This message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. At the end, we will give information about how to contact us to receive a copy of this or other messages. Galatians chapter 6, verse 10. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. This is the reading of God's word. We're starting in Galatians 6.10 and much like last week, we've actually got a lot of ground we're going to cover. There's a lot of scripture to talk about today. As we've been going through these weeks, this series of sermons talking about reclaiming the church. Reclaiming the church because it's been lost in the understanding of so many Christians. We've talked about that Christ built his church. We talked about that Christ has united Christians together as one body. Last week, we talked about God's mighty word. We talked about that we are a people because of the nature of God's word. We are a people who are devoted to his word. Today, we're going to talk about each of our roles in the church. If you are a Christian, you have a role to play in the church. Don't doubt it for a second. You have a role to play, and it's time we talked a little bit more about that. What is our part in this family of God? What has God called us to do? What has he granted us to do? And that's why we start where we are in Galatians 6.10. I'll read it for you just one more time, and then we'll jump in. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone. And especially to those who are of the household of faith. Paul addressing the members of our household of faith. He says, this is what God has for you. This is what God has for you. Do good to all. and especially to the household of faith. It says, as we have opportunity, and actually it wasn't that long ago that we were talking about this passage, that Pastor Brian was preaching on this passage. We talked about that in some senses, there's a temporal meaning here. If an opportunity presents itself to you, take that opportunity, do good. Sure, that's included. We also talk about that there's a capability discussed here. If you have the resources to do good to one another, do good. If you have the time to do good to one another, do good, so on and so forth. If you have the capability, do good. But in the broadest sense of what we're talking about here, this life is our opportunity to do good. This entire life we've been given is our opportunity to do good to others, to do what benefits others, to do what is helpful to others. This is what we're called to. And we are called to do good to everyone. Remembering that we are people called to love all of our neighbors. not merely those who agree with us, but he does add, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. especially to your brothers and sisters who share in the faith. Even that way of presenting things that God has put us forward as being a family together. You recognize your brothers and sisters, that's a special relationship. We treat that the same with our blood relations. We are meant to treat our spiritual relations in the same way. Our brothers and sisters, we have a special relationship with. That said, We have a special obligation toward one another too, don't we? I mean, take this image of the household, the household of faith. Whatever event is happening in your lives, whether it's good or ill, say you come home with just fantastic news. Who do you share it with first? You share it with the members of your household. Terrible news is coming, a wildfire sweeping down the mountain toward your home. Who are the first people you tell? the members of your household. You have this special dedication and devotion and obligation to the members of your household. That's what we're going for here. We have a special relationship with our brothers and our sisters in the faith. And so because of that, Paul calls us to, especially for them, do good. Do good to your brothers and sisters, to the members of this household of faith. What does that mean? What does it mean that we are called to do good to one another? Well, we could probably have spent this entire series I've been doing on simply all the ways we could do good to one another. But I want to let the scripture show us what arguably is the most important way we've got. Hold that thought there. Let's flip over to Colossians. Colossians, just a little bit to your right, chapter three. In Colossians chapter three, verse 16, Paul says this. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Let the word of God dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. Do you hear that? Do you hear that call to the Christian? This is a call not to your special class of Christians, not to those who have gone through some kind of credentialed process. This is a call to Christians. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly and then go forward and teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. This is the blessing and this is the responsibility of being a member of the household of God. that you are called to go forward, to teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. We could launch off just from there, but take this as well. Let's flip over to Romans, to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 15. Paul says this in verse 14, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. Keep in mind, Paul had never visited this church. Think about that. He had never visited this church and he tells them, I am satisfied about you, my brothers. You are filled with all goodness and knowledge and able to instruct one another. How do you think he can make these pronouncements? How can he blanket make this to a church that could be top of the pile or just as bad as it gets? I hold out to you that this is simply