Galatians
“Living Free”
Main Teaching: 1:10-6:10
6:1-10 Practice perfected
Closing: 6:11-18 Dying to Live
6:1-5 “Practice perfected”
Vs. 1-5 Sharing burdens and blessings
Intro.
1929 Cal Berkley’s Roy Regals was involved in a play that will go down in college football history. His team was playing Georgia Tech in the Rose Bowl and the game was scoreless when he picked up a fumble and headed for the end zone only to have a teammate chase him down and tackle him one yard away from the end zone. The problem for Roy Regals was that he was running the wrong way.
On the next play, the Regals’ quarterback got sacked in the end zone and when the game was over, his team lost by one point. For the rest of his life, Roy Regals was known as “Wrong Way Regals.” He later confessed that he had heard his teammate behind him yelling, “You’re going the wrong way,” but thought, “What’s wrong with him?”
Regals had instincts without direction. In the popular comic strip “Peanuts,” Lucy asks Charlie Brown, “Why are we here on earth?” He replies, “To make others happy.” Lucy ponders this for a moment and then asks, “Then why are the others here?” Paul answers Lucy’s question by saying that there are two things that we ought to be sharing with each other in Church:
- Vs. 1-5 Burdens
- Vs. 6-10 Blessings
Both of which Roy Regals could have used!
Vs. 1-10 Sharing burdens and blessings
Vs. 1-5 In the 5th chapter Paul dealt with every Christian’s battle (The works of the flesh verses the fruit of the Spirit). Here he gives the Church instructions on what to do if one of us temporarily loses the battle. Paul gives us our call to arms “restore”! Not shot and buried, not shunned and ignored. Neither are they to be excused; they are to be restored! The person who has religion is not interested in lifting burdens, they are interested in adding burdens.
The legalist is always harder on other people than he is on himself, but the Spirit-led Christian demands more of himself than he does of others so that he might be able to help others. Restoration is not turning a blind eye to the person’s fall from grace; it takes sin seriously but never leaves the wounded on the battlefield of the world overtaken.
The verb for “overtaken” is instructive and is a medical term that means to “put in order” or to “restore to its former condition”. It was often used in the Greek in setting a fractured or dislocated bone. In Mark 1:19 the word was used of the disciples who were “mending their nets”. Paul uses this word not as a way of minimizing the offense but rather to give understanding as to the weakness we all have in the flesh where we are dragged away and seduced by our flesh in conjunction with Satan and the world system. The church often neglects this responsibility with two equally damaging errors:
- It ignores the sin and acts as if it never happened
- It over reacts to the sin it treats the person too harshly
The carnal person wants to reveal a person who has sinned; the spiritual person wants to restore a person who has sinned. The carnal person has a false sense of superiority over the person who has fallen while the spiritual person realizes how close they are to falling themselves. It’s for this reason that Paul suggests that this restoration should be accomplished by the “Spiritual”.
Far too often the sanctuary is more akin to the office water cooler than it is the house of prayer, as gossip, judgment, or undiscerning approval and defense is what transpires. If a man takes a fall it’s the duty of the Church to get him on his feet again. Paul gives 4 aspects of what “Spiritual Restoration” looks like:
- Vs. 1 In a spirit of gentleness: The meaning of the word “gentleness” is in the context described by Paul as “considering yourself lest you also be tempted”. Those who are spiritual must consider two dangers they face like the person they are restoring:
- The danger of their own weakness and corruption.
- The danger of pride thinking that they are stronger than the fallen saint.
This warning was towards the arrogance of the legalists who treated the fallen with hatred and pride.
- Vs. 2 Bearing one another’s burdens: This word speaks of an animal that has been loaded down and is sagging under the weight of the load. The focus of this word is upon others not upon self. We aren’t to be expecting others to bear our burdens but we are to be looking to bear others burdens. The assumption that lies behind this command is that we all have heavy burdens but God does not mean for any of us to carry them alone. Could it be that one of the reasons that we have been given “burdens” by the Lord is so that we will be better equipped in the heart and in the body to carry others’ burdens when our load is light? The “law of Christ” is in John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” The Mosaic law was a burden, the law of Christ bears others’ burdens!
