Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Okay, you guys can turn over in your Bibles to Galatians.
[00:00:06] Galatians is in the New Testament.
[00:00:09] It's one of the many letters in there. So if you're having trouble finding it, you can always flip to that table of contents at the front of your Bible.
[00:00:20] And, you know, some of you guys are newer in here. So when I say Galatians 6, you're going to go to that little letter, Galatians, and you're going to find the big number six. Six. That's what we call a chapter. There are a lot of smaller numbers. Those are mostly verses, sometimes a footnote.
[00:00:35] And so we're going to look at chapter six, the big six, and we're going to start right at the beginning, hopefully covering those first five verses.
[00:00:43] Now, since there are so many newer folks in here, we need more than ever to review what is this book about.
[00:00:53] And if you happen, if you are new, you haven't been here, but you know stuff about Galatians, you should, should feel free to answer too. But what is Galatians about? So, okay, go, David.
[00:01:05] So basically, the church of Galatia has had some quote unquote members bring in legalism and adding more to salvation.
[00:01:15] Yeah, they're adding requirements to be like a real true Christian. What were, what was the requirement specifically?
[00:01:27] Yeah, that's right.
[00:01:29] Now why is that? Why would they do that? Did they make this up? Where are they getting that from? Yeah, yeah, the law. That's right. It was something that the people of Israel had to do. That was the. The sign, the symbol that somebody was a part of God's covenant family, his people.
[00:01:51] But why did things change? Why is Paul saying this is no longer required?
[00:01:58] Because Jesus came to Paul and told him the gospel and said that you're saved by faith alone and not works.
[00:02:09] That's right. That's right. And this is true because Christ himself fulfilled the law. He did not throw it in the trash. It's still useful.
[00:02:18] And we, we can learn. And even each law is righteous, but something else is more clearly used now to mark out who the people of God are.
[00:02:30] Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Baptism on fire.
[00:02:34] That's right. It marks us off as a separate people.
[00:02:40] And so that is being used in that way. But even that is not something to be used to determine whether someone is justified.
[00:02:48] Now, justified is a big word in this book. Can anyone remind us what justification is?
[00:02:56] Hank?
[00:02:58] Yeah, it's like a declaration to be declared righteous. Righteous is holy and good in God's sight. And the reason I say declare is important is because it's important something that God maybe like, says in a way, not necessarily literally, but he says. But it's not just saying. It's a declaration. You know, like when someone declares bankruptcy, it's not just, if you've seen the office, it's not just saying the words. It's making a declaration of something that becomes fact.
[00:03:29] So it's something official.
[00:03:30] So it's declaring that this person is righteous. That means they fulfill what is necessary to live with God in eternity. And it's not because people have been circumcised or because they go to church or because they do all of these good things. It's just because they believe in Christ, the one who did it. They believe that his works, done by not just a perfect man, but God in the flesh, is sufficient to save all who would believe.
[00:03:59] And so that is the gospel. Paul's message is confirmed by other apostles and the fact that Jesus Christ told it to him, like Levi said. And so Paul has been trying to show them that no one is made righteous or justified, which is something all people need if they want to be saved from their sin. Nobody gets that through works of the law or good works.
[00:04:22] Instead, they get it by believing in Christ.
[00:04:26] Now, recently, when we were in chapter five, Paul talked about how Christians are free for freedom. Christ has set us free, we see in verse one.
[00:04:36] But what he wants to make sure of is that this doesn't turn us into lawless people who sin and say, well, at least God will forgive me if I do this sin. Doing this sin is no big deal. Jesus forgives, I'll just believe in him more. Or again, he's saying that you know this is not the right way to handle it. Your people, if you have been justified through Christ, then you have the Holy Spirit within you. And that means your life should look a certain way.
[00:05:06] So if you look just above chapter six, you'll see a list of the works of the flesh, like sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, drunkenness, divisions. And he lists a bunch of things there.
