Fulfill the Law of Christ - Pastor Tom Loghry
In Galatians 6:1-10, Paul admonishes the Galatians to keep step with the Spirit, ensuring that they were walking in accordance with God’s will and gently leading their brethren back from sin.
Transcript:
When I was a boy, I had a radio. It's not the exact radio. It kind of looks like the radio I had, though. But I had a radio. And if I was listening to music on that radio, you'd probably find me listening to the oldies, which at that time was the 60s and 70s. I've always preferred classic tunes over the latest hits.
And one of those memorable songs that would inevitably come over the radio was the 1974 hit, Cats in the Cradle by Henry Chapin. Now, I have to admit, as a child, I didn't completely comprehend the meaning of that song. It was a catchy tune, and the lyrics were memorable. But as I got older I grew to appreciate its message.
So, for those of you who are younger in the congregation, or who didn't share this love for the oldies, uh, the song begins from the perspective of a man who becomes the father of a son. The first two verses expresses his positive sentiment for his son, but he just is too busy to set aside time. to be with him.
By the third verse, the tables have turned as the boy's in college and doesn't seem to have time for his father. And in the last verse, the man says, I've long since retired, my son's moved away. I called him up just the other day. I said, I'd like to see you if you don't mind. He said, I'd love to, dad, but if I can find the time.
You see, my new job's a hassle and the kids have the flu. But it's sure nice talking to you, Dad. It's been sure nice talking to you. And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me he'd grown up just like me. My boy was just like me. Now this is clearly a sad song. It's a sobering one. The man didn't take time to be with his son, and now his son doesn't have time for him.
He has reaped what he has sown. You can imagine him wishing he had invested his time differently. You can imagine the man wishing that someone had taken him aside and warned him about what he was doing and neglecting his son. In Paul's final chapter to the Galatians, he offers that sort of warning to the Christians in Galatia and urges them to look out for each other. So first, looking at verses 1 through 6, which Clay read for us, he really wants to get the attention of the Galatians here, and so he addresses them as brothers and sisters. Now, in the original Greek, it just says Adelphoi, which is just brothers. And so if you look in other translations of the Bible, it'll just say brothers.
The NIV likes to make it clear to you that in using the word brothers, Paul's actually addressing males and females in the community, and so they make that interpretive choice. But in any case, he gets their attention saying, brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in sin, you who live by the spirit should restore that person gently.
It's a yucky kind of business having to address sin in the community, but when it takes place, what Paul is saying here is that the other Christians should bear out the fruit of the Spirit. You'll recall in Galatians 5: 23, one of the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. And so gentleness should be manifested in the case of addressing someone in their sin.
And this is just generalized sin. This isn't even a case of where someone has sinned against you. But even in really I guess tense circumstances and where, in which someone's very oppositional to you and in their error, Paul still says that we're supposed to show gentleness. He talks about this in 2 Timothy 2.
This is an instruction he gives to Timothy. He says, And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed and the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will.
So we have some parallels here. In the case of you have someone that's caught in sin, you have someone who's captive to the devil doing his will, and in both cases, when you address that person, you should address them in gentleness. Because it's the right thing to do, but also what Paul points out here in 2 Timothy, is there's kind of a tactical approach here.
You're trying to win this person over to see things in the true light. So that they would do the right thing. So that they would repent from their sinfulness, from their false ways. Now, it's interesting that Paul's bringing this up because it kind of seems like it's coming out of left field, but you'll remember that when he was going through the acts of the flesh, identifying what those things were to the Galatians, that he includes instances of division and animosity between fellow believers. He doesn't always address that in his other letters to other Christians. It seems as though he's really trying to key in on the fact that there's been a lot of backbiting, some harshness among the Galatians. And so he's trying to address that directly, even while he's saying you do need to address sin, but the way that you address sin is with gentleness.
