The Grace and Truth Tension -- Galatians 6:1-10
Notes
Transcript
Galatians 6: The Law of Love
Intro:
Good morning! It is a pleasure to be here with you bringing this morning’s message. It’s been several years since I’ve had the opportunity to preach. For anyone who has prepared a sermon you know that each time is its own adventure. When Dave preached a few months ago he shared about the trials and anguish he experienced of trying to pull a message together. I’ve definitely been there. There have been times in which I’ve just stared at a blank page with seemingly nothing to say. There have been other times where I’ve had a message just bursting to come out, and many times that are somewhere in between. However, in every case the act of preparing a message has been a blessing, and I always get more out of it than anyone, and I think Anthony would attest to that for himself as well. So, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I hope I can effectively communicate with you some of the important things God has been showing me as I’ve been preparing for today. As Anthony has shared in the past, the Word of God is so rich and full of meaning. At times (especially when I’m rushed) it doesn’t seem that way to me. However, in the times like this in which I really dig in and wrestle with the texts, it completely comes alive and I see incredible depth and wonder in the texts – so much so that we can spend a lifetime studying it and still likely only scratch the surface. And that for me is thrilling.
As most of you know, like Dave, I’m an engineer by training. And that means that I love problem solving. I love seeing how all the pieces fit together. And when the pieces that should fit, don’t, I see that as an opportunity to learn something. I love the challenge. Hopefully you do as well.
Let me give you an example:
There once was a father and son who were returning home from the son’s baseball practice and became involved in a terrible car accident. Tragically, the father died in the accident and the son was critically injured. The son was rushed to the hospital for life saving surgery. When the son was brought into the operating room, the distinguished surgeon took one look at him and said: “I can’t operate on him. He is my son.”
How can this be?
Anyone know the answer? If you’re like most people, you’re probably racking your brain, wrestling with the paradox of how the father can be both dead as well as standing in the operating room. Your imagining contorted solutions of extended family relationships or biological vs adopted fathers, when in reality the answer is right in front us: the surgeon is the boy’s mother.
As we look at today’s text, we’re going to see a few scenarios that are similar to this story. We will see some things in the text that at first glance seem surprising, confusing, even contradictory. However, as we dig in more deeply and look at them from a different perspective, we will see a different perspective that makes everything clear.
We’re going to read the text of Galations 6 together in a moment. As we do, I want you to be looking closely for contradictions. Spot the paradoxes and things that don’t seem to fit, and then point them out to me.
However, before we go there, I want to briefly remind you of the arc of Galatians and the things we’ve been learning over the past several months:
If you’ll recall Galatians began with Paul diving right in with some pretty strong words:
· Gal 1:6 -- I’m astonished that you are so quickly deserting the gospel and turning to another gospel which is really no gospel at all
· Gal 1:11-2:10 – Paul’s calling, his revelation from God, and his credibility
· Gal 2:11 – Paul opposes Peter, the Rock of the Church
· Gal 2:13 – Salvation by faith not by the law
· Gal 3 – You foolish Galatians! Having begun by the Spirit are you now returning to the flesh (law)?
· Gal 3 rest – the curse of the law, freedom from the law, the promise is better
· Gal 4 – sons and heirs -- children of the promise
· Gal 5:1 – It is for Freedom that Christ has set us Free!
· Gal 5 rest – fruit of the spirit vs fruit of the flesh
· Gal 6 – today’s topic
[Read]
1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load. 6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Doing Good to All
6 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load. 6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
What stands out to you in these verses? Do you see any contradictions or things that don’t seem to fit?
· v2: Carry each other’s burdens / v5: each should carry their own load
· v2: Law of Christ
· v2: take pride in themselves (ESV: boast in yourself)
· 5:25-26, v1, v3, etc – every positive encouragement is coupled with a warning – why?
[Pray]
To unravel these mysteries, we’re going to start with verse 2 and that phrase “The Law of Christ.” This is a very unusual phrase. This exact phrase is found nowhere else in the whole bible. (There is one place in 1Co where a variation of it is found in a parenthetical statement.) It’s a surprising choice of words. Paul has spent the entire book of Galatians setting us free from the Law. He’s taught us about the curse of the law and the death the comes from being a slave to the law. He uses the word “law” 35 times in Galatians and 33 of those times, it’s as something negative.
Paul describes the Law as something to be:
· Freed from
· Released from
· Superceded
· Dead to
· Not reliant upon
· Overcome
· No longer under
So is he here now in the 6th chapter, after spending 5 chapters tearing down the law now rebuilding it? No way. We’ll see that the “law of christ” is something very different than the law that Paul has been tearing down. The law of Christ is something new – and I believe it is the key to unlocking all of the rest of chapter 6.
