MPC, 28th May 2000.Galatians 6 - Living Under the Law of Love
Phil Campbell MPC, 28th May 2000.
In all my eleven and a bit years as a preacher, I have to say these last few weeks working through Galatians has created MORE COMMENTS, more questions, more discussion - than anything I've preached through before. Some of it positive. Some negative. Some genuine questions, as we've worked together at understanding what I think is a VERY LIVE LETTER... raising LIVE ISSUES. That are just as real now as the day the ink was still wet on the parchment.
And so there have been people who have said to me, if we're not living under the OLD TESTAMENT LAW, how do we know how to live? How do we bring up our KIDS... if it's not to OBEY THE TEN COMMANDMENTS? And keep God's PERFECT LAW. It seems to me we've seen Paul's saying, THOSE DAYS ARE OVER. Because we live for JESUS NOW. And not under Jewish law. We live by the SPIRIT NOW... and so the Christian life is the live of CHANGED HEARTS. Rather than laws written on stone. And so there have been other people who have said to me, Galatians has been LIBERATING. It's been like a breath of fresh air. Someone said, it's taken me RIGHT BACK TO THE BASICS... of what I heard when I first became a Christian fifty years ago. Or someone else who said, "why haven't I been told this stuff before?"
The question this morning, though, is this. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE IN PRACTICE? What difference is it going to make if you're a person who's been living under law... and now you're living under FREEDOM. If you're a person who's finding out what it means to move from a life full of religious rules and regulations and prohibitions - to something entirely different. Or if you're a person who's been HURT by those things. Because you can be, can't you.
Funny, think about it. The definition that says THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, the RELIGIOUS LIFE, is the life lived under LAW. In the end, can be very HARSH. What people like to call JUDGEMENTAL. And maybe in your heart of hearts you'd admit that sort of life can become CONCEITED as well. Self satisfied that more or less in an outward way, you're DOING WHAT'S REQUIRED. And sticking to the rules. And if you're a person like that, when you come face to face with a person NOT LIKE THAT, then the sparks fly. As you do a pretty darn good job of telling them where they're wrong. Of looking down your nose. Or of just subtly shunning the ones who don't quite match up... to the level of excellence you're setting them.
I heard it the other day. As a young guy from Ipswich was telling me about someone who used to be in their fellowship group a few years back. Someone they saw at the Celebration Rally last Sunday night. A note of surprise. Because that was a someone who never quite got things right. So could never quite fit in. Was never quite SAFE. So was pushed to the edge.
The law centred life, the rule centre life; it can so easily keep all the rules.... and yet be CONCEITED. Be judgemental. Looking for the sins of others as a chance to OFFER CRITICISM. Looking at the obedience of YOURSELF... as a chance to GAIN ESTEEM.
Which is the exact OPPOSITE of what Paul calls in Galatians 6, the SPIRITUAL LIFE. Being SPIRITUAL. Showing the fruit we saw last time... of love, and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
Sin Matters
Which at NO POINT is to say SIN DOESN'T MATTER. And that's been an ongoing question through Galatians, hasn't it. Well if we're FREE FROM THE LAW, you're saying we can DO WHAT WE LIKE. Not at all. Let's start by picking up what Paul says about the danger of KEEPING ON SINNING in verse 7 and 8; and then we'll come back to the start of the chapter and think about how we DEAL WITH ONE ANOTHER... when it happens.
The fact is, SIN IS DEADLY. And Paul says that in verse 7 and 8. The stuff he said about living by the Spirit in chapter 5, the section we looked at last week, it's FUNDAMENTALLY IMPORTANT. It's not just a nice afterthought. Anything else is SOWING FOR DISASTER.
There's an old saying, you reap what you sow. And Paul says here, it's TRUE.
Tony Cavallaro called for an ambulance last week after he was bitten by an AFRICAN VIPER in his house in the United States. It's one of the most poisonous snakes in the world. And at the time I read the news report last weekend, they said doctors aren't sure if the antivenom arrived on time to save his life. His prognosis, they said, was NOT GOOD.
If you're wondering what an AFRICAN VIPER was doing in Tony Cavallaro's house in the United States, it was one of his PETS. As well as the viper, he had a pet cobra, a rattlesnake, and a 90 kilo alligator called Albert. Which wandered around the house. When the ambulance got there to pick him up, they wouldn't go in.
Tony, I guess you've already been told YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW. Live in a house full of poisonous snakes, it's NO WONDER you end up getting bitten. And if you want to say, well, I'm a Christian, I'm not under law, I'm going to live how I want, Paul says, you're SOWING FOR DESTRUCTION. When you could be planting for LIFE.