I think this is something that continues to be relevant for us as a local church. And thinking about the way that we address each other when we're caught up in sin. Now, I've talked with some of you who are older in the church, go way back, and I've heard many times about how in past times when areas of sin or disagreement came up in the church, sometimes those things were addressed kind of harshly.
Kind of very, very sternly. Um, and we, we love and respect those that came before us. Um, but it is important that we just don't paper over those things as just, well, they were different back then. Failing to show gentleness and kindness to each other is simply wrong. It's not the right way to do things. Um, Keeping in step with the Spirit, which Paul talks about in 5, chapter 5, verse 25, includes gentleness.
Now, I've been here, what, like 10 years? And over that time, I haven't seen signs of that here. Praise be to God. Um, and I think it's because God has been working here in our local church here at Rockland Community Church, repenting from that past. So as your pastor, if I was going to put my finger on maybe an opposite, opposite concern and repenting from harshness and sternness, it would be this, is that if we, it'd be the concern that if we see someone that is caught in sin, that we fail to address that sin, that we fail to seek to restore them.
You see, gentleness does not mean silence. It's very tempting to say, I just won't say anything. I don't want to be mean. But we have to remember the words of Solomon, Proverbs 27: 6. He said, Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. Sometimes you have to say things to other people, and initially it will hurt.
But the hurt should not come from the manner in which we address them. The only hurt should be, perhaps, the truth. Because they're convicted of something wrong that they're doing. So we must address sin. But we do it with gentleness. Now, Paul does have a warning here for the Galatians. In verse 1, he says, But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Now what does he mean there? Does he mean that in addressing this sin that they themselves may fall prey to this same sin that they're addressing? Perhaps, though that would seem a little bit strange. I think instead, and I'm coming to this conclusion based on what some other commentators have said, I think instead, what Paul is warning the Galatians against is being puffed up with pride as they address sin in the lives of others.
That's something we're very vulnerable to, where perhaps out of, initially out of love we address someone, say, hey, you need to, you know, turn away from doing that. Let's find a better way. In the process of that, you can begin to feel like, I'm pretty good. I'm telling other people the way they should be really doing things.
That ought not be our motive in addressing sin. It should not be coming from a place of self righteousness, a feeling as though we're all that.
When we address sin, when we speak up, it should only be coming from a sense of responsibility and love for one another. In verse 2, Paul says, Carry each other's burdens.
Carry each other's burdens. You're responsible for each other, because we are one body. Now, again, you know, I spoke about how sometimes we think gentleness might mean silence. I think sometimes we live under this facade of love sometimes by just not addressing things. And it might be said that, well, they're not harsh.
And if the people aren't harsh, maybe you would think that that's because they're loving, but not speaking up, not addressing sin could also be coming from a place of just apathy. I'm simply not caring what happens to that person. That's just their, their problem. And I'll tell you, that's a real issue, I think, in our society today, of this very strong sense of autonomy and individualism, where we have no sense of responsibility for the other, and if they crash and burn, oh well.
That's not to be the case in the church. Genuine love compels intervention. If I see you caught in a trap of sin, I will feel, I should feel, a divine burden to help you get free. And in so doing, what I'm only doing is this, is I'm following the example of Christ. I'm walking in the very love of God who sent his son so that we may be freed from the condemnation and power of our sin.
Now Paul does not use the word love here, but that is his meaning when he says that the Galatians ought to fulfill the law of Christ. That we should fulfill the law of Christ. And we've gone over this the past couple of weeks because it came up previously. He spoke of it in Galatians 5: 14 of how the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command, love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus identifies that as the new command. John 13, a new command I give you: love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another. And the apostle John reiterates the same. So when we address each other in our sinfulness, it's coming from a place of love. Characterized by gentleness with a desire of restoration.
And once again, Paul keeps going back and forth between, this is how you should do, be on your guard. He said, be on your guard against pride. And now here in verses 3 through 5, he offers further warning. He says, basically, don't think you're better than you actually are. We like to think we're doing alright.
