Galatians Week 14 • Galatians 6:6-18

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Well, good morning, Willow Ridge Church.

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If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to Galatians chapter 6.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

In just a moment, we're going to start reading in verse 6.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter to be able to spend time with your family.

It was so wonderful seeing so many of you logging in online, joining us in worship that day.

I know it was a rainy day, so it wasn't an Easter that we're typically used to, but at

least in God's graciousness and God's kindness, He's allowed us the opportunity to stay connected

over technology, which is where we find ourselves at again today.

And so today, we're wrapping up our series in Galatians.

We've been working through this letter that Paul wrote for the last 14 weeks together.

And so this Sunday, we take the opportunity to just wrap it all up in these last handful

of verses to see what Paul's going to challenge the church with as he finishes the letter to

them, and then what he challenges to us as we work through this.

And so let's start reading Galatians chapter 6, starting in verse 6.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

Paul writes and says,

Let the one who has 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 to the one who sows to the Spirit will reap 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 all have opportunities, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those

who are of the household of faith.

See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.

It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised,

and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.

For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised

that they may boast in your flesh.

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the

world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God.

From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Christ.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers.

Amen.

And so here, Paul concludes this letter with two sections that look to be removed from each

other and look to be isolated within the context in which they're written.

But what I want us to gain from this as we work through is to take the time to take a

moment of self-evaluation when it comes to the gospel.

You know, this entire time, what Paul's been doing is really challenging the people and

what they believe and why they believe it.

And are they willing to walk away from the grace and the freedom they have in Christ to

follow what the Judaizers are calling them to as the Judaizers are saying, yes, it's Jesus,

but it's also more.

It's also the law.

It's also the obedience to this.

And so here is what Paul is trying to drive them toward.

And he kind of ends this with an opportunity for them to evaluate who they are and who they

are in the gospel.

And so as we go through this this morning, that's the process that I want to take us through.

That we're not worried about our neighbor.

We're not worried about our spouse.

We're not worried about our coworker.

That we're really, truly looking at ourselves, asking the Holy Spirit to speak in us, convict

us and ask ourselves the question, who are we in Christ?

Are we truly living in the freedom?

Because here's what I believe.

I believe that there are people in the church who attend regularly, faithfully.

They give regularly, faithfully, sacrificially.

They serve.

They may have made a profession of faith.

They maybe have been baptized.

They're maybe a part of a small group or have been through a discipleship process.

But they are absolutely lost.

They are absolutely separated from Christ.

They are not in a relationship with him.

But over time, they have convinced themselves that they are saved.

Now, I know right now, as a lot of people are staying home and not working as much or watching

a lot of TV.

And one of my favorite TV shows from a long time ago in the 90s was a TV show called Seinfeld.

And there's a character on Seinfeld by the name of George Costanza.

And George Costanza was known as a person who would tell a lie after a lie after a lie.

His friend Jerry had to take a lie detector test.

And he was worried because he just knew that he was going to fail the lie detector test.

And as he gets ready to walk away from having his conversation with his best friend, who

was known for the lies that he could tell, George Costanza looks at him and says this.

He says, Jerry, it's not a lie if you believe it.

And I think that's when it comes to lost people in the church.

They've convinced themselves.

They've bought into the lie that they're saved when deep down they know that they are not.

And how do I know that exists within the church?

Because that's where I was before I came to Christ.

I convinced myself that I was saved.

I had convinced myself that I was fine until God opened my eyes and opened my heart to the

gospel.

You see, I was a good person.

I believed that Jesus was the son of God.

I went to church.

I knew what the Bible taught.

I believed in the existence of sin.

I believed in eternity in heaven and in hell.

I did religious or Christian things.

But the reality was I was lost.

I was fully lost.

I was without hope as I tried to place my hope in a bunch of things that were never going to matter.

And so as Paul writes this letter to the church, it's what he's wrestling with, with the people

who were there.

A group of people whom he dearly loved and that he had been appealing to.

And the underlying tone of this entire letter in Galatians is this.

Paul challenging them, if you are even saved, why would you go back?

If you were even saved, then why would you do this?

You see, Paul's trying to convict them and ask them to search their hearts and ask themselves

this question, am I saved?

And as we go through this this morning, that's the question that I ask you today.

Whether you're a part of our church or whether you're somebody that's found us on Facebook

or on YouTube, whether you've got family members who go here, whether you've never stepped foot

in our church ever before, I just want to ask you the question.

Are you buying into a lie?

Do you believe that you're saved and you're really not?

Or has Jesus Christ absolutely saved you?

So that's the question that I want to ask.

That's what comes from this.

And if you are saved, the deeper level question that I want to ask you is, as a believer,

are you growing in your faith?

