Galatians 6:1-8: (THE MESSAGE) "Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.
Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.
Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.
Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life."
Paul's letter to the Church at Galatia has some wonderful advice in it ...and here in the 6th chapter is no exception. He gave us two words .... LIVE CREATIVELY, and then proceeds to give us ways in which to do just that. When I was reading this chapter a few days ago, the 'sermon' just jumped out at me, grabbed me by the throat, shook me a few times and said, "This is it! Do it! Do it NOW!" and so, I made a note to just that, for this week!
Live creatively. Two lovely words, neither of which are hard to understand. They may be a bit harder to put into practice, but with all the help he gives us, in this same chapter, immediately following these two words, we should be able to at least get started!
Here are some of the idea he mentions:
1. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself.
2. Share their burdens.
3. Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that.
4. Take responsibility for doing the creative best that you can do, with your own life.
5. Enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you.
6. Plant in response to God.
OK ... there you have the outline of the service. Now, let's put some meat on these bones!
1. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself.
You have probably heard it said that the Church is a hospital for sinners, and that OUGHT to be true, but unfortunately, it isn't always the case. What happens is that the Church seemingly more often is the execution chamber for those who make mis-steps along the way. It has also been said that the Church is the only agency on earth that kills its wounded members ....and that seems to be the pattern far more often.
Let someone do something someone else thinks they should not have done ...and the gossip mill heats up rapidly. Whispers fly from one member to another. Many years ago it was noted that the telephone was used more for gossip than for business ... and I suspect it is still very much true, today.
Many years ago, back in the 1960's, the pastor of the Church of my youth and one of the choir members decided to become a couple. Both were married to someone else. The incoming pastor was incredibly critical of them, and let it be known. Move forward 20 years .... I visited the critical one who was in the mental ward of a local hospital. He had been having a relationship with a lady to whom he was not married, although he was married to someone else.
He said to me, "Jerry, you remember how critical I was of ... name change here ..... Howard and Sally .... and I said, that I did. He told me, "Now, I am in the very same situation." And he was.
Paul gave good advice when he wrote, "If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself." Immediately after that sentence, though, is the crux of the matter. The next sentence says, "You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out." And there my friend was ... needing forgiveness for the very thing for which he had been so unkind in his comments and thoughts about .... Howard.
2. Share their burdens. The Scriptural quote is this: "Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law."
One of the things of which I am guilty is overlooking this way to live creatively. Paul says, STOOP DOWN AND REACH OUT to those who are oppressed. My problem, my sin, is that I don't want to do that. I pass by folks who need help, every single day that I live. I neither stoop down NOR reach out to most of them. Oh, occasionally I do, but not on any regular basis.
I wonder what would happen if I would really open the doors of my heart and go all out to help the oppressed. For one thing, I would be completing Christ's law.
I remember one time, not all that long ago, when I was preparing to eat at a local restaurant. When I got out of my car, I looked down between by feet, and there lay a $50 bill. I had never found that much money before. I went in the restaurant, ordered my food, and someone came in the restaurant, looking very distraught and I noted that the person was looking around on the floor, as if hunting something. I had the urge to go to that person, and ask if they had lost something. I had the urge to do it, but I didn't. Now, I don't know if that one was looking for the $50 bill or not. But me, in my greed and selfishness, was not about to find out.
I have run all sorts of scenarios through my mind about what that person had to suffer, if it were his bill that I found .... and I would bet that $50 and 10 more like it, that he needed it worse, a lot worse, than I did. But no. I did not stoop down.... I did not reach out ... and I blew it. And the following sentence to the one under consideration is this .... putting both sentences together ....."Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived."
No, I am not proud of my actions ... or rather ... lack of actions, that day.
3. Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that.
Making a careful exploration of who you are can be quite difficult .... but it is LIVING CREATIVELY. Self analysis is one of the hardest things one can ever do, if one is honest in the process. I don't know if you have ever did such, or not .... but, here is one way you can do it . Just make two lists .... one of the things you can do well, and one of the things you cannot do well.
Should I make such lists for myself, on the side of the things I can do well, I would probably write
play with numbers buy houses for a profit put sermons together respond to needs when asked to do so cook .....
And on the list of things I cannot do well, it would include things like exercise patience with folks who do not think as quickly as I think they should .... be patient with folks who do not take my advice, when they ask for it ....
give folks space and grace to be themselves .... dance ..... do most anything that requires hand/eye coordination ....
What would your two lists be?
I cannot count the times I have made a fool out of myself when trying to do things that I simply am not able to do very well. And I won't go into any of those examples right now ... .some of them still sting when I think of them. This section says, "Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that: but the rest of the verse says, "Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.
A couple of years ago, I was visiting with a friend who had successfully completed a rather large and difficult project, which, at the outset, had told me that he didn't know if he could do it, or not. We talked after he had finished it, and he said, "I'm so impressed with myself!"
Now, that might be OK in a physical world accomplishment, but in terms of spiritual grace, nothing we ever accomplish is due to our own efforts. Without the help of our Heavenly Father, we could do nothing. So ... whether it is a hard or easy task, my friends ... take Paul's advice and don't be impressed with yourself.