And we like to come to that conclusion, especially relative to comparing ourselves to others. Where it's like, well, I know I'm doing better than this person and that person, so I must be doing pretty good. And again, this is something we can fall prey to if we're on the lookout for trying to help others, because in the process we can fall prey.
I am looking out for my brothers and sisters, and I'm like, oh, I'm noticing they have these problems in our lives, and oh, I don't have those problems, and so I can feel pretty good about myself. But Paul says, that should not be your mindset at all. In this sense, in terms of your own standing before God, you have to bear your own burden.
Other people don't enter into the equation as far as your standing before God. You have to answer for yourself. You have to examine yourself. In Romans 14, verses 10 through 12, it says, You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat, and it is written, As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me, every tongue will acknowledge God.
So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves.
So we have this, we have this dual reality at play in which we do need to be concerned for each other. We do need to be looking out for each other, but our ultimate concern as it relates to God boils down to how am I actually living out my own life?
Am I actually doing what I'm supposed to be doing? And taking seriously the fact that each one of us is going to be standing before God, and we're going to have to give an account of ourselves. Now, those who are outside of Christ, obviously their life is already out of alignment with the Father's will.
And the thing is, is there's going to be some people who enter into the community of the church who maybe put on appearances that they're Christians, but by the fruit that they bear, they reveal that they are not in fact part of Christ. Jesus talks about that in Matthew 7: 7, about how not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
In 2nd Corinthians 13: 5 Paul urges the Corinthians, it says, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the test. Now what he's meaning there is not that by your actions you're saved. That's not what he's getting at at all.
But what he's saying is, is that your actions, your life, tell the story of where your faith, where your devotion has been placed, where your trust has been placed. Have you been united with Christ? If you have been united with Christ, if Christ is truly within you, if you have been born again, you're going to see the fruit of the Spirit in your life.
And if the fruit of the Spirit is not present in your life, you have a problem.
And so, while we are to carry each other's burdens, looking out for each other, Paul wants to be clear that everyone's responsible for their own actions first. It's that whole thing of before you try taking the speck out of someone else's eye, you got to deal with the plank in your own.
And now getting down to verse six, something occurs to Paul, and it almost seems as though he's trying to cover his bases and he's been going back and forth between, okay, carry each other's burdens, but then you've got to carry your own burden. But lest the Galatians be confused, he wants to emphasize to them the importance of churches supporting their teachers.
They're not to be left to fend for themselves. He says, nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor. Now Paul says something very similar to this in 1 Timothy 5, about supporting pastors and elders. He says, The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.
For scripture says, Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain, that's taken from Deuteronomy 25, and the worker deserves his wages, and that's coming from the teachings of Christ. Luke 10: 7. Now, what's interesting is even while Paul is setting up this normative expectation that the teachers, you know, leaders of the church would be supported by the church, he himself actually accepted himself.
He didn't use that right. In 1 Corinthians 9, he says, If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more, but we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put it up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
So Paul characterizes it as a right, but it's a right that he decided not to take up for his own missional purposes. Now, as your pastor, I'm, I've been very grateful and happy for the support that you've given me and, and my family. Um, and so as we look at this passage, I'm not trying to tell you anything about the support, support I've been receiving, but it's an important thing to think about because we don't know what the future looks like.
Um, all across the church in America, there's a growing trend of bivocational ministry. Sometimes pastors work part time in the church and out in the marketplace as a strategic sort of thing, whether it's bringing on more people onto staff. I know a church where they've got like four pastors and they all are bivocational.
Um, sometimes it's out of necessity, um, because the church just can't support the pastor full time. Some like Paul choose to do it for some missional reason or another. Maybe they want to get in close contact with the people in their community. The best way to do that is to have a full time secular job, whatever the case may be in terms of the arrangements that a church may have with its pastors or other ministers, but the church ought to be doing is their best.