So what is this “Law of Christ?”
To answer this, let’s turn to the one place in Galatians other than here where “law” is used in a positive sense:
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
You see, the law has not been abolished – it has been fulfilled. Christ is the fulfillment of the law, and he has replaced the rules and regulations and does and don’ts with one very simple command:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The Law of Christ is the Law of Love.
All of Galatians 6 pivots around this singular point. As we will see, the Law of Love is the anchor of this chapter, and everything we read will be clarified through this lens. The law of love will give us the right perspective for reconciling all the other paradoxes we see in this chapter.
But before we take this on, let’s take one more look at Chapter 5. There’s one more thing I want us to see in Chapter 5 that will give us the running start we need for Chapter 6:
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
You see, we were called to freedom. Not for our own selfish indulgence – but so that we can live the life God created us to live. People who have a hard time embracing the message of grace and freedom in christ are missing something very fundamental. They think that we must have rules. Without rules, everyone will be free to be as bad as they want to be. And that is true. But is that what any of us who know christ really desire? Is my problem as a chrsitian that I can’t do as many terrible things as I want to do? Am I secretly craving that God will lift his thumb off me so I can run out and commit all the works of the flesh? Am I sitting around saying, “man, I wish I had more anger, strife, and immorality in my life?” NO! If I am, that raises some serious questions about my relationship with God.
My problem as a Christian is not that I can’t sin as much as I want to. My problem is that I already sin way more than I want to. I don’t need rules or laws or punishment hanging over my head to sin less. I need the Spirit of the Living God! And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom! (2 Co 3:17) -- Freedom from sin’s power and dominion. Freedom to Love God, to Love People, to Love God’s purposes – for our lives and for our world.
Ok, end of introduction. Now we can start the sermon
Chapter 6: The Law of Love
(Remember: everything we talk about from here forward is going to pivot on the Law of Christ, which is the Law of Love.)
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.
Ok, so let’s walk through this verse one word at a time:
· Brothers and sisters (or brothers) – that means all of use
· You who live by the spirit (or who are spiritual, or who walk by the spirit) -- that means anyone who is seeking to follow Christ
· If someone is caughtin a sin
· Caught
o Ensnared
o Like in a net or a trap
o May indicate a surprise – someone stumbled into a sin that they didn’t see coming
o May indicate someone being caught or found out in a sin
o Regardless of how a person got there, there is an awareness or exposure of the sin
· You who are spiritual should restore that person gently.
· Restore
o The Greek word used here suggests an act of repairing or mending
o Mending a torn net
o Setting a broken bone or popping a dislocated joint back into socket
o The latter sense is especially visual
o If anyone has had to have a broken bone set, you know how painful it can be
o It hurts like crazy, but it is necessary
o The bone cannot heal properly until it is put back into place
o It is painful, but necessary
o As Christians, we are called to come alongside of our brothers and sisters when they become ensnared in sin. It is our job to help them by putting the dislocated bone back into place, so that healing and restoration can happen.
o It will likely be painful, but we should be gentle being as careful as we can to minimize the pain
o The goal is not punishment or shame. The goal is restoration and health.
Galatians 6:1–2 (NIV)
Doing Good to All
6 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
· Watch yourselves, lest you should be tempted?
o This is a strange verse – how does restoring a fallen brother expose us to temptation?
o We’ll come back to this…
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
· Carry each other’s burdens
o This is meant to reinforce the point about restoring a fallen brother
o When one of us falls and needs help it is not their burden alone to bear – it is on us as brothers and sisters in Christ to help
o But this verse is not meant to be limited to just situations of sin – it is more general
o The burdens that are being talked about are weights – weights that are more than one person can bear
o We are called to come alongside those who are suffering under a crushing burden and share the load – you can imagine someone with an immense load on their shoulders that is about to crush them – we are to come alongside them and get up underneath part of the load so that they are not left to carry it alone. We share their load and take some of it upon ourselves so that they are not crushed
o I’m thankful that we often see this play out here in our church family
§ Chris and Deana have been going through a hard time with Deana’s health and surgery – you all have been so generous in coming alongside of them, providing food, a chair for Deana to recover in, financial support to help them with medical expenses – this is exactly what it looks like to help carry each others burdens
§ Of course, burdens are not just limited to health or financial needs – there are often crushing emotional, mental, or spiritual burdens that people experience. These too we are called to help with.
· Ok, Law of Christ = Law of Love.
