Helensvale Baptist Church

The big idea of this series, “Living above the Gap”, is,

“We follow the Lord Jesus together to live above the gap in our lives.”

Many Christians today feel the distance between our behaviours, circumstances and the evil influences around us and our hopes, dreams and expectations of God. The strength of our feelings about this gap can leave us living lives that are defined by it.

How do we ‘live above the gap’ and not be defined by it? The Bible answer to this problem is to point us to the wonder of the Lord Jesus and His gospel of grace. Galatians is a wonderful example of the Bible’s teaching on this point. Traditionally Galatians has been seen, at least since the Reformation, as speaking to the truth of conversion being by grace through faith, not by works. However, the real heart of the book is the ongoing experience of salvation, which, like the moment of conversion, is still rooted in the gospel of God’s grace. The focus of this short series is the wonderful gracious work of God as we follow Him. The Holy Spirit’s call in this series is to change our framework of our struggle to be rooted in His gospel work of helping us live “above the gap” as followers of the Lord Jesus. As Chapter 5:16-18 says living above the gap is a life of freedom, not slavery. Our lives can be characterised by a freedom from offence, judgment, pressure and performance,

“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 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, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.”

Living “above the gap” is living by the Spirit. A deliberate, regular, vital walking of life with the Holy Spirit as the one who keeps prompting us to “ask the Lord Jesus” what to do next. It is living with God in your life, regularly including Him, asking His way, confessing when we stray, and following again. Not so much behind Him, as with Him. This presents a picture of the presumption of the “normal Christian life” of “above the gap” of our circumstances and the pressure, judgment, offence and performance that comes from being defined by them.

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