Paul’s Letter to the Gauls (Galatians) – Chapter 6

In chapter 6, our brother Paul closes. Brethren, even if a man should be caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual are to restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burden, thus fulfilling the law of Christ. And what is the law of Christ? Love one another. So, bear one another’s burdens, and you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own works, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another, for each of you shall bear his own load.

I love Paul. The guy doesn’t have any theological sense whatsoever. In verse two, he says, “Bear one another’s burdens,” and in verse five, he says, “Bear your own burden.” Is this not true? I wonder if this brother ever reread some of the letters he wrote. And let the one who has taught the word share all good things with him who teaches. That means those who preach should be reimbursed, but he himself refused to live that way. Isn’t that interesting? Fascinating that he took up for something that he himself did not do. Everybody always points out that we should do this, but they never point out that brother Paul served the churches he raised up without reimbursement.

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows that he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption. This has nothing to do with the law; it has to do with the flesh. But the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. And that is not talking about someday in the future, you will have eternal life. That means you will daily be able to draw from and live by a life not your own. A life form higher than your own. Then let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap, if we do not grow weary. Would you read that verse with me? I would appreciate it. And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to those who are the household of faith. And the word “the” is not in there.

In the next verse, Paul says, “See what large letters I am writing you.” That may be that the letter was dictated, but it also may be that it was a custom in that day to end letters in large words; it just happened to be one of the styles of that day, though, and he must have made his bigger.  Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. I’m going to skip verse 13. We covered it this morning. But may it never be that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through that cross, the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

Verse 16. And those who will walk by this rule that you are a new creature and a new creation, peace and mercy be upon you and upon the God of Israel. You who are a new creation walk by this rule, the rule of a new creation, and that you are crucified and that the world is crucified. Grace and peace and mercy will be upon you and upon the God, the Israel of God, the prince of God. From now on, let no one cause me any more trouble, for I bear in my body the brand marks of Jesus Christ. And now he closes as he began. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Well, I have a little that I would like to go through with you on this passage, and it mainly deals with things that have to do with the church. Now, I think that even as I look at this passage of scripture, I have a real problem seeing the church in it because I’m so used to reading it as a theological discourse. It is not. It was written to a church. I am so used to having studied it from a theological viewpoint. We have read it either theologically or personally. We have a really bad habit of taking things into ourselves very personally as we read the scripture. Have you ever read Matthew and gotten into the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount? Have you ever gotten outside of that thing without feeling very, very guilty? All the things demanded of you?

Well, I want to lift this out of the context of you and me doing this, and that and this and that, and I would like for us to look at this closing passage as written to a body of believers. Now, many of you cannot possibly know what I’m talking about contextually. Some of you do. The rest of you, would you please use your imagination? So, I want to talk to you a little bit now about church life in Galatia, and let’s say specifically in Pisidian Antioch, because we have chosen that as the church we belong to. I always feel at a loss here to communicate because what I’m going to communicate, if you have never lived in church life or in community, you will not understand this. No matter how hard I speak, no matter how many illustrations I give you, you cannot possibly comprehend how many problems Christians have living together. Would someone back that up? And not problems so much of conflict. I mean persons having problems and you really get the impression that the church and church life is causing the problems, and you can say amen to that, too, and it is not true.

If I could speak to a professional minister, I would say to you, “You live in an unreal world, and you can come and visit us and say, ‘My, you people, y’all need to stop. You’re just killing one another. You have so many problems here.’ You live in an insulated situation. You climb up into your pulpit. Your people look as neat as a pen. They all have come in smiling. They have sung the songs that you have told them to sing in the bulletin, and now they all hear you preach a message that is aimed at nothing and hits it. They walk out, and everybody shakes your hands, and I’m telling you, you don’t know the world and life. You have no idea what’s really going on. Your people are sitting out there in the pew, dying of problems on top of problems on top of problems. Still, they really feel that in a way, you are the last person on earth who should know that, because obviously that person feels that because they have the problem, they’re not a good Christian. You, the minister, would be terribly disappointed to discover the problems they have.”

I’m going to use an illustration that came to me the other day. You may hear me tell this story 50 times because it is the best one I know to make my point. I know the man who said this. He does not live in the United States of America. He lives in Quebec. God bless his heart. He is so legalistic, and he is so narrow-minded that his ears touch. A Christian counseling conference was held in Quebec City. Many of the churches came. A brother spoke; he spoke on the needs of people, their enormous damage, and how needy they are. This man didn’t show up. His people came in droves. When they left, they didn’t dare say anything to him about it. But later, he was in conversation with a dear friend of mine, a very good friend, who was one of those who made sure the conference came to Quebec City and was sponsored there. He was standing there with someone else, and there was the pastor and the associate pastor, and they were discussing the conference. My friend was telling the pastor what was covered and how people responded. Depression, homosexuality, suicidalness, help me with some words here I can’t pronounce. When you starve yourself to death…anorexia, bulimia, schizophrenia, let’s go down the road here. I’d said depression. I’m going to get to a bunch of more things, but just everything there is. And this pastor turned to his associate pastor and said, “I’m so grateful that we don’t have problems like that in our church.”

And you know, he’s right. They’re not in the church. They’re under the rug, and those people wouldn’t dare to bring these problems to their minister. They are there, nationwide, and I assume worldwide based on what I’ve observed. I’ve never been to South America, and I’ve never been to Africa, and I’ve never been to the Arctic or the Antarctic. Still, I have been to a large part of the rest of this world, and I can pretty well verify that everywhere I’ve been, these problems are universal. But they are never known or seen except in some sort of community, and that’s why church life so often cracks up and doesn’t go very far. The Christian faith simply is not prepared, does not have the mental attitude to handle these things. Christians are not supposed to have these problems. When we get saved, these things go away. Or if they don’t go away, then you are not saved. You need to get saved, or you are a very peculiar person for whom there’s just no hope. You’re very exceptional.

The truth of the matter is that it’s universal, and it crops up in the house of God when you have community, and the church usually is not prepared to handle it. I am 55 years old, and I can tell you unequivocally. I can tell you without qualification. I can say to you unreservedly. I still don’t know how to deal with many of these things, and I am a student. I have been a student, and I will continue to be a student. In fact, I am literally going to school on this subject and will continue to. And I mean, take me literally. I’m going to school on these very things, how to handle them in the church. What really wrinkles me is that whenever I bring up this subject, almost without fail, I hear someone offer a simplistic theory.