[00:05:18] These are things. If you're doing them and you have no conscience troubled by them. If your life is really characterized by any of these things, and it's not an exhaustive list, it could be other vices or sins. If your life is characterized by these, then you have no evidence and no assurance that you really are in the faith. Instead, if you truly have the Spirit, which. And if you have the Spirit, you've been justified by faith, then you should produce the fruit of the Spirit.
[00:05:49] And our friend and brother Jacob Hicks taught us in that section last week.
[00:05:55] And something that he kind of somewhat mentioned, he said in a different way is that it's important that what the Spirit, what we see is the fruit of the Spirit versus the works of the flesh.
[00:06:08] What we do in the flesh, which are sins, are things that we do. They are our works. But those good things are produced by the Spirit. That's why they're called fruit. It's not called works of the Spirit. It is the fruit.
[00:06:21] It is that which comes from our lives when we live according to what we believe.
[00:06:26] And so now Paul is going to turn even into more practical application.
[00:06:33] So I've taught you all these theology things about being justified.
[00:06:37] Now, what you know, you should bear the fruit of the Spirit, avoid the works of the flesh. But what else? So he goes in to kind of continue his thoughts, and we'll read these five verses. Now he says, brothers, actually let me start in verse 25, because I think these are a little more connected than they might look in your Bible.
[00:06:57] If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him. And in a spirit of gentleness, keep watch on yourselves, lest you too be tempted.
[00:07:18] Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
[00:07:23] For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work.
[00:07:32] And then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor, for each will have to bear his own load.
[00:07:41] All right, so what we do is we kind of just walk through these verses bit by bit. So looking back at verse one, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
[00:07:55] Okay, so let's make some observations.
[00:07:59] What does Paul address them as? What does he say?
[00:08:05] Brothers. That's right. Some of your Bibles might say brothers and sisters, and that's another appropriate translation. He is talking to whom?
[00:08:15] The Church. That's right. That's an important context to remember, is the recipients of this letter are all Christians.
[00:08:23] This is the church in Galatia, not just to all the Galatians that lived.
[00:08:30] Okay, why else is it important that he calls them brothers or brothers and sisters?
[00:08:51] Because they're brothers and sisters in Christ.
[00:08:54] Yeah, I think it's important because he's relating to Them, though none of them are. Well, some of them in the church are probably related by blood, but Paul's not blood related to any of these people, but he sees them as siblings.
[00:09:10] There is an intimacy here and a love and affection from him to the hearers. I think it's a really easy word or phrase to kind of glaze over.
[00:09:20] But we should remember, as he's been harshly rebuking them throughout this book, remember, he calls them foolish. He says, you've been bewitched or there's been a spell cast on you. You're being so stupid.
[00:09:32] This is how he's been talking to them. But he still loves these people. He calls them brothers and sisters.
[00:09:39] He trusts that they will turn from what they've been doing and be faithful to the Lord. They will stop being legalistic because he genuinely believes that they are also believers. So I don't want us to overlook the love and affection he has for these people.
[00:09:56] These people that are kind of repudiating and discrediting and not liking his teaching.
[00:10:03] That could hurt his feelings. He could be bitter, he could attack them. He could say mean, sharp things to them, and he might even be more in the right to do that. But he loves them, calls them brothers and sisters.
[00:10:16] And so then he says, if anyone is caught in any transgression, what is a transgression?
[00:10:24] A sin. A sin, it's breaking the law.
[00:10:28] You know, sin and transgression and iniquity, these things kind of get jumbled around. Transgression is sin, and it's usually kind of associated with the breaking of the law.
[00:10:39] So anyone is breaking the law if they're being sinful.
[00:10:44] You who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
[00:10:47] Now, when he says, you who are spiritual, who do you think he is talking to?
[00:11:16] The believers in the church?
[00:11:18] Yeah, the believers in the church.
[00:11:20] I think he might be talking to them all, but at least those who are spiritual. But, you know, why do you say the believers? What makes you think those who are spiritual are believers? Because they have the Spirit. That's right. They have the Spirit. This is something he's returned to throughout the book again and again. This is a common theme, and it is those who bear the fruit of the Spirit. So remembering this context, we just listed the fruit of the Spirit.
