GALATIANS 6:1-10 HOW TO FELLOWSHIP IN GRACE2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Galatians 6:1-10 How To Fellowship In Grace

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019.

Well, this evening, as we are here in Galatians chapter six, we've been talking about the grace of God and the doctrine of grace and the importance of drawing near to God no matter what. That's what it means really to kind of do grace, as I've worded it sometimes as we've been going through the teaching, that it's not just doctrine for our heads, this idea of grace, the goodness of God, the forgiveness of God, the right standing before God, but to put it into practice, we need to actually draw near to God and that means no matter what.

when we've been performing well or when we've been failing completely, that we do not have access to God on the basis of our performance, but we have access to God on the basis of his performance

And so in order for us to enjoy the grace of God and walk in the grace of God, we need to continually and constantly draw near to God. And we talked about that a lot last week and the idea of walking in the spirit, every step, every moment to be filling our lives with the things of God. But as we get into chapter six tonight, we're talking about the grace of God still, how it impacts us, but not just in our relationship with God,

But specifically, Paul is going to be addressing our relationship with one another as fellow believers. That the grace of God is not just for, you know, our personal devotional life. It's not just for that time in the morning where you have your cup of coffee and you have your Bible open, if that's the way that you do it. And you spend some time and you're like, oh, thank you, God, for your grace. You know, and you can have a good time in the word with the Lord. That's part of grace.

But another aspect of grace is that, well, we don't just draw near to God no matter what for ourselves, but that we have fellowship with one another. And grace impacts, if we are believers, if we're walking in the grace of God, grace impacts every relationship that we have and every interaction that we have with the people around us. And so I've titled the message this evening, How to Fellowship in Grace. How to Fellowship in Grace.

Now, another alternate title that I had was talking, I was thinking in my head about putting grace in our relationships.

And so I was calling them regrationships, but I figured I was going to get too tongue-tied if I would try to say that all night long. So you can write that down if you want. Regrationships, and that's putting grace right in the middle of our relationships, right? It's to be a part of our interactions, not just with the Lord, but with one another.

Now, Paul has been arguing with the legalism advocates there in the region of Galatia and rebuking them for their focus on the law and they're calling people back to the law and how we've been set free from the law.

But at the same time, it doesn't mean that in the grace of God, we don't have any responsibilities and that there's nothing expected of us or required of us. No, in fact, as we relate to one another, what's expected and required of us is that we would receive the grace of God and then extend that to one another. Pastor Thomas Constable puts it this way.

He says, being free from the Mosaic law does not mean being free from responsibility. In this section, Paul explained various responsibilities that Christians have to one another to clarify the will of God for his readers. And so here in Galatians chapter 6 verses 1 through 10, we have some clarity regarding the will of God for us and specifically in how we relate to and interact with one another.

We have freedom in Christ and we have, you know, forgiveness by the grace of God. But God then also asks us to respond with that kind of grace. You might remember that parable that Jesus told of the forgiven servant, right? He was owing the servant, the master, an incredible, impossible amount that he could never pay back.

and he begged for forgiveness, and the master forgave him, and then he went outside and found another servant who owed him five dollars and choked him by the neck and said, you better pay me what you owe, and I'm gonna throw you into prison if you don't pay me what you owe, and how he, you know, didn't show the same kind of grace that he received, and the master, well, he punished him pretty severely as a result, and

And Jesus taught that parable for us that we would learn to forgive others and be reminded to forgive others in the same way that we are forgiven. And the grace of God that we receive, it's not just for us and just me and Jesus and that's it. And then with you, I can be harsh and ugly and legalistic and no, no, no, that,

grace that I receive from the Lord, now I have a responsibility to pass that on and extend to you that kind of grace as well. And so how to fellowship in grace is what we're talking about this evening. There's five points that we'll work through here in this passage. Starting in verse one, we get point number one, and that is gently restore the believer in sin.

So if we're going to be talking about grace towards one another, well, we kind of have to start here with the issue of sin, right? That's where we start with the idea of grace for ourselves, that we are forgiven of our sins by the Lord because of what he accomplished for us upon the cross. And in a similar way, well, we are to extend grace to people around us who have been involved in or found in, caught in, trapped in sin. Here's what Paul says again in verse one, brethren,

If any man or a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

So Paul, as he is applying grace here in chapters 4, 5, and 6, or chapter 5 and 6 rather, he now approaches this situation. Let's say, and it doesn't have to be like, you know, some outlandish idea that this could ever happen, right? We all understand this happens pretty much all the time. If a man is overtaken in any trespass,

Now, there's a lot of discussion that could be had about some of the specific words that Paul is using here. This idea of overtaking, overtaken, it's kind of conveys the idea of being caught off guard. And so it's not someone who decided I'm going to, you know, forfeit my father's inheritance and go live it up in prodigal living. It's not describing that, you know, kind of situation perhaps, but

but someone who was walking with the Lord or trying to walk with the Lord and just got trapped, got snared in some kind of sin. And so there's a description there and you can consider those things. This idea of a trespass, again, it's not a lifestyle of rebellion, but it's a fault. It's an occasion, you know, it's a situation where something has happened and there is sin that has been committed.

