Walking The Walk Part 2

We are going to continue on this morning worshipping Jesus through His word…

If you would get out your bible, Galatians 6:1-10

Last week we ended by talking about following the leadership of the spirit.

Read v25-26

V25 Keep in step with the Spirit/ KJV says to walk in the Spirit

What does walking in the Spirit look like?

Like practically what does this look like…

Today Paul is going to show us…

He is going to show us 5 roles we are led to fill when we are living a Spiritually free life in Jesus.

Big Idea: When we are walking in the Spirit, we are called to serve lovingly and sacrificially.

Remember what Paul said in Galatians 5:13–14 “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

So today the word of God is going to show us 5 roles we are to fill as a Christ follower walking in the Spirit…

Y’all Ready to GET INTO GODS WORD???!?!?!

READ ALL VERSES 1-10

Notice here in verse 1 we see our first role…

We are led by the Spirit to be...Restorers (V1)

Brothers- This lets us know that Paul is talking about believers, followers of Jesus

Caught in ANY transgression- stuck in a sin pattern

RESTORE - Restore= to set a broken bone…

in a spirit of gentleness- Jesus shows us what a spirit of gentleness is in John 8

READ John 8:1–11 “but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]

According to Jesus, HE was the only one eligible to throw a stone at this woman.

Jesus’s interest was not in destroying the woman, but restoring her.

We have to come alongside our struggling Christ followers and pour out Jesus’s truth and grace and mercy and forgiveness into them.

And where do we find all of these things? IN HIS WORD!

But as we are doing this, Paul warns us to to watch out for something..

He says keep watch on yourself- Galatians 5:26

KJV uses the word “vainglory”-inordinate pride in oneself or excessive vanity

Paul is saying watch yourselves as you come alongside a brother or sister, do it with a pure heart.

Do not approach this situation with disgust in this sin, or pridefulness that this isn’t a current struggle for you. Because scripture tells us that we are all sinful that we all fall short of the glory of God. So we must restore with a spirit of gentleness with love and without pride.

We have to look out our own walk right now Church and ask ourselves, “are we restoring our brothers and sisters? Are we doing it in a spirit of gentleness as Jesus did? Are we prideful as we do it?

Notice that this is a commandment. We are called by God as disciples of Jesus to do this work.

Paul gives us another command, another role to play in verse 2 read with me

We are led by the Spirit to be...Bearers (V2-5)

To come underneath a burden that is too heavy for a brother to hold up

Sacrifice- both of us will hold up the weight

(if we are in the gym, me and Chris, and Im on the bench and I am struggling to lift 200 lbs off my chest, which isn’t that far-fetched cause it’s been a while since ya boy has seen the inside of a gym lol, and Chris comes over and helps me bear this weight, he will take on half of that weight.)

Paul is telling us that we have to get our hands dirty, we have to get some skin in the game.

We have to dig into people’s lives in order to do this, and let me tell you that’s not always easy.

It can get messy yall!

But this is what Gods telling us to do, he has sent us to be burden bearers

and why has He sent us?

The text says it.. To fulfill The Law of Christ-

John 13:34–35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

What are some heavy burdens we are called to help bear?

A brother or sister in financial burden outside of their control

Spending time and praying with someone going through the emotional burden of losing a parent, a spouse, maybe a child

A cancer diagnosis…

Infidelity in a marriage…

An addiction…

The Lord is calling us as disciples to show the love of Christ through bearing these types of burdens with one another.

Get up under the emotional and physical weight of these issues with one another…

But Paul gives us another warning as we do this..

V3- what can kill our heart posture of bearing one another’s burden

Paul again is saying don’t be conceited and vainglorious…

Don’t sit and watch a brother struggle under the weight of a burden in a state of pride.

Illustration: “Man that guy is a mess” How could that lady call herself a Christ follower with the way she is handling this?” “He made his bed now he needs to lay in it”…

Conceit and vainglory

NOW, This is the second time Paul has mentioned this..

Can we think why he would mention this twice?

Because its soo easy for us to fall into!

And the scripture tells us that this will kill your heart posture in bearing another’s burdens out of Love.

We need to guard ourselves here…

Paul says we are to be bearers of the burdens of others, but then he says something kind of weird in verse 4-5 look with me…

READ 4-5

Is Paul contradicting himself? He just said we have to bear each other’s burdens, now he is saying we have to bear our own load??

We need to look at the words Paul is using…

In V2 the word Paul uses for burden is “Baros” heavy load….

A boulder sized load

A load to great for one man to carry…

The greek word for burden in V5 is ”Phortion” Mans pack = some loads are given to us to carry

-If your able bodied, Getting up for work on time and supporting ourselves and our families is our load to carry

-Parents, discipling your children and teaching them about Jesus is our load to carry

-Pursuing the individual calling that the Lord has placed on our lives is our load to carry

-These 5 roles that we are discussing now…those are ours to carry

-Being an ambassedor for Christ as the bible calls us to be…

we are called to carry our own pack of responsibilities, and to look for opportunities to walk alongside others and bear their burden with them.

So we are led to be restores, and bearers:

Our third role we are called to fill as we are living a Spiritually free life in Jesus is…

We are led by the Spirit to be...Sharers (V6)

Read V6

Here Paul addresses the sharing of all good things God has blessed you with, with the people teaching the word.