Doing their best for their teachers. It should not be the case where churches are approaching the arrangements of their ministers where like, oh, we're getting a good deal here. That's not in keeping with the spirit. They should offer their best. And if the pastor declines for one reason or another, then that's fine.
But the norm remains. The pastor, the teachers should be seeking to do their best in carrying out their duties. And the church should be doing its best in supporting those who teach and instruct them. Now Paul continues in verse seven by emphasizing the importance of taking responsibility, personal accountability for our actions and the outcomes that will follow.
He says, do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction. Whoever sows to please the spirit, from the spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let's do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. So Paul says in verse 7, God cannot be mocked. Kind of an interesting phrase there. What's his meaning? His meaning is this, is that God is serious about justice. He doesn't wink at wickedness.
He doesn't turn a blind eye to sin. Those who pursue evil will receive the consequences of their pursuit. Those who pursue righteousness, who pursue the spirit, will receive the reward of their pursuit. Now, if you've forgotten, or you weren't here for when we were talking about what exactly Paul means when he's talking about the flesh.
In the previous chapter, he talks about the acts of the flesh as being this. The acts of the flesh are obvious. Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and lust, and the like, and the like part there is just like, etc.
The list goes on and on. The human inventiveness of sin knows no bounds. He says, I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. So, Paul is clearly trying to make a point here to the Galatians between this chapter and the previous. Between Galatians 5 and 6, is that if you pursue, if you fill up your lives with the acts of the flesh, if you just give yourself over to wickedness and sin, you're gonna reap what you're, what you're sowing, and you're gonna reap destruction.
You are not going to inherit the kingdom of God. On the other hand, those who sow to please the Spirit will reap eternal life, and also in Galatians 5, 22 through 23, it says, The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, which is another word for patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
Against such things, there is no law. Now, once again, I just want to remind you that it's not by these things that we are saved. As though by living out these virtues, we would save ourselves. Because the thing is, is none of us live out these virtues perfectly. All of us come up short of those virtues.
But these virtues, these fruit, are being manifest in our life because of our union with Christ. So again, as Paul said, examine yourselves, test yourselves, if Christ is in you, these things will be apparent. If not, then we'll be failing the test because we will have been sowing to the flesh. We would have been pursuing sin.
Now in verse 9, he encourages them to persevere in doing what's good. He says, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. You know, it's really easy to grow weary in doing the right thing.
There's so much opposition. There's opposition within ourselves as far as doing the right thing, because our flesh, you know, Paul, we looked before about how Paul talks about this internal conflict within himself of wanting to do the right thing in his mind, but the flesh resisting. We have this internal opposition going on within us.
And there's external opposition in the world, at all different levels. Whether it be the principalities, and the powers, and world governments, and all that. All down to your friends. Your friends tugging you in different directions. Your family pulling you in different directions. It's very easy to grow weary.
And Jesus told his disciples this wouldn't be easy. Matthew 10: 22, he says, You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And when Jesus told his disciples that, he wasn't telling them to do something that he himself was not willing to do. When we consider in whose example we ought to follow, in persevering, in not growing weary, in persevering in doing the good, we don't need to look any further than Jesus Himself.
In Hebrews 12, verses 1 through 3, we're told this, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of faith for the joy set before him he endured the cross scorning at shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Considered him, consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
See, God is not calling us to do anything that He Himself was not willing to do. Because He sent His own Son to persevere in doing good. Even in the face of great opposition. Jesus was tempted in every way that we are tempted. So he, he dealt with the internal opposition. He dealt with the external opposition.
Christ was perfectly righteous. Now, how did he do that? It's because he's fully man and fully God.
And we know that we are broken. We are imperfect. We do have these sin natures. While Christ dealt with the vulnerability of the human condition, He was not sinful. He was not a sinner. He didn't have that sin nature.
But the good news for us, is not only that in Jesus we are saved, but we have been given the gift of the Spirit so that we might persevere in doing good. God's not asking you to do this on your own. He's giving you the example of Christ. And he's giving you the power to follow in his footsteps. So when Paul is calling the Galatians to do good, he's not asking them to do the impossible.