And in that case, Paul is going to go on to say that there needs to be an attempt at restoration. I appreciate all of the discussion that could be had about those words and about that picture. And that's a good picture and it's all valid, right? At the same time, I would just extend this a little bit broader and just recognize that as we look at the situations of sin found throughout the scriptures, that

Whether or not it was intentional initially, whether or not it was, you know, open rebellion from the get-go, whether or not it was, you know, something that was a deliberate running away from the things of God into the life of sin, restoration is always what God wants for someone who is caught up and bound in sin.

And so we don't have to necessarily limit it to just, you know, that particular context, but grace in our lives is extended to us by God in all kinds of issues of sin, right? Sometimes we know it's wrong and we do it anyway. Sometimes we pursue sin and yet God gives us opportunity to come back to him and be restored. And in a similar way, I believe God would remind us this evening that

If a man is overtaken in any trespass, and, you know, don't try to like, okay, well, let me figure out if this is the right circumstance where I can like work on restoration, because otherwise, you know, you're just gone. I'm just done with you. You know, this is not a verse to, you know, try to give you an opportunity to excuse, you know, rejecting someone in that way. This is just a reminder from Paul. If someone is overtaken in any sin, you

Well, here's what you are to do. You who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness. And so he lays this responsibility on the spiritual. Now, notice he doesn't put it to a particular office. So he doesn't say, if you're an elder in the church, or if you're a pastor of the church, or if you are, you know, whatever, have this position or that position then, but if you are spiritual. And who is it that's spiritual?

Well, I would rewind back just a few verses back to Galatians chapter five, where Paul has exhorted us to walk in the spirit. Listen, if you are one who has learned to walk in the spirit, you're spiritual. And if you're walking in the spirit, you have a responsibility to not just walk in the spirit and receive the benefit of the Holy Spirit and the work of God in your life, but then to turn around and extend all that you've received from God to

Towards the restoration of one who has been caught up and overtaken by any trespass. This is the way that God wants us to relate to someone who has been caught up in, bound up in sin. The word restore is a word that can mean the setting of a broken bone. And so when a bone is broken and it's out of place, and in order for that healing to take place,

that it has to be set, it has to be put back in place and then held in place, right? So that bone can then fuse back together and be restored. That's the picture here. There's a believer, there's a brother, there's a sister that they've been broken, they're out of place and there needs to be some movement, some manipulation, perhaps some pressure to get back in the right place so that the restoration could take place.

This word is also used in the New Testament where it talks about people mending their nets, right? They had fishing nets that they were thrown out and throughout the use, they'd got broken or cut or whatever. And so then they had to be, you know, mended, tied back together, put back together so that they would be useful and effective again. This is what God desires for us to do towards those around us who have been caught up in, messed up by sin, right?

that they would be brought back to a place of, well, wholeness, that the tears would be, you know, restored and healed, that the broken bones would be fused back together, and that there would be a usefulness back in the life of this believer. Now, Paul, as he goes on to talk about this restoration, he says that we are to do this in a spirit of gentleness, right?

gentleness, right? Now, when you think of a situation involving sin, gentleness may not be your first reaction. It may not be your instant reaction, especially if it's someone that you are close with or know or love or maybe warned them about a particular sin. And so, you know, maybe there's a great temptation to say, I told you so. Maybe you've seen them do this sin a thousand times. Maybe

And yet Paul says we are to restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness. Again, it's the same way that God relates to us. Even though he's told us and we've done it anyways. Even though he could tell us, I told you so. Even though he's seen us do it a thousand times, right? He shows us gentleness. It speaks of a restraint, a mildness, a meekness. Not a weakness, but a gentleness.

there's the allowance for firmness and yet also a gentleness with it. I kind of think like a boxing glove, although maybe that's not the best illustration because that's not what we're talking about. But there's the firmness underneath, but there's also all that padding. So there's a gentleness with it.

Maybe not if you're a professional boxer, but I think of the days when I was just like 10 years old and my dad gave me a set of boxing gloves and then me and my dad would box. And he would not hit me like a professional boxer, right? I mean, he was gentle. There was padding, right? It was something that was beneficial for me, supposedly to teach me how to fight, which I never learned. But anyways, the spirit of gentleness is that picture, right? There's that bumper, there's that buffer, there's that softness, right?

It doesn't mean that we're soft on sin. It doesn't mean that we don't deal with sin. That's the firmness that's underneath. But the part that comes in contact with the person who's caught up in sin is soft, gentle. And so there is the reshaping. There is the reforming. There is that interaction that takes place. And yet it comes with a gentleness. Aristotle talks about this word and describes it as being that virtue that stands between two extremes.

The one extreme is uncontrolled and unjustified anger. Sometimes that's how we react to someone who's in sin. Just uncontrolled. We're just livid. We're just completely upset. And then on the other end of the extreme is not being angry at all, no matter what takes place. And sometimes we can be like that too. Well, who cares? It doesn't matter anymore. I'm done, right? And in between those two extremes is this word, gentleness.

