Bible Guys Classics: Galatians 6

Well, today, Paul's gonna button it up.

He's wrapping up the Book of Galatians, and there's a

couple of quick challenges. It's one of those things where

it's like sent and sentence, sentence, sentence, sentence. Each of

these is a big idea saying, don't forget this, don't

forget this, don't forget this. You ever have a conversation

like that, I do. Well, that's what it's all about today.

He's Chris, I'm Jeff. We're the Bible guys. Okay, Chris.

So people are very interested in you, and this has

come up so many times, these kinds of things they do.

They love asking you questions and for we have this

show sheet here and our assistants, the ones that help

us put this together. Here's the question that keeps coming

in is, Chris, what's your most embarrassing story?

My most embarrassing story?

Wow, Well, I have a you know, I've told these before,

so I have them on the top of my brain.

So I have sort of a church embarrassing story, and

then I have sort of like a non church embarrassing story.

Which one you want to hear?

Do you have a lot of embarrassing stories? I would imagine,

but after a while you get so used to it.

After a while, you get so used to being embarrassed.

It's not embarrassing anywhere.

So the first the first one, it's pretty tame. It's

the church story.

It is this is your Sunday school answer.

Yes, this is my Sunday school answer.

So I read through Zikias and the Sycamore Tree, the

story where Jesus comes by and said.

Zachis you come down.

I read through it, and then for the rest of

the message, I referred to Zachias as Nicodemus, the whole message,

the whole message, and nobody correct.

Nicodemus, you come down. I'm glad your house.

And so I talked about Nicodemus. Was this Nicodemus, you know,

he paid back, and the entire time, and we're talking

like a thirty minute of saying Nicodemus. And then at

the end, Travis Lloyd, this is this, you know, big

old Burley guy. He's like, hey man, he goes, that

was really good.

That was really good, and great, he goes, but it

wasn't Nicodemus.

And I realized that in front of all my church family,

which was a Sunday night in a Baptist church of

about maybe eighty people on a Sunday night that I

had just blown it.

So that was my first church Sunday school answer.

My regular answer is, I remember when I was in

college and I was working at a autosh You know,

you pull in and you get the car wash, and

sometimes there's a salesman there that sort.

Of upgrades your car wash.

Well, that was my job. So they pulled in, they

were in line, and I walked over and I was

trying to make small talk and be friendly and courteous,

and I was trying to upgrade this wash of this

woman who's sitting there. And then at the end, I said, so,

when's the baby do? And she looks down at her stomach,

which is a big, old round stomach, and she goes,

what baby, what are you talking about? And then she

looks down and she realized her stomach was big.

Oh no, And she looked up at me, and I literally.

Just looked at her, turned around and walked away. I

never apologized. I never did anything because I was young.

Oh and so I as a matter of fact, I'm

not sure what I would do today. I mean, I

can't believe. Well, first of all, we.

Don't say it.

I wouldn't do it right, right, right, But I said,

when's the baby doo? She says, what baby? And then

she looked down and looked at me, and I just

turned around and walked away. And I never went back

to her car. So I sent another sales one to

her car to follow up.

Oh my goodness, that's a good way to get a

broken nose these days.

Oh well, you know you ever hear Brian Rigging the comedian.

Yes, he says, he's one of my favorite comedians.

So he says, the only time you should ever assume

a woman is pregnant is when you see the child

emerging out of her body.

The rest of the time, never missed, don't ask, and

don't right. So, so what we learned there is that

you usually are wrong about the things you're teaching from

the Bible. That's not what said that you're constantly upselling

people and pointing out, pointing out embarrassing things in their lives.

And we also what we just learned.

And we've just also learned that you believe the best

in everyone.

Oh no, no, not at all.

Good job, John accused of me of that. Way to go.

Okay, well, thank you for sharing. This is we love

learning more and more and more about the enigma that

is Chris Sarba and so that enigma that was very exciting.

Well good. So we're wrapping up in the Book of Galatians,

and if you remember, Paul is writing to the Galatians

because there's this controversy that some of the Judaizers had

been coming in and saying you have to convert to

being a Jew before you can become a Christian, because

Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. And so one of the

main ones was a circumcision, which you know, I can

imagine from a promotional standpoint, that really made it difficult

to reach a lot of people. But the idea being

you have to convert to one religion before you can

follow Jesus, and Paul is saying this isn't necessary. Jesus

is for all people, Jews and Gentiles, and you don't

have to convert or become like somebody else in order

for you to become a follower of Christ. It's all

about faith, not the works.

Right, And just to remind our listeners, were actually walking

through the Book of Acts and an actual chronologically, he

wrote Galatians somewhere right around Acts between fourteen and fifteen,

about fifteen years.

