FULFILLING CHRIST'S LAW

During my early years at the Moody Bible Institute there was an incident that happened of which I’m ashamed to even tell you about. The church which I attended had another student from M.B.I. teach a class for the college and career age folks. This fellow, named Calvin if I recall correctly, decided to seek to prove to the class that David was the author of both and . Both of these psalm exalt the Word of God in a magnificent fashion, but only was credited to David. On this particular Sunday my best friend and his girlfriend came with me to visit our church. And in an effort to impress them with my biblical knowledge I challenged the teacher’s premise in front of the whole class. After class my friend confronted me with my behavior. He told me that I was really brutal in class today. And he was right. I had to go and find Calvin and apologize, not for my premise, but for my actions. I had to eat some crow. Rather than helping the teacher bear the burden of this Sunday School class, I was boastful and challenging. I did not fulfill the law of Christ, which will be the focus of today’s passage. Please turn to Galatians 5:25-6:5.

During my early years at the Moody Bible Institute there was an incident that happened of which I’m ashamed to even tell you about. The church which I attended had another student from M.B.I. teach a class for the college and career age folks. This fellow, named Calvin if I recall correctly, decided to seek to prove to the class that David was the author of both and . Both of these psalm exalt the Word of God in a magnificent fashion, but only was credited to David. On this particular Sunday my best friend and his girlfriend came with me to visit our church. And in an effort to impress them with my biblical knowledge I challenged the teacher’s premise in front of the whole class. After class my friend confronted me with my behavior. He told me that I was really brutal in class today. And he was right. I had to go and find Calvin and apologize, not for my premise, but for my actions. I had to eat some crow. Rather than helping the teacher bear the burden of this Sunday School class, I was boastful and challenging. I did not fulfill the law of Christ, which will be the focus of today’s passage. Please turn to Galatians 5:25-6:5.

Throughout the Epistle to the Galatians the Apostle Paul has argued that Gentile Believers are not under any obligation to be converted to Judaism. Another way of putting it is that justification is by faith alone, apart from the works of the Law. And since no one can be justified before God by the merit of his or her own works those who seek to be justified by works are under the curse of the Law since they cannot completely keep it. But those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ are redeemed from this curse, because Christ became a curse on our behalf by bearing our sin on the cross.

Though believers are saved by the wonderful grace of Jesus, they are saved unto good works. That is we are saved for the purpose of doing good works. Though there are many good works that the believer can and should do, in view of the mercy of God, they can be summarized with one statement: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

With that statement in mind we come to our passage for today, . Though many include verses 25-26 with the previous passage which we looked at last week, I believe that they belong with the first paragraph of chapter 6. And furthermore, I believe that the key to understanding this passage is found in which says: Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

Before we can truly understand this passage we need to determine what Paul meant by the law of Christ. Some commentators believe that it is the Law of Moses. Some believe it is the the two Great Commands that Jesus referred to when He was questioned about what was the greatest command. My view, which is certainly related to the second view, is that it is a reference to the new command that Jesus gave the apostles on the night of His betrayal — .

John 13:14–15 NASB95PARA

If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.

John 13:34–35 NASB95PARA

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

With this in view, as we go through our passage this morning we will see that believers can only fulfill the law of Christ when they keep in step with the Spirit, we cannot fulfill the law by means of conceit. We fulfill the law when we gently correct an earing brother or sister, but we cannot fulfill the law by refusing to correct those who need it. In order to fulfill the law of Christ we need to have a proper understanding of ourselves, and stop measuring others against ourselves.

Let’s read our passage together.

BURDEN BEARING

The term that is translated bear literally means to carry away. What is to be carried away, you may ask? Burdens are to be carried away. There are many forms of burdens which the believer is to help carry away for their brother or sister in Christ. The term literally refers to a tremendous hardship. The family of Ruth Versnick is going through a tremendous hardship right now with the sudden and unexpected passing of Ruth. We as a church body as well as individual believers should be doing what we can to help bear their burden.

The context of our passage makes it clear that burden that Paul had in mind is related to sin and the believer’s struggle with the old sin nature. Our flesh or sin nature constantly entices us to carry out the desires of the flesh rather than the fruit of the Spirit.

Christ is the ultimate example of what it means to bear one another’s burdens.

Mark 10:45 NASB95PARA

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

1 Peter 2:24 ESV

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB95PARA

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

If we focus on Christ and His example it will better help us to bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

As we move now into our text and outline you will notice that things are stated both in a positive manner and in a negative manner, alternating between the two. Our first positive statement is that

WE ARE ENABLED TO FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST WHEN WE KEEP IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT ()

The first thing that we need to understand is that only believers can fulfill the law of Christ. We are enabled to do so because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. At the moment of salvation the Holy Spirit enters the believer — He lives in the believer. As part of the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit He pours the love of God into our hearts ().

