Audio Access Available Above
“4 Marks Of A Fruitful Life” • 7.20.13
• Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- We come today to our final chapter in Paul's
short, but powerful epistle to the church of God in Galatia. He has made a
compelling case for God's grace in three distinct sections.
- Chapters 1
and 2 feature Paul's Personal Experience with grace. God picked Paul when Paul
was Saul, seeking the death of the Christian Way! He had done that in the
Galatians as well.
- He changed them by grace alone through faith
alone in Christ alone!
- Chapters 3
and 4 presents Paul's Doctrinal Explanation of grace, which exposed God's dealings
with Abraham who was declared righteous before circumcision and before the law
of Moses!
- Finally, chapters 5 and 6 expose Paul's Practical Exhortation for the
church, who were to see themselves as crucified, under the express direction of
the Holy Spirit.
- Chapter 5
ended with a contrast between the life dominated by the flesh and the life
directed by the Holy Spirit.
- As we close out this book, Paul lays out what
a life generated by the Spirit looks like.
I. Redemptive (5:25-6:1)
II. Responsible (v.2-5)
III. Resourceful (6-10)
IV. Resolute (v.11-18)
Text
I. Redemptive (5:25-6:1)
•
Galatians 5:25,26 : "If we live in the Spirit, let us
also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one
another." : The
word "if" in verse 25 would be better translated "since."
-
Since that is the case, how can we not now allow the Spirit to guide our
conduct? We have our life in the Spirit, let us walk or conduct ourselves in
the Spirit as well!
-
The way we express ourselves gives tangible evidence to our connection with the
Holy Spirit who desires to bring attention to Jesus Christ.
-
That's why this word against "conceit" is here. It's a word that
describes going after vain glory or boasting of something that one does not
possess.
-
Whatever we are, we possess through the agency of God's Holy Spirit. Why then
would we boast about something that we have second hand, on His account!?
-
Paul continues and says, "Let's not provoke one another." The idea is
to constantly challenge one another resulting in irritation. What an
inappropriate use of God's gifting!
-
The petty need for showmanship or one-up-manship is incredibly out of place! It
goes right along with envying one another. These things issue from our flesh.
-
When we live in such a way, we only engender a competitive spirit among some
and an envious spirit among others. That's not the way to walk in the Spirit!
-
But what of the life in the Spirit? Here's how we do that!
•
Galatians 6:1 : "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in
any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of
gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted." : To be "overtaken" means to be taken suddenly and by
suprise. What is he overtaken in? A trespass. A lapse. A deviation from the
course.
-
This is not a person in a lifestyle of sin, but one who gets caught up in a
sin.
-
Paul says, "You who are spiritual, who know the life of the Spirit,
restore such a one." Don't be conceited because you didn't sin the same
way. Don't challenge him to irritation. Seek redemption!
-
A truly spiritual person isn't one who is untouched by sin. They are one's who
see it and seek to act redemptively as the Lord does!
-
When the Greek medical community used this word, it meant to mend a bone, to
reset it back into it's place so that it would properly heal!
-
A person in sin has inflicted that type of pain on themselves. For those who
are contrite, who know that they have sinned, our response it to reset their
spiritually broken bone!
-
How are we to do this? In a spirit of gentleness or meekness. We have the power
in that moment to continue to condemn them or to help in healing them! It's
good to be gentle. Why?
-
Because we need to remember ourselves! How weak are we? How much sin would we
get into if given the opportunity? How would we want to have a bone mended?
-
We are not as strong as we think we are and may be needlessly tempted in that
moment to be harsh and condemning like the enemy instead of redeeming, like our
Lord!
II. Responsible (v.2-5)
•
Galatians 6:2,3 : "Bear one another’s burdens, and so
fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is
nothing, he deceives himself." : Paul
commands the Galatians to come alongside their brother and help him with the
heavy load that he is dealing with!
-
The word literally means to carry with your hands! Be hands on and practical
when you see a brother carrying something difficult to bear. This infers two
things.
-
First, we are to be actively listening to and looking to see how we can assist
each other.
-
You will be able to lay hands on your brother or sister in prayer. You may be
able to financially or physically help them. Perhaps you know a person who can
help them.
-
You and I need to be involved with each other, willing to lift our hands to
help, but that also requires a second thing from the one who is burdened: You
need to be in fellowship!
-
People need to know who you are and trust that you belong to Christ and are not
just some visitor that is passing through!
