(Based on a sermon preached at First Baptist Church, Chamois, MO, on 8-27-2023. This is not an exact transcription.)
Introduction: This is the last Sunday in August and I’ll be finishing this “back to school” theme with today’s message. Our text today comes from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, chapter 6, and Paul gives them—and us—some very practical principles for living our Christian lives. Beginning with chapter 6, verse one, here’s out text:
Text: Galatians 6:1-10, NASV: 1 Brothers and sisters, even if a person is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you are not tempted as well. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks that he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting, but to himself alone, and not to another. 5 For each one will bear his own load.
6 The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9 Let’s not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not become weary. 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let’s do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
Principle 1-Restoring a Brother/Sister
Some of us may not know much about the Galatian people themselves so allow me a moment to explain some info about them. According to Dr, J. Vernon McGee’s materials on the “Thru the Bible” website, these Galatians were migrants from Gaul and settled in the middle section of Asia Minor, which later became Turkey. Galatia was the name of a province, like Pontus, Cappadocia, and others mentioned in various New Testament books.
Thoroughly pagan, these Galatians had heard the message of salvation in Jesus when Paul and others preached the Gospel. Many believed and were faithful in serving the Lord.
That is, until some quote-quote “missionaries” came from Jerusalem and promptly tried to undo everything Paul had done—through the power of the Holy Spirit, it goes without saying. Paul’s message was “Christ died for our sins, and anyone who believes this message will be saved” and will go to Heaven when they die. Sounds simple, right? It is, and it was intended to be simple. Too many have tried, sometimes with success, to make salvation a complicated process instead of the tried and true Plan of Salvation.
What happened is that these so-called “missionaries” had begun to teach these Gentile believers that it wasn’t enough to be saved by faith alone. These people had also taught that these Gentiles had to be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses just like the Jews themselves. It didn’t matter that nobody did, or ever could, keep the Law but for them, these Gentiles were ripe for Judaism 2.0 in their eyes.
And their efforts were successful, so much so that (in my opinion) this led Paul and Barnabas to go back to Jerusalem and take part in the first Church council (Acts 15). I wonder just how hot the debates were in whether or not the Gentiles had to conform to the Jewish system before they could be saved. Fortunately for them and for us, the Apostles gave some guidelines that work just as well now as then.
Now, the pull or appeal or whatever it was about Judaism that drew these Gentiles into “Judaism light” may not have been the only “wrongdoing” going on. It’s great when people come to faith in Christ when they’re young, giving them most of their lives to live for Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s influence to—we hope—keep them from falling into sin, ungodly lifestyles, and that kind of thing. It’s also great when people come to believe in Jesus at any age, but the problem is that the later in life this happens, sometimes there’s a lot of baggage or old stuff that the new believer has to deal with. Of course the Lord can provide deliverance but for some it just isn’t easy to do.
Examples, you ask? Let’s suppose some of these pagan-background believers had been more or less addicted to alcoholic beverages (wine, strong drink, and maybe other stuff). Could they stop, “cold turkey”, as we sometimes say? Some, maybe, could but others seemed to maintain or never get over that problem—just look at what was happening at Corinth during the so-called “Lord’s Supper”. Chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians gives a graphic account of what was going on then.
But no matter just _what_ the problem or issue was, Paul gave some clear instructions for those who were spiritual to restore this brother (or, we could add, sister—our sisters in the Lord could have or used to have similar problems). Let me take just a moment to explain the word “restore”.
The idea is that something’s broken, or needs mended, “fixed” in other words. It’s used of James and John “mending” their nets and some commentators observe that it’s also used of setting a broken bone. Now, do I have a story about that!
This was about September or October; at least school was in session, during my fifth grade year. Not too far from a relative’s house was a school with various items in the playground. Okay, I got on the swings, and, well, “swinged”, for a while. I got the swing a little higher than I thought was safe and, don’t ask me why, I jumped out of the swing: and landed on my hands and knees.
No problem for the knees, by the way, but I landed a bit off balance and noticed that the outside bone of my right wrist was now located a little different than a few minutes before. Not really thinking too much about it, I just thought it was the result of the “thud” and that the pain (oh yeah, there was pain!) would go away soon.
Nope.
We stopped at a grocery store and Mom got me one of those small plastic tubs of ice cream—you know, the kind where you pull off the paper lid and use a wooden spoon to get the ice cream where it tastes the best. Yeah. Well, I got the paper off and thought, “Why does my hand still hurt?” And when I tried—and failed—to get even a taste of ice cream on that wooden spoon. I told Mom my hand was hurting.
She took one look.
And I doubt any ride to the local emergency room could have happened any faster. Sure, if you’ve been to one ER, you know what happens, and sure enough I waited (forever, I thought!) until the doctor came in. I don’t remember all he said or did except that after he gripped my wrist, he uttered some of the most ironic words in English: “Son, this is gonna hurt a little.”
He was right! He squeezed something—don’t ask me what—and I guess slid the out-of-place bone back where it should have gone. It worked, and of course the plaster cast that was wrapped around my wrist helped, too. Yes, I could call his name even after all these years but, as Chuck Swindoll wrote in one of his books, I’ll always remember him as “Dr. Vise Grip!”
Well, the doctor got the bone restored even if he didn’t follow this text, having a spirit of gentleness as he worked on me. Now, in terms of the physical, there may not be very much any of us can do but there’s a difference in terms of the spiritual. Let me go a little deeper on this.
