If you would please open to Galatians chapter 6 Galatians chapter 6 we will with the Lord's help be looking at verses 1 through 10 This morning Galatians chapter 6 We are rapidly coming to a close in our study of this epistle So as we arrive at our verses this morning Galatians 6 verses 1 through 10 We see that having been justified by faith, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I, we are not to live lives that are independent of one another, but instead God has commanded us in his word to gather together in local assemblies. And we are to gather together certainly to participate in the public worship of God on the Lord's day. But we also need one another in this life as we are all sprinting towards eternity. And as Paul is winding down his letter to The church is here in Galatia. He takes the time in our passage today to address some things that we may look at and at first may not be so impressed with, but they're very practical matters and they're matters that are critical for our life together. Well, let us pray and ask for God's help, and then we will read our text together. Pray with me. Father, we ask for your spirit to be poured out upon us, that your word may go forth in power, and Lord, that your people may hear, mixed with faith, ready to believe and obey all that you have said. For the glory of Jesus Christ, amen. Read with me from Galatians Chapter six, verses one through 10. Hear the word of God. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each one will have to bear his own load. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Amen. Well, the title of the sermon this morning is Life Together. having established and defended the great doctrine of justification by faith alone and set forth the outcome of being justified by faith, which is being adopted as sons of God, being made heirs in Christ, and having the fruit of the Spirit produced in us. Having established these things, Paul now speaks to how the church is to live life together as justified believers in Jesus Christ. And I want us to look at our text this morning under two headings. Firstly, in verses one through five, Paul speaks to us about bearing burdens. And we see here that we are to deal with a brother or sister who has fallen into sin with a spirit of gentleness and in humility. And secondly, in verses six through 10, Paul speaks to the importance of doing good, beginning first with our pastors and then to one another, and finally, to those who are outside of the church. Once again, verses one through five, we have bearing burdens, and verses six through 10, we have doing good. And we're gonna begin first with bearing burdens. Look with me, if you will, once again to verse one. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. The Bible is, for all of the other things that it is, it's an eminently practical book. Having spent the last chapter exhorting the believers in Galatia, to crucify the flesh, to keep in step with the Spirit. Paul now gives instructions for how the church is to handle a situation when a brother or sister fails to do this. So he sets forth the ideal in chapter 5. We're to put to death the deeds of the flesh. We are to manifest the fruit of the Spirit by keeping in step with the Spirit as he leads us. This is what we are commanded to do. This is the ideal. But Paul does not live in a fantasy world. He doesn't assume that because he's given clear commands and instructions and because we're justified by faith and have our sins forgiven, he doesn't assume that all of a sudden we're going to be perfect and without need of correction. Rather, Paul knows that the devil is at work. He knows, as he said in chapter 5, verse 17, that there is a war inside of each and every believer. the flesh waging war against the spirit, and the spirit waging war against the flesh. And because of this, there will be times when true believers sin, times when genuine redeemed Christians are caught in transgressions, as the text says. Therefore, the Holy Spirit sees fit here to give us instructions as to how we are to respond in such instances, but before we consider the appropriate response, let us first ask the question, what does it mean to be caught in any transgression? Well, this word caught can mean just that. Someone is found out. They were trying to conceal some sin, but yet it was exposed. They were caught, they were found out. but it can also mean to be overtaken. This is how, if you've got the New King James Version today, that's how this word is rendered in that translation. And to be overtaken is when a brother or sister is taken surprise by a sin, where they are ambushed, as it were, by sin. In other words, they're not willfully pursuing sin, but rather they are carried away by sin through a lack of watchfulness or through spiritual laziness or neglect. So I think it would be wise for us to allow for both of these different meanings here. Situations where a believer is caught in willful sin and found out. And then situations where believers are overtaken by their sin because of a particular weakness or a lack of vigilance. We don't have time to get into the examples of people in the word that have fallen into both of these different areas. Jesse mentioned this morning, David, certainly this was a calculated sin by David and he tried to cover it up multiple different ways, but was found out, he was caught. But we think of Peter. who was so intent on never denying Jesus, and yet in the Garden of Gethsemane, he wasn't praying and watching, he was sleeping. And through a lack of watchfulness, through a lack of vigilance, he was led and overtaken, if you will, by sin and denied Christ. So we see both of these things in the scriptures. So what does the Spirit say to us as to how we are to respond when a brother or sister sins. Well, firstly, he does not command us to ignore the sin or to sweep it under the rug. He doesn't tell us to pretend like it never happened. And we