The Book of Galatians #27
Galatians 6:1-6
Last week we moved into chapter six of the book of Galatians where we find Paul counseling the church on helping its members to walk in the Spirit.
Remember, that is the cure-all, fix-all solution for every human problem. No matter if it is a domestic, family problem or a church relational problem, the solution for our problems is walking in the Spirit.
Back in chapter 5:19-20, Paul talks about the different scenarios of potential problems that come from living a carnal life. Then in the following verses he contrasts that with a life lived in the Spirit, and his ultimate admonition is to walk in the Spirit.
But what happens when some don’t? There is a tension that develops when some “walk in the Spirit” and others “walk according to the flesh”. So how do we deal with that?
We’re looking at the answer that Paul gives in the first sis verses of chapter 6.
Now remember, the problem in Galatia was that Paul had taught the truth about salvation being by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Others came along and said that was incomplete. There had to be a keeping of the Law of Moses as Judaism taught in order to be right with God.
And now these two contrary positions on a Biblical teaching had created a division in the church.
So Paul has gone to great lengths to try and resolve the issue and remind his hearers of the truth. He has presented his own testimony and their testimony and gone back to the Old Testament to support his position with Biblical truth, and now he is getting down to very practical matters. This is where they are living.
And he gives them (and us) three principles to guide their actions when dealing with someone who is in error. And his comments are addressed to those who are “spiritual”. Now remember, we discovered last week that is someone who is guided by the word of God and led by the Spirit of God.
This is the person who is “walking in the Spirit. It has nothing to do with how old they are in the faith or how much they go to church. It’s not how well they know the Bible or how much money they give. The “spiritual” are those who are seeking to follow the leadership of God by living under the control of the Holy Spirit.
And the first principle, we looked at last week. Paul says, Those who are spiritual need to “restore” an erring brother in a spirit of gentleness, remembering that no one is above temptation.
The first principle is
1. Lift Them Up
We are to follow the Biblical process outlined by Jesus Himself as we seek to be reconciled and bring our brother or sister into right relationship again.
And the key to that is Christ-likeness. He doesn’t throw away broken reeds and smoking flax. He restores.
And aren’t you thankful that Jesus “lifts us up” and doesn’t throw us away?
Here’s the second principle:
2. Hold Them Up
verse 2
The word for burden there is an interesting word. It means an excessive, unbearable, heavy load. So much so that one person can't carry it.
Then he says that by doing this, by bearing someone’s burden we “fulfill the law of Christ". What is the law of Christ?
That one is pretty simple. Jesus gave us that one Himself. He requires us to “love one another even as I have loved you”. It’s found in John 13:34. It’s all over the Bible. James calls it “the royal law”. It’s called the “perfect law of liberty”. It is quoted in verse 14 of Galatians 5 where we are told, "This is the law wholly fulfilled, love your neighbor as yourself."
It is the law of love. And the law of love says if you know of someone who is overtaken in a trespass, you are not only to restore them and lift them up, but you are also to get under that burden with them and hold them up. “Bear one another’s burdens.
I’m afraid that too often we want to remove this verse from its context to make it a little easier to do what we’re comfortable doing. We are going to bear one another’s burdens and that is pretty easy when it’s a friend and they’re having a difficult time. We rally around them
And we ought to. I’m certainly not being critical of that. But that’s not what this verse is talking about. This verse is in the context of someone falling victim to the flesh as a result of the unbearable burden of temptation. And sometimes the temptation load gets so heavy you just fall.
And Paul says, “When that happens, you've got to help them carry it or else they may fall again and again and again.”
I probably don’t need to remind you that sin likes to get you off by yourself. And the more alone you are the more tempted you are. And the more isolated you are the more tempted you are.
And have you noticed that when you are among other believers and when you're in a strong Christian family or in a strong Christian relationship, how you feel the strength of that relationship? How you feel the strength of that accountability in your life?
That’s why the instruction is giving in Hebrews 10 to “Not forsake the assemblying together”. We need to be together because we don’t do well alone. And in that environment we can bear one another's burdens.
We are to hold one another up.
How does that work? Sometimes it means a relationship. And in that relationship there is accountability and support. Some people just need someone else to speak a word of encouragement or give them Biblical counsel.
Sometimes it just takes a phone call or a note of encouragement and that makes all the difference in whether they fail or succeed.
But the idea is getting under the load with them to help carry it. A lot of people are really good at confrontation. They are more than happy to tell you everything that is wrong and then just walk away.