· Scripture is very clear – we love one another by restoring those who stumble and carrying each other’s loads. We are not in this alone – we’re in this together.
3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load.
· We’re going to skip vs 3 and 4, but we’ll come back to them, I promise. First we have to deal with vs 5:
· Just like our story about the boy and the doctor, this one stops us in our tracks.
· Paul just said we should carry each other’s burdens. Now, 3 verses later he’s saying the opposite. What is going on here?
· The answer to this question is actually very important – and it’s going to unlock the meaning of the verses we skipped over.
· When Paul says that “each should carry their own load” it sounds to us like he’s talking about the same kind of load or burden from verse 2. However he’s actually talking about something different. There are two different Greek words used in these verses. In verse 2, the word that is translated burden is used to describe a heavy weight – a weight that is more than one person can bear.
· In verse 5, there is a different word used. The word used in verse 5 is used to refer to a single person load – the type of load you put in a backpack.
· What Paul is saying here is that there are two different types of loads:
o There is the load that is crushing – that you can’t and shouldn’t try to handle yourself – that’s the one that should be shared with others
o Then there’s also the type of load that is yours to bear – that you need to take personal responsibility for and not look to others to handle.
· And while in one sense, I think these two verses mean just that – that we need to recognize we all challenges and that we each need to be responsible and self-sufficient in the normal every-day burdens, I think it actually goes much deeper than that. I think Paul is telling us something very fundamental about ourselves, our human tendencies, and ultimately how we will stand before God.
· Each of us will one day stand before God to give an account – both for our life and for our death:
o Death = not how we physically died, but rather our spiritual death, that is our sin.
§ Romans 6:23 – for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
§ When we stand before God, he is going to ask us on what basis is our sin accounted for. In that moment, each of us will stand alone before God, and the only answer – the only possible answer – is for us to point to his Son Jesus and say “he took it.”
§ God’s criteria for accepting us will be our faith in Jesus and that alone. It will not be our good works. It will not be the faith of our parents or our kids or our spouse. It will not be what church we belong to or faith we say we identify with. It will be our personal, individual, faith in Christ – or not.
§ And if not, then we will stand eternally condemned. There will be no one else who can answer for us.
o Life – we also will need to give an account for our life.
§ God has a plan for each of us. God calls each of us to love him and to love his purpose for our life.
§ God a unique story for each of us. No two stories are the same. No two giftings are the same. No two struggles are the same. Each of us is on a journey, and God wants us to be evaluating ourselves not on how we are doing relative to others. He wants us to be evaluating ourselves on how we are running our own race – the one he’s created just for us.
§ This is SO HARD for us to understand.
§ We are wired to play the comparison game.
§ We so easily fall into the trap of imagining ourselves as the hero of the story, with our success or failure being determined by how well we do versus the other players in the game.
§ NO! That is not what God wants.
§ When we fall into that trap, we become miserable.
§ We either put others down and ourselves up, or we put others up and ourselves down.
§ Here’s a personal confession: in the past when I’ve had to prepare a sermon I used to intentionally avoid listening to other sermons before or after I talked. I avoided it b/c I inevitably found myself feeling inferior – rather than learning from others teaching and approaches, I just found myself making comparisons.
§ This time was actually different for me – I think in large part b/c of what we are studying in Galatians. This time I was able to listen to many other teachers speaking on this passage from Galatians. And rather than feeling discouraged by it, I was able to appreciate and learn from them.
§ I’ve only been able to do that by reminding myself that God’s only measure of me is what I’m doing with what he’s given me – not what he’s given anyone else.
As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
Matthew 20:1–16 (NIV)
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
“ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
John 21:18–23 (ESV)
18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
Jesus and the Beloved Apostle
20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” 23 So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”
Even the disciples were tempted by comparisons.
Now, as we turn back to the verses of warning that we skipped over in light of this knowledge, everything becomes clear:
6 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spiritshould restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.
· Why would you be tempted?
o Answer: comparison
o The minute you are involved in helping someone else who is caught in sin, your personal pride will start to rear its head and tempt you with comparisons:
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
· It is good for us to be involved in each other’s lives. We need to be restoring those who are caught in sin. But oh, be careful that you don’t fall into the trap of the Pharisees. Don’t for a second use this as an opportunity to put them down or yourself up.
· Remember, in Jesus’ parable it was the pharisee not the tax collector who ended up the worse off.
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
· This warning and situation is very similar. It is so good for us to be carrying each other’s burdens. The Law of Christ demands it. Yet be so careful that in doing so, you don’t use it as an opportunity to puff yourself up.