SIN MATTERS. Sin kills. In an eternal way. Read verse 7 and 8. Don't be deceived. God cannot be mocked. Verse 7. A man REAPS... what he sows. You don't plant PRICKLES and grow STRAWBERRIES. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, verse 8, from that nature will reap .... DESTRUCTION. The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the SPIRIT will receive ETERNAL LIFE.
When you hear Paul saying, we're not UNDER THE LAW, don't get the impression he's saying SIN DOESN'T MATTER. It's a matter of LIFE AND DEATH.
RESTORING OTHERS
So what are you going to DO when you see someone else caught up in sin? See, on the one extreme you've got those who want to say, well, YOU STAMP IT OUT. They say, what we need is more CHURCH DISCIPLINE. Make the rules. Stick to the rules. Enforce the rules. On the other extreme you've got people who want to go the other way. Well, if someone else is sinning, it's none of anybody else's business. And so you watch from a distance. And do nothing. While your pretend it's somehow MORE LOVING to say and do nothing. And that to do ANYTHING means you're being judgmental. Both extremes. And we know them well, don't we.
Well, here's where we go back to the start of the chapter. And ask the question, how do you handle someone else's sin... when you're not under law, but you're living by the Spirit. And as we look at this, ask yourself - if you were the one caught in the sin, wouldn't it be GREAT - to have someone deal with you like this. Instead of harshly. Or instead of doing NOTHING AT ALL.
You know, I was caught in a sin on Thursday. And I only wish it was handled this way. It wasn't. I was late for the Assembly in the city. And so I drove in with Maurie and another minister friend. And we drove into the car part beside the Anne St church, and there was a spot there in the car park that said DON'T PARK HERE. But we looked around, everyone else was inside already, and I said, this will do.
Well, Paul says here, Brothers, verse 1, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are SPIRITUAL, you fruit of the Spirit people, how do you handle it? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.... goodness. Faithfulness. GENTLENESS. There's a good start. Let me tell you, when they made the announcement over the PA system at the assembly about some idiot with a blue van who was parked ILLEGALLY in the church carpark, they might have been right and I might have been wrong... but it sounded a long way from GENTLE. Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are SPIRITUAL, should RESTORE HIM... GENTLY. Using the fruit of the Spirit. Don't do nothing. Sin matters. But be gentle. And at the same time, WATCH YOURSELF... or you also may be tempted.
We correct one another GENTLY... sinner to sinner. Not as EXPERT to AMATEUR. Because SIN MATTERS. And we care enough about one another to do it. NOT because we like to gloat in someone else's failure, not because we want to score points and look good because someone else looks bad. Because we care.
Verse 2. Carry each others burdens. We're not here to load each other up. But to take the load OFF. Loads are for sharing. Except for one sort of load. And that's the load of your own self importance. We love talking about ourselves, don't we. Sharing our successes. But this funny little turn around in verse 2 to 4 says do the REVERSE. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you'll fulfill the law of Christ - LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Verse 3 - if anyone thinks he's something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. EACH ONE should test HIS OWN ACTIONS. Not other peoples. Then he can take pride in HIMSELF...without comparing himself to somebody else. For each one should carry HIS OWN LOAD of that stuff. Share other people's burdens. And keep your load of boasting to yourself.
Instead of the direct opposite that's so easy to find. The way the law preachers did it in Galatia. Compare yourself. Boast how well you're doing. And put a burden on the back of everyone else. These trouble makers in Galatia, they're saying the GENTILES have to be circumcised, they have to take on the Old Testament law, they have to do this and do that. To which Paul says, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. Our job is to take burdens OFF. Instead of put them on. Compare yourself with yourself. And then see how you can lighten the load for someone else.
Can I ask you, has that been YOUR EXPERIENCE... of the Christian life? The GENTLE WORD of correction when you've needed it - rather than judgement. The lighter step of a load shared?
I might have mentioned before Philip Yancey's book "What's so Amazing about Grace." Which opens with the story of a prostitute speaking to a counsellor. Who says to her, "you need HELP. Have you thought of going to a CHURCH?" To which she spat out the words, "I feel BAD ENOUGH ABOUT MYSELF ALREADY. A church would just make me feel WORSE." Friends, if we're going to be SPIRITUAL, if we're going to be FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT PEOPLE, we need to do better than that. And be living it in the way we handle one another's failings.
