Good morning
everyone.
Today I would like
to conclude going through the book of Galatians with a study of Chapter 6. I have a couple of spin off sermons in mind which
pick up on bits we have skipped over but they will keep for now. Last time we went through Chapter 5 and the freedom
we have in Christ, but saw that with freedom comes responsibility. We can do what we want, but if we are walking
in the Spirit we no longer want to sin.
We saw that love fulfills the law, so whilst we are no longer slaves of the
law, Christ replaced it with a covenant of love, so we love God and our
neighbour and in so doing we fulfil the law anyhow. The result of this is the fruit of the Spirit
being seen in our lives. Love, Joy,
Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control.
So we conclude with
Chapter 6.
Gal 6v1
"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should
restore him gently. But watch yourself,
or you may be tempted."
This is
interesting, given what we saw in Chapter 5 we see that on one hand we are not
justified by the law, but on the other hand v21 says that those who sin won't
inherit the kingdom, so clearly what we do and the way we live our lives is
important to God. He wants us to live by
the Spirit so that we build people up rather than tearing them down. What it says in verse 1 is that when we see
people living in sin rather than living in the spirit we should bash them over
the heads and say they are going to hell - actually no it says the opposite, we
should restore them gently. Can you see
the flaw in the way some churches operate?
When the woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus he said whoever
is without sin should cast the first stone and they all sloped away, she was
then told she was not condemned but that she should go and sin no more. I'm not judging or naming names but I'm sure
you can think of some examples of churches or people who would be found guilty
of this. But on the other hand it warms not to fall into the same
temptations. It changes the way we
operate, from judgement to a position of not condoning the sin but not
condemning the person either, but restoring them gently.
The next verse we
quoted last time.
Gal6v2 "Carry each
other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ."
Notice to fulfill
what Christ wants, we should carry each other's burdens, not bash them over the
head with what they've done wrong. You
don't see that in the old covenant when we see blessings for being good and
cursings for being bad. This is a
complete change in heart focussing on love.
Gal6v3 "If
anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself."
Remember the last
verse of Chapter 5 says something similar.
"Let us not become conceited".
This is a warning against being smug and having a superiority
complex. It's the "One True
Church" syndrome that's all too familiar.
At the end of the day we are all nothing without Jesus, we are totally
dependant on His Grace and Mercy. At the
time of the early church there were the Gnostics who professed to have secret
knowledge, so this may have been a warning against this kind of superior thinking. Or it could have been that the Judaisers were
putting people down because they kept the law and the gentiles didn't? This verse reminds us that humility is an
essential ingredient to life, we are nothing in and of ourselves, however in
Christ we are everything.
Gal 6v4 Each one
should test his own actions. Then he can
take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, v5 for each
one should carry his own load.
In the context of
what's in the previous verse, I don't think we're being encouraged to take
pride in our own works in achieving salvation, the point is that we should not
compare ourselves with anyone else. To
use the race analogy that Paul uses earlier in the book, we should be
responsible for our own race and not judge or compare with others. We should test the way we live to make sure
we're living in Step with the Spirit rather than trying to do it all
ourselves. Remember the fruit of the
Spirit, this is what we test our actions against. How well do we get out of the way and allow
the fruit of God’s Spirit flow from us?
Or do we still persist in getting in the way with our own issues and
insecurities? Again verse five is
strange as it says we should carry our own load, but in verse 2 is says we
should carry each other's burdens. What
he's saying in my opinion is be responsible for yourself, but if you see others
struggling, we should help them along the way.
Making comparisons with others is not helpful. Some people are so
worried about what others are doing that they are held back from getting on
with the job they are called to do. If
we are doing alright we should give thanks to God and feel humble, not feel
superior. If we are not doing so good,
we should not beat ourselves up thinking we’re not as good as others, everyone
is on a journey through life. God will
direct us to show love to others, and if we're struggling we should not be
ashamed to accept help either as God may have inspired others to help us.
