Loving Others by the Spirit; Galatians 6:1-10

but the fruit of the Spirit, what is produced by the spirit is; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control

these are things that we can see in ourselves when we are obedient to the spirit

but what does it look like to live that out

Today - Loving Others by the Spirit

Paul told us in chapter 5, the entire law is fulfilled in that you love your neighbor as yourself

how are we to do this… that is what Paul gets into next

this, like the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit are not exhaustive

this is not a new law, do these four things, five steps or whatever

this is how a believer lives out their faith

Galatians 6:1–10 (CSB)

1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.

2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

3 For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

4 Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else.

5 For each person will have to carry his own load.

6 Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher.

7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap,

8 because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

9 Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.

10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

PRAY!

Loving our neighbor is for their good and God’s glory. We do not stop until the harvest of eternal life, regardless of the outcomes we see.

A Realistic View of Others

I love our Fellowship time at the end of our service

I love to hear the laughter, the volume going up

see the kids running around playing together

When the clock strikes 12

if we go long, people go home

if we get out a little earlier, the visiting makes us forget that we are hungry

But what do our conversations center around

kids, sports, weather (we love to talk about rain)

Galatians 6:1–2 (CSB)

1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.

2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Believers should be very concerned with their fellow believers their relationship with the Lord

We must love them enough to ask

their walk with the Lord

their battle with sin

what kind of love do you have or your brothers and sisters in christ

do we pray for them

do we talk to them about anything of significance?

I am not talking about the events in their life, that does show we care

but do we care enough to talk about the Lord and how that relationship is going

When fellow believers are caught up in sin, we are called to restore them

with a gentle spirit

gentle does not mean that we excuse sin

it does not mean that we step softly around the issue and not offend

we are called to love each others enough to speak the truth

but we do so with a humble spirit

gentle = humble

this is not about my tone or even my words

this is how I view myself when I come to you

Plank in the eye of the one trying to remove a speck

they are to remove the plank out of their eye

then help remove the speck

meaning, I get my life right with Christ first

then knowing what it is like to receive the grace of God, I and offer that to others

Not getting caught in temptation

this does not mean caught up in the same sin, though that can and does happen

we must be wise enough to send them somewhere else if we struggle with the same sin

we can be tempted with different things as we are trying to help others

Satan will try with your own fleshly desires

attempting to disqualify you from helping others by placing another plank in your eye

We will be tempted to think too highly of ourselves

look at the great things we are doing

This is the carrying each others burdens

how we are called to love one another

we view church as something we consume and this type of love has escaped so many

why we cannot live in isolation as believers

you do not have fellow believers in your life to help restore you

cannot be so prideful that we think we do not need this

you are not loving others as you should

A Realistic View of Ourselves

We are a people of comparison

We compare ourselves to others to make us feel better

our neighbor doesn’t go to church

those people in church do not come as often as I do

they may come as often, but they don’t have their bible open like me

their constantly on their phone during church, I don’t think they are just using it for their bible

Galatians 6:3–5 (CSB)

3 For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

4 Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else.

5 For each person will have to carry his own load.

We can think pretty high of ourselves

look how I am not like this person

looking down on others for many different reasons

Look how I am helping those poor people

as if the helping of others is about you

this is not out of love for that person, but an elevation of self

so you can tell others, look how busy I am

I had to do this to help that person, look how great I am

this is pride

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but of yourself less.” Timothy Keller

we tend to make ministry all about ourselves

Our comparison is Christ! this gives us an accurate view of ourselves

Jesus lived a perfect life

we are called by him to be perfect as our father in Heaven is perfect

we know we do not meet that standard

that is why it is easier to compare ourselves to others instead of him

praise God that we receive his righteousness when we put our faith in him!

We answer for our own (v5. Carry own load)

this is not a contradiction to verse 2

we are called to help carry the load for others, help them out of the sin they have walked into

but the sin is theirs and they will have to answer for it

but you and I will have to answer for ours as well

not just the obvious sin that we do

but how we are not helping others as well!

A Realistic View of Our Ministry

What we have been talking about today is ministry

ministry is not something that is left up to the paid guy, although Paul talks about that too

Galatians 6:6–10 (CSB)

6 Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher.

7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap,

8 because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

9 Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.

10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

To often ministry is viewed as teaching a class or specific task that is done

your ministry is loving people

just a couple in this passage

restore those who are trapped in sin

take care of the pastor…

I thought this was about giving testimony to the one who is discipling you

commentators tell me I am wrong, Paul is saying take care of the one, share in the blessings of life with the one who is charged with spiritually leading you

the picture is not simply sharing with the teacher when something good happens

we are generous with everything that we have

our testimony is one of those things, but so is every other blessing that God has given us

Viewing ministry as a task can make it simply about appeasing God

this is a mockery of God’s grace

you did nothing to earn his favor

you can do nothing to keep his favor

if this is your ministry you are sowing in the flesh

we are simply trying to elevate self

we are simply trying to appear something that we are not

trying to appear spiritual, like we love God, when really we love ourselves

We cannot make this a new law either

I ended last week with not making new laws to be lead by the spirit

we see the fruit of the spirit in our lives when we are walking by the spirit

that we cannot create new laws for ourselves to ensure we are living in freedom

it is the same here, we cannot create new laws to ensure that we are loving as we should

Paul says, “As we have opportunity…”

just like sharing the gospel, as we have opportunity

as you go…

this does not mean when you are not busy

similar to what Paul told the Romans,

as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone

you are called to live a life of loving others to Jesus

I love you enough to tell you about him

I love you enough to tell you when you have wondered away from him

especially those who are in our fellowship

never tire of this!

why would we grow tired?

it is not easy and gets messy

we do not see the outcomes we think that we should

as if they are quantitative

never tire of doing good, you will reap what you sow and so much more

in this life - you have the spirit living through you and the fruit of the spirit being produced

in the eternal - you get to be with Jesus

Exalting Jesus in Galatians Reflect and Discuss

Reflect and Discuss

1. What sets the church apart from other, charitable organizations and clubs, even religious ones?

2. How does the discussion about the “fruit of the Spirit” (5:16–26) relate to this passage (6:1–10)?

3. Have you ever needed to restore a brother gently? If so, what was that like? Do you need to do so now? How should you go about it?

4. How is confronting the sin of other believers different from Jesus’ command, “Do not judge” (Matt 7:1)?

5. What are some examples of how one might “carry one another’s burdens”? What might hinder this from happening?

6. What is the difference between “burdens” and “loads” (6:2, 5)?

7. How is holiness a harvest?

8. Are you getting tired of doing good (6:9)? If so, how might you find fresh strength?

9. Are you looking for an “opportunity” to bless others? In what ways might you do that today?

10. Based on the truths in this text, how would you answer the following question: “If I study Scripture, pray, and listen to sermons throughout the week, why do I need the church?”

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