what the church looks like. This is what Christians look like. We should not read this book and think it was written to a church of super-Christians. We have no reason to believe that the Roman Christians were super-Christians, able to take on the tasks that us mere mortals can't even touch, right? No, this is what it looks like when the word of Christ is dwelling in us richly and we're going forward and teaching and admonishing one another. This is what it looks like when the Holy Spirit goes and does divine renovation on your soul. This is what it looks like when you are transformed to look more and more like Jesus Christ. Full of all goodness, filled with all knowledge. This is not knowledge that the world grants. This is not knowledge in how to run a business, how to run a home. This is not knowledge of politics. This is not knowledge of sociology or whatever field you want to get into. This is a knowledge of the things of God. This is a knowledge of the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. This is a knowledge of the character of God, of who he is, of what he's promised. This is a knowledge of the wisdom, of God that has been given us. If we look at these passages, if we look at the way that Paul appeals to Christians, to your everyday average Christian, you will find that Paul will look at us and say, all Christians are called to instruct, to teach, and to admonish one another. In other words, all Christians are counselors. All Christians are counselors. You might not like it. You might not find that a particularly comforting statement. You might say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I took the spiritual gift test. That is not on there. Find someone else. Sorry. We are in this one together. In good times, In bad times, we are those who are expected to speak, and not just to speak opinion, to speak the truth in love to one another. That is our duty, every single one of us. When a brother's health is fading, when a sister's marriage is falling apart, when life is full of trials, when your kids are rebellious, when there are options that you cannot figure out and you need to weigh the pros and cons, Christian, you will be called to speak. What will you say? What are you equipped to say? That is why we must start with the scriptures. Our foundation must be in the scriptures. You will only be equipped as you have been equipped by the scriptures. Turn with me to another passage, 2 Timothy 3. Second Timothy chapter three contains probably the most famous passage on the nature of God's word that the Bible contains. Unfortunately, I think the church has acted like it's about two thirds shorter than it is. We're going to be reading 16 and 17 for that matter. All scripture is breathed out by God. Now the church right there thinks that Paul put a period there. And that is like the whole point of the book of 2 Timothy, right? But it keeps going. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. You see, we've looked at this passage and we've realized that this is a passage that's getting assaulted by a liberal Christianity or just forces of total unbelief. And so we act like the only thing to talk about here is that the scriptures are God-breathed, that the scriptures are inspired, inerrant, infallible, right? But Paul keeps going. He is making a point. He roots the scriptures in God's authority. And then he goes on to say that because they are inspired, this leads to their usefulness. Because they are inspired, this leads to their profitability. The scriptures are profitable. We should always expect the word of God to be profitable for us. It is always worth your time. It is always worth your study. God designed it that way. We miss out on so much when we treat the scriptures as if they are just some obligation, as if they're just some hoop we jumped through to keep kind of our credentials up to date. God would have us go to the scriptures every single time looking for how he intends to bless us, how he intends to benefit us. The word of God is profitable, Paul says, for teaching. It teaches us about the core essentials of what we need to know about faith in Jesus Christ, about salvation in Jesus Christ, about how it is we are called to live this life that God has given us. They are profitable for teaching. The scriptures are profitable for reproof, this sense of rebuking, of speaking against. When we're talking about lies, when we're talking about falsehood, it is the Word of God that needs to be brought to bear on that situation. Not your life's experience. It is the Word of God that needs to be brought to bear. The Word of God is profitable for correction, the sense of improvement, of restoration. The Word of God is profitable for training in righteousness. Just like a child is educated, is trained, is disciplined. This is what the word of God does for us. Young, old, it doesn't matter. The scriptures will take you under their wing and they will train you up in righteousness. And the result then is that the man of God would be complete, fit, adequate, ready. Those with the word of God are equipped for every good work. Do you know what Paul means by every good work? Every good work. Every single one you find that you will be equipped by the word of God. That's inspiring. That's encouraging. And this is for every Christian. This is not just for the so-called professional Christians. The ones I said who have received some kind of credential. Something formal to say, yes, yes, you too will be equipped to use the word of God. No, no, no. We need to ditch this mentality that some of us get to sit the fight out while we send forward the champion, so to speak, to fight for the army. If some of us are sitting it out, we're going to lose a lot of