It's not complete and total absence of anger. There's a righteous indignation perhaps that needs to be at play in the restoration of this sinning brother. That doesn't mean that we have to yell or fight, but again, in the same way that God relates to us, he has an anger, a hatred of sin that, well, inspires him to call us out of it. And so there has to be that gentleness along with that firmness that

And the Lord calls all of us who are spiritual, those who walk with the Lord in the spirit, are to relate to others who have fallen into sin in this manner. You know, it's, I don't think it's like a big surprise to us, right? Christians are known for being critical, harsh, condemning, all the things that are like opposite of gentleness, right? You think about, you know, someone who's involved in sin or maybe you yourself, and hopefully not

presently, but, you know, having experienced times of sin in your life, and then the fear and the dread of, you know, how people are going to be responding, you know, when it's brought out, when it's uncovered. And there's an appropriate fear of God that we have, right? But at the same time, we as believers are not to behave that way. We're

oh man, we're so critical and harsh. And even when someone is in sin, having been overtaken or messed up in some form or fashion, that there needs to be this love and this gentleness, this grace that is extended from us to those who have fallen. We have a great example of this in the writings of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 2.

where you see the issue of the guy who was involved in immorality with his mother-in-law. And Paul said, you're like celebrating this and you need to mourn for this. They went to the other extreme, right? They weren't angry at all over sin. They were just like, okay, well, great. We're just complacent. No, no. Paul says, you need to deal with it and you need to bring discipline and remove him from the fellowship.

but that wasn't in anger, that was in love, so that he might come to his senses, that the enemy might, you know, basically wreck havoc and he would come back to repentance. And then he does, after 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 2, Paul says, hey, now you're holding him away too long. Now you're on the other side. You know, you're angry over sin too much. And now you need to invite him back in and reaffirm your love towards him.

He's repented. He's received what he needs to receive. Bring him back in and reaffirm your love. It's the spirit of gentleness that is needed in these situations. And so if anyone is overtaken in a sin, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness. He goes on to say, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.

And so we are to do this with gentleness, but also with caution, recognizing that, first of all, it's not so much, hey, if I go, you know, address your situation, I might be tempted to do that. But I think the idea here is that you would approach the situation with a recognition. This is something that I could easily find myself caught up in.

It's a vulnerability or a recognition of our vulnerability to sin and to issues in our own lives. Sometimes we can be so self-righteous and we would look at someone in a sin and go, oh man, I could just, I could never do that. I mean, I might fail pretty hard, but I would never do that. And that kind of attitude is not the appropriate attitude for approaching someone who's been caught up in sin.

That is the attitude of legalism. That self-righteousness comes from legalism. It comes from us being really proud of our performance and thinking we are much greater than we are. But Paul here says, no, no, consider yourself, recognizing you're capable of those failures and more. And so we come with a humility, not with pride, not with self-righteousness, but with the righteousness of God that comes from grace and

And we bring restoration to the one who's caught up in sin. Gently restore the believer in sin. I like what Pastor David Guzik says about this. He says, it should be normal to do what God says here, but it isn't. It is all too easy to respond to someone's sin with gossip, harsh judgment, or undiscerning approval. We have a tendency to either pretend the sin never happened, or we tend to react too harshly towards the one who has sinned.

And we need to find the balance that Paul says here. I like what he says at the beginning. It should be normal to do what God says here. Let's make this a new normal for us, for our body of believers. Let's make this the new normal. If anyone is overtaken in a trespass,

Those who are spiritual, restore them, reach out to them, embrace them, show them the gentleness, the love, the grace of Christ, and bring them back into a place of wholeness and usefulness in the kingdom of God. To do grace, we draw near to God no matter what, but that impacts our relationship with one another as well. And that means that no matter what,

someone has been involved in or done or how far they've gone, there's opportunity for us to bring them back into the fold and back into fellowship once again. Well, moving on to verses two and three, we get point number two this evening, and that is give and receive help from believers. In verse two, Paul says, "'Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.'"

Now, first, I'll just point out these verses are not separated from each other. So verse one and verse two go together. Bearing one another's burdens. Well, there's a piece of that that is restoring someone who has been overtaken in a trespass. And there's a burden and there is the need for us to come in and help and shoulder some of the weight and help them get back to the place where they need to be.

But also I would encourage you to consider this evening that it's not just in dealing with sin, but here as Paul talks about bearing one another's burdens, he says in doing so we fulfill the law of Christ. What is the law of Christ? Well, he refers to it in the previous chapter in Galatians chapter five. He says, all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That's Galatians 5.14.

Remember Jesus said there's two great commandments, love God and then love your neighbor. There's two great responsibilities we have, receive God's grace and then extend God's grace to people around us, right? And that includes this idea of bearing one another's burdens. And it's exactly what you probably picture with this idea of bearing one another's burdens. It is a burden, a heavy weight burden.