certainly are not to do what he's already rebuked the Galatians for in chapter five, verses 15, and then later in verse 26. We're not to bite and devour one another, and we're not to become conceited provoke one another. Instead, the Spirit commands us to respond to transgressions in the church by seeking to restore the brother or sister who sins in a spirit of gentleness. Now, the word restore means to correct, to set them right, to bring them back into line. And it's the same Greek word that we find in Mark 1, verse 19, where Jesus sees James and John in their fishing boat And he calls them and he says, come and follow me. Remember what the scriptures say they were doing. They were mending their nets. That's the same word. So we can think of it this way. If we are restoring a brother or sister, we are helping to mend them back together as it were. If to sin and to be caught in a transgression is to fall out of line with the Holy Spirit, this is another way to think of this, we are commanded to keep in step with the Spirit. So if to sin is to fail to keep in step with the Spirit, then we can think of restoration as picking a brother or sister back up and helping them get back in step with the Spirit. It's another way to think of this. And really this command in verse one, it parallels the method of church discipline that Jesus laid down for us in Matthew chapter 18. If your brother sins against you, you were to tell him his fault. Why? Just to make him feel bad? No, you want to gain your brother back. You want to restore him. You want to see him once again, walking by the spirit. So just as Jesus commands us, there may be several iterations of this attempt to restore a brother or sister. We may go to them individually. We may go with other witnesses. We may bring the matter before the entire church. But regardless, really the goal needs to be kept front and center. The goal of each of these iterations is restoration. The goal is to set our brother right. It's to see him once again walking with the Spirit. And on that point, let me be clear here that Paul is calling for, in verse one, restoration. What he's not calling for here is separation. He's not calling for excommunication. Now, unfortunately, there are times in the life of the church where excommunication is necessary. We think of that situation in 1 Corinthians where Paul is rebuking the church because they're letting this man who has his father's wife stay in the church among them. And he says, what are you doing? This guy's unrepentant, get him out of here. There are times, unfortunately, where we need to separate from someone who professes to be a Christian, but that's not the case here in Galatians chapter six, because the instructions that are before us are focused on restoration. And I would submit to you that that assumes that the brother or sister who has been caught in the transgression is repentant. They are willing to receive the correction and they're willing to be restored, as it were, to the body of Christ. Notice next, who is to participate in this restoration? Paul says, you who are spiritual. Paul doesn't say it's just the pastor's jobs to do that. Everyone else can kind of sit back and watch. It's not only the responsibility of the pastors of the church, it includes all of those in the congregation who are spiritual. In other words, all those who are walking by the Spirit. This work of restoration, it's part of the work of the ministry. If you remember from Ephesians chapter four, Paul speaks of Christ giving teachers and pastors to the church to equip the saints for the work of ministry. This is part of the work of the ministry that you all are charged with as saints. And we see parallels as well to what James says in his letter. James chapter five, verse 20, he says this, whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. You who are spiritual are to restore the one who is caught in any transgression. And how are we to restore a brother or sister who sins? In what manner are we to restore them? Well, the text says, in a spirit of gentleness. Again, we're not commanded to respond with indifference, but we're also not commanded to respond with gossip or with slander or with harshness or rejection. Instead, we are to respond in a spirit of gentleness. And in so doing, are we not simply following the example of Jesus Christ? Think to when, again, Peter denied Jesus. And we read in Luke chapter 22 that there's a moment that night where Jesus turns and he catches Peter's eye. He just gives him this corrective glance. And you can see, what does Peter do? He just immediately breaks down and he goes out and he weeps, but he's brought to repentance simply by a glance. that then after Christ rose from the dead, he got a chance to speak with Peter again. And he gave him those three chances to affirm his love for him. Peter, do you love me? This is how Jesus restored a fallen saint, and we ought to do likewise. But why is a spirit of gentleness so important? Well, Paul answers this at the end of verse one, he says, keep watch on yourself, lest you to be tempted. The word here that is rendered keep watch, it's a present tense verb, and it's given in the active voice. So in other words, as the restoration is happening, we have to be actively keeping watch on ourselves, lest we to And I would submit to you that there are two unique temptations that Paul has in view here. Firstly, if we respond harshly to a brother or sister who has sinned, then we are almost certainly responding in sinful anger. And so what are we doing in that case? We're simply adding sin to sin. We're not addressing it appropriately. So we're really just creating more people now who need to be restored. But secondly, and I think more central, if we do not approach the restoration in a spirit of gentleness, we risk indulging in self-righteous pride. We begin to think that we are better than the brother or sister who has sinned. Now we'll see