-
They need to hear you pray, see you at events, hang with you after the service
and eat with you. If you never open yourself up, you will needlessly bear
burdens alone.
-
The attitudes "I cannot be bothered" or "I don't want to bother"
are incongruous with being in the Lord's church.
-
When we do actively seek to help each other, we are fulfilling the law of
Christ, which was and is in fact, to love one other!
-
This is not only a command for God's people, but a test that reveals the
genuine nature of a person, in this instance a person with an opinion of
themselves.
-
This person thinks of himself as being a Christian, but he is never moved to
consider anyone except himself. He thinks that the church exists to meet his
needs!
-
That person is not only not something that he believed himself to be, but he is
in fact, nothing! He has fooled himself into believing something that is not
true of him.
•
Galatians 6:4,5 : "But let each one examine his own
work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own
load." : Each person in the church has to
take the initiative to carefully inspect their own work.
-
The word "examine" is written in the present active imperative, which
gives us the sense that this is commanded of us and we are to do this now and
to continue doing it!
-
We are responsible to test ourselves for authenticity! What am I doing and what
am I doing it for? Is it out of love for the Lord or is there another
motivation?
-
When we have examined ourselves, then we will have reason to rejoice about our
relationship with the Lord and not in another.
-
I like the way the NLT translates verse 4: "Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the
satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to
anyone else."
-
What do legalists and fleshly, carnal Christians do? Compare themselves with
others! How many Christians are busy discovering every fault except theirs!
Each needs to carry their own load.
-
"Wait Paul! I thought we were supposed to bear each other's burdens?"
Which is it? Both!
-
The "load" is akin to the soldier's pack that each one is responsible
for. Imagine the soldier who is marching forth. He will have his own pack on,
but another might have a difficult assignment.
-
As he walks forward carrying his own pack, he reaches over and helps carry the
extra weight that his fellow soldier has, so that they can both walk together!
That's our responsibility!
III. Resourceful (v.6-10)
•
Galatians 6:6 : "Let him who is taught the word
share in all good things with him who teaches." : The word "taught" comes from the word
"catechism" meaning that this person is hearing God's word.
-
That person is to share, the A.V. uses the word "communicate," every
good thing with the teacher. The word comes from the Greek word
"koinoneo" referring to partnership.
-
Don't just rejoice yourself! Tell the Pastor of the good things that God is
doing! This extends itself practically and financially.
-
Why? Because he needs to know that something is clicking. He needs to be
encouraged too!
-
Too often, the Pastor gets to hear only the difficult and troublesome things,
which it is his honor to hear. But, it's few and far between when he hears the
good things that are happening!
-
When we are receiving strength, God deems it an appropriate thing to share
strength as well.
•
Galatians 6:7,8 : "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked;
for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will
of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit
reap everlasting life." : Don't be lead away from the
truth about your life. Note the connection: Practically sharing in the
ministry! God is not mocked!
-
The word speaks of a person that turns his nose up at God in a dismissive way. God
will not be treated that way by anyone! But who tries?
-
Those who live according to their flesh, deceiving themselves into believing
that they are something that they are not! God is calling people to obey His
principle of partnership.
-
When people don't give, it's because they are spending on themselves, usually
in fleshly pursuits. Sowing to the flesh will reap corruption, generally in
life and specifically in finances.
-
Whatever you sow, that is what you are going to reap. It's a simple principle.
Spiritually, if you sow to the flesh, eventually, corruption will be your
harvest.
-
The NLT renders the same phrase as "decay and death." The one who
sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life!
-
Why does Paul speak this way? When we keep for our flesh and our money goes to
our flesh, our hearts will follow that and what we've invested will rot away.
-
Think of the wasted financial expenditures that were spent solely on ourselves.
What did they bring in our lives? What part was lasting and useful towards
God's people?
-
When we invest in the things of God, our hearts will follow all the way to
everlasting life where we will see the harvest! Look at verse 9.
•
Galatians 6:9,10 : "And let us not grow weary while
doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity,
let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." : Oh, the "sweet by and by!" Everlasting life. It's so
far from here! Paul hears what you and I are thinking.
-
Why be involved? Why give ourselves the chance to get hurt? Why help? It's all a
drop in the ocean isn't it!?" "And let us not grow weary while doing
good!"
-
Let us not become utterly without spirit, exhausted to the point of fainting. There
are times when you will feel that it's not worth it.
