Galatians 6

WELCOME

Pastor Chris Paavola:

Well, hey everybody. Good morning. Good to see all of your beautiful faces this morning. My name is Chris Paavola. I am the senior pastor here at St. Mark, and we are in the middle of, actually, you know what, we’re wrapping up today, this series in the book of Galatians that we’ve been doing. I’m kind of sad. It’s been fun. This is a little different for us. We don’t usually do this, but each week we’ve taken on a different chapter of the book of Galatians and gone through it verse by verse, discovering God’s truth for today. And it’s been a lot of fun and just watching you guys come in with your Bibles and all that kind of stuff, and we will come back and do this kind of an idea of going through a book again in the future just based on your feedback. You guys have enjoyed this, so this is not goodbye.

Just see you later. But anyway, every week during this series then, because we’re going through just walking through verse by verse, we’re grabbing our bibles and we’re saying a prayer. You guys could probably pray the prayer yourselves at this point without me leading it. But go ahead and grab your Bibles if you’ve got one. If not, grab the black book in front of you and we are going to get started this morning. Center our hearts and our minds with where our bodies are. So here we go.

BIBLE PRAYER

Pastor Chris Paavola: This is my Bible.

Response: This is my Bible.

Pastor Chris Paavola:  Lord, help me believe it.

Response: Lord, help me believe it.

Pastor Chris Paavola: Use it to teach me.

Response: Use it to teach me.

Pastor Chris Paavola: Correct me.

Response: Correct me.

Pastor Chris Paavola: Encourage me and change me.

Response: Encourage me and change me.

Pastor Chris Paavola: Open my heart.

Response: Open my heart.

Pastor Chris Paavola: Open my mind.

Response: Open my mind.

Pastor Chris Paavola: To hear what you have to say.

Response: To hear what you have to say.

Pastor Chris Paavola: In Jesus’ name.

Response: Amen

GALATIANS 6

You guys are great. Yeah. So, we are in Galatians chapter six. I didn’t even look up. I should have what page number that is in the black Bibles. If you’re grabbing one of those pew bibles. I’m going to be up here on this iPad scribbling away on this to kind of show you kind of how I read scripture and how I would encourage you to mark up your Bibles when you’re just studying it on your own today. This is the last chapter of Galatians, and when Paul finishes letters, he doesn’t say sign in. And sincerely Paul, he has this pattern, a way of doing things, and you’ll see it here in Galatians, but he kind of goes off on these one-off little snippets, little commands, little proverb kind of things. And sometimes they’re connected like a previous thought to the next thought.

Sometimes they’re completely just isolated things that he wants to tell people. It’s a lot like a Ps. Oh yeah, PSP, PSS. You ever do that when you were writing letters back in the day on paper with a pen? Anyway, that’s kind of what he’s going to do. And so it’s hard to read it, to look for a common thread. He’s just kind of writing and just brace yourself. It’s kind of like squirrel and he’s thinking that thing. And then over here, oh yeah. And by the way, so it’s kind of like a whole bunch of by the ways, but it starts out with this conversation on this idea of being accountable and holding others accountable. So you yourself being accountable and then daring to speak to another person. And you’ll see that in just a second here, but this is the main thought of the closing chapter. And then he gets into a bunch of one-off statements, but chapter six verse one, he says, Verse 1 “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression”, so that’s a fancy word for sin. Maybe it says sin in your translation in front of you, “you who are spiritual” or some of translations will say, you who are led by the spirit “should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watching yourself though, lest you to be tempted”.

So if you see someone in a sin, you who are spirit led, you should restore him. And you read that and you’re like, wait a minute, hold on. I thought Jesus said things like, judge not lest ye be judged in the King James or don’t judge others, or you two will be judged like, wait a minute, is Paul saying something different than Jesus? Didn’t Jesus say don’t judge others, or you two will be judged? And this is what Christians get criticized often of is being judgmental. Well, is Paul telling us to be judgmental in Jesus? Is it? It’s a good question. So here’s what we’re going to do. You guys stay in Galatians six, I’m going to read you these famous words from Jesus that everyone quotes haphazardly or whatever when talking about this idea of judgment from Matthew chapter seven.