As a believer, are you maturing in your faith?

Or have you plateaued?

Have you reached a certain level and now you're on cruise control?

Or have you reached a level and now you've regressed?

Not as strong as you were before.

And so I want to ask you a series of questions as we go through this, as we look at what the

Apostle Paul is writing to evaluate, not me evaluating you, but you evaluating yourself

and asking yourself, am I truly a follower of Jesus Christ?

The first thing I want to ask you is this, are you an investor or a consumer?

The other day I was driving through town and I rode by Lowe's.

And I want to be honest with you, I had to stop that day and get some things for a home

repair project that I finished at our house.

And as I was walking through Lowe's and as I'd seen the parking lot and it was filled,

I thought, man, I wish I had stock in Lowe's.

You see, because for years I've just been a consumer of Lowe's.

And so here's what I typically do when I go to Lowe's.

I show up and I get what I want.

If they can't give me what I want, then I just go to another Lowe's or I go to another

hardware store, I go to Home Depot, I go to somewhere else.

You see, because I solely go to Lowe's to get what I want to get.

I don't know who the manager is.

I don't know how long the people who work in there.

I don't care about the decisions that the managers make.

As long as I get what I need, I approach Lowe's in the manner that I am a consumer.

Because I'm only there as long as they give me what I want and they give me what I need.

But as an investor, there's something different.

As an investor, you're still someone who uses the product, right?

If you invest in Lowe's, you don't go to Home Depot to get what you need.

You use the product that's there.

But as an investor, you also want to make sure that tomorrow it's even better than today.

In Galatians 6, Paul alludes to this.

He says, let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.

And we see a cycle that happens of what it looks like when people invest into the church

and invest into the kingdom of God.

What we see in Galatians 6 are two investors.

The first investor we see is the one who was taught.

Now, you would think they're the consumer, but they're not.

They're the investor as well.

But the investor number two is the one who teaches.

Both of the people in the relationship are both investing in, not simply consuming,

but investing in to make sure that it continues to go forward.

The one who teaches shares knowledge, shares application, shares wisdom, shares insight.

But the one who's taught, Scripture tells us, shares in all the good things.

And that's really interesting.

That phrase, all the good things, refers to anything that can be measured.

So they're sharing in their time.

They're sharing in their talents.

They're sharing in their ties or their financial blessings.

And here's the thing.

In order for discipleship to happen within the church, in order for it to fully take place,

the one who teaches must also be the one who is taught.

And the one who is taught must also be the one who teaches.

So if you're an investor in the church, if you're an investor in the body of Christ,

not only are you teaching others what you've been taught,

but you're also giving back to others in what's been given.

You see the value of investment.

So at no point in time, as an investor, do I get to say,

this is what I solely get from this.

But as an investor, I can equally say, this is what I get from this,

but that this is what I also give from this.

So are you an investor?

Are you a consumer?

Second question I want to ask you this morning is this.

How do you sow?

Do you sow by the spirit or do you sow by the flesh?

We've all heard the phrase, you sow what you reap.

So whatever you plant, that's what you will harvest.

That's what you will get from it.

Now, Aaron and I, we keep a garden, a vegetable garden at our house.

Now, we plant a fall and winter garden, which is kind of small,

but every spring we plant a big spring and summer garden.

It's a lot of work, it's a lot of time, but we love, we love doing it together.

And we plant a lot, a lot of different fruits and vegetables.

But one of the things that I like to do is I like to plant peppers.

And I like to plant peppers so that I can make hot sauce out of them.

And so every year, I go and I plant jalapenos and golden cayenne peppers.

I plant Tabascos and habaneros.

And I plant these peppers because I like these and I like the sauces that come from them.

Well, here's the amazing thing of what happens when I plant these pepper seeds.

So I take the seed and I place it into the dirt and I cover it back up

and I make sure that it has the right amount of nutrients in the soil

that it will need to grow and be the plant that it needs to be.

I make sure that it's get the right amount of sun every single day.

I make sure that it gets the right amount of water.

And then do you know what has never happened when I do all of these things?

Not one time has this taken place.

Not one time have I planted a jalapeno pepper seed

and what comes from it is broccoli.

Not once.

Not once have I planted a Tabasco pepper seed

and okra has come from it.

Not once.

And you're thinking, Bo, this is the worst science lesson

that we've ever gotten in our entire life, right?

And that's true.

But here's the lesson.

So many people call themselves Christians.

And they sow what they think is maturity and depth of faith.

But what they are reaping from comes from the flesh.

You see, what they think they're sowing,

what they portray that they're sowing,

is nowhere close to what they're harvesting that comes from it.

And that's what Paul writes in Galatians 6, verse 8.

