Protecting the Pure Gospel, Part 10
Pastor Marty Monday, October 24, 2011 at 2:59PM As we go into Galatians 6, Paul continues to "flesh" out some practical results of using our freedom to walk with the Spirit. The list of fruit in Galatians 5 is filled with wonderful virtues, but they beg the question. "Yeah, but what does that look like in everyday life?" Now let me just insert at this point that the perfect and best answer to that question is, "Jesus." He is the perfect expression of what love, joy, peace...and all the rest, look like when they are lived out. Jesus walked in perfect harmony with the Holy Spirit and the fruit it produced is recorded in the New Testament for all to see. It is this reality that supports the claims of Paul. He is not just being pig-headed and wanting to control what believers believe. Rather, he and his fellow Israelites have first hand experience of the kind of fruit that comes from law-keeping and walking in the flesh versus the fruit that comes from walking in agreement with the Spirit of God.
When an individual takes hold of the Gospel, or the Whole Truth about Jesus, by faith, then the Holy Spirit begins that lifelong task of making us over in the image of Jesus. Of course God uses other godly people in that process and we also need to cooperate- walk in agreement with Him. If the Galatians added Law-keeping to the Gospel then they would not come to be more and more like him. If you ask, well where then is holiness in the Gospel? Simple, Jesus is our holiness, and because he has fulfilled the law I am now free to walk in agreement with the Holy Spirit without the law hanging over my head. Sure, I give myself to righteousness, but not out of threat, but rather out of a desire to be more like Jesus, which is love. This is a vastly, different motivation that creates a vastly, different person over the long term.
Bear One Another's Burdens
Paul has been talking about freedom up to now, but here he commands them to literally "Be restoring the fallen, and Be bearing one another's heavy weights." How do you go from freedom to being commanded? There is a greater question that lies behind this and it is this. "For what purposes will I use my freedom?" Freedom should never be equated with laziness, inactivity, sloth, etc... Those who give themselves to those anti-virtues find themselves eventually in great bondage, or anything but free. It is in a sense a wasted freedom that is lost. So freedom should always be connected in our minds to being able to choose the purposes to which we will employ our strength and labor. Paul has already made the case back in chapter 5 that if they use their strength and labor to please their flesh then they will be ruined by it and disqualified from entrance into God's kingdom. The counter point is to use their strength and labor to please the Holy Spirit, which produces good fruit in their life.
Thus the freedom of Christ is not that we have become our own master. But that we have recognized the wisdom of Christ in the Word and in the Holy Spirit. We listen to Him because any other counsel/couselor is folly, and that includes myself.
So it is not really Paul who commands them to carry each other's heavy burdens. It is really Christ. In fact we begin to see in this chapter that Paul is ultimately concerned with what we are bearing or carrying in life. What am I using my strength to carry along with me in life? Back in Chapter 5:10 he told them that the false teacher is going to have to "bear (or carry) his judgment." He is using his strength to be at odds with the Holy Spirit and is also trying to draw believers away from Christ after himself. Thus he is heaping up judgment for the things he does and when he gives account to God he will bear the crushing weight of that judgment. Thus Paul is very clear that teaching false doctrine, which twists the Gospel, is not a light matter.
Just as the false teachers have something to bear, here Paul wants the Galatian believers to bear each other's heavy weights. Next, in Galatians 6:5, he will point out that each believer will give account or bear their own load in life. The argument and grammar point to the future judgment of believers. Lastly, Paul points out that he has to bear or carry the marks of Jesus in his body. A clear reference to the lashes and physical persecutions he has had to suffer. This theme of bearing things naturally ties into the slavery of the law. However, there is a deeper tie to the teachings of Christ.
Matthew 11: 28-30, "28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (NKJV)
In this passage Jesus brings up the issue of the burdens we carry in life. He had come to a people who were weary at trying to carry the Law. This weariness was even heavier because of the religious leaders. Here are a few more quotes from Jesus.
Mt. 23:2-4, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselveswill not move them with one of their fingers." (NKJV)
Luke 11:46, "46 And He said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers." (NKJV)
The emphasis of Jesus is not on the normal load of life that we all should shoulder, such as maturing, marrying, raising a family, working, and relating with others. He deals with excessive burdens. He rebuked the scribes, Pharisees, and lawyers because they added to the laws of Moses their own traditions which increased the burden the people were expected to carry. This social pressure to conform to a certain standard had not only wearied the people, but also threatened to ground to powder any faith they might have in God. A key theme in the gospel is that God does not wish to grind you to powder and then send you to hell for not performing. His compassion for the frailty and depravity of man sends rest in Jesus. Jesus came to carry the heavy burden we could not. So that now we can get up and follow him. Paul's point is that if, in following Jesus, you don't feel like you are carrying enough weight then help your brother with his excessive weights.
