you want to ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom and change this week?

When we live by the Holy Spirit, our lives slowly shift from rule-keeping to grace-filled freedom, and the fruit becomes visible over time. The hope of this message isn’t that we’ll finally follow the rules perfectly. The hope is Jesus—who meets us with grace, even when we’re confused, stuck, or wrong. And as we learn to walk with the Holy Spirit, we don’t have to carry the burden of proving we’re “right.” We get to live free—together—growing into a life that looks more and more like love.