He's asking them to do that which God will empower them to do. And he doesn't leave the good undefined. They are to do good, he says, to all people. Not sompeople, all people. Now, when you talk about things that are not easy, it's not easy to do good for or by all people. But once again, this just takes, Paul's not introducing anything new here.
He's just applying that which Christ has already taught to the Galatians. In Matthew 5, verses 43 through 45, Jesus says, You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
He causes his Son to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. We're to love our enemy. We are to do good to all people. That last verse, especially there, it says basically we're supposed to be patterning God. God blesses all, even those that don't deserve it.
And then Paul keys in, especially here on this last part. He says that we're supposed to do good, especially for the family of believers. We're especially to do good by each other. All of us here in this congregation.
This is among several things which sets apart the church from charity organizations. Charity organizations are concerned on the people outside the organization. I'm blessing outsiders. In the church, we are interested in helping those outside of the church. But that's not our sole or primary mission. Our primary purpose is the worship of God.
But God is glorified, as I was talking about earlier, as we were worshiping, by the substance of our lives. And the substance of our lives is captured In our life together here as a community.
And so we are to do good for each other. We're especially called to do good for each other. And so if we're looking out for the people out there, but we're neglecting each other, we're really messing up big time. We got to take care of our family, especially.
Now, doing good by our church family isn't always easy. Paul describes it as carrying each other's burdens for a reason. It is not easy to come along with someone caught in sin. It is not easy to work gently with them in setting them free.
But this is the way of Jesus, who came alongside us and bore our burdens. This is the way of the Spirit who now indwells us and makes that kind of love and gentleness possible in our lives. If we want righteousness for others, we have to first desire it for ourselves, or we'll just go about it all wrong.
We'll hurt other people, fill ourselves up with this delusional pride. Paul's charge to the Galatians and to us is this, care for others and pay close attention to your own life. Why? Because the consequences are eternal. The person possessed by sin has no part in Jesus Christ. That's true for others, and it's true for you.
Jesus gave all of himself for you and for me, so that all of who I am, all of who you are, might belong to him. We are one with Christ, or we are without him. Without him, our lives will continue to breed sin. And that's the basis for our present condemnation and looming destruction. With Christ, our lives bear out goodness and righteousness, the sign of our present and approaching salvation in Him.
So what song will you sing at the end of the day? Will it be marked by regret, or by rejoicing? Let's pray.
Dear Father,
We come before you as people who are weak,
who have wrestled with sin, who do have regrets, Father. Perhaps in the ways that we've handled things in the past, or maybe even recently.
Father, we thank you that your grace is sufficient for our salvation. That Jesus is enough for our salvation. Father, we thank you that in Him, we can always begin again.
And so, Father, we pray for hearts of repentance, while there's still time. Before we must stand before you and give account. Father we pray that as as a family of believers, that we would look out for each other and that whenever we see sin in each other's lives that we would not be apathetic, but that we would be filled with love for each other. And that the spirit would feel, fill us with courage to address each other, but also with an immense amount of gentleness and kindness toward each other as we seek to help each other escape the captivity of sin.
And Father, we know that it is possible to escape sin's grasp because of the power of the spirit. And Father, as we look out for each other, help us to examine ourselves especially, and not judge ourselves against other people, but against who you want me to be, who you want any one of these people in this room to be. Father, help us to take seriously the fact that we need to be ready to give account for how we have lived our lives.
Father, once again, we thank you that we don't do this on our own, but that we do it by the power of the Spirit. And so by that power, Father, help us to do good to all people and help us to do good for each other, especially as a family of believers. Unite us in love, Father, and close relationship with each other so that we do have that freedom and familiarity to help one another.
As we walk this journey and following Jesus Christ, help us to persevere and not weary. Father, we ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we continue our series through the Letter to the Galatians. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)