Walking In Step With The Spirit. (Lesson 3)
Evaluating Your Work
Paul turns back again to the need for personal evaluation. Self-evaluation is necessary since there is always the danger of self-deception (v. 3)
Personal evaluation must be made on the basis of a careful examination of one’s own work, not on the basis of comparison with others (v. 4)
Personal evaluation should clarify one’s God-given mission in life
The warning against self-deception (v. 3) enlarges upon the warning against conceit (5:26) and temptation (6:1).
The most serious spiritual danger of all is the self-delusion of pride: someone who thinks he is something when he is nothing
In the immediate context, Paul’s rebuke must be aimed at those who thought so highly of their own status that they were unwilling to take the role of servants to carry the burdens of others.
The Jewish Christian law teachers were so impressed with the importance of their mission of imposing the Mosaic law on Gentile believers that they had no time or interest to bear the sin-burdens of “Gentile sinners” who had come to Christ. The Gentile Christians were so intent on coming under the yoke of the law to establish their status as full members of the favored Jewish people that they did not lift a finger to help carry the burdens of their fellow Christians.
These zealots’ pride in the law kept them from serving one another in love. And so, thinking themselves to be something, they were in fact nothing. For as Paul says in another letter, “if I … have not love, I am nothing”
Instead of loving one another, these zealots for the law were provoking one another (5:26). Their arrogance caused them to react in angry condemnation toward those who sinned, rather than to help restore sinners by carrying their burdens. No wonder then that Paul interweaves this warning against the self-delusion of pride with his call to service. Only those who are freed from delusions of their own importance will be able to serve others in love.
The only way to prevent self-deception is to examine the value of one’s own work: each one should test his own actions
The term Paul uses for test means to examine for the purpose of determining true worth. As the jeweler examines a precious stone under a magnifying glass in very bright light to determine its worth, so each Christian should scrutinize his or her actions to determine their true worth before God.
The standard used for this evaluation is the law of Christ: the love of Christ expressed in his life and death and produced by his Spirit in all who believe in him. Paul has said that “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love”
In other words, to examine one’s work is to evaluate whether one’s faith in Christ is expressing itself in Christlike actions of love.
If a Christian’s careful examination of his life indicates that at least to some extent the love of Christ is being expressed through his actions, then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else (v. 4)
At first reading these words seem to contradict what Paul has just said. If he has just warned against the self-deception of pride (v. 3), how can he now say that a Christian can take pride in himself (v. 4)?
The NIV translation is a paraphrase of words that could be translated more literally as “then he will have a reason for boasting in himself and not by comparison with someone else.” What Paul is doing here is contrasting two kinds of boasting. These two kinds of boasting are clarified a few verses later where Paul says, “They want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (vv. 13–14).
The law teachers were boasting on the basis of comparisons between the circumcised and the uncircumcised. They were the circumcised, the faithful people of God; the uncircumcised Gentile sinners were despised and excluded. But such boasting on the basis of a comparison of national differences or religious practices was all passé. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value” (5:6
Paul vows never to boast in his own standing as a pedigreed member of the Jewish nation or in his zealous devotion to the Jewish traditions. But Paul the Christian continues to boast: he boasts in the cross of Christ (v. 14). That is his boast in 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Paul boasted in the cross because the cross was the ultimate display of the love of God for sinners. When we are united with Christ in his death and resurrection, that love of God for sinners can be expressed through us by the power of the Spirit. And that is the reason for Christians to boast!
Notice how his boasting is based on the kind of comparison with others which Paul expressly forbids in 6:4. The boasting of Christians is paradoxical: it is a boasting in something considered shameful by the standards of the world. That the Messiah should suffer on a Roman cross was shameful. But by his cross “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (3:13)
That Christians should serve each other by carrying each other’s burdens was also considered shameful from the perspective of the world’s values. But when the self-sacrificing love of Christ is seen in the actions of Christians, there is reason for boasting. Christians should celebrate that they can love because of their experience of the cross of Christ and the power of the Spirit.
Though these two words are basically synonymous in other contexts, the change of nouns in this context indicates a change of reference. Verse 2 refers to the need to come to the aid of others who cannot carry the crushing burden of the consequences of their sin. Verse 5 refers to work given to us by our Master, before whom we will have to give an account of how we used the opportunities and talents he gave us to serve him.
It is because we desire to fulfill our God-given mission in life that we learn how to carry the burdens of others. In other words, as Christians examine their actions to see if they reflect the love of Christ, they are at the same time led by that self-evaluation to consider how to serve others in love.
Supporting Teachers of the Word (6:6) Paul’s challenge to fulfill one’s God-given mission in life (carry one’s own load) is now balanced by a recognition that some who are fulfilling their God-given mission in the church by teaching the Word need special support from the whole church
Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor (v. 6). Here we see an extremely practical application of the fruit of the Spirit. The love empowered by the Spirit is expressed in “goodness.” In practice, that means sharing good things with our teachers
This simple instruction to support teachers opens a window for us to see some important aspects of the life of the early church. First, we learn that formal instruction in the word was going on in the churches of Galatia. The title catechist is derived from the Greek word translated instructor, and the title catechumen is derived from the Greek word translated anyone who receives instruction. In other words, the early church had a catechism: formal instruction in basic Christian theology.