-
"I'm too tired for this. This is too much investment!" Don't lose the
spirit to do good things in spite of how difficult it is! It's not easy and it
will take a toll on you, but it's worth it!
-
Look! In due season a reward is coming for those that don't lose heart!
-
At the right time. In the appropriate time, when we are ready to receive it, we
will reap. As that is the case, with every opportunity let's do good to all,
chiefly to those who are of the faith.
IV. Resolute (v.11-18)
•
Galatians 6:11-13 : "See with what large letters I have
written to you with my own hand! As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these
would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution
for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they
desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh." : It's been noted throughout the last several letters, that Paul
dictated the majority of his letters.
-
At this point, as he is coming to a close, he takes the pen into his own hands
and writes.
-
He wants the Galatians to see that this is his thought. There is no
intermediary. He wants, in the media of his day, to shock them into reading
what he has to say!
-
Maybe they had tuned things out, but no matter, Paul will say it firmly and
directly again.
-
Those who sought converts to the "Christianity plus law" aberration,
wanted to make a good showing, literally "put forward a good face,"
in the flesh. They wanted to impress with their numbers!
-
That's their motive. This was their method: To compel. This means that they
were driving them, even to the point of threats, to be cicumcised!
-
For the legalist, misery loves company! This is why you must conform to their
way of thinking, why they will wrangle with you despite the mountain of
Biblical evidence to the contrary!
-
When you show the slightest agreement, when you concede at the smallest point,
they go in for the kill! They see doubt and that gives them the way in!
-
It begins with a discussion and moves to a plea. When that doesn't work, there
are threats of excommunication and ultimately, threats that God will not save
you! How wicked and cruel!
-
They push and push this way because the alternative is to suffer persecution
for the sake of preaching the cross of Christ!
-
They would rather suffer for their flesh and feel as though they accomplished
something for God, than glory in the Cross, which robs them of all of their
glorious self-satisfaction!
-
"Galatians," Paul pleads for them to see, "even these who have
been circumcised, they don't keep the law! They just want you circumcised so
that they can boast in your flesh!"
-
What ironic words! Cut off your flesh to show how strong your love for God is.
That's a fleshly attitude that offends God! Then they turn around and brag that
they got you to be circumcised!
•
Galatians 6:14,15 : "But God forbid that I should boast
except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has
been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation." : There is really no way to put this. Paul reserves his most
ardent plea, his most stubborn cry for the end.
-
God's name is not invoked, as far as I can tell, in the original script, though
it's a good phrase to frame the thought in.
-
In his most adversative statement, Paul says, "No! NO! A THOUSAND TIMES
NO!" May it never be! Far be it from me! Let anything happen to me save
this!
-
What? That I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! I will
boast, but it won't be in me! It will be in Him, His cross, His victory, His
love, His accomplishment!
-
It's by Him that the world has been crucified to Paul and to us. The world's
pull on me is dead, for I am dead to it! What an amazing statement! Why?
-
For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision or non-circumcision means a thing!
-
Paul doesn't care if he wins the popularity of the religious world. He's
crucified to them! What matters is that Paul is a new creation, as are all who
are in Christ!
•
Galatians 6:16,17 : "And as many as walk according to
this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one trouble me,
for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." : As many as walk according to this rule. The word
"walk" should bear a resemblance to a person marching in line.
-
The rule is the straight measuring line. What is the measuring line? Our
glorying, boasting in Jesus Christ. To that person, may the peace and mercy of
God be upon them!
-
These are the Israel, the governed of God. Those who glory in themselves, who
boast in the flesh, there is no peace or mercy for them!
-
Paul did not want to hear any more about circumcision from them. He didn't need
another mark to identify him with the Lord.
-
He bore the stigma of being Christ's, which refers to a branding mark made by
men who owned slaves in the Roman Empire.
-
Paul is saying that his body clearly revealed that he belonged to the Lord, for
he suffered in a similar fashion to the Lord, a statement the Judaizers could
not relate to.
•
Galatians 6:18 : "Brethren, the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen." :
What does Paul leave them with? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ! It is his
highest hope that they would return to the Lord's grace.
-
Did they? We'll probably only know in eternity, but whether they did or did
not, Paul discharged his duty and called them to grace.
-
We are called to remain there in grace as well. May His grace be with our
spirit, our human spirit. May our will choose his grace. May we all say,
"Amen!"
Conclusion
- Pray
- Pray
No comments:
Post a Comment