This is a biography of Jesus. And he says, judge, not that you not be judged. See right there. Jesus says, judge, not unless you be judged. So how can you hold someone accountable unless you’re judging them? So how could Paul tell us to do this in the household of faith? How are we supposed to do that if we’re going against the teaching of Jesus? Jesus says, judge and I, well, there you go. But he continues for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you used, it will be measured against you. So if you use this ruler on other people, brace yourself, they’re going to use that same ruler back on you. Why do you see the speck little speck in your brother’s eye, but pay no attention? Do not notice the giant log sticking out of your, I’ll put a little branch on it too.

How do you not notice the giant log sticking out of your eye? And he’s kind of giving a hyperbole word picture. So it’s super memorable. You’re walking around with this giant log in your eye and you dare to speak to somebody about that little speck that’s in their eye. Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye. When there is a log in your own eye, you hypocrite first, take the log out of your eye and then you’ll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye, meaning take the log out of your eye, but also hold your brother accountable. Help them with a speck in their eye. And so it embraces this tension of, yep, we all fall short, but we should hold one another accountable. And there’s a process to this. When I was in college, there was this new artist who came out named Eminem.

You guys ever heard of him? And in my freshman year, I remember being in my dorm room and my buddy was like, Hey, you need to check this guy’s crazy, just an incredible artist. You need to check this out. And he brought in this cd, so CD is this thing that you would put in. Anyway, so he brought in the CD and we sat on my couch in my dorm room listening to this Eminem album. And if you’ve never heard an Eminem album, if I played it right here, you guys would all clutcher pearls and blush. It is so inappropriate in this environment. It is just awful lyrics, just super inappropriate. But for some reason I felt like it was appropriate in my dorm room. And I am like, oh boy. So we’re listening to this and I’m just kind of like, oh yeah, I’m a musician too. So I was appreciating the beat and I like the beat and the rhythm. It’s cool. It pumps me up. And then my buddy though, who is what was called pre seminary and somebody studying to be a pastor as well, he comes walking into the dorm room and he’s, he stops and he hears the lyrics and he looks at me and he’s like, dude, this is garbage. What are you doing? You shouldn’t be listening to this. And he walked out.

And I remember I was angry at him. I didn’t like what he said, but later on I was glad he said it. And in that moment though, it stunk, man. I was convicted and he was right and I got angry and who’s he? But he was right. And I later told him, I said, I didn’t like what you said, but I’m glad that you said it. And this brings up this whole idea of who you can and can’t hold accountable. And I think as we wrestle with the tension, because as Christians, if we’re going to hold someone accountable and judge them lest we be judged, so if we’re going to hold someone accountable to something, there’s one tendency is like, we’ll hold everybody accountable. And if a Muslim came up to you right now and said, God is angry at you because you ate a pulled pork sandwich, you’d be like, no, he’s not because you haven’t subscribed to his morality.

And I think sometimes Christians run around thinking everyone should subscribe to our morality before they follow our savior. Then I think the other faults on the other side of this is, well everyone, God is love. He loves everyone. It doesn’t matter. Just do your own thing. Who am I to judge and just go do your thing? And so we say nothing and we exonerate ourselves. We abdicate ourselves from ever having to speak to somebody. And I think we’re supposed to walk this tightrope in between the two. And here’s a list of questions that I would give to you for the people in your life, especially if you’re a follower of Jesus, of who should I hold accountable and who won’t I hold accountable. And here’s the question, do I have the, and then there’s three criteria I would encourage us to think through to help.

Okay? First, do I have the position? My buddy in college, we were buddies, we were in each other’s weddings. On weekends, I would go to his parents’ house and do laundry. We went camping together. He was my boy and we were tight. And so this conversation was just like a natural extension of doing life with each other. And he was almost whimsical in the way he did it. He was like, dude, this is garbage. You shouldn’t be listening to this. And he left. And it was just like this natural extension of conversations that we had before and a conversation we were going to have later on. We had that same kind of relationship. And you have people in your life, your peers, and in this room right now, you have people that you do know really well, right? There are people in this room that you know well, and there’s people in this room you don’t know at all.