After he became a Christian, Which is.

Why we're sort of pausing an Acts because we're chronologically

saying this happened next Yeah.

And this is sometimes forty eight AD, so just to

you know, fifteen years after Jesus, eighteen years after Jesus died,

and this is that right after their first trip missionary

trip anyway trip. Okay, so there's the little history lesson

for the day. Let's get into what the Bible says

in Galatians chapter six. We'll just start in verse one.

It says, Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is

overcome by sin, you, who are godly, should gently and

humbly help that person back onto the right path, and

be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the

law of Christ. If you think you're too important to

help someone, you're only fooling yourself. You're not that important.

I think that's so funny. Careful attention to your own work,

for then you'll get the satisfaction of a job. Well done,

and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else,

for we are each responsible for our own conduct. Those

who are taught the word of God should provide for

their teachers, sharing all good things with them. Don't be misled.

You cannot mock the justice of God. You will always

harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy

their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from

that sinful nature. But those who live to please the

spirit will harvest everlasting life from the spirit. So let's

not get tired of doing what is good. At just

the right time, we will reap a harvest the blessing

if we don't give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity,

we should do good to everyone, especially to those in

the family of faith. And then he wraps things up.

He says, notice what large letters I use as I

write these closing words in my own handwriting. Those who

are trying to force you to be circumcised want to

look good to others. They don't want to be persecuted

for teaching that the Cross of Christ only alone can say.

And even those who advocate circumcision don't keep the whole

law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so

they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples.

As for me, may I never boast about anything except

the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross,

my interest in this world has been crucified, and the

world's interest in me has also died. It doesn't matter

whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts as

whether we've been transformed into a new creation. May God's

peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle.

They are now the new people of God. From now on.

Don't let anyone trouble me with these things, For I

bear on my body the scars that show I belong

to Jesus. Dear brothers and sisters, May the grace of

our Lord Jesus Christ be with you your spirit. Amen.

Amen.

I love how he ends up saying, from now and

don't let anybody trouble with me. He says, it's done.

I'm not talking about this.

Again, right, you know, let me address before we because

there's a lot to unpack here, but before we address

anything else. It's a little weird to hear him make

such a big deal about circumcis vision because in our culture,

you know that usually happens with most people who are

born in the United States of America. When they're born,

there's a little surgery that happens to the males. And

so for adults to be writing this back and forth

within the church and making it seem like a big

deal is sort of a little weird. But think of

it this way. Here's and tell me if you think

this is a good comparison. So I do a lot

of funerals, and I will get to the place where

I ask about the deceased and tell me about her

or him, And then I'll say, so.

Let me ask you a question.

Have you ever had a conversation with them about their faith?

They believe in God or go to church? And I

would tell you nine times out of ten they'll say, well,

i'll tell you what.

They didn't go to any organized religion.

And I thought to myself, like, well, that's not really

what I was hoping to hear it. But I didn't

ask you about going to church. I asked you about

whether they believed in God, right, because we all know

they going to church doesn't get you to heaven.

Right. But I'm telling you. Nine times out of ten,

those are the answers.

They will say, well, they weren't really religious. And then

when I say, well, do they believe in God? Oh?

Yeah, you know. And I'm not saying that everybody does.

I'm saying normally, when they call a pastor, that's usually

the answer, right. Otherwise they wouldn't.

Call a pastor. That's right.

Right, So when they call a.

Pastor and they call him in, there's for it's for

a good reason. So they'll say, yeah, absolutely, they believe

in God. In fact, they prayed, they had a Bible

by their bed, they always wore a cross around their neck.

But yet they hung up on this idea that they

didn't go to church. And so I thought, I think

the modern day equivalent to this conversation about circumcision is

about rules, right, because circumcision was nothing more than sort

of a rule to obey to seem godly.

And so I think he could have filled the sin

and said, I've been talking about infant baptism right, right, Oh,

it's infant baptism where it's not either your baptized when

your baby, or you're not in your way to heaven. Right.

They could have been that thing or because for the Jews,

circumcision was the symbol that you had converted, right, your

whole family. It could have been any of those things

that we look at now.

Taking communion, it could it could have been you know,

obviously good deeds. Well, I've tried to obey the ten commandments.

So that's sort of like a thing confirmation at twelve.

Yes, because because what it is it's about, it's about

obeying the law in order to prove that you are

in a class that is approved by God and so

and so don't get hung up our listeners, I'm saying

on the fact that he's talking about circumcision, because really

it's just because that wasn't common over uh in the

Midwest or in the mid Middle East as it is today,

and so circumcision actually was less popular, right, So that

that's why it's.