That word burden means a heaviness, a weight, a great trouble. And so there's this, and you can kind of picture someone just like struggling to carry this heavy weight. And then to bear means that you come alongside and you help lift some of that weight. This is the way that Paul says we are to relate to one another as a result of the grace of God, that we are to come alongside of each other and

in the weights and the burdens and the heaviness of things that we carry and help each other shoulder that weight and work through whatever it is that we're going through. And so it might be a temptation and it might be a sin issue. And so we come alongside and we help them to have victory. Or it might be something different. It might be an emotional weight. It might be a weakness emotionally or spiritually. It might be a

crisis of faith that someone is experiencing. It might be a spiritual battle. It might be a financial difficulty. It might be a medical situation. Whatever there is that is weighty in a person's life, Paul says, we have an opportunity. We have a responsibility to bear one another's burdens.

to come alongside other people who are struggling with the weight that is upon them, and to love one another, to love my neighbor as myself, means that I come alongside and I will help you to have victory. I will help you to carry that weight and to work through that situation in your life. This is the result of grace. Legalism does not lead to bearing one another's burdens.

When we go back to a performance-based relationship with God, when we go back to, you know, we have to perform, we have to succeed, we have to never fail, we have to, you know, and we're trying to relate to God on the basis of our works, that's going to impact our relationships with one another. And when I'm caught up in approaching God in my efforts instead of approaching God in the grace of God,

I'm not going to be bearing one another's burdens. In fact, legalism does the opposite. Jesus, in addressing the religious leaders in Matthew chapter 23, says this about them. He says, for they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. Here's what the legalists of Jesus's day would do. They didn't help people bear their burdens. They laid heavier burdens upon them and they refused to help them at all.

They laid out the law. This is what you have to do. They were strict. They were firm, you know, and they laid these heavy burdens upon people without any effort to help them whatsoever. This is where legalism will bring us. Not to coming alongside people and helping them carry their burdens. No matter how well-intentioned our legalism is, legalism will result in heavy burdens being laid upon others.

Because we're laying heavy burdens upon ourselves and trying to approach God on the basis of our performance. But grace, on the other hand, remember Jesus says, take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. We receive that from Jesus. And then we come alongside Roman and say, Roman, take my yoke. Let me help you. I'll take your yoke. Let's get through this together.

You've had this huge issue, this huge thing that, boy, I don't even know how anybody would survive, but by grace you've survived. And wow, let's work through this. Let's go through this together. I will suffer with you. I will weep with you while you weep. It's interesting how, you know, I don't know if it's just in my head, but it relates to, you know, the things we were talking about on Sunday as well, that weeping with those who weep or rejoicing with those who rejoice, that togetherness comes from the grace of God.

And legalism does not produce that. In verse 3, Paul goes on to say, Now, I think this is interesting because there's a couple aspects of this that we could consider. But this idea of sometimes we think of ourselves more than we actually are, right? We think higher of ourselves than we actually are. And here, Paul,

Paul is saying, if we think ourselves to be something when we are nothing, we're deceiving ourselves. And the idea here is not that some people are something while others are nothing. The idea is that we're all nothing, but sometimes we forget that we're nothing. And we need to be reminded. And so when we begin to think, I'm hot stuff, you know, I'm pretty amazing, I'm awesome. Well, I'm deceiving myself.

And thinking of myself to be something when I'm nothing, well, it does two things. First of all, it might hinder me from helping someone else bear their burden because I'm too important. I've got too many things going on. I've got, you know, I'm something. And so I need to focus on my own burdens. So I'm not going to help you with your burdens. But then the another side of this is I'm something, I'm important. So I don't have burdens for you to help me with.

For us to think of ourselves to be something when we are nothing, we deceive ourselves and we miss out on the bearing one another's burdens found in verse two. Pastor John Stott points this out. He says, notice the assumption which is behind this command, namely that we all have burdens and that God does not mean us to carry them alone. Every single one of us has burdens. By design, we're not supposed to carry all by ourselves.

We're not supposed to try to deal with that ourselves and resolve that ourselves. We're not, you know, the scripture that tells us God doesn't give us more than we could bear, right? But that doesn't mean that God doesn't allow in your life more than you can personally on your own, just all by yourself bear. It's not more than you can bear because he's also provided other people around you who can help bear the burden as well as, you know, the filling of the Holy Spirit and the power of God in your life that can help you bear the burden. But

But it's not just, well, it's me and God. That's all I need. And I think that, you know, it's important to consider this. There are those who, you know, have this attitude, this idea that all I need is Jesus. That's it. It's just me and Jesus. I don't need the church. I don't need other people around me. I don't need to open up about my life. I don't need to, you know, walk with anybody. I don't need to have connections into the other believers. I don't need all of that. You know, it's just, I'm fine. Just me and Jesus. And we miss out on that.

this bearing one another's burdens. It's not just the strong bearing with the burdens of the weak. The reality is we're all weak and we all need help bearing the burdens of life. And so that means we all have giving to do, coming alongside others and bearing their burdens, and we all have receiving to do. Every single one of us. There's not a single exception in the body of Christ that

Every believer has receiving to do. Again, God's designed us this way. We are to give and receive help from believers. And I can do that because of the grace of God. By the grace of God, I'm able to come alongside you and not be critical and harsh because I can't believe you're, you know, struggling with this. Don't you know the doctrine? You know, like you could stop being sad already. You know, there's the truth, you know, like.