And might I suggest that because this letter is written to a living room full of people, whereas much more intimate. But as we grow larger, it shows the value of small groups. One of our vision statements is to grow smaller as we grow larger and being in a small group, you’re kind of entering into that relationship with one another. And you guys have relationships. You go to Schlotzky’s every week. You have a different relationship with the people you go to Schlotzky’s with every week than you do with everyone else in this room. And you should be able to speak to each other. Now you’re all thinking about Schlotzky’s, come back, come back, come back. But you should be able to speak to each other differently based upon, and like parents, you know this, you have kids, you should hold your kids accountable 100% because that’s your position.

And just recognizing before you speak to somebody. Now, this is not a hard and fast rule. I do think there’s scenarios where you see somebody that’s an acquaintance and you can call ’em out on something because what they’re doing is egregious or is hypocritical, but this is just a good list of questions to run through before you speak. And the spirit can like trump any of these rules. But by and large, these are important things to think through. Second, do I have, and I would use the word penance, but nobody talks like that posture. Did you take the law out of your own eye? Did you spend time confessing your sins? Do you have a posture that recognizes you are not perfect? And so you’re coming to the person not with this arrogance like, Hey, you’re not as good as I am, or are you willing to admit that you fall short?

Are you willing to let that same person hold you accountable to something with the same measure you used? It will be measured against you. So are you willing to let that same person you’re about to say something to speak to you in areas that you fall short? Do you have that kind of relationship? And do you have a posture of humility and penitence as you talk to them? And the third question, I think I could use the word power or potential. Do you have the potential to help if you hold somebody accountable for their drinking because you’re like, man, you’re drinking way too much and it’s affecting your family, okay, but before you speak, are you willing to be available when they call you at 10 o’clock on a Friday night because they’re struggling and feeling tempted? Are you available for them?

That’s kind of the last thing is are you willing to walk with them through this to be a training partner when you got somebody you go to Planet Fitness with or whatever, burn bootcamp, do you have somebody that you’re willing to walk with and you’re able to help them going forward? So those are the three questions I think, or the three criteria I would think about before speaking. And again, there’s exceptions to every rule, but I think these things are helpful, and I think that’s what Jesus is getting to, and Paul is getting to as we kind of walk the tight rope. So Verse 2, “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ”. Now the law of Christ is referring to here is on a narrow sense, John 15 verse, shoot, I forgot the command to love one another is I loved you.

Okay, but then also that’s the narrow sense. But then the broad sense, all of Christ commands, including the one we just read in, whoops, in Matthew seven, one to five like that commands to judge, not lest you be judged, but then remove the log so you can take the spec out of your brother’s eyes. All of Christ’s commands, so bear one another’s burdens. Don’t just tolerate each other, walk with each other, hurt for one another, inconvenience yourself for the sake of the good of the other as they try to live out this Christian life. And so fulfill the law of Christ. Verse 3, “For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself”, Verse 4 “But let each one test his own work and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in” how he helped “his neighbor”. Verse 5 “For each one, we’ll have to bear his own load”.

Then he goes into, so he’s done kind of talking about this idea of accountability and speaking. Now he goes into, again, these just like PSPS, oh, by the way, and don’t forget kind of thoughts. And he starts out and he says Verse 6, “Let the one who has taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches”. This is like, remember Galatians is the earliest manuscript of the New Testament. This is the first letter. We have the oldest one in right away we see some type of structure in the church, meaning let the pastor let the preacher, the one who shares the word with you, also receive from you. Show him hospitality. Let him make a living off of what you give and collect as an offering. And we see this not just the only one, but we see this in multiple places.