- Vs. 3 If anyone thinks himself to be something..: The greatest obstacle we face in bearing another’s burdens is PRIDE! Pride doesn’t always say “I’m better than you”. But it often says, “I’m more important than you, and deserve not to be inconvenienced.” Humility says the opposite, “I’m nothing you are something, let me carry your burden.” Paul writes to every Christian saying, “We Christian’s nothings must never think we are Christian something’s”
- If I esteem you above me, and you esteem me above you, a marvelous thing happens: we have a community where everyone is looked up to, and no one is looked down on! There is nothing more blinding to a person than when their eyes are fixed upon their own image! The misery of many people is that they can’t see beyond themselves unless it is to find fault in another! The greatest example of this is Satan who is so self-deceived that he works against God actually believing that he will one day triumph.
Vs. 4-5 But let each one examine his own work: Here is a safeguard against self-deception – self-examination! We shouldn’t do things to try to impress folks that we are important instead we ought to just do the things God has called us to do regardless of who is watching or listening. It is easy to get our work approved before man but another thing to have it approved before God. To rejoice in “one’s self” is to have joy as we walk with the Lord instead of arrogance that we are better than our brothers and sisters. There is a great danger in listening to the praise heaped upon you by others and that is you will begin to believe it! The gospel is great news delivered by those who needed it the most and as such will forever be unworthy to receive praise from men to whom they have shared it. Luther said, “If we had to feel that the success of our ministry depended upon our popularity with men we would die because we are not popular.”
There is no contradiction between bearing one another’s burdens and each one shall bear his own load. In verse 5 Paul speaks of our final accountability before God and in verse 2, he speaks of our need to care for others. There is also a difference in the words Paul uses for burdens which means “heavy burdens” and “load” which is a term for a man’s backpack. We are all responsible for carrying our own backpacks while also carrying others’ heavy loads.
Galatians
“Living Free”
Main Teaching: 1:10-6:10
6:1-10 Practice perfected
Closing: 6:11-18 Dying to Live
6:6-18 “Dying to live”
Vs. 6-10 Sharing blessings
Vs. 11-18 Don’t miss this
Intro.
On May 9th, 2000 something remarkable happened at a public High School in Mississippi. What started as a special presentation by the Pearl River Central High School’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes turned into a revival that has transformed the Mississippi school and left school administrators astounded. “It was the most incredible thing I’ve seen in all my years as an educator,” said Pearl River principal Lolita Lee.
The revival started during a special program attended by nearly 90 percent of the school’s 670 students. The program was originally scheduled for one hour, but when the bell rang, Lee said more than 100 students were standing in line to pray and make spiritual decisions. Principal Lee did something that doesn’t happen in normal public school settings—she let the service continue, for more than four hours. Through three class periods and lunch, students wept, prayed, sang, and made amends with one another. Nearly one month later, Lee said the results of the revival are manifested in the hallways of Pearl River Central High as Teachers and staff share how much better the students are.
Dear ones what our nation needs is what Paul was admonishing the believers in Galatia be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we will:
- Share others’ burdens: Paul was very careful to outline for us how that was to be done by giving us four things of self-examination before we go and help out a fallen brother.
- Share with others our blessings.
Vs. 6-10 Sharing blessings
Vs. 6 In the context of caring for one another, Paul instructs those who are taught the word to support the teacher, and in so doing they will be sharing in all the good things with those who teach. The idea is focused upon financial support, but not limited to it. The biblical relationship between pastor and congregation is one of partnership, thus support doesn’t mean payment it means sharing and investing! Though awkward for the pastor to share this, Paul repeats this principle in several places in his letters. Martin Luther made this comment on this verse saying, “When Satan cannot suppress the preaching of the Gospel by force, he tries to accomplish his purpose by striking the ministers of the Gospel with poverty.”
Vs. 7 Paul reminds them of God’s principle of sowing and reaping. Their giving isn’t throwing away money; it is like planting seeds, and whatever a man sows, he will also reap. What mocks God is selfishness, not generosity and in sharing all good things with those that teach you are enabling the teaching to be a blessing to others.