[00:11:46] So he's saying, you who are spiritual, you are bearing this fruit, producing it in your lives because of your faith in Christ.
[00:11:54] He is addressing those people because he's kind of given this diagnostic. They should be thinking, as this is being read to Them, this is what would happen. The letter would be received. They would read it to the church during their worship time together.
[00:12:08] And people right now are thinking, is my life more like the works of the flesh, or is my life more like the fruit of the Spirit? And now he's saying, you who are spiritual, if you fall on that side of the line, this is what you are to do. So he's been clear again that one is justified not by works, but by faith alone.
[00:12:30] But that faith is not alone, as many people have said, it bears fruit. It avoids the works of the flesh. And this Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is the sign and seal of every Christian.
[00:12:46] There's no Christian who just doesn't have the Spirit. Yet every single Christian, true Christian, does have the Spirit.
[00:12:54] Thus, if someone is caught in a sin, it's the duty of other Christians to restore them.
[00:13:00] So he's telling them, there will be people in your midst that are caught in the sin, sometimes even surprised by it.
[00:13:08] Not that they are accidentally sinning, but it could be something unexpected, a temptation that comes over them that they fall into, and they begin to feel enslaved by repeating this sin again and again and feeling ashamed and broken by it and saying, I'll never do it again. And then they do it again. This. This will happen in the church. It was going to happen there. It happens here, probably in just about every single person's life.
[00:13:34] And Paul knows this. God knows this and says, that's why we have the church.
[00:13:40] Christians who think they don't need the church, that they can live outside of the church, they're alone when transgression strikes them. They have no one to restore them. But thank God he gave us the church and expects every Christian to be a member of one so that we have brothers and sisters that can restore us.
[00:14:03] Now, to understand what restoring means, listen to this. This verse, this is from Matthew 4:21, says, and going on from there, or he, which is Jesus, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, mending their nets. And he called them.
[00:14:26] So they are, you know, they're fishermen. They're mending the nets. You can imagine that they're kind of like fixing it up, tying them up so they can catch some fish, so that, you know, the net maybe was useful, maybe it tore. They're kind of mending it back together.
[00:14:39] This word mending is the same word translated as restore.
[00:14:44] You can imagine someone who has been whole that is broken and is not producing fruit like he or she ought to. And so the job of the Christian is to mend that net, to restore that person to his or her former beauty and usefulness in Christ and into the holiness that they're called to live.
[00:15:04] And so that's why I read that verse, so we can kind of get a word picture of what this is supposed to communicate to these people.
[00:15:11] You know, when we correct and restore brothers or sisters, he doesn't just tell us, you see someone sin, you need to just call it out.
[00:15:22] How does he say to do it?
[00:15:26] Anyone in the back, how does he say to do it?
[00:15:28] This is an easy one.
[00:15:32] How do you restore someone?
[00:15:34] In what manner?
[00:15:36] Yes, that's right. Thank you, Helen. And in a spirit of gentleness. I saw your hand. I just want to get you guys involved. That's right. Sometimes it's easy. It's right there. Yeah, we do it gently.
[00:15:50] Now in a spirit of gentleness. Does this phrase call to your mind anything else from this book?
[00:15:59] Yeah, the fruit of the Spirit.
[00:16:01] Part of the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness.
[00:16:04] A spirit of gentleness is something that should flow from someone who is spiritual.
[00:16:11] And the reason I read those other verses probably above your subtitle in your Bible and also not on the sheet. So if you didn't have a Bible, you didn't see those.
[00:16:21] He says in verse 26, let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
[00:16:30] We can't be prideful, and we don't want to provoke one another.
[00:16:37] You know, we can't do this in a conceited or prideful way.
[00:16:41] To restore someone means we need to humbly recognize that you too could fall into this same temptation or a different one. You too will probably one day need this restoration from a faithful brother or sister, or maybe multiple brothers and sisters.
[00:17:00] You are not safer or better than this person that you're trying to restore and correct to holy living.
[00:17:09] You might have a worse struggle at some point in your life, and we need to humbly recognize that and gently correct people in such a way.