But we see this idea that there are roles in the church that need to be supported. And so for instance, I read this and I’m just reminded and I’m grateful for you. I make a living because of your generosity. If unless you give, my kids, don’t eat seriously, I have the ability and the opportunity to preach the gospel and study the word every week and plan out worship services and messages and to lead a ministry and teams of people because you enable me to do so. And that’s not lost on me. And this morning I was praying with my prayer partners before church and I was just taken aback. Even like this pen, this pen, I have this pen because of your generosity, your willingness to give, I don’t know how much this pen was, but you gave a penny towards this or whatever. When you gave, you shared with everyone else to make sure that we were able to have this pen and this iPad and this beautiful ministry.

So thank you for just allowing me to make a living doing what I do. Then Verse 7 seven, he goes through another thought, “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that he will also reap”. So it says he’s speaking to kind of an agricultural agrarian society. He’s talking about this idea of seeds and if these are cucumber seeds or whatever, he’s like basically saying, if you sow cucumber seeds, do not be surprised if you grow cucumbers. Don’t be surprised if you get cucumbers out of the ground. Verse 8, “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the spirits will reap eternal life”. So flesh reaps corruption, spirit reaps eternal life. This is carrying on last week’s idea in chapter five, where you compared the flesh and the spirit.

And, basically if you sow to your flesh, if you listen to Eminem lyrics, do not be surprised if you reap corruption. What are you sowing towards? Like the movies you watched and the songs that you listen to, you are not unaffected by that. It influences you in some way and it will bear fruit in your life. What you memorize by heart guides your heart. And the same thing though also in the spirit, if you sow to the spirit, do not be surprised when suddenly you reap the very things you want. Love the fruit of the spirit from last week. Galatians five, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control against such things. There is no law. These are the things. So when you follow the spirit’s leading, you’re sowing seed and then eventually not right away, you will begin to see these things in your life because you’re following the spirit of God.

This is his fruit, and I talked about this last week. Bears repeating the flesh, the self-indulgence me, serve me consumer what I want, self-centered flesh that we have looks like freedom when we live for it, when we’re just like whatever feels good, if it feels good, smoke it, taste it, eat it, drink it, listen to it, whatever it is, it’s your flesh. It looks like freedom, but it ends up in corruption. And if you live for the spirit, it ends up in bondage. So if you sow to the flesh, it looks like freedom, but it ends in bondage. If you sow to the spirit, it looks like bondage, but it is freedom. It looks like bondage to serve your neighbor. It looks like bondage to give an offering every week it looks like bondage to control your life, but it ends in freedom, and that’s what he’s talking about.

So if you sow to the flesh, do not be surprised if you reap corruption, if you sow to the spirit, do not be surprised if you read paternal life, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Verse 10. “So then” as, so that’s kind of like another disparate thought. Then “as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially to those in the household of faith”. And doing good sometimes looks like accountability. Then Verse 11, “See what large letters I’m writing to you with my own hand”. This, if you’re writing a letter, actually like an old school letter we’re writing, you can write PS, Galatians six verse 11, and they’re going to be like, Ooh, what is that? And then they’ll go and see what large letters I’m Randy do with my own hand. That’s dumb. I shouldn’t have said that.

All right. So anyway, moving on. Verse 12, Verse 12. “It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised”. Remember, this is the entire reason we’ve talked about this for six weeks now, the Judaizers, were trying to say, Hey, you need to be circumcised. If you want to follow, if you want to please God, you need to go to Rabbi Tuckman and be circumcised “and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ”. That’s the entire reason he wrote the book of Galatians is because these guys were trying to say, you need to be circumcised if you’re going to follow God. And then he says they want to avoid the persecution of the cross. You guys, we don’t realize this, but the cross is offensive. It is gory, it is horrific, but it’s even more offensive that we can’t do anything to earn God’s favor.

We can’t do anything to make God love us more than what Christ has already done on the cross. The cross is where our God suffocated and died in our behalf was tortured in our place. It is offensive. And so Paul is saying, if you get circumcised, you’re doing so because you don’t want the cross to offend. You want to have some kind of be able to say to people, well, I’ve been circumcised. That’s why God loves me for even those Verse 13 “Even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but the desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh”, they may boast about what they made you do, Verse 14 “But far be it from me to boast in anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”. So he is really hammering on the cross here for “by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world”.