Or why are you struggling? How come you spent your money this way? Oh my goodness. You know, what a terrible steward you are. And we could, you know, we could approach people like that or we could come alongside and say, let me show you what a budget looks like. And,

and help bear the burdens, right? That's just one little silly example, but hopefully you get the point that we all have that. And because of God's grace, we can approach each other with that grace and help each other. But then also we can approach others with our need and well, receive grace from the Lord through other believers in our lives that he has placed there to help us in the walk that we have with him.

How to fellowship in grace? It's going to require, it's going to involve giving and receiving help from believers. I like what Pastor David Guzik points out about this. He says, this is a simple command to obey. Look for a brother or sister with a burden and help them with it.

It isn't complicated. It doesn't take a huge program or infrastructure to do it. Just look for a burden to bear and bear it. And I really like the practicality of that. It's like, okay, let's bear one another's burdens. Okay, let's start a system. Jerry, can you build a website? And then people can post their needs on the website. And then other people can read the needs. And then we'll try to match up, you know, throw all that out. Just look around for people who are carrying heavy burdens.

And look to the Lord and say, Lord, how can I help? How can I be part of this? How can I help this person with their burden? But then also, as you face burdens, don't just suffer silently and never bring it up and wait for someone to notice and observe that you're struggling under some huge weight. No, maybe you need to reach out to someone and say, hey, Rick, can we go have a coffee? I just, I need someone to sit with me and pray with me for a little bit. And you can reach out and receive the grace of God through others around you as well.

Well, moving on to verse four and five, here we get point number three, and that is focus on enjoying your own walk with God. Focus on enjoying your own walk with God. In verse four, Paul says, but let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another, for each one shall bear his own load.

Now again, these verses are not completely separate, even though I separate them into the points, right? But these are all tied together, right? And so our spirit of gentleness and restoration and bearing one another's burdens and thinking of ourselves something when we're not ties into and feeds into this idea of let each one examine his own work. So we're not to be caught up and consumed with how others are doing and then thinking

being satisfied or displeased with ourselves by comparison to everyone around us. You can look at, go, well, look at that brother in sin. He was overtaken and in sin. And you know, I'm not like that. So yeah, you're right, Lord. I am pretty amazing. Yeah. Thanks for pointing that out. That comparison to each other is what Paul is alluding to here. Let each one examine his own work. And these verses bring some balance to the previous verses as well.

Because we are to bear one another's burdens. But then also here in verse 5, he says, each one shall bear his own burden or his own load. Same word bear. We're to bear, carry the weight of each other. But then also there's other parts of our lives that we're to carry that burden ourselves. And that is to be something that we don't just pawn off or, you know, shirk our responsibility. But, but

We pick up that weight, that burden, and we walk with it in the way that God has called us to. Again, verse four, he says, let each one examine his own work and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. I think the immediate context of what Paul is saying here is dealing with the legalists who are in their midst trying to convert the Galatians so that they

Well, they could rejoice in them. Look at all of our converts. Look at how many people we convinced. Look at how many people we circumcised. In verse 13 here of Galatians chapter 16, Paul says, for not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. So their whole efforts is just so that they can rejoice in what they accomplished in your life.

And here Paul is saying, let's back up a second. Like, you need to go back to what is your own work, your own life, your own situation, and you examine that. There are times in our lives, and perhaps your whole life, I don't know, but where we just, we're so focused on examining other people's lives. And then we're rejoicing or sorrowing based upon that. There's a lot of studies that are pretty interesting about, you know, the

the impact of social media upon us as a society and how, you know, looking at Facebook and Instagram, a lot of times it results in depression. People are sad as a result of

spending a lot of time there. And one of the reasons that they speculate, there's a lot of room for discussion on these things, but it's because everybody's presenting their fantasy instead of reality, right? Like, you know, all the best food, all the best activities, and then you're looking at your own life, you know, like I'm supposed to be working, but I'm reading Facebook and, you know, here I am sitting at my miserable desk watching everybody else live these amazing lives. And, you know, and so the idea is like,

comparing myself to some fantasy that's not even reality. But then, oh man, I'm all torn up. I'm bent, you know, over and just discouraged. And Paul says, look, stop examining everybody else's life. Examine your own life and focus on enjoying your own walk with God. Pastor Dave Guzik puts it this way. It means having joy at your own walk with the Lord instead of feeling spiritual because someone around you perhaps are overtaken in any trespass.

So you might rejoice. You know, this is a way that people try to build themselves up by cutting others down, right? There's techniques that we use, personality traits and things that we do and manipulate and we try to make ourselves feel better by cutting others down.

