8/18/19 Gospel of Grace –Walking By The Spirit In The Body – Gal. 6:1-10

I love peaches.

-I just bought some and canned them, dried them, and made peach salsa.

-While those are good, I much prefer to get a nice juicy peach and just eat it.

-You know the kind – when you bit into it, the juice runs all down your chin and down your arm.

-Yeh – well that is the ripening fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

Today, we are going to continue our study of the book of Galatians.

-Last week, we saw how Paul applied the defense of the Gospel of grace to our personal growth in Jesus as we battle the flesh and walk by the Spirit.

-As we enter into Chapter 6, Paul applies that Gospel of grace to our life within the Body of Christ.

I invite you to join me in Galatians 6. Page 826, youversion.

-Paul has been speaking to our freedom in Christ.

-Since we are free in Christ . . . . here is one way that we walk by the Spirit, as part of the Body of Christ.

READ 6:1-5
Coming Alongside One Another v. 1-5

“Someone caught in sin” v. 1

-Who is the “someone”?

-This is not speaking of non-believers.

-The church during this age is not the judge of the world.

-That is not our responsibility.

-Non-believers’ largest problem isn’t getting their lives right,

it’s their need to accept the Gospel of grace so their sin would be forgiven.

-The world will always be walking away from Christ.

-The “someone” here is speaking to a brother and sister in Christ.

-A fellow believer who has fallen into sin by living by the flesh rather than the Spirit.
-The text doesn’t tell us why . . .

-It could be because they didn’t know any better, were never discipled in that area, or just fell to the desires of the flesh.

-The “someone” could be anyone of us!

-No matter the reason, they are struggling in their faith because of sin.

“You who are Spiritual” v. 1

-We might wonder who the Spiritual ones are?

-The world would have all kinds of ideas of what that is.

-But there are at least two ways that people are “spiritual”.

1. Those who are indwelt with the Holy Spirit.

-Meaning they have trusted in Jesus Christ – believers.

-I pray that is all of us in this room. AB

2. In the context from chapter 5, this refers to someone
who is walking by the Spirit and the fruit is ripening in their lives.

-Their attitudes and actions reflect God’s attitudes and actions as they yield their desires to what God desires.

-So, we are not talking only about the Pastor or the Deacons as being the only ones who can come alongside a fellow believer and speak God’s truth into their lives.

-You are all called to be this person.

-It’s how God designed the Body to work in all 31 of the “one another”passages of the NT.

-I think that is why Paul said it the way he did.

-He didn’t specify any particular person or special group in the church, but all those who are indwelt by the Spirit and are “walking by the Spirit” have the responsibility of coming alongside a sinning fellow believer and speak God’s truth into their lives.

-This passage is one basis for our church’s Biblical Counseling Ministry and the church as a whole is based on this call on each of us.

-The Pastor doesn’t have to nor can he do this for everybody in the church . . .

-Sometimes the Pastor is the “someone”, and needs “you who are Spiritual” to come alongside of him when he is in sin.

-And this pastor is so thankful when you have done so.

-That is what the community of God’s people do.

-Growing in Christ is a community effort as God works in the midst of the entire Body, using its gifts to build itself up.

Restore Gently v. 1
-This speaks of the way we go about restoring a fellow believer who is in sin.

-Legalism will always seek to condemn and put down.

-The legalist has no desire for the hard work of restoring someone in sin.

-They see themselves as detective, judge, and jury, where the gavel comes down . . . . . GUILTY!

-But those under grace will seek to restore the fellow believer who has been caught in sin.

-The term “restore” used here refers to a broken bone that is set and mended, or a net that has a hole in it and is mended so it is useful again.

-In a similar way, the sinning believer has lost their usefulness to the Father in their sin, so we come alongside them to restore them back to useful service to the Father.

-Certainly, we don’t want to leave a fellow believer in their sin any more than we want to be caught and left in our sin.

-And we don’t want that – RIGHT?

-No, we gently come alongside, show compassion, gently teach the Word of God, and practically help them to grow in the righteousness of Jesus.

Watch out! V. 1
-The Spiritual person understands Paul’s warning all too well.

-They are made of the same stuff as the sinning believer, daily battle of the desires of the flesh.

-They are prone to the same temptations and can fall in the same ways.

-So take this as a warning from Paul and proceed with caution.

-That is one of the reasons why we do our Biblical Counseling Conferences.

-We want the Body of Christ to be equipped to gently restore sinning fellow believers well.

-Now, as we heed the warning, we proceed to restore.

Carry their burden v. 2

-A “burden” is an oppressive weight that would severely hinder the one trying to carry it from going forward.

-Paul tells us here to come alongside them and help them carry it the load.

-Thus fulfilling the law of Christ – loving each other.

-Sometimes love carries the whole load and other times only part of it.

-This is very different from the legalists who sought to increase the weight and not lift a finger to help.

-Jesus accused the legalistic Pharisees of just that in Matt. 23:4

“They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.”

-One way that happens is when someone is in sin, they forget the Gospel of grace and tell the sinning believer they there is no grace for them.

-They wonder if the person is even saved.

-The guilt is loaded on as a heavy weight.

-But the Gospel of grace moves us to come alongside a fellow believer and help them carry their load – not pile more on them.

-We help them see that repentance brings forgiveness – not condemnation.