[00:17:20] So keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. That's how we. He finishes the verse. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
[00:17:30] And so this is exactly why he's warning them again, we too can all fall into transgression, even a quick and surprising temptation that is difficult to resist, maybe a particularly addictive temptation that you can't seem to be on your own.
[00:17:51] You need brothers and sisters to restore you, to help you through that.
[00:17:56] And that's what Paul is trying to encourage now. In verse two, he goes on and says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
[00:18:06] What sorts of burdens does Paul have in mind?
[00:18:10] Maybe some guesses or. What burdens can you imagine?
[00:18:30] You can think of a burden as a heavy thing to carry. It's kind of like a metaphor.
[00:18:35] What's a burden?
[00:18:37] It could be a burden that you've had to bear or someone you know has it.
[00:19:09] Any physical needs.
[00:19:11] Physical needs, that's right.
[00:19:16] So it could be anywhere from an elderly person who's homebound and can't get around by herself very well.
[00:19:23] It could be a cancer, it could be a disability. It could be even something little. You know, I tore my knee in college, and that burden was difficult for me to bear because my whole identity at the time was wrapped up in athleticism.
[00:19:38] My life was changed because of it. And it's kind of a trivial thing, but it was difficult. Levi, what were you gonna say?
[00:19:48] Yeah, deaths. Yeah, I'm gonna assume that. I mean, maybe you guys. You guys are young, but I don't know how many people would say, yeah, my life has always been really easy.
[00:20:02] There's a lot of you, especially as you get older, you'll see more and more seasons and difficulties in life. Those are burdens.
[00:20:10] So, yeah, those physical things, tragedies.
[00:20:15] But, you know, in context, temptation.
[00:20:18] So all sorts of temptations that you endure or are afflicted with. That's the immediate context, but also immediately, these people are being persecuted.
[00:20:28] They are a small church in a very hostile pagan city. So they deal with these sorts of hardships of people oppressing them.
[00:20:39] So there are all sorts of burdens. We could list specifics for a long time now.
[00:20:46] I want to ask you, what are some ways that you could bear someone's burdens?
[00:20:52] You know, I want to know what that burdens would look like.
[00:21:03] Yeah, you can pray for them.
[00:21:05] That's a great answer. That's the easiest and quickest and first thing I think we should do, and not just the first, but something to continue to do.
[00:21:15] If we really do believe that we're talking to God and we really believe that he's powerful and can change situations, then we would be foolish to not pray.
[00:21:26] People, secular people, criticize this reaction to tragedies. When people offer up their prayers, presuming that they actually are offering up prayers for tragedies. People who lost children in shootings or in floods, people criticize this and say, this doesn't make a difference, but we Know that's not true. If we really do believe that God is powerful and loving and mighty and he hears our prayers, we're foolish to not do that. We must pray.
[00:21:56] How else?
[00:22:08] Encourage. Yeah, that's right. Encourage people.
[00:22:12] Sometimes people need encouragement to help them keep going, to persevere.
[00:22:19] They could just feel like they want to give up whatever they're in, or they might want to give up even on their life. But sometimes we need to encourage people to keep going.
[00:22:30] That's right.
[00:22:38] You know, this could look like a lot of things, depending on the specific burden or the temptation.
[00:22:46] Sometimes it might just be being near.
[00:22:49] It could be, you know, cutting someone's grass if they can't get around. There are just like so many practical things. You know, I know people that have, you know, they would go to the grocery store. People do that for my grandma. She can't get out. They bring her groceries. My mom does this a lot. They take her out of the house because she can't get out, and they go on walks with her. There are things that people do to bear burdens of others.
[00:23:16] And he says that in doing this, you will fulfill the law of Christ.
[00:23:23] What is the law of Christ?
[00:23:25] Any guesses?
[00:23:33] Just like acting like Christ?
[00:23:36] I think so. I think fulfilling the law of Christ is acting like him. I think you're kind of onto it.