Vs. 8 If we want to reap what we have sown; where neither rust, moth nor thief cannot destroy them, sow in the Spirit the resources God has blessed you with. When we sow to the Spirit material things we don’t reap necessarily material things, but something better: of the Spirit we reap everlasting life.
Vs. 9 Even as we wisely manage our resources under the principle of sowing and reaping, we need patience. This is because the harvest does not come immediately after you sow the seeds. This phrase translated lose heart was used for the kind of fear and weariness a woman experiences during labor before delivery; A time when the work is hard and painful, but also unfinished and unrewarded.
Vs. 10 To “Not lose heart”, is given the context of being wise stewards of our resources, but to hoard for our own consumption but to distribute for the blessings of others especially those in God’s family.
Vs. 11-18 Don’t miss this
Vs. 11 Typically Paul dictated his letters to a secretary but here he adds a personal touch hand writing a short portion at the end to authenticate and personalize the letter. The writing in “large letters” has caused many to speculate that he suffered from poor eyesight but it could be that the larger letters were to emphasize his writing.
Vs. 12-13 Paul finishes with a final word about the motives of the Judaizers whose only interest in the Galatian believers was to get them into legalism. They wanted the Galatians to become circumcised so they could wear the submission of these Gentiles as a badge of achievement. Even as David had boasted in the two hundred foreskins of the Philistines he had killed, these legalists wanted the allegiance of these Gentiles primarily as a trophy.
There was nothing wrong with a Gentile being circumcised but there was everything wrong with saying they could not be right with God without coming under the law of Moses. Furthermore, to advocate circumcision was to align the new movement with Judaism, a religion that had official Roman sanction, and therefore one that avoided persecution. Paul describes the legalists in four ways:
- Vs. 12a They were arrogant: They weren’t into winning people or causing Christians to grow in grace. Their interest was gaining converts to their way of thinking. They wanted the glory and praise of men not of God.
- Vs. 12 They were compromised: They preached circumcision to avoid persecution. They were more concerned in appeasing men both Jews and Romans, than they were obeying the Lord. To the Roman Citizen the word “cross” was literally a four-letter word and would never be spoken in public settings. These Judaizers preferred the word circumcision to crucifixion as theirs was the popular religion.
- Vs. 12c They were salesmen: They had a slick campaign to compel folks to follow their false teaching. They were good speakers and used funny stories and slick entertainment to persuade the Galatians to abandon grace.
- Vs. 13 They were phonies: They wanted the gentiles to submit to the law that they did not obey. Their zeal for the law ended in getting others to follow it and the more they got to follow their false teaching the more they would boast of their numbers.
Vs. 14-15 Paul cared nothing for the glory that came from riches. He cared nothing for the glory that came from status and power among men. He only cared about the glory of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Having placed the flesh on the cross, Paul also puts the world on the cross and considers himself dead to the world. Friend:
- The world can’t have any influence over us if it is dead
- And we can’t respond to any influence from the world if we are dead to the world.
Paul and the world could agree together on one thing: they didn’t like each other. Though circumcision was a big deal to the legalists Paul knew that it couldn’t make you a new creation; only faith in Christ could do that. Christianity is something God does in us, not something we do for God.
Vs. 16 The phrase “walk according to this rule” speaks of a surveyor’s line by which direction is determined. As Christians we don’t make up our direction as we go we follow the direction the Word of God is pointing us in. When we do we will experience the blessings of peace and mercy like those who had left Egypt and were guided by the cloud by day and the fire by night.
Vs. 17-18 The words Paul spoke in this letter were not coming from a man who spoke them in theory but from a man who had experienced the truths. Paul was saying, “The Judaizers want to cut your flesh and brag about you, but I bear in my body the brands of the Lord Jesus Christ—for His glory.” Paul branded himself with the name of Jesus and identified himself as a follower. Barclay remarks, “After the storm and stress and intensity of the letter comes the peace of the benediction. Paul has argued and rebuked and cajoled but his last word is GRACE, for him the only word that really mattered.”