Both financially and in fellowship.

Our financial giving helps support pastors and teachers of God’s word, helping bear some of financial burden.

And we see in the bible throughout Paul’s ministry, he received a lot of support from the churches that he was preaching and writing to.

Weather that was money or food or shelter or just rest and fellowship.

As the Lord blesses these churches, Paul is calling for them to help support the ministry.

Paul is stating here that we are to share in the blessing in our lives with those who are teaching us God’s word.

Pastors, Elders, Small Group Leaders, The people you see sitting in coffee shops and restaurants walking people through God’s word showing them truth…

Here God’s word is calling us to share the blessings God has given us…

And as we move forward through the text here in Galatians 6, we will see our 4th role is that…

We are led by the Spirit to be...Sowers (V7-9)

Paul opens up verse 7 with a warning “don’t be deceived, God is not Mocked”

He is letting us know here that we are all Sowers, and not to be deceived by what the outcome of our sowing will bring.

He gives us 3 agricultural illustrations to show us what he means about being Sowers.

V7-8A Reap what you sow- We can’t sow to our flesh every day and expect to reap holiness

How many people in here raise a garden or a crop every year???

IF WE PLANT A TOMATO SEED, WE SHOULD’NT BE SURPRISED IF IT DOESN’T GROW TO BE AN APPLE TREE…

We reap what we sow…

V8B Reap more than you sow- (YOU PLANT 1 SOY BEAN, YOU GET A PLANT FULL OF SOY BEANS)

When we sow the from the spirit we will receive eternal life, which is more than we sowed

V9 Reap later than you sow- (WE DON’T PLANT A ROSE BUSH ON FEBRUARY 12TH AND EXPECT TO GIVE THE WIFE ROSES FROM IT ON VALENTINES DAY)

What is Paul saying here???

STAY THE COURSE!!!

So Paul has shown us what it looks like to sow to the spirit, to be Restorers of brothers caught in sin, Bearers of one another’s burdens, Givers to those who teach us the Word, and Sowers to the Spirit…

Now all of these first 4 roles are going to funnel down in to one centralized work the Lord has tasked us as followers with…

We are led by the Spirit to be...Servers (V10)

We are led to serve the body of Christ with the love of Christ.

That is what Paul has been teaching us today,

This is a culmination of all these roles we have been talking about smashed together…

REMEMBER…

Big Idea: When we are walking in the Spirit, we are called to serve lovingly and sacrificially.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

God has called us to serve him through loving one another.

Now if you’re sitting in your seat and thinking to yourself “Okay, the Lord has called me to be a restorer, a bearer, a giver, and a sower, and to serve His people….but how do I get started?”

We as a church have made it so easy to get started yall…

2 pieces of low hanging fruit right here at The Rock…

the first and most important is…

A Small Groups

-I encourage you to talk to anyone here at The Rock that is in a small group and they will tell you, they come together and restore each other through God’s word, they are bearing one another’s burdens in accountability time. They are showing up for one another in daily life. Praying for each other, caring for each other…Jesus is showing His love through the people who are following Him.

The Bible says “let us do good to everyone, especially to those who are of the faith”

This is how you do it…

By doing life together…bearing restoring, serving, sharing, sowing with one another…

If you’re looking for a way to serve the church body as Paul described today, JOIN A SERVE TEAM, lean into the gifts the Lord has given you and how you can serve the church body right here at The Rock.

Open up the register…check the box for serve teams…for small groups

This is what the Lord has called us to do through His Word. To serve just as He did.

Common misconception that the church belongs to the pastor or to the elders…

No here this Christ followers…this is Jesus’s church….

And He has called each and everyone of you to get in the game…

Not to sit idally on the sidelines…

Not to just come and consume on Sunday…

NO!

Jesus is the head…the church is the body…

each of us are given gifts by the Lord to be the fingers…toes…elbows…ankles… legs…

YOU ARE BEING CALLED BY THE HEAD TO DO YOUR FUNCTION AS APART OF THE BODY…

AND IF YOUR NOT…

THEN WE CANT MOVE LIKE THE HEAD DESIRES US TO…

Hear this…dont misunderstand...

these things that Paul is calling us to do…

They dont save us…we are saved by faith in the one true gospel alone….

But once you are a born again follower of Jesus…

You are the body of Christ…One with Him…

Called to submit to His will as the head…

To abide in His word…

And today His word is calling you TO SERVE WITH THE LOVE THAT HE SHOWED YOU…

NOT TO CONSUME…TO SERVE…TO BEAR…TO RESTORE…TO SHARE…TO SOW…

ARE YOU ABIDING IN THIS COMMAND???

IF YOU ARE…GREAT!!! STAY THE COUSRE…KEEP GOING!!! KEEP SERVING SACRIFICIALLY OUT OF LOVE WITHOUT PRIDE OR VAINGLORY…

BUT IF YOU ARE NOT…

GOD IS CALLING YOU THIS MORNING TO GET IN THE GAME!!!

If you are a follower of Jesus…YOU ARE APART OF THE BODY…

MOVE LIKE THE HEAD CALLS YOU TO MOVE...

MOVE LIKE JESUS CALLS YOU TO MOVE…

LETS PRAY