Still globally is today now I think the majority of

people are still not But in the West the majority

would be yes, right, yes, particularly in the US. Europe

is less and less, but the idea being it seems

common to us. And so this is an odd argument,

whereas what he's taught really talking about the rules.

Of the religion that's exactly right, right, So.

What he's trying to say is there are no specific

rules you have to keep in order to go to heaven.

Now he does talk, and I think this is really

important in the passage we just finished, verse seven, don't

be misled. You cannot mock the justice of God. You

will always harvest what you plant. And then he said,

those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature

will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But

those who live to please the spirit will harvest everlasting

life from the spirit. So he's differentiating between. He spends

the whole book differentiating between following the rules in order

to get to heaven or get God to approve of you,

and salvation by faith. But then he pauses and before

he end goes, now, let's not make a mistake here.

If you live for the flesh, you will have all

of the natural death and decay that comes from the flesh.

So of course you need to live in the spirit.

And he spent a big part of chapter five explaining

what it means to live in the spirit, the fruit

of the spirit, those kinds of things. So he's saying,

you're going to harvest what you sew. But that's not

so you can go to heaven and that's the consequences.

So let's explain what harvest and sewing is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well sewing just means planting sow, not

s e w. Right, right, So he says, so you're

going to harvest what you plant, just like a farmer

puts seed in the ground and you know, cultivates it

in months later or weeks later. You know, you get

way more back than what you plan it.

And also what he's saying is if you plant radishes,

you're not going to get pairs.

That's right, that's right. Well, I think the note in

the Life Application Bible says it would certainly be a

surprise if you planted corn and pumpkins came up, right, right,

you'd be surprised by that. So, so there is the

common in our culture. There's a common idea of karma. Right,

what goes around comes around, karma, karma, karma, comma karma,

right kind of thing, kama kma kama. Yeah, you're born

in the eighties or you're a boy of the eighties, right, So,

so karma is a big conversation. A lot of people

have that's a Hindu con except the Biblical view would

be the things that you plant naturally would come back

in a harvest much greater than what you planted.

Yeah, well, it's it's interesting because a lot of what

we believe is natural without God is actually natural because

of God. So when people say, oh, I believe in karma,

well I do too, It's just not called karma.

It's a biblical principle.

It's not the forces of the universe, right right, make

it's it's God, the laws of God.

Yeah, and so karma isn't necessarily a bad thing. The

only bad part about it is that they say it's

a universe because they'll say, oh, if you put that

energy out into the universe, that energy is going to

come back. It's that same negative energy. Well, actually that's

completely true because it says what you sow.

You're going to reap.

Right, And do you remember the old English version, the

King James version, Do not be deceived, for God is

not mocked.

That He also so if planted.

But anyway, the bottom line is is that is a

great verse to memorize because it is sort of like karma.

The only difference is it's a biblical principle that God promises,

and so if we are to you know, uh, invest in,

give our energy, to spend time doing all the things

that are wrong and negative, you know, and sinful, then

the consequences of those things are gonna be things that

consume and surround our life. However, if we if we

spend all of our time being kind, you know, showing love, forgiveness,

doing godly things, then our life will be surrounded with

the fruits and the return of our behavior. So it

really is karma, but it's not karma, it's it's.

What you put out there comes back to the idea

of karma within Hinduism, Hinduism meaning everything is God and

God is in everything. Right, that would that would be

Then then the idea being your energy is either your

putting it is your life force is connected in the universe,

and you put out the negative and that life force,

negative energy will come back to you someday. That is

not true, that that is a false concept. So the

part we're agreeing with the idea of the idea of

karma for a Westerner, yes, is not that the idea

is what you put out there comes back. The difference

would be the way God made it. These are the

laws of the universe. Like the law of gravity. We

wouldn't say, be careful about putting your energy too far

over the edge of the building, because then your energy

is going to fall and hit the ground. We wouldn't

say that, right, It's just the natural law that God

created of gravity, And this would be this law of

planting and harvesting is a law that God put out there.

So in contrast to energy going and energy coming back

and we're all connected in the universe, that's not a

true statement and it's not biblical. What is biblical is

God established certain laws, and one of those laws is

what you plan you harvest.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, So I shouldn't say it. I shouldn't

say it is karma. It's karma, like.

It's yeah, yeah, principle right, the principal people people would

would gravitate towards the wrong version of it. The right

version is what you plan is.

But I don't think.

I don't think I really quite understood what the true

definition of karma was until you said that God is everything.

God is in everything, and you put the energy back

into those things, they give it back.