battles that we never should have. Christian, you are called to fight in this battle. And once we are equipped with that inspired word of God, then we can go and give from the blessings we've received. Once we have been built up, we can then give those same things we have been given. When God calls us to go and do good, especially to the household of faith, he calls us to give good counsel from the word of God. Not good counsel from your opinions and life story. Good counsel from the word of God. So what does that look like? Okay, great. We're called to speak the truth to one another in love, right? Let the word of God dwell in us richly so we can go instruct one another. Great. The word of God is breathed out and profitable for all these things. Okay, great. What does that actually look like? I think we can be timid about this. I think we can be fearful and uncertain about this. It reminds me, I've told probably many of you that in college I had just the privilege to take a semester and go study at a university in Spain. And I arrived there with, I kid you not, probably a decade of Spanish under my belt. But I was uncertain of myself going there. I was deeply uncertain of myself because what I lacked was sort of an experiential testing of my knowledge. I had not had to meet someone on the street and ask them for directions. I had not had to sit down in a restaurant and order food. I had not had to do any of these real life things that you have to do with a language. The vocabulary I was taught was good. The conjugation charts were good. But I'd never looked someone in the eye and had to actually communicate with a human being in Spanish. And so I was timid when I got there. I was uncertain until I kind of saw, oh, it looks like the school teachers actually taught me the same language they speak here. Praise God. But I think we can react to the exact same way with the Bible. We've learned it, we've read it, we've studied it, but we have never seen it tested. in real life. I want you all to leave here confident that the word of God can do exactly what it says it can do. The word of God is not just for our passive learning and then we tuck it away in some compartment somewhere. The word of God can do so much in your average everyday life. and it can do so much more than we tend to realize. So I figured we would take the time and look at some real life situations, not with, you know, names and dates attached, but situations that you can very much picture experiencing with your brothers and your sisters. And we'll see how the word of God stacks up against worldly wisdom. Take this for example. Have you ever known someone whose life was just out of balance? And what, hand to the back, I like it. And what you see this person doing is you see them always chasing, always striving. Striving after what? I don't know, something. And they are never satisfied. They are never content. I mean, pause for just a moment. What would you say to them? What would you say to them? I think it all depends on what you're going to draw from. Are you going to draw from the wisdom of this world, or are you going to draw from the word of God? The wisdom of the world, this is what I would expect it to look like. It could look like a lot of things. The world will look at a person whose life is out of balance, who just can't seem to sort of have any satisfaction with their life, and they would say something like, you know what? You need to take more time for yourself. You need to branch out, discover your passions, discover what makes life worth living. I did not make that up, by the way. These might be just fine ideas, Fine ideas, but they're not getting to the root of things. The world is not going to understand either its own limitations or what true spiritual good is. So how can you expect worldly wisdom to talk about a matter of the soul? I want you to hear instead how the Bible describes things. Turn with me to Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah chapter 55. So you're talking to a brother or a sister. Your life is out of balance. You have no contentment, no satisfaction. Here what the word of God would say to you. Come. Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live. And we can pause right there. It keeps saying good stuff, but we can pause right there. Oh, that's a different approach altogether. We have a thousand ways to divert our attention from God. Whether we do it with fun or whether we do it with work or whatever it is, we want to busy up things. We have a thousand ways to divert our attention from God. But at the end of the day, we find that we are just pouring ourselves and our lives into these pursuits and we are never satisfied. You can feel it. The things of the world were not meant to be able to and cannot solve the matters of the soul. And so this scripture makes two important points. First, what you are pursuing instead of God is not worthwhile. That on its own would be enough. What you're pursuing instead of God is not worthwhile. Second point though, but what God is offering, it is not just better, it's free. It's free and it's better. He says, while you have been paying for fake and unsatisfying food, I will give you wine and milk and food that will delight you. God says, come, listen to me, devote yourself to me, and your soul will live. The world can't say that. And if it does say it, it can't come through. For anyone who has elevated something or someone in their lives to a place where it is competing with God, they need this truth. They need the truth that the scriptures give. They do not need worldly wisdom for their symptoms. They need gospel truth for their souls. Big difference. Or have you ever known someone who cannot shake the weight of guilt