this in a few moments, but Paul will touch on this in verse three. He warns us, if anyone thinks that he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. So then we are to restore a brother or sister who is caught in any transgression in the spirit of gentleness, keeping watch on ourselves, lest we too be tempted. Well, look with me next to verse two. Paul continues, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. And this is what it means to restore a fallen brother or sister. It is to bear their burden. And in so doing, it is to fulfill the law of Christ. If you've ever read Pilgrim's Progress before, you remember the burden that Christian carried on his back. That burden was symbolic of his sin. It was a weight, to allude to Hebrews chapter 12, that kept him from running the race with endurance. It was something he needed to be rid of. And so I think that when we see this command to bear one another's burdens, we ought to see the burden as analogous to sin. We are commanded, therefore, to carry or to bear one another's burdens, to carry the sins of our fellow church members. We don't do this in the same way that Christ did it, obviously, but there is a sense in which we do carry the sins of our brothers and sisters. And how do we do that? We saw it in verse one, a spirit of gentleness. We want to keep watch over ourselves. We want to have a goal here of restoration. But in verse two, Paul says that this act of restoration, this act of bearing one another's burdens, if we do this, we are fulfilling the law of Christ. Now, if you have your Bibles open to this passage, just look up to chapter five, verse 14. Look up a few verses. Paul says, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So with this in view, to bear one another's burdens, to lovingly correct a brother or sister who has sinned, this is to love your neighbor as yourself. This is to fulfill the law of Christ. And as we've seen several times in this letter to the Galatians, this is why you and I have been redeemed. Christ didn't come to set us free from bondage to the law, to set us free from the curse of the law, so that we could then be a law unto ourselves and go live however we wanted to live. That's not why he came. He came to set a people apart for good works that he himself prepared beforehand that we should walk in. Christ has set us free from the law, you might say, so that we can fulfill the law. And so we must keep these things in mind here, that as redeemed Christians, we have an obligation to live a holy life before God. And one of the ways that we can do that is by bearing one another's burdens as it relates to sin, seeking to restore a fallen brother or sister in gentleness, keeping watch over ourselves, and so doing, fulfilling the law of Christ. Well, as we move to verse three, Paul continues here to press home the importance of keeping watch over ourselves as we go through this restoration process. As we've mentioned, the temptation for us to look down upon a brother or sister who has sinned, to hold them in contempt, as it were, this is a real temptation to think, I would never do anything like that. Paul reminds us here, if we think that we're something, if we think that we're better than the one who's been caught in a transgression, then we are deceiving ourselves. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Jesse mentioned it this morning. The sin may not manifest itself outwardly, but the root of that sin is here. It's there. And we need to be aware of that. Paul is calling this to our attention. He says, if we think we're something when we're nothing, we simply deceive ourselves. Now, in a certain sense, we all are nothings, are we not? Each of us are sinners. Each of us are in desperate need of God's grace. Each of us are, in a sense, spiritual nothings. Now, through the inner working of the Holy Spirit, the redeemed nature that we have through Christ, we are not spiritual failures in the sense that we can never do anything good or pleasing before God. In the final analysis, we have to say we are spiritual nothings in complete dependence upon Christ. And yet despite this, he came to save us knowing what we were. He wasn't ignorant of our condition. He knew that we were spiritual nothings. And so in a like manner, again, we're not bearing the sins of our brother or sister in the way that Christ bore our sins, but as we restore them, almost as Christ restored us, we have to keep in mind the reality of who they are and who we are. We're fallen, we are spiritual nothings. We need to keep this in view as we go through this restoration process. So, at the end of the day, there's really nothing innately better about you or me than someone else who has been caught in a transgression. We need to remember, again, that root sin lives in our own hearts. Well, as we continue, Paul tells us how we are to avoid looking with contempt at our brother or sister. Verse four, he kind of turns the tables here. He says, but let each one test his own work. That is to say, examine your own life. Look at your own works. Take a hard look in the mirror. And when we do this, even the most sanctified saint amongst us I think he would testify or she would testify that what they see is imperfection. There's always room for improvement. There's always sin that needs to be repented of. And if we are doing this consistently, if we're constantly looking at our own work or examining our own lives, it's gonna keep us from becoming spiritually prideful, which is key in this restoration process. But there is something positive about testing our own work. And Paul's gonna touch on this next. Every believer who examines their life by the fruit of the spirit, those extremely high and holy traits that we read of in Galatians chapter five, every true Christian, even though there's going to be many gaps, and many things that are left undone, and many longings for holiness that we wish we had, if we look at that list