That’s not what this is talking about. There is an ongoing responsibility that God gives to us to help that burden of sin.
Paul had benefitted from that. In 2 Corinthians 7, he said, "But God who comforts the depressed comforted us by the coming of Titus." That is an echo of what he had already said in the first chapter when he talked about God comforting us so we can comfort others.
That’s kind of interesting to thinka bout Paul being depressed, but he was. He was human. He fell to the flesh and he says, "I was comforted by Titus." And he was comforted by someone who came alongside and just the fellowship and the presence bears the burden that depresses.
That is the essence and reality of real Christian fellowship. That’s the real stuff. That is what fulfills the law of Christ.
Then notice verse 3
Now this is a continuation of the same thought. He’s still talking to the spiritual and their responsibility to help others and he says, "If anyone thinks he's something when he's nothing he deceives himself."
Maybe one of the primary reasons we don’t do much of what this text instructs us is because we are too busy looking down our spiritual noses at those who are having trouble.
Would you agree with that? We see somebody in sin and we love to look down on them, feel self-righteous, smug.
So Paul’s warning is, “Don’t get judgmental.” If you think you're something when you're nothing, you deceive yourself. And I think it does us good to understand that the emphasis in what he's saying is you're nothing. The only thing that makes you anything at all is that you're spiritual. You happen to be in the Spirit so you're useful. As soon as you're in the flesh, you're useless.
So it isn't you, it's the Spirit. Understood? You alone in the flesh, useless. You in the Spirit, powerful. The issue must be the Spirit. That's the impact of that verse.
So in other words, he’s saying “If you don't want to bother to get involved at a proper level because you're too good for that, you are very deceived.”
Verse 4
Don’t assume anything that isn't really true. Your first responsibility is to examine your own life, be sure your own attitudes are right and be sure you have a humble, meek spirit and that you have a reason to boast in the sense of what God has done in your life. And then you're going to go humbly and you're not going to think you're something when you're nothing. You're going to know you're nothing but God can use you to do some things and you're going to follow through in the power of the Spirit.
verse 5
In the English that sounds like a contradiction, but the word "load" and the word "burdens" are two different words. Remember, a burdens is “an excessive, unbearable, heavy, load”.
Abut the word “load” originally had to do with a little piece of art.It was anything carved. And here it's used in the sense of the general obligations of life. It doesn't mean heavy or difficult or cumbersome. This is just the general matters of life.
And what he is saying is everybody has to take care of his own life. You take care of your life. Don’t go around having a pity party expecting everybody else to carry you through life. Take care of your own business.
So what we have here is some good instruction about spiritual responsibility. We are to help those who are struggling, and we have the responsibility to pick them up and hold them up.
Then lastly,
3. Build Them Up
verse 6
Now some people think this verse is about taking care of the preacher. There are a lot of verses that teach us about that, but I don’t think this verse has anything at all to do with that.
Why, in the middle of a discussion about restoring erring brothers and bearing one another’s burderns would he all of a sudden drop in this unconnected thought about paying the preacher? That makes no sense.
What he is saying is the one who bears the burden and holds this guy up is obviously teaching the Word to that person. And together, the one who is ministering and the one who is ministered to are both beneficiaries of the lesson.
And what that means is we are all learning together. We’re involved in a process. We are to pick them up by confronting sin, calling for a confession, repentance, prayer, which all roots back to the Word.
We hold them up by an accountability relationship in which you get under the burden and help them carry the burden as Christ instructed.
And you build them up by sharing back and forth all the good, excellent, moral truths that flow out of the process of teaching. And you are reminded of the necessity of obedience as that process takes place.
And I will tell you from experience there is nothing that encourages me to keep preaching and teaching like seeing the light come on for somebody as they grab hold of a Biblical truth and apply it to their life.
Am I my brother's keeper? As a matter of fact, I am. And when that’s not being done, it only hurts the struggling that much more because they’re not getting any help, and it’s bad for the spiritual because at the moment they refuse to do it or ignore their responsibility they move from spiritual to carnal because of disobedience.
So if we will be spiritual, we're going to have to have this sensitivity. As the Spirit directs and as you we walk in the Spirit this will happen. And it will never be a burden, it will always be a joy because the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy.
Even with all that the Holy Spirit does in our lives individually, we still fail. We still fall to the level of the flesh. And God has set in motion the church as an accountability body closely knit together for the purpose of the spiritual coming alongside the fleshly to lift them up, to hold them up, to build them up.
Let's bow together in prayer.