And so we're critical of each other. We point out each other's sins and we feel better about ourselves because, you know, look how terrible you are. And comparison is so dangerous for us in that way. Comparison, when we're comparing our lives to others or our spiritual condition or our walk or whatever to others, well, it's not grace. It's legalism. It's performance, success or failure. And it can lead to us giving up because it seems like, man,

Jeff is so far ahead spiritually. I mean, he's like a spiritual giant. I'm never going to reach that. I might as well just quit. I can't. I'm nothing like that. I don't have that kind of faith. I don't have that kind of hair. I don't. I'm nothing like that. And I can give up because I'm comparing myself to Jeff. Or comparison can cause me to stop progressing. Like I'm moving forward. I'm growing. And then I look at Roman. I go, man, I'm like light years ahead of that guy.

I can relax a little bit. I mean, look at him. He hardly reads his Bible at all. Yeah, I don't have to be so fervent in my pursuit of God, you know? Like, look, he goes to see those kinds of movies that I want to see, but I've been, you know, kind of staying away from because I've been reading my Bible instead. But I can just go do it then. I'll just go do it. Look, he's fine. The Lord's not judging him and everything's good. And so if I compare myself to...

someone else, I can stop progressing. I can stop pursuing God in the way that he's called me to, or I can give up because, oh, I'm never going to be that far ahead. And then another thing that comparison can bring, which is even worse, is when I then turn around and start to hinder others because I don't want to progress. I don't want to put any effort or discipline into my life. And so let me cut you down so that I don't have to feel guilty about, you know, not moving forward and not growing in a relationship with God.

I've shared this many times, but it's just a classic example. I used to have a coworker when I first started working at Paychex. And I was just learning and I was, you know, first couple weeks on my own and working hard, you know? And my coworker approached me and said, hey, can you cut back on how much you're doing? Because you're making the rest of us look bad.

And he wanted me to, you know, not work so hard so that they wouldn't have to, it wouldn't be so apparent that they're not working hard, right? And sometimes that's what we do to others. We're trying to cut them down. We're trying to, you know,

you know, I don't know if you should go in and say that many times a week, you know, maybe just go once in a while. That's kind of, you know, maybe you shouldn't be so radical about your faith or, you know, maybe, and we pour water, we trip up people, we, because we're comparison, because we don't want to feel guilty ourselves about where we're at in response to what the Lord is speaking to us.

And so comparison, it's not a good thing. Paul says, hey, examine your own work and then have rejoicing in yourself alone and not in another. Focus on enjoying your own walk with God. Remember the apostle Peter in John chapter 21? After Jesus restores him and they're taking a walk on the beach and Peter turns around and he sees the apostle John walking

After Jesus has given Peter some kind of like strong indications about his life is going to end in a bit of suffering and hardship. And Peter turns around in John chapter 21, verse 21. Peter says to Jesus, but Lord, what about this man? And Jesus said to him, if I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow me. In other words, Peter, mind your own business.

In a similar way, Christian, we need to mind our own business. Not to the extent that we don't bear one another's burdens, not to the extent that we don't restore one who is caught up in sin, but when it comes to our spiritual walk, we need to focus on our walk with God and make sure. Here's the most important thing. Am I walking with God in a way that is enjoyable? Do I have an enjoyable relationship with God?

And if you don't, well, let's go back to receiving God's grace and approaching him and experiencing the grace of God in your life. And don't worry about, you're not the spiritual one who needs to restore others if you're not enjoying your own walk with God. You're not in a position, you're not prepared to bear others' burdens if you're not enjoying your own walk with God. You need to kind of come back to, first things first, I need to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I need to follow Jesus. And then as I do, I need to love God

I will be equipped and prepared and ready to bear one another's burdens and to restore those who are in sin. And so in verse five, each one shall bear his own load. Again, the word bear is the same word as before, but the burden is a different word. This speaks of freight, like what would be loaded on a ship, but it's also the word that would be used of a Roman soldier's pack. And so you could think about a backpack, right? Everyone has been given a backpack from the Lord.

And the most important thing in that backpack is your own relationship with God. Again, focus on enjoying your own walk with God. There are things that God has placed in your life that you can't pass on to somebody else and you carry this burden for me because it's really heavy. There are some things that you just have to carry. Even if they are heavy, God's given it to you. And so you have to carry your own load.

and carry the weight that God has given to you. It reminds me of Ezra when he was just distraught over the situation in Jerusalem and he was sitting down in the center area of meeting and just weeping and then the people came to him and said, look, we can't do this. This is your responsibility. You need to get up and do it. Nobody else can do this for you. This is your responsibility. So I know it's hard, but

But you need to get up and get to the work that God has given to you. And this is true of us. Each one shall bear his own load. Focus on enjoying your own walk with God. Let that be what captivates your heart and what you pursue. Well, moving on to verses six through eight, we get point number four, and that is invest in your spiritual life. Invest in your spiritual life. Verse six says, "'Let him who is taught the word "'share in all good things with him who teaches.'"