So the Christian life. Free. Free to serve. Free to be gentle. Free to love. Free to DO GOOD FROM THE HEART. Which can tend to make you weary. But we need to keep at it anyway. Keep on sowing to please the Spirit. And Paul says in verse 9 and 10, press on to harvest time. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we'll reap a harvest if we don't give up." Don't be like the kid who plants the seed and keeps digging it up to see if it's growing. Just press on patiently. Because that's a fruit of the Spirit. Looking for every opportunity you can to do GOOD. Because that's a fruit of the Spirit. Which means, you WANT TO. Do good every chance you get.
We tend to be choosy, don't we, about the good we do. Maybe we shouldn't be. I was having a cup of coffee at an outdoor cafe in the city on Monday after a meeting. The friend I was with bought the coffee - my wallet was running on empty. And we're sitting at our table and an old man ambles up and asks if we can spare him a couple of dollars for a cup of coffee. What do you do in a case like that? First reaction? Say NO. Resent the intrusion. Which my friend did. But you know, we can get so careful, can't we, of the way we dish out our kindness, that the opportunities come and go and maybe we don't dish out ANY at all. Paul says this. Verse 10. Therefore, as we have opportunity, every time you get the chance, let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the family of believers." Doing good, first to your church family. And every other chance you get.
You need to be under the OLD TESTAMENT LAW to do that? And to be gentle? And patient? No way. And yet this is the stuff that makes up the CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. That marks us out as different. Like Jesus said. They'll KNOW YOU'RE MY DISCIPLES.... by the way YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
You know, I went to the Physiotherapist the other day. He gave me some exercises to do. He said, nobody every remembers. So I'm going to stick a GREEN DOT on your watch. And every time you look at your watch you'll see it. And do your stretches. It's been working. So maybe you need to try something similar. Stick a dot on your watch to remind you every time you look at it, following Jesus means DOING GOOD every time you get the chance. Maybe look at your watch. Then look around. And take whatever opportunity you can find to do something GOOD for someone. I'll bet you find them. Every time.
SHARING WITH YOUR TEACHER
Well, we're on the home straight. Just getting to the bit where Paul wraps it all up in verse 11 to 18. But there's one little verse we've skipped over, and I can't for the life of me see how it fits in the flow of what he's saying. And it's kind of awkward. Verse 6. Because it says, Anyone who receives instruction IN THE WORD must share all good things with his instructor.
Can I just touch on that with a couple of thoughts. First of all, to say, it's a verse that highlights not so much the importance of the TEACHER... as the importance of THE WORD. And it's significant, isn't it. That Paul's actually setting out there a model for MINISTRY. A model when you ponder on it that you can build your church structures around. Because at its heart, that's what PAID MINISTRY is meant to revolve around. And Maurie and I both want to affirm our commitment to say, what we're setting out is to be TEACHING THE WORD. Whether it's up the front here, or in small groups, or in a pastoral one on one situation. And I'd go further, to say, if that's NOT THE CASE, then don't feel obligated to give financial support. If you're NOT RECEIVING INSTRUCTION IN THE WORD, it's not a ministry worth supporting. Which I suspect would see a lot of the high ranking Bishops you might have seen on TV lately something to think about. As they join the dole queue.
THE GROUND WE'VE COVERED...
Well, get to verse 11 and we've just about made it. Paul's signing off, the scribe's done the writing and now Paul takes the pen and signs off. See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand. And let me make my point just a few more times before I go. He says, I've been telling you about people who say TRUSTING JESUS ISN'T ENOUGH. I've been telling you about people who say you need to take on JEWISH WAYS before you can be a Christian. Be circumcised. Obey the law. The time honoured way to be initiated as a Jew.
He says, I've also just finished telling you that it's what the SPIRIT DOES ON THE INSIDE that's what counts. It's like a competition between the INWARD and the OUTWARD. They want to boast about what they do, boast about their rituals, make a good impression. That's what law keeping looks like. But he says, you Gentiles, you there in Queensland, don't listen to people who want to lump law on you again. Because that's not the stuff that counts. And they don't keep the standards they set anyway.
Verse 13 and 14. A summary of where we've been. Not even those who are circumcised obey the law... so why are they telling YOU TO. They just want you to be circumcised THAT THEY MAY BOAST ABOUT YOUR FLESH. May I never boast. God forbid. Except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ... through which the world has been crucified to me... and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. Whether you're a Jew or a Greek or whatever else.... what COUNTS... is a NEW CREATION. New on the inside. By the Spirit of God.
He says, take notice. Don't cause me trouble. Because I've got the scars to prove I'm a soldier of the cross. Take notice; and don't let this stuff go. And he says, PEACE...and MERCY...to all who follow THIS RULE. Because then you're the TRUE ISRAEL of God.