Galatians 6 – What the Gospel Looks Like in Real Life

What does it look like to live out the gospel? That's what we're going to talk about today in Galatians 6. Hi, this is Jill from the North Woods talking about the Bible in one small step at a time. In Galatians 6, which, by the way, is the last chapter of Galatians, we're going to start Ephesians next, Paul doesn't end with abstract theology or some sort of a doctrine. Instead, he's trying to bring it home to real people with a with real struggles, a real community that is facing something. And he shows us what the gospel looks like when someone messes up. We're tempted to be proud. We're tired of doing good. These are all things that we face in this closing chapter. Paul offers them this wisdom that is very deeply spiritual, but very practical. And today, when we walk through Galatians 6, step by step, we discover how grace isn't just a belief, but it's a way of life instead. And this letter has been full of correction and urgency and a very passionate plea from Paul. He's not mincing words here. We find out that some of the most personal and pastoral instruction is going to happen right here. So Paul opens up that if anyone is caught in transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. I love that. He doesn't say punish them, shame them. them, you know, making things up. But he's asking for them to be restored with gentleness, which means that if someone made a mistake, they stepped off the path, they're still walking with the Lord, and your job isn't to cut them off. It's to help them get back on the path. And we have seen, you know, particularly in history, but, you know, we've seen times where people just get cut out. And there are times when we do cut people out of the because of something so drastically they're doing. But we know that if they're just straying off the path, we help them back on. This is where Paul makes it very real for us. He says, keep watch on yourselves that you too don't become tempted. It makes me think like pride. Well, I stayed holy while that guy sure messed up, didn't he? You know, it's like a spiritual arrogance that creeps in. At least I'm not doing that. I think the Pharisees used to say that, right? At least I'm not like that unbeliever. You might be thinking that you're being helpful, but when pride can sneak in like a little tiny crack in your being, it will corrupt you too, even during a time of corruption. So we need humility to help people back up. So then Paul says another very famous saying where it's bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. The law of Christ isn't about rules and punishment and excommunication. It's about compassion and about carrying each other's weight You know, I'm a hiker, right? And I went on a big long hike through England And at one point, I started getting like a hip twinge It wasn't even an injury And I was struggling And my friend was like, let me take your backpack for you She was burying, you know, I know it's a physical thing But she was burying my physical burden So that I could get help back on the road again That's the image I get out of it He says that if anyone thinks that He is something when He is nothing, He deceives Himself. Pride. When we think we're better than other people just because we didn't stumble in the same way, Paul calls us to test our own work, to look inward. Because at the end of the day, each person is going to bear their own load. We each answer for our own lives and not the lives of our neighbors. But we shouldn't puff ourselves up about that. It's a really important message. In chapter 6, it kind of shifts a little bit. It says, Let the one who is taught the word share all good things to the one who teaches. Boy, that's a really interesting phrase, right? Paul isn't saying that pastors should get rich. And in fact, we've seen Paul refuse to take payment. This is about honoring the work of those who do the hard spiritual work of teaching and shepherding. They should be supported. financially, emotionally, emotionally, any way we can do it, any way we can support them, we should be helping them in that good work. And that's what we see modeled even in the gospel itself. And then he goes on to say that let the one who was taught, the student, you know, all of us as parishioners and lay people, taught the word, share all the good things with the one who teaches. We're out there earning an income, you know, working in the making our way through this world. What we are saying is that Paul isn't suggesting that pastors necessarily should become rich. In fact, he refused to take payment when he had enough money, when he didn't have to take payment. But he says it's honoring those who do the hard spiritual work, teaching and shepherding and praying with and all the things that pastors and church workers do. They should be supported financially. They should be supported in other ways, too, so that they can keep doing that. that gospel work. We are seeing that modeled. We saw that modeled in the gospels themselves. And then Paul gives us a principle that what we sow is what we reap. We've heard that before. One who sows his own flesh will reap his own corruption. The one who sows the spirit reaps eternal life. I mean, and we've seen that phrase used many times. And it can be a little bit confusing because what he's not saying is that the human body is bad, like the Gnostics and other people. other people said. Jesus came here in the body. We were knit together in the womb by God. He's not preaching an anti-physical body thing. But what he's saying is that if we go with our sinful flesh, if we go with our sinful nature, which they call the sinful flesh, it pulls us towards more selfishness, more corruption, and more sin. But when we sow the Spirit, we live in step with God. We're planting seeds of each other's It's, again, we aren't saved by our works, but what we sow is where our life path leads us. And it leads other people, too, to be honest with you. It's kind of like gardening, right? In