Galatians 6:8

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.

A few weeks ago, Paul talked about this

as we read through in chapter 5.

And he talked about the flesh or the sinful nature

and the Spirit and the fruit of God.

And I want to ask you this.

If in your life,

you have to look at what's coming from it.

You have to look at what's harvesting from it.

And if what you're harvesting is sorrow,

if what you're harvesting is destruction,

regret, shame,

what you're harvesting is broken relationships

and pain and hurt,

then maybe, just maybe,

what you're sowing is sin.

And you're sowing in the flesh.

But that's not what we're called to.

So are you sowing in the Spirit?

And that when we sow in the Spirit,

what is produced is the fruit of the Spirit,

and what comes from that

is the fruit or the confirmation

of the life that is saved.

And so for us,

we've got to ask the question,

what are we sowing?

What are you sowing in your life?

What are you examining for yourself right now?

The flesh or the Spirit?

As we continue on,

we ask ourselves the question,

is your standard perfect or good enough?

The thing about Christianity is this.

At the heart of Christianity,

at the heart of the gospel,

it is extremely offensive.

The gospel in its core and its nature

is designed to be offensive

to all who hear it.

In Galatians 6.12, it says this,

it is those who want to make a good showing

in the flesh or their works

who would force you to be circumcised

and only in order that they may not be persecuted

for the cross of Christ.

The thing that is so hard

to come to grips with in the gospel

for so many people,

the thing that makes the gospel

so offensive is this,

that the standard is not good enough.

The standard is perfect.

Here is the problem though.

You and I and no one on the face of this earth

outside of Jesus Christ

can ever produce perfect.

It's impossible to do that in the flesh.

And so what we do,

what mankind has done

for every generation

is rationalize then

what is good enough for them to do.

So no matter how hard you work,

no matter what you do,

no matter what other people think

the standard for good enough will be,

it will never be the standard

because the standard for God is perfect.

And so when we try and build onto

and establish our works

and we think we can stand before God

and say,

look at what I've done,

what we've done

will never be enough.

What we've done

will never be perfect.

And so the gospel looks at every single person

and says,

mm-mm,

you're just not good enough.

So to embrace the gospel

means that you and I have to come to grips

with our lack of imperfection

and understand that only Jesus is good enough.

You know, we always think about the work of Christ

and the rest of what he does

is that he takes away our sins.

And that's true,

but that's only part of the truth.

Yes, he comes and he takes away our sins,

but through the wonderful work of the cross

and the empty tomb

is that he imparts perfection in return.

You see, Christ takes and he gives back

and the gospel demands that we need this.

The next thing I want us to ask

to investigate within ourselves is this.

Is the change you're going through in your life

inside out

or is it outside out?

Now I'm going to explain what I mean by that

in just a second.

The gospel of Christianity demands change.

I've said this before

and I'll say it again.

God loves you too much

to save you from where you are

and then leave you the way you are.

And so the whole point of the gospel

is God molds us

and shapes us

and changes us.

And here's what change means in the gospel.

Change means that it is progressive.

It happens over time.

Change is that it's spiritual.

It's the work of the spirit

in the life of the believer.

Change is discipline,

which means that you and I,

we invest in our change.

Change is also inevitable.

It will happen.

But there is an inside out change

that the gospel calls us to

and then there's an outside out change

that is a fraud,

that's a counterfeit change.

Paul writes in Galatians 6.13,

For even those who are circumcised

do not themselves keep the law,

but they desire to have you circumcised

that they may boast in your flesh.

You see, inside out change

is what we're looking for

and inside out change is this.

Because I am a child of God,

this is what happens in me

and then this is what happens through me.

So that when you see me,

you see a reflection of who I am

at the heart

and the work that is done in me first

and that this is what happens in a believer.

So that when you see me,

you see what God's done in my heart

to then change the things that I do

and at my very core who I am.

But the outside out change is a false change.

Outside out change is this.

This is what I will do

because it's not who I am,

but it's because who I want to appear to be

for my glory and my recognition.

You see, my heart hasn't been changed,

but I've just modified my actions

so that you will think

that I'm something different than I am

and you won't glorify God as a result of it,

but that you will glorify me.

But inside out change seeks to glorify God.

That's why the Judaizers wanted to boast in themselves.

But Paul says that we're to boast in him

and the work that he's done

and the spiritual aspects that are taking place

as he takes the old and he makes it new again.

I want to ask you also,

what do you depend on?

His works, I'm sorry,

his work or your works?

You see, the whole point that Paul's been driving

from the very first verse that we read

is it's either grace or works.

You see, this can't be a both and.

It's an either or.

It's either grace or it's works.

It can't be both.