Gal 6v6 Anyone who
receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his
instructor.
There is saying
that with God, there is a flow of love.
We are given the best gift or instruction, the good news, so we should
not be selfish with it, we should love those who instruct us. It must be an immense sense of satisfaction
when a teacher sees their pupil succeed and give something back by way of a
gift or kind words. Someone shared a Youtube
video on the congregational facebook page (Welcome Christian Fellowship Cardiff & Llanellli) this week which is called the kindness
boomerang which sees a workman helping someone who helped someone else, who
helped someone else and so on til the end result is someone giving the man a
glass of water. It’s great, I recommend
anyone who does facebook have a look at it, and if anyone who doesn’t do
facebook wants to watch it, ask me later and I’ll find it for you. Anyway, the point is that those who had been
taught the good news were to give back to the teacher. Or to put it another way, we’ve been touched
by God’s love so we’re to love back.
Matt 25 shows that whatever we do to the least we do for Christ, so this
is a call to help others, as we’ve read in verse 2, if we share the load, we
fulfil the law.
This concept is
reinforced by the next section which shows that our actions have
consequences.
Gal 6v7 Do not be
deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Gal 6v8 The one who
sows to please his sinful nature , from that nature will reap destruction; the
one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
It’s become a
cliché that we reap what we sow, but the bible is clear that our actions have
consequences. Sin hurts. Jesus may have already forgiven that sin on a
spiritual level, however at the physical human level, sin has an impact on both
the victim and the perpetrator. As
Joseph Tkach said in a conference a few years ago, you are not going to hell if
you put your hand in a waste disposal unit, but it will make a mess and you
will have to live with the consequences.
Sin is like that. Often sin leads
to other sin, to cover up the first so we have a downward spiral. Sadly, society today is reaping the
consequences of sin, and it’s not good!
Neither is it all bad, Paul goes on to give the positive, the
consequence of pleasing the Spirit is Eternal life. Is that suggesting it’s works orientated, no,
it does not say that from his actions spring eternal life, it’s from the Spirit
that eternal life comes from. The only
thing that we can do is believe, and the consequence of doing this is that we
are given eternal life, life in step with the Spirit which results in good
works, which please the Spirit. Can you
see the circular flow, this time it is of love.
Gal 6v9 Let us not
become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we
do not give up.
Gal 6v10 Therefore,
as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who
belong to the family of believers.
Wow, this is
encouragement for us to keep going, not to grow tired of doing good and give
up. God wants to bless everyone and not
let anyone be lost, but sadly we don’t preach universalism, there is at least a
hypothetical chance that you can grow weary and it warns here that we reap the
harvest if we don’t give up. Salvation
is a gift we already have unless we don’t believe we have it, so unless we
reject the gift, the reward is waiting for us.
As I said last time, if you are given the keys to a mansion why would
you want to live in the caravan in the garden.
If you are given the keys of a Ferrari, why would you want to drive your
moped? The only thing that would stop you experiencing them would be not
believing that you can. So Paul says
unless we grow weary and give up, we receive the eternal life, then what? He
continues, therefore, as we have opportunity, do good to others, especially
fellow believers. Doing good flows from the eternal life in Christ. A principle that the early church seemed to
have, was you look after everyone, but especially the rest of the body. There is another cliché that charity begins
at home and it’s a biblical principle that you should take care of your own
family. But this shows you can’t stop at
the family, it says everyone, but especially your church family. It’s not either one or the other, it’s both,
but especially make sure your family is ok first.
Acts 20v28 shows they were charged with taking care of the church.
Lets continue, the
next verse in Gal 6 is self explanitory.
Gal 6v11 See what
large letters I use as i write to you with my own hand!
This shows that he
probably had vision problems, so he had to use large letters. It also shows that he was writing personally
which confirms his deep concern for the Galatian church.
Gal 6v12 Those who
want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be
circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the
cross of Christ.