-We help them live in the Joy of the Lord and find his strength to grow.

-We help them understand Biblically that God doesn’t love them less.

-We help them see and apply the promises of God that bring them hope.

-Then we help them respond Biblically in the righteousness of Jesus rather than the flesh.

-We can help them with the load of their sin because God has brought us through this same process many times in our lives.

-As we do that, we “fulfill the law of Christ”, which is to love others as God has loved us.

-Doing what is best for the other person, no matter the cost to us.

-That is so contrary to the legalists who just pilled more on and waited to convict when the failure came.

Warning of pride v. 3-4
-Paul gives another warning that focus’ on our pride.

-One reason the legalists didn’t come to help sinners was because they felt they were spiritually superior.

-With the attitude of, “I would never do that”.

-Jesus spoke of the parable that the Pharisee thanked God that he “was not like this sinner, the tax collector” and went on and bragged before God of tithing his mint leaves.

-In their eyes, they were keeping all the Law, so didn’t need to help others out.

-One of the roles of the HS is to convict us of sin so we would go through that process of restoration, which is lead by the Spirit as well.

-The legalists thought that the HS’s work of conviction was their job.

-Of course, by doing so, they were breaking the Law of Jesus.

-The Spiritual believer knows the battle of the heart and that . . .

“but by the grace of God”, they could fall to the same sin.

-It’s in that humility that we come alongside someone in sin and help them with their load.

Restoration complete v. 5
The goal of restoring a sinning believer is to help them to learn to carry their own load.

-This is not a contradiction of who carries the load, but the completion of restoring a fellow believer.

-They struggle in sin, we come alongside them to help them with their load with the sufficiency of the Gospel of grace.

-As they are “discipled” they learn to carry their own load.

-And they go on to disciple others by helping them carry the load.

-That is the “one another” ministry of the local Body of Christ.

READ v. 6-10

Sowing and Reaping Principles

-Paul then returns to the battle between the flesh and the Spirit and applies the Biblical principles of sowing and reaping to it.

-Those principles are sort of obvious, but can be a bit tricky in practice.

-If you plant corn you can expect to get corn.

-In the practice of our lives, we think that if I yell louder I will harvest peace.

-Or if I am harsh with my kids, I will harvest obedient teenagers.

-Applied to the flesh and the Spirit, you will grow to harvest what you plant.

-If you invest money in the flesh, you will harvest a fleshly return of corruption and greed.

-If you invest money in the Spirit, by helping others who are in need, you will harvest growth in the Spirit . . . generosity, trust, and joy.

-Because of the laws of “sowing and reaping”, you will never plant money in the flesh and harvest generosity and you will never plant money in the Spirit and harvest greed.

-Applied to the sinning believer, we don’t want to leave them to a rotting harvest.

-They will need your help because the hardest time to plant good seed (Spirit) is when you are harvesting bad fruit (flesh).

-That is where you come alongside and help them to plant seeds of love, peace, patience, and kindness right in the midst of the harvest of the relationship breaking down.

-Don’t be fooled “God cannot be mocked”.

-If they fool themselves thinking that planting anger and revenge will help them to have a good harvest later – it won’t.

-And you will be there to help guide them in this truth.

The Conclusion v. 10
-In the midst of sin (bad harvest) we are to come alongside fellow believers and help them walk by the Spirit in doing good – planting Spiritual seed that will multiply growth in Christ.

-Opportunities abound all around us to live by the Spirit and do good that kind of good for God’s people.

-Don’t pass those up, especially when you get older and have walked through this restoration process many times in your own life, and have seen God’s provision again and again.

-You have developed strong spiritual shoulders to help others.

-Keep pressing forward, don’t give up, strive for the Glory of God to be revealed in your life.

Walking by the Gospel of Grace

-Where are you in the process of discipleship in the Body?

-I get excited to so many who have been Christians for years take this work of the Body seriously.

-It’s sad that many in the Body have not progressed to the place of being able to help others who are struggling.

-Why is that?

-Maybe they have never had someone come alongside them to help them with God’s restoration process.

-Maybe they don’t feel confident to help others.

-Maybe they don’t trust that God is able to help them.

-Maybe they don’t see it as their responsibility to the Body.

-Maybe they don’t think they have enough Bible knowledge.

-Whatever it is, the biggest question isn’t the why’s and why not’s, but is found in the: What has to happen to move you to the next step.

-Maybe it’s committing to start coming to Discipleship Hour.

-Maybe it’s deciding to serve in one of the ministries of the church.

-Maybe it’s signing up for the next Biblical Counseling Conference in April.

-Maybe attended track 1 – Advanced track?

-Maybe it’s joining a life group or taking some responsibility for part of the group.

-Maybe it’s taking a look around the Body and recognizing that some who used to be here are not anymore.

-Give them a call and invite them to dinner or for coffee, and seek after ways to come alongside them and carry their load.

-Our culture doesn’t like this kind of involvement, it seems to judgmental.

-We would rather than keep the relationships “facebook” deep, but not really get in the trenches and truly love them.

-But as the Body of Christ, we are already counter cultural because we are more concerned with truly loving people.

-Living by the Spirit includes both our personal growth in ripening the fruit of the Spirit (chapter 5), and ripening that fruit in as part of the Body of Christ.

-So, how will you grow as a follower of Jesus this year?