And this is going back to Galatians two, verse 20 where he says, I’ve been crucified with Christ. I no longer live. Christ lives in me. The life I live in, the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God. Galatians two verse 20, his going back to this thought again Verse 15 “For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation”. Verse 16 “And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God”. Verse 17,  “From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus”. Okay? He’s referring to something. We don’t really learn about this until second Corinthians. It’s 11. Did you look it up, brother Dave? Did you look that up? Second Corinthians, you go, where’s Dave setting? He was right. Where’d he go, Dave? Did you 11:23. Okay, if I’m wrong, it’s Dave who told me that. Yeah, second Corinthians 11:23. In that verse, in that verse, Paul says that he was lashed 39 times. He received 39 lashes on five separate occasions. And the reason he was lashed 39 times is they believed if you lashed somebody 40 times there, it had a high likelihood of killing them because they’d be bleeding too much. So they would lash people, they would punish people, they would lash them 39 times.

And Paul, when he received these lashes, he felt like he was a picture of and sharing in the sufferings of Jesus who was lashed 39 times not to kill him, but to make him suffer before they put him on the cross. And so he’s saying, I bear in my body the marks of Jesus. He’s saying, I’ve been lashed 39 times on five separate occasions, and I’m a picture of Jesus. I’m sharing in his sufferings. The reason Paul was lashed is not because he told people God loves them. The reason Paul was lashed is not because he told people God has a plan for their lives. The reason he was lashed is because he refused to stop saying the name.

Jesus. There is something different when we say the name of Jesus. God is not offensive. When you tell people that we put God on the name of God on our dollar bill, we sing, God bless America at sporting events. There are people who would be offended by the idea of God, but very, very few people are offended by the name of God. It is very safe to go to your coworkers and be like, oh, God blessed me. Or when they sneeze, God bless you. It’s not offensive to say that or to say that God is a plan for your life or that God is taking care of me. That is not offensive to your coworkers. But when you say the name of Jesus, man, it changes the whole temperature in the room. Something changes. There’s something about that name. It sends ripples through what I believe is a spiritual realm.

It’s just like, and you say the name of Jesus and it changes the tone of your conversation. Am I challenged to you? I dare you. And your conversations with your coworkers, your friends, your neighbors, your family members is to use the name Jesus. Don’t say, God is keeping me safe. Say, Jesus is with me and he’s keeping me safe because it’s extremely clarifying. And watch what happens. And if you have a little bit, if you have a little of a like, Ooh, I don’t know, I don’t want to defense, then might I suggest that the world is not fully crucified to you, that there’s still some part of your flesh that needs to be brought to the cross?

Be curious about that. Why are you afraid to say the name Jesus Paul will later say, I am not ashamed of Jesus. What is it? What are you afraid will happen? What are you worried will happen? You’re worried that they’re going to be offended. Okay, okay. Okay. But think about how great the opportunity and possibility is that maybe this leads to a fruitful conversation with them about faith. Maybe it’s the very thing that they’ll need. And they’ll come to the waters of baptism and they’ll be able to point back to a specific conversation they had with you. And they’ll say the same thing I said in my dorm room. I didn’t like what you said, but I’m glad that you said it.

I didn’t like what you said, but I’m glad that you said it. Thank you for saying the name of Jesus. And that would be my encouragement to you guys just to live this out. Paul, who received 39 lashes five times because he dared to say the name of Jesus, let his life inspire your own. And there’s the Book of Galatians, you guys, and it ends with a prayer. And usually I takes a few moments to pray, but I’m going to let Paul pray for us and then we’ll pray the Lord’s prayer together. But he ends Galatians 6 Verse 18 by praying a prayer for us as we close this book together, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with your spirit, brothers and sisters, amen”.

Closing Prayer

And we pray now the prayer our savior taught us to pray, saying together, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen and amen.