Gal 6v13 Not even
those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised
that they may boast about your flesh.
This again confirms
the issue that Paul was addressing – there were people leading them astray in
trying to get them to obey the law of the old covenant symbolised by
circumcision. This verse gives an
insight into their motives. They were
trying to save themselves from persecution from the Jews by showing them that
they were bringing the gentiles in Galatia into line with the Jews rather than
the Christians, and they were boasting about it. Ironically, it was gentiles that we are
talking about here, so they were effectively making the gentiles into Jews. I‘m not sure about back then, but it is
possible to become a Jew, but there are many hoops to jump through and
circumcision is only one of them. Jewishness
is also racial and genetic which is something you can’t just choose, so what
was happening was the Judaising of the early Christian church and Paul, a Jew
was very much against it. Remember
Chapter 1 Paul says the perpetrators would be accursed. When you think about it, Judaising non Jews
was like them offering to make them God's special people. What right or
authority did they have for this? Ok,
the Jews are cut off at the moment, but they are still God's special people and
they will be saved and grafted back in at some point. Dare I say it, this is what the Church was
doing before the reformation with the indulgences, and look what happened, the
church split in two, and the well known established church carried on the practice on and off
long after that. How dare they presume
to offer people salvation in return for cash to boost the church's funds - but
they did!!
Notice the
hypocracy he was highlighting too, as they were promoting the law but not
living by it. This is again something we
are probably all guilty of to a greater or lesser extent, and we need to be careful
about living the gospel not just sharing it.
These people were obviously influencing them and pursuading them to keep
the law without doing it themselves. A
bit like the Father Ted episode when they were giving things up for lent, or
not as the case may be.
The commentaries
suggest they were doing a pick and mix with some of the Jewish customs and
traditions mixed with and the Christian gospel that Paul had taught them. That ends up with an incoherant and
inconsistent mess as it's neither one thing or the other, and they were
boasting about it.
Paul on the other
hand said his only boast was the Cross - he pointed always to Jesus not
himself. He didn't boast about how many
Christians he'd made or souls he's won - he knew that the only way to be saved
was though the Cross, so this is what he pointed to.
Gal 6v14 May I
never boast except in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ, through which the
world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
Gal 6v15 Neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.
This is
important. Whether you are circumcised
or not means nothing – so he's not ruling out those who are, but what he's
saying is that this is not what's important here. What counts is whether you are a new creation,
whether you are in Christ, whether you are therefore in step with the Spirit. We are new creations in Christ, and that is
what matters rather than what we keep or do.
Keeping the old covenent law was therefore irrelevant, what matters is
what happened at the Cross and the transformation that takes place within us if
we believe it.
The chapter ends
with Paul signing off.
Gal 6v16 Peace and
mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.
Gal 6v17 Finally,
let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
Gal 6v18 The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
So that is the end
of the letter. There has been a lot of
material covered and if anyone wants a copy of any of the sermons so you can go
back over it, let me know or look at the congregation web site. I've also started a blog with the sermon transcripts in case any wants
to catch up.
So to summarise, we
should stick to the simple gospel message and not deviate back into legalism or
any other ism. There are strict warnings
over putting the law before Christ. We
need to be careful not to encourage others to deviate either. we've seen that in Christ there is no
segregation, isolation or exclusion, as all are one in Christ. We need to remember this, and the fact that
Jesus died for all, whether they know it or not. We've seen that the law was a training guide
until Christ, and we see that love fulfills the law. We should live by the Spirit and therefore
the fruit of the Spirit should be
evident in us. This is great, but we should
not boast as it's not us, but Jesus who takes the credit as love comes from God
and we therefore let God's love flow through us. We are responsible for ourselves as we have a
personal relationship with God, and we are all on differnt individual journeys
so we shouldn't worry about what anyone else is doing. There is no doubt much more that can be said
but I want to leave you with Paul's final words to the Galatians.
Gal 6v18 The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
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