Romans 5:5 NASB95PARA

and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Notice in verse 25 of our text that the believer is said to live by the Spirit. That summarizes what had been mentioned previously in about the believer walking in the Spirit, and then again in regarding being led by the Spirit. If you will recall from last week I mentioned that to be led by the Spirit was to be influenced by the Spirit. And the primary mode of being influenced by the Spirit is to get into the Word of God which was authored by the Spirit. Notice that Paul once again commands the believer to walk in the Spirit at the end of verse 25. In this instance he used a different Greek term, which might better be translated as keep in step with the Spirit.

This term in a military term which refers to soldiers marching in step. Phillip Ryken wrote:

Soldiers not only march in formation, but also run in formation. When they do, there is only one thing they have to worry about, which is keeping in step. They do not need to worry about where they are going, or how they will get there. They do not need to guess how much farther they have to go. Their commanding officer will give them their orders as necessary. The only thing soldiers need to know how to do is step in time.

We are soldier in the Army of the King of Kings, and our Commanding Officer is the Holy Spirit. He may not give us the full picture of what lay before us, but we are to keep in step with Him, trusting in the certainty that He will lead us in the way we should go. But the way is hard, and it would seem that every bend in the road brings a new challenge which would seek to hinder us in our journey of faith. This brings us to our next point, regarding one of the challenges that may hinder us from fulfilling the law of Christ:

WE DO NOT FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST BY MEANS OF CONCEIT ()

The term that is translated boastful in the NASB literally means empty glory. Hence the KJV’s rendering: Let us not be desirous of vain glory. Most modern translation properly translate this term as conceit. A conceited person is one who thinks of himself more highly that he ought to think; who does not consider the interests of others as more important than his own interests; who is in fact the very opposite of Jesus Christ —

Philippians 2:5–6 NASB95PARA

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

Philippians 2:5–7 NASB95PARA

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

Paul describes conceited people as those who both challenge and envy one another. Most, though not all, have a competitive nature. And part of that nature causes us to challenge others to show ourselves better than them, often by belittling them. I have been on both ends of this. I have had times when others seek to challenge me in order to make themselves look good. And, shamefully, I have challenged others to make myself look good at their expense. Such actions are not anywhere near the command to keep in step with the Spirit! Rather they fall under the deeds of the flesh, and not the fruit of the Spirit.

WE FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST WHEN WE GENTLY CORRECT THOSE WHO NEED CORRECTION ()

WE DO NOT FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST BY CHOOSING TO NOT CORRECT A FALLEN BROTHER OR SISTER

WE MUST HAVE A TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF OURSELVES IN ORDER TO FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST ()

In his book titled MERE CHRISTIANITY C.S. Lewis wrote:

Preaching the Word: Galatians—Gospel-Rooted Living Beware of the Subtlety of Self-Deception (6:3)

“If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.”

WE DO NOT FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST WHEN WE MEASURE OTHERS AGAINST OURSELVES ()

We have all heard of the expression “keeping up with the Jones’s.” This expression emphasizes how people are preoccupied with other folks. The same type of thing can happen in the spiritual realm as well. Because of pride and conceit we can easily become preoccupied with how others are doing in comparison to ourselves. But we are directed by Paul to examine our own work and not compare it to others.

Conclusion

This morning we have looked at the fulfilling of the law of Christ. As we have done so, we have defined the law of Christ as the law of love. We have seen both positive and negative aspects. On the positive side, we fulfill the law of Christ, the law of love, when we keep in step with the Spirit, gently correct those who need correction, and have a true understanding of ourselves.

On the negative side we fail to fulfill the law of love when we are conceited, when we choose not to correct those who need to be corrected, and when we measure others against ourselves.

How can we guard against the negative, and accentuate the positive? We do so by walking by the Spirit, by being led by the Spirit, by living by the Spirit, and by keeping in step with the Spirit.

Let’s pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, we humbly bow before You this day, thanking You for providing Jesus Christ as our burden bearer. We were once heavy laden with the burden of our sins, but now that burden has been exchanged for the yoke of Christ. That burden was lifted at Calvary. Since Christ has carried away our burdens, we desire to follow in His footsteps and to help carry the burdens of our brothers and sisters in Christ. May we keep in step with Your Holy Spirit as He teaches us how to so do. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Closing Song: No. 424 — The Servant Song