27 The Book Of Galatians – Chapter 6:9-10 - Message 27 – Do Not Grow Weary In Doing Good To All - Especially To Fellow Believers Series

27 THE BOOK OF GALATIANS – CHAPTER 6:9-10 - Message 27 – DO NOT GROW WEARY IN DOING GOOD TO ALL - ESPECIALLY TO FELLOW BELIEVERS

Galatians chapter 6 is full of instructions for practical Christian living. They may look simple but they need a lot of help from God to perform correctly in humility, not as some badge of honour. Today’s message is about not easing off or giving in to tiredness. We are not to lose heart in going good

[1]. LOSING HEART AND WEARINESS WILL LOSE THE HARVEST

{{Galatians 6:9 “LET US NOT LOSE HEART IN DOING GOOD, for in due time we shall reap if we DO NOT GROW WEARY,”}}

Tiredness challenges us to overcome us. We must not be overcome in the Lord’s service

Becoming too tired for the task and wanting to give up, especially if the task is long, is part of our human nature. We are all like that and I don’t say it is necessarily wrong. Some things become too heavy; some have no light in the tunnel before them; some may become purposeless to us. We don’t like pursuing something when we see no outcome, for it is judged to be a waste of time. However in the Lord’s work there is to be no slackness.

Close to me there is a steep hill of only 340 metres (about 1100 feet) and now and again I climb it. There is a mountain bike trail that winds around and up and some of it has very steep grades. In one sense it is pleasant enough because it is in tropical rainforest, but it is a slog of endurance, often in high humidity. I might be, maybe, half way up and my body is telling me to stop or that’s enough for this trip.

I push on step by step, stopping a bit more to catch my breath. There are landmarks – a small clearing, or a special tree, and I think, “Yes, there are another 3 or 4 of these markers I know of.” I keep going, and near the end there are a number of blind turns and I go around one thinking, “It might be the next one and I am there.” Sometimes that can happen several times as I forget which turn it is. EVENTUALLY I come around the corner and there is the end! I have reached the top.

Life is like that. Just one more turn maybe. I will keep on for another 2 minutes. Surely it has to be soon. All that, while our minds and bodies might be saying, “That’s it! I’ve had enough!”

Some people are lazy. Some have little motivation. Some have no desire. Some don’t see any priority in the matter. Some have only a little bit of endurance, but no more. Some never, ever consider the final outcome. That is what makes up our world, but what ramifications does all that have for Christians?

[2]. STICK TO THE LORD’S TASK WITHOUT WAVERING

When Paul wrote to the believers in Galatia, he must have considered some of them lacking this quality of endurance because, after all, they soon gave way to the enticing and insidious doctrines of those wanting to place them under the Law. They had little resistance. The Galatians were a fickle people and that suggests to me they were a bit like this adhesive tape and masking tape we now have from China, absolute rubbish that gives way in no time. Sadly my nation is full of Chinese junk when it comes to quality.

We must stick fast in our faith with God to uphold our Christian testimony. Do not be as the Galatians were – {{Galatians 1:6 “I am amazed that YOU ARE SO QUICKLY DESERTING HIM who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel.”}}

WHY DO SOME PEOPLE GIVE UP AFTER A WHILE (losing heart) when they seemed like bright stars for the Lord? None of us will ever be able to answer that because there are too many variables but the word of God hints at some reasons.

(a). THE SOIL WAS TOO SHALLOW AND ROCKY. {{Matthew 13:5-6 “Others fell upon THE ROCKY PLACES WHERE THEY DID NOT HAVE MUCH SOIL, and immediately they sprang up because they had no depth of soil, but when the sun had risen they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.”}}. Then comes the Lord’s explanation – {{Matthew 13:20-21 “The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately RECEIVES IT WITH JOY, yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.”}}

The expression “receives it with joy” would make you think the person was genuine and really converted but after a while, the star fades and you scarcely see that individual again. You wonder what could be wrong but maybe the soil was too shallow.