for their sins? They say things like, I will never be able to forgive myself. They say things like, how could God possibly love me? Now worldly wisdom, worldly wisdom would give you a seven step process to forgiving yourself. I'm not making this up. worldly wisdom. I looked up a seven step process for forgiveness and it involved remembering your sin, identifying it, labeling it, writing it, sharing it with others, talking about it, writing it down on a piece of paper. And then you take that piece of paper and you light it on fire. And then as it burns and you watch that piece of paper with your sin written down on it, burn, you celebrate the release of your sin being burned away. your crime being burned away. As lovely as that ritual is, the problem is this, it doesn't do anything. Even if burning a piece of paper combats the way you feel about your guilt, there is still the question of whether you are in fact guilty. You remember what Brian was saying? If you're guilty, well, God wants you to feel guilty. We don't want to hide that from that feeling if we actually are guilty. See the problem with a ritual like this is no one who stands convicted of a crime in court at the end has the option of writing down their crime on a piece of paper and lighting it on fire and walking out free. It is not an option if you still stand guilty. The problem with these steps, these seven step processes, the problem is not that they are not thoughtful, or well-meaning, the problem is that they have no teeth. The problem is that they have no power to affect what they say they are doing. So what do you do as a Christian? What can you say that's different from the seven steps to forgiveness? You show them how God views them. You show them how God views them. Turn with me to another passage. 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6. This is one of my favorite scriptures, and you would not know it at the start. 1 Corinthians 6, and we're gonna pick up in verse nine. This is one of the things that the Christian protesters, they ran out of room on their billboard, so they stopped writing the rest of the verse. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." Right? Unfortunately, we pause. Why pause there? No good reason to pause there, because Paul goes on and does something amazing. These are all the places you came from. Verse 11, and such were some of you. Maybe never before has grammar played such an important part in a gospel truth. Such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. This is where you came from, but whatever you were is not who you are in Jesus Christ. Whatever you were, past tense, is not who you are right now in Jesus Christ. What the guilty conscience needs to hear, what the doubter needs to hear is they need to be reminded that however they feel, if they are in Christ, God sees things much differently. And it is his opinion that you are called to trust, not your own. It is his opinion that you are called to trust. Brothers and sisters, maybe you need to hear this now. You are not stained by your former life. You are not stained by the sins of your former life. Nothing you did is more powerful than the grace of Jesus Christ. God does not count you as a second class citizen of his kingdom. This is what it means to be a new creation. God has created you anew. You are a new creation in Jesus Christ. And this does not just apply to what you did before you were a Christian. I mean, turn now to Psalm 103. Psalm 103. This is something I could have read a lot more of these verses, but we will just read a few. Psalm 103, starting in verse 10. Speaking of God, He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. Brothers and sisters, when God forgives us, he is showing us how forgiveness is done. His forgiveness is complete. It is comprehensive. It is final. You know, when we forgive someone, we struggle. We struggle to separate the evil that they have done, the pain that they've inflicted from that actual person. God has no such struggle. When God forgives us, he cleanses us completely. He does not bear a grudge. He does not gradually write us off or push us out of the preferred circle into some lower circle of Christian. You know, this series has been very heavy, heavily focusing on Christians, and we should just take a very important pause here for those of you who do not believe to recognize that this is the forgiveness held out to you, a complete and comprehensive and final forgiveness. Nothing in your past can stay in you worse than Christ can forgive you. God offers to make you a new creation. Take him up on it. To the Christian, perhaps you just need to hear it said, you've known this, but it is not something that's alive and well in your heart right now. You are forgiven in Jesus Christ. You are forgiven. You have been made new. When your conscience accuses you, when the world looks down on you, you need to know that your loving and compassionate heavenly father sees things another way. No guilt in life, no fear in death. This is the power of Christ in me. Rejoice, Christian. Rejoice that you are who God says you are. That is good news. It is hard not to picture that we all know people who need to hear these truths. Maybe that's you today. Maybe that's someone who's not here. We need the truths of the word of God. Take one more. How would you handle someone? How would you advise someone? How would you give good and faithful God the counsel to someone? who has just turned from God to go and pursue a boyfriend or a girlfriend? Or maybe they've just filled their lives so busy that they just don't have time for God. How do you show them the problem with that? See, the world might say something like, you know, it's okay to take a break for a