I was just thinking, luck.

I think I think most people are that way in

the West. It's just you know, I've been in enough

Hindu temples and been a part of that kind of

stuff around the rest of I think, Okay, let's differentiate

because it's the third third largest religion in the world,

so it has a big impact on our on our Saturday.

So this idea, you cannot mock the justice of God. Right,

So we love to talk about the love of God.

God is love.

I love it.

Love, oh love, love, love of love, Mercy, mercy, mercy, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace.

Those are all incredibly important.

My wife's listening, putting on her makeup. Love Love, There

you go, because that's our saying. We say that, there

you go. That's so sweet, it is. So anyways, we

talk a lot about the God is love, and sometimes

we forget God is also just.

God is just. God doesn't wink at our sin. Our

sin killed God. God satisfied his own justice by sacrificing

himself so that we could have forgiveness for our sins.

Because he loved us, his love and his justice had

to both be met, and he did that by sacrificing himself.

Is the only answer. So this idea of God being just.

We shouldn't be shocked when we plant a bunch of

negative things. I shouldn't be shocked if I've lived my

entire life drinking like a fish, and then all of

a sudden, in my later years, the doctor comes and

tells me I have serhosis as a liver. That's not

God being mean, right, that's the natural force. Not the

natural force, the natural law that God has put in

place that if you abuse your liver, your liver eventually

is going to fail you.

It's just science.

Yeah, it's right, it's the same thing. So we shouldn't

be surprised if we've been very promiscuous. We shouldn't be

surprised if we come home with a disease. Right, if

we fool around on our spouse, we shouldn't be surprised

that we're going to have our marriage fail. But on

the other side, he also says God's justice. God is just,

So if you are wise with your money, you shouldn't

be surprised that you have plenty when it comes time

to retire. If you are are generous to others, God says,

God will be generous to you. You shouldn't be surprised

by that. So God's justice, God will always do the

right thing always, and we shouldn't be surprised by that.

What we plant is what we're going to harvest. The

good news is you plan a little, you get way

more back.

Well, this Life Application Bible has a little chart that

I want to just sort.

Of read through.

It says, our wrong desires are evil, destructive, easy to ignite.

That's pretty pretty insightful, difficult to stifle, self centered, oppressive

and possessive, decadent, sinful, and deadly. But the fruit of

the spirit is and then of course they're they're sort

of opposite, like evil is good, you know, the opposite

of evil is good, destructive, it's productive, easy to ignite,

it's difficult to ignite.

Yeah, the fruit of the spirit is very difficult.

Right, difficult to stifle, it's easy to stifle. Self centered

is self giving, oppressive and possessive. It's liberating and nurturing

instead of decadent. And it's uplifting instead of sinful. It's

holy instead of deadly, it's abundant life.

So it really is huge contrast.

And the reason why that's so helpful is because you

know it just sort of reminds us that there is

a principle.

Of the path.

You know, the principle of the path is is that

direction determines destination. Right, So if you think about it,

so if you're if you're walking the straight line and

you just alter slightly to the left or this way

is the left for those watching, So you alter slightly

to the left, well, over time and distance, your destination

and will be leap years away from where you were heading, right,

because because direction determines destination, and so wherever your life

is heading now currently, that's where you're going to end

up being. And so if you're currently in a season

of life where you're planting all sorts of bad behavior

and you know, just negative energy and you know, unforgiveness

and strife.

And and you know, maybe you're.

Angry and it's just sort of messing up all your

relationships and you're angry about something else or you know,

whatever complication that you have sort of and you're sort

of planting these seeds everywhere. Well, it's it's going to

eventually end up coming back to you. And that's called destination.

That's down the road, that's where your life is headed.

So in other words, if you think about it in

terms of the principle of the path, you simply do

a self analysis and say, I want to start living

in the fruit of the spirit. I want to start,

you know, planting godly things like forgiveness. Change my ways

because it doesn't help you in this moment, it helps

you down the road because direction determines destination.

Right. So there's so many things just in these eighteen

verses that we can cover, right, Yeah, but I think

that's a really great place to kind of wrap things up.

He says, to work hard, he says, to bury one

another's burdens. He talked about all these other things, but

that that idea, this principle the path, I think is

incredibly important for us to embrace and understand that that

the things that we're investing our life in we will

wind up harvesting in the future. So tomorrow we're going

to wrap up with or we're going to pivot back

into the Book of Acts. And now this is kind

of hitting the fan because all the rest of the

apostles are like, we need to talk about this, yeah, right,

So that's what we're gonna be talking about tomorrow. On

the Bible guys, the Bible guys. There you go.