In our day there is often a negative reaction to any attempt to communicate doctrine or theology in the church. Of course academic speculation unrelated to the problems of everyday life is unprofitable. But Christian growth is dependent on sound biblical teaching. Paul saw the need for instruction in Christian theology and sought to encourage it by this practical guideline
Second, Paul’s guideline to support teachers indicates that Christian teaching was a full-time occupation that precluded the opportunity to earn money in some other profession. We know that Paul did at times support himself by his tentmaking. But he considered himself to be an exception to the rule. He thought that teachers in the church should work hard at their job of teaching and be well paid for it
Sometimes full-time Christian teachers are made to feel inferior because they do not have a “real job.” But why should those who work hard at teaching the Word of God feel that they are doing something less important than others who sell computer chips, unless the value of work is measured by the amount of money earned? That is surely a questionable measuring stick to use for determining the ultimate value of work. Paul places great value on the work of teaching the Word. It is the basis for strong churches and healthy Christians
Third, we learn that when teachers faithfully give the Word to the churches and the churches give back good things, there is unity in the church. The command must share is a translation of an often-repeated Greek word: koinōnia, “fellowship” or “partnership.” Undoubtedly Paul was concerned to encourage this kind of partnership in the Word because he knew that this letter alone could not bring about a complete resolution of the crisis in the Galatian churches. If the churches were to be united and strong again, there had to be a full-time teaching ministry in the church. Gifted teachers needed to devote themselves to an accurate interpretation and application of the “truth of the gospel.” In order for them to do that, they needed to receive enthusiastic, generous support for their work of teaching. The same is true today.
Reaping What You Sow (6:7–8) The responsibilities listed so far present two opposite ways of life: the way of the Spirit and the way of the sinful nature. The absolute contrast between these alternatives has been developed throughout Paul’s ethical appeal. Now it is the hour of decision. Now his readers must consider very carefully the consequences of choosing one way or the other. They cannot drift; they cannot remain neutral; they must decide whether they are going to walk by the Spirit or gratify the desires of their sinful nature. Since each individual must decide for himself or herself which way to live, Paul puts his challenge in a singular form
Paul introduces his call for decision with a solemn warning based on an agricultural principle: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows (v. 7). When people think and act as if they will not reap what they have sown, or as if they will reap something different from what they have sown, they are deceiving themselves and mocking God. But since the inexorable law of reaping what is sown has always been proved true, the proverbial statement of warning God cannot be mocked is also true: no one can mock God and get away with it.
Yet there is a common tendency to think that there is one exception to this universal principle: “Though it proves true for everyone else, it is not true for me. I will not have to reap a harvest from the seeds I sow. I can sow whatever seed I want and still expect a good harvest.” This common line of thought only proves the words of the prophet Jeremiah
Our capacity for self-deception is frightening. It is amazing how blind otherwise brilliant people can be to their own spiritual direction in life. In fact, the more brilliant people are, the more skilled they are at developing rationalizations to deceive themselves and to hide from God.
The story of Adam and Eve’s hiding from God behind their skimpy clothes and even skimpier excuses is our common human experience. Paul’s warning needs to be heard, and to be heard often, to warn us against our most brilliant self-delusions.
Paul then applies the agricultural principle of reaping what is sown: 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 (v. 8).
Here we are faced with a decision, a decision that determines our destiny. We are not victims of fate, bad luck or even predestination. Our destiny is determined by our decision: shall we sow to the sinful nature or to the Spirit? The old proverb is true: “Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
Those who are sowing to please the sinful nature are destroying relationships with others: they are biting, devouring, provoking and envying others (5:15, 26). In their arrogance they are seeking to pressure everyone to conform to the same ethnic customs and traditions. Churches are being torn apart and destroyed by ethnic rivalries and social competition. Sowing to please the sinful nature will always result in a harvest of destruction, a destruction of relationships with others and with God.
Sowing to please the Spirit means “serving one another in love” (5:13), restoring one who has been caught in sin (6:1), carrying the burdens of others (6:2), giving generously to those who teach in the church (6:6) and doing good to all (6:9). Sometimes sowing to the Spirit has been defined in terms of private, personal holiness, as if it were something done in a closet by oneself. But sowing to the Spirit in the context of Paul’s teaching here involves building love relationships with others. Sowing to the Spirit cannot be done in isolation or separation from others. Carrying the burdens of others requires in-depth participation in their pain and sorrow. As we see in verse 9, sowing to the Spirit means doing good to others. If sowing to the sinful nature means selfish indulgence, then sowing to the Spirit means selfless service
The harvest of sowing to the Spirit is eternal life. The meaning of eternal life must be understood within the “already-not yet” structure of Paul’s thought in this letter. From Paul’s perspective, Christians have already been delivered from the present evil age (1:4) and are already in the new creation (6:15). But the battle between the Spirit and the sinful nature is not yet over (5:17). In Christ we already have new relationships with God and with one another: we now relate not as slaves but as children who call God Father (4:6–7); and we relate to one another not as people divided by racial, social and gender barriers but as people united in Christ (3:28). But since the battle between the Spirit and the sinful nature continues, we do not yet experience total harmony in these relationships. Those who continue to grow in these relationships by the power of the Spirit will ultimately experience the fullness of eternal life—perfect harmony in relationship with God and others.