4. Take responsibility for doing the creative best that you can do, with your own life.
There are a couple of ways of looking at this bit of advice from Paul's writing. One is to say, "If I win or lose, it is MY responsibility.
And another way is to tell ourselves that we ARE responsible for doing the creative best that we can do, meaning, it is up to us to determine just how much effort we plan to put into this project.
I think it is very fortunate that we cannot be responsible for the way someone else lives their life. I cannot be responsible for the way YOU live YOUR life, for the which I am thankful beyond words, simply because I have enough trouble trying to live creatively in my own life. And trust me when I say this .... BE VERY THANKFUL you do not have to be responsible for the way I live MY life. You would not want that, under any circumstances!
We have already seen three ways in which we can live creatively, and now, we are on the fourth one. Take responsibility for your thoughts, feelings, words and actions.
DianaMarais wrote, "To take responsibility for your life, is to take responsibility for your powers of thinking, feeling, speaking and acting, because this is the structure of all human experience. You create your life with your thoughts, feelings, words and actions.
You take responsibility when you accept that the thoughts you have, are your thoughts coming from your mind. How you feel happens in your body and is a result of your thoughts. The words you speak come from your mouth and voice. The actions you take, are taken by you.
What this means is that nobody can make you think, feel, say or do anything. Nobody can push your buttons, because you are the button maker! In the same way you don’t have control over how other people respond as they respond from their mindset."
Another way we can be at our creative best is to Look for the good in people.
There’s a saying that we judge ourselves by our intentions and we judge others by their behavior.
Make it your new habit to look for the intentions behind people’s behavior. So often when we understand where someone comes from, we let go of judgment.
One excellent practice is to remove the labels with which we tag others, as if that gives us permission to treat them in the worst possible way. Often this applies to the people closest to us.
Ask yourself, “If I just see him or her as a human being, as a Child of God, regardless of their actions or attitudes, how will I respond differently?”
Ah, yes, Friends! Live Creatively!
5. Enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you.
There are three terms in this way of living creatively that need some attention. Generous. Common life. Those who have trained you.
Generous is a word that denotes degrees of unselfishness. For example, if I have a thousand dollars, and you want some money, at what point is my gift to you generous? Is it $10? Is it a hundred? Is it $250? More? At what point would YOU term ME a generous?
Now, put the rabbit slipper on the other foot. YOU have a thousand dollars, and I need some of it. At what point would YOU decide that you had been generous enough?
There's an old story, which I believe to be true that has President Nixon and Billy Graham attending a Church service, sitting together. It is well known that the President, any President, is not supposed to carry money. President Nixon asked Billy Graham for a loan to put in the offering plate, apparently wanting and perhaps even specifically mentioning a $20. Graham hands him a hundred dollar bill!
The question then becomes .... Is President Nixon now generous, at least, on that occasion? The real question, here, is what is YOUR generosity level?
The second term in this idea of living creatively is COMMON LIFE. What does that mean? Common life is that which we share, together. We, each of us here today, live relatively close to the Church. I suspect the most distant one of our regular attendance is about 10 or 12 miles. The nearest one is just a few hundred yards. But, we all congregate here on Sunday Morning, and for dinners and such. We share a common Church background. We are Presbyterians. We share in the offering, all of us putting in that which we determine is right for us, based on two factors .... our income or asset base, and our generosity. It is not how much we put in, you see. Jesus made that quite clear as He praised a certain widow who gave two mites ... two pennies, if you please. He said she gave more than them all!
And the third term used in this section is "those who have trained you." Who are those who have trained you?
Luke 6:40 reads, "The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his Master." And who is our Master, but our Lord Jesus. He is ONE of the ones who have trained us. Everyone who has helped you down through the years, whether pastor or teacher or writer or friend, has tried to help you conform to the life of being a dedicated Christian, who is living creatively!
Now, we have each helped train the other, as we have, for years, shared our ideas and our experiences, our thoughts and our convictions. And thus, we DO have a common life, as we celebrate our times together.
The entire verse then reads, 'Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.
Whether it be a Bible Study, a family night dinner, a Sunday Morning worship service, or those special services like Christmas Communion or 5th Sunday night singing, we are sharing in common, are we not?
And, the 6th and final thought for the morning is simply 6. Plant in response to God.
To me, the question that I must ask is WHAT DOES GOD WANT ME TO DO? And the answer is quite stark and to the point. Hear these words from the last Chapter of Proverbs, vv 8 & 9:
“Speak up for the people who have no voice, for the rights of all the misfits. Speak out for justice! Stand up for the poor and destitute!”
From Isaiah's first chapter, v 17:
"Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow."
We must include Micah 6:8
"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
Matthew 6:33 ... "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness"
Mark 16:15: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
1 Cor 7:17: "each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them."
Is this enough of what we are to plant, in response to God? If not, I can sure find more ... The Scriptures have lots more. There are plenty of verses in Philippians, Timothy, Hebrews, and the writings of Peter.
But, I trust that you have enough on your plate, right now .... so that YOU can plant in response to God. Amen.