honestly before God, what we're going to see is that He is working in us to will and to work for His good pleasure. And I would submit to you that this is more true the higher the vantage point. So for example, if you were to look at yourself today compared to yesterday, you may not see this great spiritual gain. In fact, you may see a spiritual dip. But if you step back and you examine your life over an extended period of time, what you will see is that God is working in you both to will and to work to his good pleasure. He has not left you to your own devices. He is changing you. He is shaping you. He is molding you more into the likeness of Christ. In that way, our sanctification should really be like the stock market. If we zoom in on that, what we're gonna see is crashes. We're gonna see sell-offs. and we're gonna panic. But if we back up and we look at the trend over a period of time, what we're gonna see is an upward trend in sanctification by God's grace. And friends, Paul tells us, this is the reason that we should boast. We shouldn't boast because we think we're better than someone else. We should boast because the Lord is actually working in us. We should boast in his grace. Let each one test his own work and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. So again, we shouldn't look at a brother or sister who's been caught in a transgression and boast that, you know what? No one's ever caught me doing that. but rather we should look at the work that God is doing in our lives and boast in that because there is a great joy that comes with a clear conscience when we walk by the Spirit and we're obedient to the Lord. He's designed it this way. There is the joy, the gift, the grace, if you will, of a clear conscience, and this should cause us to boast in the Lord's grace. I wanna read for you just one verse. Paul puts this into perspective. In 2 Corinthians, Paul is speaking to the church there. He says this, for our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience. that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God. So let us not be shy to do the same as Paul, to boast in the grace of God manifesting itself in our lives as he increases us in sanctification. Well, lastly, under this heading, Paul gives us the reason why we ought to be concerned with testing our own works as opposed to comparing ourselves to others. Look with me to verse five. Paul says, for each will have to bear his own load. Now on its face, we may look at this and we may think that this contradicts what Paul has just said in verse two, that we are to bear one another's burdens. But we need to understand here that in verse two, Paul is speaking of life in the church together. But in verse five, he's speaking of a future event, of an event that has not yet happened. And we can see this grammatically because the verb tense changes. Bear, in verse five, is in the future tense. Each person will have to, at some point in the future, bear their own load. I would submit to you that this is similar to what Paul says in Romans 14, where he commands us not to pass judgment on others in this present age. And he gives us a reason for that, because each of us must give an account to God in the age that is to come. So be careful how you judge others in this life. The scriptures are clear here. Each of us will give a personal account of what we did with the gifts, the talents, the resources, the opportunity, and the time that God gave us in this life. It is a personal account. each one will have to bear his own load. No two people are exactly alike in this room. We each have different gifts, talents, resources, opportunities, et cetera. So you're not gonna have to answer for your brother or sister in that day. Now, Pastor Jerry and myself are different because we will have to give an account. But for the Christian who is a non-pastor, a non-teacher, You have to give an individual account for how you stewarded the resources that God gave you. And so with that in mind, that you're going to have to bear your own load. Prideful comparisons to others are of no value to us. They may make us feel good in the short term. It may be a quick dopamine hit to our ego. Hey, I feel good. I'm not as bad as this person here or that person there. but it really is setting us up for disappointment on the day of judgment. So let us flee from such things. So we've seen that a central part to living life together as the visible body of Christ is bearing burdens in a spirit of gentleness and with watchfulness over our own souls, we are to restore anyone who is caught in any transgression and thus fulfill the law of Christ. Well, as we move to our second, In final heading, Paul's gonna press home upon us this obligation of doing good while we live life together as the visible body of Christ. Look with me, if you will, to verse six. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. As his principal example of doing good to those in the church, Paul instructs the Galatian believers to financially support the pastors who minister the word of God to them. This is his principal example of what it means to do good in the church. So we see here highlighted a reciprocal relationship between a congregation and her minister. Just as pastors have a responsibility to their flock to labor in prayer and in the ministry of the word, so also the flock has a responsibility to their pastors. They are to share all good things with them. Having received spiritual things from their pastors, the flock is to render unto their pastors material things. Now it's quite possible, even probable, that this was not an issue at all in Galatia before the Judaizers came in with their false teaching. But as soon as they came in and infiltrated the churches and started casting doubt upon the doctrine and the message that these men, whom Paul commissioned, were preaching, once that doubt began to get cast, they started to withhold some of the due wages