As we talk about grace and fellowship and our relationship to one another, now Paul says you also need to think about the people who teach you the word, who teach you the truths of God.

And there needs to be some fellowship there. The word fellowship, it means, it comes from the word koinonia in the Greek, right? To share together. And so Paul is addressing here, saying, look, there is someone who is sharing with you spiritual things and it is appropriate for you to share with them all good things. And so there is to be this camaraderie and this sharing together for those who teach you. So,

sometimes the question is asked, well, you know, can I tithe somewhere else? I'm not saying you guys are asking this question, but it comes up a lot. If you listen to pastor's perspective, you know, like, hey, I go to this church and, you know, they have a lot of money and they're doing good, you know, and I have this missionary friend in South Africa or whatever. And, you know, can I give my tithe to them instead of giving it to this church? And that question is often asked. And

on the one hand there's grace and well you can do whatever you want with your money you know that's between you and the lord but but here's the the biblical principle where you are receiving you should be sharing you should be giving that that needs to take place that that needs to be there now the details of how that works you know within your budget and how you relate that to the lord and how he instructs you there's a lot of freedom that you have to to work out those things with the lord but but understand the principle of the lord is

There is this giving to you, and so it is appropriate for you who are receiving to

to also be giving. Now, I don't share these things as, you know, Pastor Cisco, can you get the offering bags? You know, we need to take, you know, that's not at all, right? The Lord is faithful to provide. And so this isn't that, but it is here in the word as we work our way through. We need to be faithful to understand and teach the things that we find in the scriptures. But here's another aspect to this. I don't teach this for my benefit, right?

But I share it with you just like Paul did for your benefit. Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way. God does not command believers to give simply that pastors and teachers and missionaries might have their material needs met, but that the givers might get a greater blessing. There is a promise of reward for investing in the things of the kingdom of God.

And that's what Paul goes on to illustrate in verses 7 and 8. Here's what he says.

Now, again, this is one of those verses we know we're familiar with. And a lot of times we just take those two verses out, you know, just suck it out of the context completely. We just deal with the sowing and the reaping part, but it's interesting to consider. It is right after verse seven happens right after verse six. There is a sowing and reaping principle that is applied to the receiving and the giving that happens between the one who is teaching and the one who is taught.

but it's not also limited to that. So it's not just talking, sowing and reaping. And this principle taught here is a kind of a general principle. This is the way that God works. And so he says, do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever you sow that you will reap. If you sow to your flesh, you will of the flesh reap corruption.

But if you sow to the spirit, and the idea of sowing is casting out seed, and right when seed is cast out, then it begins to grow, and there's a crop, there's a harvest, and...

How much you get in the harvest is related to how much you sowed in the time of sowing, right? And there's this relationship and that's what God is establishing and declaring. There is this relationship and don't be deceived about it. We all want to have a massive harvest with little sowing. Every one of us, that's, yes, that would be ideal, right? But that's not the way that God works. You want to have some spiritual growth? No.

You want to move forward? You want to experience the greatness that God has for you and planned for you? Well, there's also sowing that takes place as a part of that. It's not different than the grace of God. This isn't separate from the grace of God. And now we're in law and now you have to do these things. But you have the freedom to receive the harvest that you want. And you get to receive that harvest by what you sow and how much you sow.

And if you decide to sow to the flesh, well, you'll have that harvest. You will reap corruption. And this is why I worded the point this way, invest in your spiritual life. Because this applies to your whole spiritual life. Now, if you move into legalism, you're sowing to the flesh. You get caught up in a workspace relationship. Listen, you will reap corruption. Even though you have great intentions, I'm going to walk in holiness and I'm going to, you know, and there's all this great intentions. But that's not what you will reap.

You will harvest corruption. You cannot approach God that way. If you sow to the flesh, you reap corruption. But if you sow to the spirit and you approach God by grace, you reap everlasting life. You reap the grace of God. And so it speaks of our approach to God, our relationship with God, the way that we approach him. But it also could speak of our actions and energy, the way that you spend your energy, the activities that you involve yourself in. If they're things of the flesh, then

Understand that that's going to reap corruption. But if you will engage yourself in things of the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, you're going to reap everlasting life. You're going to reap good things from that. You can consider your time, how you sow your time, whether it be your daily time that you get, you know, everybody has the 24 hours and how you invest that time.

If you invest your time in things of the flesh, like I just need to sit here and watch this fleshly thing just to kind of decompress after a hard day at work, you're gonna reap from that corruption. But if you invest your time in things that benefit your walk with the Lord, your relationship with the Lord, then you will reap from that the blessings of the Lord. Or whether it be special time. Again, you know, our time is limited, but we can give it to the Lord. You can take a vacation and,

and just indulge your flesh the whole vacation. And you come back to work, not rested, not recharged, not renewed, not closer to the Lord because, you know, you've just indulged your flesh the whole time and you've reaped corruption as a result. But you can also take a vacation and invest in the things of the Lord. Now that doesn't mean, you know, take a vacation and you have to pray and fast and now here's a new law, right?