· When you help a brother in need, you are walking out the path God intends for you. Celebrate that – that God has chosen to use you to be a blessing to others. That is the gift, to be used by God.
· But remember, God is using you because he is good, not you. It says everything about him not us. We are mere jars of clay. It is God who is exalted, not us.
4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load.
Finally verse 4.
This verse can throw us off with its use of the word “pride.” Some translations use the word “boast.” Both of them are problematic to us. How, is it, in light of all we have just discussed, that Paul could be encouraging us to be boasting or taking pride in ourselves?
The answer is in the words before and after: each one should “test their own actions”….”without comparing themselves to someone else.”
This is simply saying what we’ve already said: that in the end we stand before God alone. He will judge us on our faith alone, and our obedience alone. On what we’ve done with that which he has entrusted to us. He is not comparing us to others. He is not grading us on a curve. When Paul tells us to take pride in ourselves or to boast in ourself, he’s speaking hyperbolically. The point of the sentence is not the boasting – it is the criteria. He’s using a figure of speech to turn our eyes away from looking to the left or the right to others and toward God and our own race that he’s called us to run – in His power, through His Spirit.
Ok, halfway done. (Just kidding, we’ll finish quickly.)
6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
If it seems to you like vs 6 doesn’t fit with the prior verses, you’re right.
In fact, there’s a rumor it was added at a later date by a pastoral lobby group. (just kidding!)
No, what I would say is that verse 6 is the beginning of a new thought or a new topic. It is loosely related to the prior verse in that Paul may be offering a counter balance to anyone who might misunderstand his comment about carrying our own load as meaning that we don’t need spiritual teachers. Clearly that’s not what he meant to say, so this verse certainly helps avoid that misunderstanding.
More generally, I believe Paul is building out his theme of the Law of Love for this chapter. So far, he’s covered the Love for a brother who has stumbled, the love for another who is suffering under a burden, and the love we should have for God’s purpose for our lives.
Now he’s turning to the love we should have for our pastor and for the church.
6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
This is a topic that is often difficult to preach on for pastors, as they may feel like there’s a conflict of interest. Fortunately, I don’t have that conflict of interest
While we don’t have time to go into it deeply with the time we have left, let me just say that the bible is very clear in many places, here included, about the need for us as believers to provide financially for those who serve us full time in ministry.
[scripture references]
It’s pretty clear from scripture that this concept of sowing and reaping is often associated with financial and material giving. What Paul is saying here is that we need to sow generously for the provision of his workers and his church.
I can tell you that as a church, you are a very generous and faithful people. So many of you give consistently and faithfully. It’s only because of that, that we can have this place and this pastor. I can tell you from my first hand observations of Derek and now Anthony, that being a pastor is one of the hardest jobs in the world. It is physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausting. I’m so grateful for the sacrifices that are made by faithful minsters. We are truly blessed by Pastor Anthony. As members of this body, the least that we can do is ensure that he and his family are materially provided for. And that’s exactly what you all are doing – thank you!
That said, just as we have been learning in this passage, each of us is on a journey. Each of us has things we’re working on and working out with God. If you are sitting there today and regular giving is not something you’ve put into practice, I would challenge you to really pray about that and consider taking a step in faith in that direction.
I’ve heard it said that our checkbook is a window into our heart. We often talk about what matters most to us, but how we spend our money is actually a measurement of that. If you look at how your are spending your money, are you sowing to the spirit or to the flesh? If the latter, I would challenge you to take the words of this scripture to heart.
Not to overstate the case, but read this scripture carefully:
the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
To be clear, this is not about buying or earning our salvation. Paul would say “may it never be!”
Rather, this is about taking our spiritual temperature and evaluating whether our lives really reflect what we say we believe.
And sowing is not just about money – it is about time – how we give our time, how we spend our time. It is about what we take into our minds and bodies and what we put out. We need to be sowing to the spirit with everything we do. And if we do, we will reap a harvest for eternity
Finally, last verse. Paul ends this verse on a note of encouragement:
9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Let us not grow weary in doing good.
Doing good should be a joy. We should persist in it joyfully and if so God will reap a good harvest on our behalf.
And we should do good to everyone – first to those who are of the family of faith but ultimately to everyone.
You know, one of the greatest witnesses to Christ that we can provide is how we demonstrate love. Love first for the family of believers, and second for all people. We should remember that. We should love each other lavishly. We should carry each others burdens. We should restore one another when we stumble. We should sow generously. And if we do, we will reap a harvest that will last into eternity!
Let’s pray.