to these men. I think John Calvin has a helpful comment here regarding how he believes this situation developed and the outworking of that in Galatia. He says, this showed the basest ingratitude. How disgraceful is it to withhold temporal support to those by whom our souls are fed? To refuse an earthly payment to those from whom we receive heavenly benefits? But it is and always has been the tendency of the world freely to bestow upon the ministers of Satan every luxury and hardly to supply godly pastors with necessary food." And friends, sadly, this is still true today. A few months ago, I saw a clip that was making the rounds on social media of a so-called pastor who was taking up an offering in his church. And he instructed his deacons, he said, close the sanctuary doors, don't let anyone leave. No one is leaving until we get this amount of money offered. And he essentially held them hostage. in his own church. Now, I don't know what his theology is, but I don't need to know what his theology is, because he's not preaching the truth. And yet, do you think he had his coffers full when he went home that day? I think he probably did. How many of the word of faith preachers, the men who don't have a soul-saving gospel to offer anyone, how many of these men are lacking in finances? None of them, seemingly. Despite their empty doctrine, they have an abundance of financial support. Again, listen to Calvin here. Calvin says, it is one of the tricks of Satan to defraud godly ministers of support that the church may be deprived of such ministers. In an earnest desire to preserve a gospel ministry, Paul commands that proper attention should be paid to good and faithful pastors. In other words, if pastors are starved, they'll go somewhere else and do something else. And who do you think wants that? Satan would love that, would love if godly ministers were starved out of the ministry. And I need to be clear here that a minister's salary is not charity. Sometimes Christians think of it as charity. I'm just being nice. Look at how giving I'm being. I'm going to give an offering so that the pastor has something. That's absolutely the wrong way to think about a pastor's salary. Friends, a congregation's financial support of their minister is not the same thing as me going to Publix and the cashier asking me if I want to round up so that local elementary schools can buy supplies. That's not the same thing. And if we treat it like that, we are wrong. because a congregation's financial support of their minister, it's their God-given obligation, it's their duty before God. A godly minister sows spiritual things amongst his congregation and he should therefore reap material things. Now we could go throughout all the scriptures, but I wanna focus in on one particular place where Paul rebukes the church at Corinth for their stinginess as it related to their supporting his gospel ministry amongst them. And he goes back to the old covenant and he takes a law out of the old covenant and he makes a moral application of it for them in 1 Corinthians 9. Paul says this, he asks the question, who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or tens a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say these things on human authority? In other words, is this just my opinion? No, does the law not say the same? For it's written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. Now we may think, okay, Paul has gone off the rails here. But he continues. Is God concerned about oxen? Is that why God gave this command? And Paul says, does God not certainly speak this for our sake, for the sake of gospel ministers? Yes, it was written for our sake because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? And Paul goes on and continues, he says this, the Lord commanded, listen to this brothers and sisters, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. It is not charity. Let me just be clear, because he's not here. I can say it without embarrassing him. When you put money in the offering plate, when you sign up for Rebel Give or whatever way that you give your offering to the church, the majority of that goes to Pastor Jerry's salary, and it should. That's our number one financial priority as a church. It's not charity, brothers and sisters. It is your obligation before God. It is his wages for sowing spiritual things amongst us. Okay, so let us view it in the right way. Now, we could go to other places of scripture, 1 Timothy 5, Luke 10, we don't have time, but it is all throughout the scriptures, this theme of godly ministers being paid material things for their spiritual work. Well, Paul goes on to show the seriousness of this obligation between the minister and congregation in verse seven. He makes it clear here, this really isn't an obligation between the congregation and the minister, it's between the congregation and God. He says this in verse seven, do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Now there's a reality here. that when the true gospel is proclaimed to God's people and they value it highly, they will be generous in their return of material things to their pastor. But if they don't value the true gospel, as was beginning to happen in Galatia, then they withhold the due financial support of their pastor. And to devalue the gospel and to starve the pastor that Christ has placed there in the church, it's to mock God. And Paul's clear, God will not be mocked. Whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Now, one of the barriers that you and I may have when it comes to financial giving is the reality that we have a million other things that are pressing in on us and demanding our finances. Many of us have families to support. Each of us have certain fixed expenses, these expenses that never go away. Month after month, the bills continue to come. I paid last month. Here's another one. I've got to pay that one. We've got various expenditures that we cannot plan