There’s another aspect or angle involved here, and it’s in the meaning of the word translated “wrongdoing.” One preacher, as part of a televised sermon, described the word as an archery term, meaning to “miss the mark”. Good archers, of course, would aim for the gold (sometimes called the “bull’s eye”), not the red, black, or other rings and they would logically aim for the assigned target, not anyone else’s.
Things like this, like missing the mark, can happen to any believer. Anyone who knows Jesus as Lord and Savior will sometimes sin or miss the mark. 1 John 1:9 speaks to this but it’s up to us as friends and fellow believers to watch out for those who do miss the mark. It’s up to us to gently remind an erring brother or sister about what’s wrong. Besides, this concept goes all the way back to the days of our Lord on this earth—see Matthew 18:15-17. So then, let’s be watchful, but let’s also be gentle, in this regard.
Let’s move on to another principle, sharing another brother’s burden.
Principle 2-Sharing the burden
Verse 2 tells us, as brothers and sisters in the Lord, to bear one another’s burdens. It’s true, the word “burden” is used in several different ideas, concepts, and so on but here it means something that has “personal and eternal significance” according to the notes at HELPS word-study, https://biblehub.com/greek/922.htm. Jesus used this very word in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20), quoting one of the earliest men hired as saying, “We bore the ‘burden’ and heat of the day (paraphrased)”.
And just as today, believers can be under burdens, too, some of them severe. What is a real problem for me may not be any trouble for you; also, what is a real burden for you might be easy for me. Oh, absolutely, our enemies—one in particular—is always trying to find ways to make our Christian life difficult. He does this by placing these burdens upon us.
But we have the words of Paul for each believer to bear one another’s burdens. One such burden, come to think of it, took place in Jerusalem just after Pentecost and the thousands of new believers needed food, shelter, and so on. The other believers contributed what they could to help these new believers. Other burdens might be famines, persecution, or just about anything the Enemy of our souls tries to throw in our way.
Paul also mentioned “each one will bear his own load.” This is a totally different word than “burden” in verse 2, with the idea here that every person carries what’s needed for the task at hand. It’s like the backpack or knapsack a soldier would use to carry his clothes, rations, and whatever else he would need. Each believer, then, should have enough for himself or herself so that he or she won’t run out when it’s time to help someone else with their burdens. May each one of us look for those who need help with their burdens and do what we can for each one!
But sharing the burden isn’t the only thing to share. Paul mentions some other things in the next verse, so let’s go there.
Principle 3-Sharing the Word
Paul didn’t spend a lot of time on this one and I won’t either. Basically, as I understand this, there’s an opportunity and responsibility for all believers to learn the Word. Naturally, there was nothing but the Old Testament in written form in those days. The Jews used the Scriptures in the synagogues every Sabbath and I’m sure the Messianic Jews (those who had come to faith in Jesus as Lord, Savior, and Messiah) studied these regularly. Those in Berea sure did and Luke said they were “more noble” because they did so (Acts 17).
So please, let me encourage you to read and study the Word of God for yourselves. Read it, study it, love it, and live it! And it would truly be a blessing for me when one of you would sau, “Here’s something I found in the Word, and it means a lot to me!”
Paul didn’t go much further with this except to say God is not mocked. I don’t know the exact reason Paul wrote this, such as whether it was something that happened in Galatia or something they knew and we don’t, but the principle is the same.
Look at it like this—God knows, hears, sees, and is aware of everything. We may try to hide or turn out the lights or whatever but He knows what’s going on. We can never fool Him so why try? He is not mocked and promises that whatever we sow, we’ll reap. Among other things, as an old preacher once said, “That doesn’t mean sow your wild oats and pray for crop failure.”
And Paul knew very well about sowing and reaping. He had caused a lot of pain and suffering for the early believers, when he was still Saul of Tarsus, and I don’t think he ever got over it. Years later, when he was making his defense before King Agrippa (Acts 26), he admitted that he had done this. He might be saying, under the surface, “Don’t let what happened to me, happen to you.” No, God is not mocked; no matter how hard people try to do this, even today.
There’s one more principle here in the text and I think Paul was led to save this for last. That principle is “never give up”!
Principle 4-We’ll reap if we don’t give up
Just as it’s important to share the Word, it’s important to never give up before the job’s done. Paul certainly knew about sowing and reaping and the Lord Jesus Himself used this figure in several of His teachings. Now, we know that there’s some good, level, “bottom land” as we’d call it in West Virginia, and it’s good for corn. In fact, there’s corn labeled as being from “the boys from Chamois!” It must have been good, all right, because it was all gone before I could buy one single ear of the stuff!
But, suppose these folks said something like, “You know, it’s hot, and I just don’t think we’re going to get any kind of harvest. I quit. Let the deer get it all. I’m done with it.”
Would they have made any kind of profit on this? How much corn would have gone to waste if they didn’t stay with the job till it was done? They wouldn’t have made a dime, and hundreds, maybe thousands of ears of corn would have been left to rot or become animal food. That didn’t happen, though, and because they stayed with it, they reaped a good harvest.
We don’t have any guarantee as to how much of a harvest we’ll receive but we do have the promise that nothing we do for Jesus is ever wasted. Paul reminded the believers to keep on keeping on, with the promise we would reap if we don’t give up.
There’s a lot more to say but I’m going to stop here for now. Remember, please, these principles and I hope we all can put them into practice in our daily lives. God bless you and may we live every day for Jesus!
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Version of the Bible (NASV).