[00:23:42] So it refers to more than just his words. Some people read that and they think, oh, the things we see in red letters in our Bibles. But it's a lot more than that. The law of Christ is kind of the moral guide that Christians live by.
[00:23:57] If he fulfilled the law and we're free from it, but we still must obey God and live holy lives, then how do we do that if we're freed from the law? Well, we have the law of Christ. It's the guiding. We call this the moral law.
[00:24:12] It is just laws that are moral because they're moral and it's revealed through Christ.
[00:24:18] You know, we see this kind of. You can imagine the moral law is not like a. A practical thing written down like the Ten Commandments or the Constitution, but is just what is right and wrong across the universe. What is right and wrong? So we see a form of it in the Ten Commandments and the Old Testament law.
[00:24:39] You know, all of those adhere to this perfect law of Christ.
[00:24:46] But in different times and contexts, those laws might look differently, might be applied differently. This is the law of Christ, to please him and to live like Levi said, like Christ.
[00:25:01] And this phrase. So fulfill the law of Christ.
[00:25:07] I think we should note that the verb for so fulfill, I think another way to translate it that I think is more clear in English. If it's not, you can just ignore this.
[00:25:18] But I think we should probably read bear one another's burdens.
[00:25:23] Bear one another's burdens, and you must fulfill the law of Christ.
[00:25:32] And so this is not the only way to fulfill the law of Christ. What he is saying, you must fulfill the law of Christ. You're not free to do what you want. We must bear the fruit of the Spirit, and this is one way that we need to do it. And this is a way we can help others obey Christ.
[00:25:49] And so, as we just said, we are imitating Christ in this way.
[00:25:55] With his love, we're imitating his care for people. We're producing the fruit of the Spirit. Paul told us, against the fruit of the Spirit, there is no law. There's no law against them.
[00:26:07] They're good no matter where we are.
[00:26:11] Now, verse three, he continues.
[00:26:13] For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
[00:26:18] Okay, so what's the first word in that sentence?
[00:26:23] 4.
[00:26:25] What's the function of this word?
[00:26:29] It's a conjunction.
[00:26:32] Yes. So what does that mean? What's it doing? It's like combined being two independent clauses.
[00:26:42] Yeah, And I mean, usually that's how it works. You'll see that in most of these translations, it's kind of the start of a new sentence.
[00:26:50] But, you know, the language this was written in had kind of different rules.
[00:26:55] What it's really doing is it's logically connecting what came before to what came after.
[00:27:01] So he's connecting the prior verse. How are these connected? Well, I think the key is in chapter 5, verse 26.
[00:27:12] His emphasis is living by the Spirit and being humble with one another. And he's kind of trying to unpack, how can we be humble? How can we live by the Spirit? Here are some practical ways.
[00:27:22] And that leads him into how we can restore others and then how we can bear their burdens.
[00:27:28] So if you're prideful, then you will likely keep yourself isolated from the Church.
[00:27:36] That's what prideful do. They don't need help.
[00:27:38] They don't seek to bear other people's burdens.
[00:27:43] They're selfish.
[00:27:44] That's what pride is doing. It is turning yourself inward.
[00:27:48] So if you are resistant to this bearing of burdens, restoring other people gently, then I think you have a pride problem.
[00:27:58] And that's what he wants to avoid. And so this word for we could say, therefore, so he's saying, therefore, if you are prideful, if you think you are something, Paul's reminding you that you're nothing, you can't build your own righteousness, you will fail. Inevitably.
[00:28:15] The life of isolation from the church is cold, it's lifeless, it's lonely, and it's pointless. But sharing your life in burdens with others is meaningful.
[00:28:27] But you can't do that until you humble yourself and stop thinking of yourself too highly.
[00:28:35] Paul picks up on this same theme in another letter called Romans. In chapter 12, verse 3, he says, for by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.
[00:28:49] And he launches from there to explain how Christians in the church should love one another.
[00:28:56] So it's connected kind of to the same thing in both passages. If you think of yourself too highly, you will not love the church rightly. If we want the church to reflect the beauty of Christ, if we want the church to survive, we must not think of ourselves too highly. And that at the same time is one of the greatest challenges in mankind history.