one season, you know, you plant, and another season you reap. And in that waiting, you'll always see the results of it, right? It takes a while when you plant a seed to see the plant and then to see the fruit. Paul encourages us that we shouldn't grow weary of doing good. Keep sowing, keep sowing, keep sowing. And even when it feels like nothing is changing, it might be because of the season. You will reap. Don't give up. It's just not time yet. And so when Paul says that you should do good to those in the households of faith, if you're in a new town and you find believers, that's a good starting point for doing some good, right? So anyway, Paul's final words in his own hands to the Galatians, he grabs the from whoever's probably writing this down for him. Like I said, we thought he had eye vision problems and many people. He wrote these letters and someone else wrote it in pen. So he grabs the pen with large letters I'm writing to you. And maybe he writes those large letters because that helps him see. But maybe it's for emphasis. You know, we don't know. But the important thing is that this is Paul's personal signature going here. His heart is going right there on the page. He wants them to know this is from him. him to them. And he warns again about the Judaizers, demanding that the Gentiles believe that they had to get circumcised. And circumcise also means a whole slew of other things that you're supposed to do according to living according to the law that was given to the Jews many, many centuries before. They wanted to make a good outward showing so they wouldn't suffer for preaching Christ alone. And Paul's saying it clearly. That's not the gospel. The gospel is Christ alone. And he declares, you know, far be it, you know, for me, him, to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. There's nothing else there. The cross is the only thing to boast in. Not the law, not circumcision, not our tradition, not like how good I'm doing at following all the rules, not our efforts. It is just the cross that was given to us freely. And in this line, it says, for neither circumcision counts for anything. or uncircumcision counts for anything, but a new creation. The real transformation is not a mark on the body, but like a brand on your heart. It's a creation in Christ that is, like Jesus said, you know, new wine in new wineskin. It doesn't matter if you get circumcised or you don't get circumcised. That's not the point. The point is that you have a new heart in Christ. And then he goes on to say, peace and mercy. Be on those who walk by this rule, on the Israel of God. This isn't an anti-Jewish statement, and Paul himself kept some of the traditions himself. But the law will never save you. The people who have this heart for Jesus, that Jesus did everything already, the salvation is earned by Christ alone. Those are the true Israel of God. If tradition is meaningful for you, that's fine. That's great. But it never earns salvation. It has already been completed by Jesus himself. So that's kind of a tricky phrase there for sure. I had to spend a little bit of time looking at that. And so then he ends it with saying, for now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. Paul suffered for the gospel. He was beaten, scarred, stoned, imprisoned. He's not playing games here. He's not living a fluffy life. This message is costing him And then he finishes the end, not with flattery or thanks, but with grace. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. Wow, what an amazing book. I really enjoyed reading the book of Galatians. Next week we're going to start Ephesians. What I'm going to meditate on is this idea of what kind of sowing am I doing? Is it sowing of the flesh or sowing of the spirit? Where's my time and my energy? My energy, my thoughts. And where is that going? What am I sowing in the world? And then what am I harvesting? What is coming in from what I'm planting today? If the idea of, you know, what my works are, not to save me, but to sow, that's really the important thing. And I also think that when someone falls, how do we restore them? Is it with a gentleness? With the gospel? Is it with pride? Or is it with snarkiness or thinking you're better than the other person? I'm going to spend some time thinking about that. And what I pray about is that idea that this trap of thinking that we have to earn our salvation. We have seen this in these letters about how people have fallen away from the true gospel in many different ways. And we hope that it never leads us in temptation of either legalism and spiritual arrogance or abandoning the law and abandoning living through Christ, it reminds us that the cross is enough. Jesus did everything. He gave us patience to keep doing the good thing. He gave us the Holy Spirit to help us. And when we help others restore themselves, come back on the path, we hope that he helps us to be gentle, that we're stewards and good sowers of the Spirit, and that we walk, by a love, the love of God, and that we carry each other's burdens. And what I'm going to share with others is this idea that the truth to carry is the idea that the law will never save us. The cross already has. And if anyone tells you you have to do something, you have to follow these rules or these rituals to be accepted by God, I think we should remember the Galatians. We're a new creation in Christ, not because of what we've done. but because the work of Jesus that Jesus has already done. The work is finished and what we do is we walk in that grace and in that forgiveness and we try to sow good seeds. All right, everyone, thanks so much. I appreciate you joining me for Galatians. Boy, this has been a hard-hitting book and a really important one too. Like I said, we're going to talk about Ephesians next and I hope you join me for that too. Remember that you can email me or put a comment here. My email is jill at startwithsmallsteps.com and you can find every way to contact us. me at jillfromthenorthwoods.com. Thanks so much. Have a great day.