It doesn't mean that. It just be led by the Lord. What does the Lord want you to do? Invest in your spiritual life. It's not a surprise that you're not really growing and developing spiritually if you're not really putting in any effort and investing anything. If you're not, you know,

providing for your teachers to teach you, if you're not giving God time to minister to your heart, if you're not, you know, using your energy and doing things with the Lord, for the Lord, if you're not spending your money, you know, you get the point. It's no surprise that we're not reaping a harvest of great spirituality when we're not sowing any seeds of spirituality.

You want to explore the boundaries and the amazing benefits of the grace of God? Invest in your spiritual life. Don't be deceived. Don't think that God's grace means that you don't have to put in any effort. You don't have to do anything. You know, just live and indulge yourself and chase after whatever you want to. And then magically, you know, your spiritual giant doesn't work that way. The principle of grace does not remove the principle of reaping and sowing.

Well, finishing it off in verse nine and 10, here's the fifth point. Keep seeking opportunity to do good. Keep seeking opportunity to do good. Verse nine, and let us not grow weary while doing good for in due season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

So again, this verse is still tied to the previous verse, right? These things are all threaded together and yet there's so much meat in these, we can also take them individually and have a lot of things to consider. But since this is the principle God has established as reaping and sowing, he says, so let's not grow weary in doing good because we shall reap. When you're doing good, you're sowing. You're sowing seed, you will reap the benefit of that seed, the blessing of that seed in due season, right?

When you sow a seed, you don't reap the harvest immediately. You reap it in the right season. And sometimes that's after several seasons of watering and pruning and cultivating and all that. But at the right time, then it begins to produce fruit. So he says, don't grow weary. You're doing good and you're not seeing much results. That's normal. Don't grow weary and give up. Press on because you will reap. But there is the condition if we do not lose heart.

If I'm running a marathon and I'm discouraged at, you know, mile 20 and I just walk off to the side and sit down and never finish the race, I'm

I don't finish the race, right? I don't get the reward. I don't get the trophy. I don't get the Gatorade at the end or whatever it is. You know, I don't know. But the idea is like, hey, hold on. Don't give up. You're going to miss out on, you spent, you know, so much time investing and sowing to the things of God. Keep on pressing on. Persevere. Don't give up now. You're almost to the finish line. You're going to get there and you're guaranteed the reward. It's the law of God. You reap what you sow, right?

So keep sowing seeds of doing good because God promises you will reap the harvest.

F.B. Meyer says, life is a seed time. It is the opportunity of preparing for heavenly harvests. The open furrows invite the seed and every moment in some form, we scatter seeds that we shall inevitably meet again in their fruition. Every moment we're spending time, we're spending energy, we're spending money, we're investing every moment in the flesh or in the spirit. And we're gonna reap from that.

Sometimes it doesn't feel like we reap from it soon enough. But Paul says, no, keep on. You will see the fruit of that. You will see the benefits of that. That's the way that God works. It's what God has promised. Verse 10, therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. So therefore, because this is the way that God works, because the promise is guaranteed of the harvest,

Let's do good to all. Let's look for those opportunities to do good because we're sowing seeds. And especially those who are of the household of faith. Our brothers and sisters in the Lord, when there's an opportunity to go and restore, look for those opportunities and go and restore. There's a reward that goes along with that sowing.

When there's the need for someone to come alongside and bear a burden, look for those opportunities and run to them. Keep seeking opportunity to do good and to help people. And that might be mowing their lawn. It might be praying for someone. It might be encouraging someone. It might be listening on the phone for three hours, you know, whatever. Bear one another's burdens. Look for those opportunities. And yeah, it may be exhausting. It may feel like you're not seeing much result, but there will be fruit from that. There will be a harvest from that. Don't get caught up in comparison with,

Focus on enjoying your own walk with God. Sometimes that seems like I'm reading every day, but I don't really see much. You know, I'm spending time with God. I'm trying to, you know, pray and seek him and follow him every day. And I just don't really see much result. Hey, don't grow weary. Press on, persevere. There will be the fruit from those seeds that you are sowing. Invest in your spiritual life.

and keep seeking opportunity to do good. That's what grace looks like in our lives. We receive grace from God and it impacts us to gently restore, to help one another, to receive help, to give help.

to enjoy our walk with God and invest in the things of God. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for each one of us that you would help us as recipients of your grace. Lord, to be also transmitters of your grace. Lord, that others around us would receive the incredible goodness.

that you've shown to us and that we would extend that to the people around us, Lord, and looking for opportunities to do so more and more, looking for opportunities to do good, that your grace and your love, that your incredible goodness towards us might be known. And so I pray that you would lead us by your spirit, help us to walk in the spirit, step by step, moment by moment, allowing you to strengthen us, to direct us, to lead us in the way you desire us to go, which is what's best for us.

And so thank you, God, for looking out for us. Give us strength and encouragement, Lord, that we would not grow weary and give up, but that we would press on and see the fruit of all that you've led us to do. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.