for. If we add to these things, uncertainties about our jobs or about the economy, about inflation or the cost of goods, we've got pressures and obligations pressing in on us. And if we allow those things to determine what we do, it can be all too easy to relegate the financial support of our pastor to a secondary status. But I want to be clear here. The text is what it is. I can't change the text. You all are a very faithful congregation when it comes to giving. You are a very generous congregation. And I think it's because you value the gospel highly. But there are congregations that are not faithful in this duty. There are congregations who are not generous, who don't value the gospel. And for one reason or another, they withhold the due financial support of their minister. And in that case, even if we have a few people who are faithful, if half the congregation isn't faithful, the half that is can't supply what's needed. And they force the minister oftentimes to make a hard decision. The pastor has to make a decision sometimes between bivocational ministry, where his efforts are now going to be divided between a secular career and work in the church. Now, obviously, this is going to mean that he's got less time to spend in prayer and in the ministry of the word. But think about what other effects that has. Less sleep, less time to spend with his family. less time to do all the other things that you all do and enjoy, that's not a situation you want to put your minister into. It's not good for your souls to do that. Those stresses, I would submit to you, compound and they create this snowball effect where a godly minister perhaps begins to question whether he can serve in the ministry at all. And so we see the dangers here of a congregation, again, I wanna be clear, that's not you all, but a congregation where there's a godly minister, but only a few people committed to giving him his due wages. This can drag down the entire body. And Paul is seeing it here in the churches of Galatia. And to help us and to help them avoid these dangerous outcomes, Paul employs here the imagery of sowing and reaping. And this isn't the only place this shows up. This is a very common illustration. In the Bible, for example, 2 Corinthians, Paul is exhorting them to be cheerful givers, and he uses this same sowing and reaping illustration. He says in 2 Corinthians 9, verse 6, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Again, I've got a million other cross-references here. We just don't have time to get into them, but passages like Malachi 3.10, Proverbs 11, 24 through 25, Luke 6, verse 38, all of these passages and more testify to the same thing. And the point is this, if you sow sparingly as it relates to the financial support of your pastor, you will also reap sparingly because God is not mocked. If you withhold the due wages of your pastor, then don't be surprised when God withholds spiritual blessings from you. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. And as he continues, Paul expands on this truth in verse eight, and he outlines two different ways that we might sow in this temporary life. Firstly, we may sow to the flesh. He says, for the one who sows to his own flesh will, from the flesh, reap corruption. That is to say, we can put all of our eggs in the basket of this temporary life. We can put all of our financial resources into meeting not just our temporary needs, but also our temporary wants. We can satisfy the flesh with the way that we use the resources God has given us, but to do this is to live in a way that disregards the life that is to come. In a very real way, it's to disregard eternity. If we're sowing to the flesh, then what we're doing is we're storing up treasures for ourselves here upon earth. Treasures that rust and moths can destroy. Treasures that can be stolen by thieves. Treasures that, frankly, are gonna perish with us when we die. To sow to the flesh, as Calvin says, is to be so entirely devoted to the flesh as to direct all our thoughts to its interests or convenience. And the main application of this point, again, it refers back to verse six. I know I sound like a broken record, but the text is what it is. It refers back to this financial support of godly ministers. Martin Luther has a helpful quote here. He says, he that gives nothing to the ministers of God's word, but only feeds and cares for himself, so he's sowing to the flesh, that man shall of the flesh reap corruption. not only in the life to come, but also in this present life. For the goods of the wicked shall waste away, and they themselves also at length shall shamefully perish. Again, the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But in contrast to this, the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. " Now, we need to be careful to understand what Paul is and is not saying here, and we have to do so in consideration of his larger argument in Galatians. So Paul did not spend four and a half chapters driving home the truth that sinners are justified by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, only to get here to chapter 6 now and all of a sudden contradict everything that he said before. He's not telling us that we can earn eternal life by somehow sowing to the Spirit. That's not the message of verse eight. But what he is saying is that the person who has been justified by faith in Christ, the person who has been adopted as a son of God by God's grace, that person will, of necessity, sow to the Spirit. Again, the immediate application of this is still in the context of verse six, they will cheerfully and faithfully provide for the financial needs of their pastor. And in so doing, they will reap eternal life not as a reward for their good works, but as the gift of God's free grace. They're good works in this life. They're sowing to the spirit. It's simply an outworking of the grace of God in their lives. And as we've said multiple times throughout this