Galatians 6.14 says,

but far be it from me to boast

except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ

by which the world has been crucified to me

and I to the world.

It's what we celebrated these last several weeks.

It's the work that Jesus did

from the cross of Calvary

into the grave

and through the resurrection in the tomb.

It's the work that you and I can't do.

We could talk about his work

and perfection of the life that he lived,

but that it's even in his death

what he accomplished

is his body laid there cold in the tomb

and then walked out the grace that is found in that,

the work that's imparted to us,

the only work that the Bible tells us

that can save

is the work done by Jesus.

And so what we do,

what we depend on

is we depend on our works,

on our spiritual resume,

on the things that we've done,

on the things that we've accomplished,

on the classes that we've done,

on the people that we've shared with,

the Bible studies that we've gone to,

the mission trips that we've been a part of,

the amount of money that we give,

the consistency of attendance that we have,

or are we depending on his singular work,

the work and the life of Christ?

And so in conclusion,

I want to leave you with this one last question.

When you take all of this into account,

when you think of all of the things

that we've talked about,

are you striving for obedience,

or are you embracing disobedience?

Galatians 6.16,

Paul concludes with this,

and he says,

and as for all who walk by this rule,

peace and mercy be upon them,

and upon the Israel of God.

I love those words he uses

that begin in the sentence,

and as for all who walk by this rule,

Paul uses some words,

some similar words that he used earlier,

when he's talking about the people

who have wandered,

when he's talking about the people

who've tried to pull them away from their faith.

And he says,

Paul,

he says,

look,

their conduct is not in step.

It's not walking with the truth of the gospel.

And so we begin to picture what that looked like.

And I want to tell you guys,

I told a story,

I think this was week three of this series,

and I want to tell it again.

Because for me,

it's the best picture of what it looks like

to walk by this rule,

to walk in step with the gospel

of what this means

and what this needs to be embraced

within our lives.

And I hope that you'll give me some grace

as I share it again,

or maybe if you're joining with us online,

you've never heard this story from me before.

But it's a story of me and my son

were out in the woods,

and we'd been hunting,

and it was getting dark

and we were getting ready to climb down

out of our deer stand

and the place that we were hunting was a swamp.

And this swamp,

it's got some bad stuff in it, right?

It's got wild hogs,

it's got gators that are in it,

it's got rattlesnakes and water moccasins.

And so we always go in there

and make sure that we've got our flashlight with us.

And so we go,

we climb down out of the stand

and I go to cut on my flashlight

and my flashlight's dead.

So I think,

well,

the next best thing,

I'll pull out my phone

and cut on my phone's flashlight

and my phone's flashlight is dead as well.

And so I've got all of this stuff,

I've got my gun,

I've got everything that I've got to carry out,

and then I've got my little son,

this time he's probably five or six years old,

who's right behind me.

And you can see the look on his face

because it's gotten really dark by now

and he's petrified.

And I said,

son,

here's what we're going to do.

I'm going to put my hand right behind me.

And what I want you to do

is I want you to squeeze a hold of my hand

as tight as you can.

And wherever I step,

that's where I want you to step.

Don't get beside me.

Definitely don't get out in front of me,

but just hang right there behind me.

And as best as you can,

walk where daddy walks.

And so we moved our way out of the woods,

we moved our way onto the path by the swamp,

and we finally got to the truck.

But every step that I took,

every small step that I would take,

I would hear my son taking that exact step

so that he could walk in line with where I was

in complete obedience to his dad.

And that's what it looks like to walk

in obedience of the gospel.

Walking where God calls us to

because it's for our best and for his name.

And so church, I want to challenge you.

Are you striving for obedience?

Not seeking to just solely please God

because he'll be angry with you,

but because it's for your best

and because it's for his glory.

So are you an investor or a consumer?

Are you sowing in the spirit or in the flesh?

Are you just striving for good enough

or living in the perfection of the sacrifice of Christ?

Is your change, true change from the inside out

or is a fraud, a phony from the outside out?

Are you depending on his singular work

of what he did in his life of Christ

or on your works?

And are you being obedient,

walking in obedience of the faith?

Would you pray with me?

God, I thank you so much for this morning

that we could be here together.

I thank you for this wonderful word from Galatians.

Lord, I pray that as people are at home right now,

they would really examine themselves in their lives.

Lord, seeing what the Holy Spirit is teaching them.

Lord, and if there are those of us

and we do not know you,

Lord, I pray today would be the day

that we would place our faith in Christ and Christ alone.

Lord, but I also pray if there's some of us

who need to repent, Lord, and come back

or to find ourselves to grow in our faith,

to grow in maturity,

then today could be the day where that begins.

Jesus, we love you.

We praise you.

In this in your name we pray.

Amen.

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