while. God will understand. Or do you think God would put this opportunity in front of you if he didn't expect you to take it? It's okay. You see the problem again, the world has no idea what your soul needs. And the world has no idea what God has called us to. One more passage, Jeremiah. Let's go over to Jeremiah chapter 17. Jeremiah chapter 17, starting in verse 5. Thus says the Lord, Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness. in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. Isn't that wonderful? And I think too, so many of us, we know verse nine, the heart is deceitful above all things, right? Did we have any idea something so good was immediately right there before it? We have two pictures in this scripture. We have the shrub, whoever dreamed of growing up to be a shrub, this is the one who trusts man. This is the one who depends on himself or on herself. This is the one whose heart has turned from God. Well, how does their life turn out? Like a shrub in the desert, surviving in scarcity, barely getting by, isolated, alone, no hope of goodness or abundance. This is the one who depends on man. Then, well, then we have the tree planted by the water. This is the one who trusts in the Lord. In contrast to this meager shrub, this tree sends out its roots and has constant water. And because its roots are so well positioned, it doesn't fear heat. It doesn't fear drought. It remains healthy. It always bears fruit. Do you know anyone who needs to hear this? Of those who have trusted in the world and there is no good to be found by trusting in the world. And you're just dying for them to trust in the Lord and have good and to discover good and discover abundance. In Christ, we find blessing and we find security. In the world, we find scarcity and isolation. What would your choice be? I want you to picture this. I want you to picture a doctor who no matter the situation, always prescribes the same thing. No matter the problem, whether it's an infection, whether it's a broken bone, whether it's a headache, always prescribes the same thing. How do you expect that those patients would fare? I think he would help some of them, but probably a lot more he would not help, right? And then someone goes up to this doctor, pulls him to the side and says, doc, why are you only assigning one thing for every single problem? Why do you only have one solution? And he just responds, what, you mean there are more? The ignorance of this doctor, the ignorance of the wealth of options provided in modern medicine for so many things that he is facing has made this doctor either not very helpful or outright harmful. Christians can be a lot like this doctor. Their brother or their sister comes to them in need of godly counsel. And for the vast majority of problems, we find ourselves unable to point to a relevant part of scripture. Unable to point to where the word of God would touch on such things. If push comes to shove and we had to point you to something, we find that we are prescribing John 3 16 and Romans 8 28 for every single problem imaginable. Like the doctor, we are ignorant of how much the Bible has to offer in everyday life. And as a result, we limit the good we can do for others and for ourselves. In any situation, brothers, sisters, we need to be those who are not just bringing our opinions, We need to be those who are bringing the scriptures to bear. And we need to be those who let the scriptures speak. I don't mean that every conversation of yours is a verbatim recitation of the scripture you memorized last night. But the scriptures need to be our source. We belong to this one household of the faith. And we are called to do good to our brothers and to our sisters who are facing a thousand different situations. Well, good news, the word of God prepares us for that. Seriously, for every good work, the word of God prepares us. Whether someone is dealing with anxiety or anger, bitterness or coveting, depression or fear, gossip or laziness, selfishness or worry, the word of God is up for those problems. Do you know anyone who is dealing with those problems? Are you dealing with every single one of them? The word of God is up for it. Believe it, brothers and sisters. The word of God is up for the challenge. The question I guess then, the word of God is up for it. Are you? Are you up for the challenge? The moment will come and it might be coming in five minutes now, right? When your brother or your sister needs you, will you be ready? Will you be ready in your brother or sister's time of need? As a member of the household of God, you are called. With the word of God in your heart, you are equipped. So then, go, do good to all, and especially to the household of faith. Amen, let's pray. Our Father, we repent of treating your word lightly, of ignoring your word and how it speaks to our world. Forgive us that rather than seeking the counsel of the apostle Paul, we sought the counsel of Oprah instead. Father, would you turn our hearts to your word? Would you build us up every day in your word? May it not be something that we just tuck away, but may it be something that we turn to knowing it will do us good, knowing it speaks to the hardships of life, to the blessings of life, to every situation of life. Lord, we pray that you would equip us for every good work. For the glory of your gospel, For the good of your church, would you make us able to bless one another, to do good to one another, as you have called us? It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. We hope you've enjoyed this message from Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. To receive a copy of this or other messages, call us at area code 775-782-6516 or visit our website gracenevada.com.