study, justification, yes, it is through faith alone, but the faith that justifies is never alone. It's always accompanied by good fruit in the life of the believer. And one mark of saving grace is a desire to financially provide for your minister. Additionally, let us note here that when we support the advancement of the gospel, what we do is we share in that preacher's ministry as well. A few verses here, Philippians 4, verses 15 through 17. Paul says, and you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. So he's commending them. You provided for my financial needs as I was boots on the ground preaching the gospel to lost sinners. And he says this, I don't seek the gift that you give. In other words, I don't covet the finances that you sent me, although I needed it to survive, although it freed me up so I could preach full time. I don't covet the gift, listen to what he says, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. Friends, there's something here. When we participate in the ministry of someone who is preaching the gospel faithfully, we are receiving fruit from that. Now, I would argue that we're gonna see some of that fruit, Lord willing, in this life. We'll get to rejoice that sinners are saved and we see lives changed and all of these things. But I think really what's underlying here is the fruit that we're only going to see in the life that is to come. the rewards that God gives his saints in heaven. These things are stored up as we participate in the ministry of the gospel through financial support. John says the same thing in his third epistle. He says, Beloved, it is a faithful thing that you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are. He's talking about men who had preached the gospel to them, who had come through and stayed with them and they had supported them. They were strangers to them in that way, but they were preachers of the gospel. John continues, he says, you will do well to send them, that is the preachers, on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they've gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore, we ought to support people like these. Listen to what John says, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. we participate in the ministry of a faithful preacher through the financial support of that faithful preacher. And it starts in your local assembly. So the work that Pastor Jerry is doing, the full-time vocational work of ministering and laboring in prayer and in the word, You are a participant in that through your financial giving, and there will be a reward for that participation. It will reap eternal life even beyond this world. All right, again, the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Well, moving now to verse nine, Paul begins to expand this application beyond the financial support of ministers to simply doing good more generally. And he encourages us to persevere in doing good. And he encourages us by way of a promise. Look to verse nine with me. Paul says, let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. Now we saw a few sermons ago from chapter five, that the Christian walk is hard. It is easy to grow weary of doing good in our Christian walk, but it's possible to persevere in doing good as the spirit leads us. And as we keep in step with him, with the spirit's help, by following his lead, we can, as Paul commands in verse 13 of chapter five, we can through love, serve one another. So with the Spirit's help, following His lead, we can, as we've seen today, we can bear one another's burdens, we can fulfill the law of Christ, we can keep watch over ourselves, we can be consistent in providing for the financial needs of our pastor, we can do all these things and more through God's grace if we but will persevere and not grow weary of doing good. And we have this promise, in due season, we will reap, if we don't give up. again, Satan, the world, even our own flesh, they would have us to give up in doing good, to think of ourselves as more important than others, to put our own interests above the interests of others. But to do this would be to miss out on reaping the harvest of our labors. Therefore, whether the fruit of our labors are seen in this life, or as I suspect, most of them will be seen in the life that is to come, let us persevere in doing good, knowing that in due season, when God deems it appropriate, we will reap if we do not give up. And as we close, let's look to verse 10, where Paul concludes this thought. He says, so then, as we have opportunity, Let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. So in other words, Paul is saying here, for all the reasons that I've given you, knowing that God is not mocked, knowing that whatever one sows, that he will also reap. Knowing that if we sow to the flesh, we're gonna reap corruption, but if we sow to the spirit, we're gonna reap eternal life. Knowing that we will reap in due season if we don't give up for all these reasons, therefore, let us, as we have opportunity, do good to everyone. And I want us to see in this statement, as we have opportunity, let us remember that we do not have an unlimited number of days here upon this earth. Each of us has been allotted a set number of days by God. He has determined the exact day that each and every person in this room will die. And my birthday was a few weeks ago, and I can tell you, even at 41, it is flying by. It is absolutely flying by. Children, it will be over before you know it. And that's if God allows you to live a full and complete life. It'll be over before you know it. So we need to see this and be committed to using those limited number of days wisely. As we still have opportunity, let us do good to everyone. So it's not, I have to do this. Oh, I've got to serve my brother or sister. Oh, I've got to do this or that to serve someone who's in need. No, I get to. I get to do this. I've still got breath in my nostrils. I've got the physical