[00:29:19] From the highest person to the lowest person, we think of ourselves too highly. We think of ourselves all the time, how we feel, our comfort, our conveniences. We think of ourselves constantly. And that is poison to healthy life in the church. And so, and he knows this, he knows that this is a struggle that we need to be actively on guard against.
[00:29:42] So humility and godly love are closely connected friends.
[00:29:47] So don't deceive yourself into thinking that you're good, that you're better.
[00:29:52] That will ruin you.
[00:29:55] The moment you think of yourself as better off or more holy than someone else, you have become conceited, and you better watch for sin to attack you.
[00:30:05] If you think of yourself as higher, I can guarantee you you're probably lower.
[00:30:10] In verse four, he continues, but let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. So Paul exhorts them to test themselves and how they are living out their faith in Christ. But then he says, if you do, then you will have reason to boast.
[00:30:29] Now that's kind of interesting, right?
[00:30:31] Didn't he just spend the whole letter saying that you're not supposed to boast in what you do and your works because you're justified by faith alone?
[00:30:40] Now he is. But, you know, there's another, here's another kind of like hidden future tense verb that we can't really see in English.
[00:30:49] What he's really saying is if you test your work, then you will have boasting, this is looking forward to the future.
[00:30:59] He is calling on what they are awaiting. And what they're awaiting is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, return of their Savior. If you humble yourself and have a living faith that produces fruit and fulfills the law of Christ through your love to others, then the Lord will assess your life on the last day and call you good and faithful. But you must humble yourself and have a living faith.
[00:31:24] And he wants them to stop comparing themselves to others, which is easy, and it can make you feel really good. He wants them to assess their own faithfulness. So he's not saying, I'm trying to help you boast. He's saying, I want you to assess your own faithfulness, the fruit of your life, the works of the flesh in your life, primarily before you worry about what other people are doing.
[00:31:51] Now, that last phrase, not in his neighbor, I think is confusing. He's referring to how they've been boasting the circumcision of the people in their church. They've been saying, yeah, look, all of our people were all circumcised. They're kind of boasting about that. You know, we're fulfilling the law. We're not throwing the law away like some of you Christians.
[00:32:12] And he's saying, that is not your boast. Your boast is not in how holy you are keeping the Old Testament law in your church. Your boast in what Christ has done for you.
[00:32:25] And you should consider more how you are living personally.
[00:32:28] So, students, I think the main point of this section is you don't become holy or justified by osmosis and in good church attendance just by being near good people, by being in the church, by being involved, by coming on Sundays and Wednesdays, by even participating in our discussion. You don't become holy and justified by doing those things.
[00:32:52] You're only justified through faith in Christ.
[00:32:55] That's the note of this book. That is the one note he's been striking again and again. It's because we need to hear it. Even today we struggle with this massively.
[00:33:07] And he ends this little part in verse five.
[00:33:10] For each will have to bear his own load.
[00:33:13] For each will have to bear his own load.
[00:33:18] You won't be judged by Christ for the faithfulness of anyone but you.
[00:33:23] Not how faithful your parents are or your friends, not how sinful your brother or sister is.
[00:33:30] None of it. None of those things come into factor when you are being judged by the Lord. None of it. Only your works are on display.
[00:33:40] So do you want him looking at your works or the works of his perfect Son?
[00:33:44] If you want him to look at the works of his perfect Son as belonging to you, you must believe in Him.
[00:33:51] So what should you do while you live?
[00:33:53] Be faithful.
[00:33:55] Love the church.
[00:33:57] Bear others burdens. Fulfill the law of Christ.
[00:34:02] Let's pray and we can get out of here.
[00:34:05] Father, we thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, and his free sacrifice on the cross. His perfect works of obedience.
[00:34:14] Lord, we pray that you would grant faith to those who have been resistant to those who are maybe deceived, that they do believe because they find comfort in their good works. Lord, help us to be convicted of such sins that we may truly come to know you. We pray this all in your Son's name. Amen.
