Therefore: Do Good Series

It’s one of those things that preachers say. It is kind of like, “After the but comes the truth,” or “I’m almost finished.”

I’m pretty sure if you’ve been in church for any length of time that you’ve heard this particular phrase, perhaps you’ve even said it yourself from time to time, and it is our theme for the next couple of months.

You’ve probably guessed it from the bulletin: the banner over the door and the graphic on the screen. “Whenever you see a therefore in the bible, you need to go back and see what it’s there for.”

Now I first learned that when I was at Bible College, way back in the last century, and I’m sure at some point you’ve heard me say it from the platform.

Now, for you grammar nerds out there, “Therefore” is a subordinating conjunction. And while I’m sure most of you know that, for the couple of people who don’t, a subordinating conjunction is a word or phrase that links a dependent clause to an independent clause.

Now, if you are like me, that means absolutely nothing to you.

One website I checked out said that Independent and dependent clauses could be likened to Batman and Robin. The dependent, or subordinate, clause would be Robin, Batman’s assistant.

The independent main clause would be Batman, his superhero boss. Batman can exist without Robin, Robin can’t exist without Batman. And that makes perfect sense. That’s the reason why there have been 13 Batman movies, going back to 1943 and not even one Robin movie.

Are you with me yet? Let’s try in context.

Batman insists that everyone who rides in the Batmobile wears a seat belt. Robin refused to wear his seat belt. Therefore, Batman won’t let Robin ride in the Batmobile.

“Therefore, Batman won’t let Robin ride in the Batmobile” is the dependent clause. It only makes sense if we go back to find out why Batman won’t let Robin ride in the Batmobile.

It’s not because Batman is a selfish jerk. It’s because Robin won’t wear his seat belt, and Batman insists that everyone who rides in the Batmobile must wear a seat belt.

Too often, we find a verse we like in the Bible and latch on to it, and if it has a “therefore,” instead of going back and investigating, we ignore it, which is sloppy and lazy bible study.

Therefore, during the next eight weeks, the preaching team will be looking at some of those scriptures. Did you see what I did?

And we have all kinds of opportunities. The word, therefore, is used 171 times in the New Living Translation and 446 times in the New International Version. And if there isn’t enough, it is used, 866 times in the Revised Standard Version and a whopping 1355 times in the New King James Version.

The scripture that was read for us this morning ended with these words: Galatians 6:10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.

This could have been a complete sentence, even without the word “therefore,” and the reality is that the way it is read, most of the time.

Galatians 6:10 Therefore, Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.

And that makes complete sense and would fit on a poster, a coffee mug, or a greeting card.

However, by the way, that is another subordinating conjunction. However, verse 10 does not exist in isolation.

In isolation, it simply means that we should do good things for people, especially other Christ followers.

That would be a great verse for last week’s Love Atlantic activities. And that’s not a bad thing to aspire to. But let’s go back and see what the therefore is actually there for,

We could go back just one verse, and we read this, Galatians 6:9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

And that is a great verse, and I’ve preached a whole series of messages based on this one verse focusing on the thought of not giving up. And it makes sense if we add it to verse 10, Galatians 6:9-10 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.

But there is more to verse 10 than simply verse 9. Therefore, let’s look at what leads us to verse 10.

Earle L. Wilson, was the longest-serving General Superintendent in the history of The Wesleyan Church, and in his commentary on this verse he wrote, “The church is a family, not a civic or social club. As a family we are knit together supernaturally by the Holy Spirit in common fellowship of love.”