strength to actually get up and do it. I can move my hands. I can move my legs. I get to do this. As we have opportunity, let us do good. to everyone, but what we see here is, you know, Paul, he expanded his application, let us do good to everyone. Now he's gonna narrow it again at the end of verse 10, especially to those who are of the household of faith. And we see something here of what is sometimes called the order of love. Yes, we are to love all men, but we are not to love all men equally or in the same way. Now, some people get all uptight about that. But it's very natural. I think we all know that intuitively. And I'm gonna prove it to you by using an illustration that Pastor Jerry has used several times before. I love each and every child in this room. I hope that the children here know that. I love you. I want the best for you, spiritually, physically, for every child in our church. But for as much as I love all the children in our church, I love my children more. My children have my highest love, and rightfully so. They should have my highest love. And in the same way, we are to do good to everyone, but especially to those who are of the household of faith, especially to our fellow believers, to our brothers and sisters in Christ. And as much as we are to love those in the world, we are to have a particular love for the people of the church. And when we do this, we're not only doing what is natural, we're not only doing what God made us to do, we're just copying God. God has a general love for all mankind. The scriptures tell us the sun shines on the just and the unjust, the rain falls on the just and the unjust, the just and the unjust reap a harvest of crops and are fed from God's hand. God even sent Christ into the world because he loved the world, generally speaking. Christ is the Savior of the entire world. He is set forth for the whole world to believe upon. but God has a particular love for his people. And only we who believe in Christ are adopted into his family. Only we are heirs according to promise and recipients of his particular love. So let me make it practical for you. If there's a person or a family in our church who is in need, and there is a person or a family outside of our church who is in need, and you are forced to choose between the two. Now, I think that's probably a false scenario, okay? Very rarely would we be forced to choose between the two, but if we are, we ought to give preference to our brothers and sisters in Christ. That's what Paul's saying here. Do good to all, to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith. And so we've seen today something of what it looks like for us as justified believers to live life together. In summary, we're to bear one another's burdens and we're to do good to everyone. I just have one additional application for those who are outside of Christ this morning. We've been speaking largely today of some things that may not be that interesting to you, speaking of how the church is to live life together. Believers doing good to one another, bearing one another's burdens. But if you're hearing me speak and you're curious and you're wondering, you know what, I'd love to have someone walk beside me and help bear my burden. I'd love to have someone that looks at me and wants to do good for me because I'm part of the household of faith. If God has put that desire into your heart this morning, I want to point out to you that if you were to partake in such things as we've talked about this morning, you must first have your burden of sin relieved for time and eternity by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so children, I'm largely speaking to you. If you are to participate in the life of the church, you must lay down your burden of sin at the cross of Christ and receive instead, in place of that sin, his perfect righteousness. If you are outside of Christ, I would beg you, do not spend your life sowing and reaping to the flesh, excuse me, sowing to the flesh only to reap corruption on the last day. Don't waste your life doing that. But instead, I would encourage you, turn from your sin, turn to Christ, turn to the Son of God by faith. Believe that God sent Jesus Christ. He loved the world so much, he sent Jesus Christ into the world to live, to die, to rise again for sinners just like you. Confess your sins to him. I'm gonna say as Jesse said, take Psalm 51 upon your lips. You may not know what words to pray to God. You may want to be reconciled to God. God may have put that desire into your heart, and he may be drawing you in right now, and you just don't know how to respond. I don't know the right words to say. I don't know what prayer to say. Open your Bibles. Go to Psalm 51. Pray that to God. He will hear you. Your prayer is not what saves you. Christ saves you. confess your sins to God, ask him to forgive you. Again, not because you've earned it, not because you're going to really, you know, work really hard and pay it back to him somehow. No, because you desperately need it. And he's a God of grace. And he loves to be merciful with sinners. Jesus Christ, he stands ready to bear the burden of your sin this morning and grant you the gift of everlasting life, if you will, but humble yourself and come to him. I beg of you, if you are outside of Christ, do it today. Do not delay. Let us pray. Father, bless your word to us, we pray. We thank you that You've justified us, but you've not set us off to wander this life on our own. You've brought us together as a local body of believers, united under the banner of Jesus Christ. You've given us your spirit. And you've given us one another, Lord, that we might bear one another's burdens, that we might do good to one another. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to make application of these truths as we leave this place out of a heart of thankfulness and gratitude for all that you've done for us in Christ. And we ask this in his name, amen.