Now this is precisely the opposite of what the false teacher has done. The false teacher has come in among the Galatians and is trying to put a greater burden on them. But Paul says if you are inclined to carry more weight then carry your brothers weight. Don't put more on yourself and so fight against the gospel, and Christ. Notice Jesus doesn't say that following him has no burden. Rather he promises, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Wow! Our freedom has a yoke? Yes. We make a choice what we are going to be yoked to. You will either be yoked to your flesh, which will drag you to destruction, or yoked to the Spirit, which will lead to eternal life. The flesh is hard and heavy and without lasting reward. But the Spirit is gentle and light with eternal reward.
Do you want to be spiritual? Then don't make up more rules to follow or go back to rules of the Law. Rather help those who are falling off the path of Christ and help those who are weighed down with various heavy things of this life. Paul brings up the former condition first.
Helping those who are falling off the path of Christ, is exactly what Paul is doing in this letter. He is modelling it for them as he tells them to do it. You want to be spritual? Then help those who are doctrinally weak and easily swayed by false reason or temptation away from Christ. Here Paul continues to explore the different kind of spirituality that happens under legalism versus freedom. Legalists tend to think of themselves as spiritual, but generally do not help anyone. They think highly of themselves for carrying so much weight and look down on others who cannot perform as them. Paul points them to a different spirituality, which is of Jesus. A spirituality that, if it does look "down" on others it is for the purpose of seeing their plight and helping their need. Restore is to put something back in its proper place. When my brother is fallen off the path part of the body of Christ is dislocated. Imagine the pain that occurs when an arm or knee is dislocated. In the same way that we use our "freedom" to get that joint back in proper alignment with the rest of the body, so we ought to help one another. We ought to feel the "pain" that God feels when our brothers or sisters are tempted out of the grace and off the path of Christ. Paul also points out that restoration needs to have a christ-like attitude about it. Do it gently and self-reflectively.
Gentle is when our strength is under control. When a doctor works on a patient he can do gently or rougly. His speech can be gentle and caring or it can be brusque and heartless. Here we see the fruit of the Spirit. We are not called to a Law that can be done with any attitude. Rather the love of Christ stirs us to help our brother out of compassiona and with great care.
The second part of this is to watch ourselves less we fall into temptation. It would be easy to see that in rescuing someone we don't want to be destroyed by the same thing that they have fallen to. However, the warning is not just about my fallen brother's sin or temptation. It can be just as much about my own pride in being the "rescuer, and helper." Legalists don't always start out that way. By helping those who have fallen a subtle, elitist, pride in our own great spiritual abilities can build up, layer by layer. Until our prideful attitude undermines our faith in Christ. At some point we can become proud in our own ability and have faith in our works rather than in the work of Christ. Restoration is really the work of a truely spiritual person. All others will fail.
So verse one encourages them to help those falling off the path of Christ and verse 2 tells them to help carry the excessive burdens. He says that if they will do this they will fulfill the "Law of Christ." In case you didn't know Christ had a law, then let me remind you of Paul's words in Romans 8:2, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death." So there is a law to following Christ, however, it is simply the law of the Love of God and our fellow man. So the law of Christ can only be fulfilled when we carry the burdens of our fellow believers. There is not a contradiction between verse 2 and verse 5. The word sometimes translated as burden in verse 5 is simply the idea of a normal load. Whereas in verse 2 the picture of a load that is too heavy. Sometimes people go through excessively heavy things. It can be the result of temptation and sin or, like Job, it can just be the result of living in a fallen world where there is an enemy and a world that often does his work. Job suffered under an abnormally heavy load. His brothers should have come alongside of him and helped him carry that load. Instead, they heaped up even more weight on Job's shoulders, "It's all your fault. If you were a better believer this wouldn't be happening."
Many of us have had fairly good lives and things have gone our way. If we were to honestly stop and try to determine, Why, we would come up with no real answer. That's just the way it worked out. You can say that God has blessed you and that would be true, but what about the person he hasn't "blessed" quite so much as you? What about the believer in Indonesia who is struggling with the explanation that God just hasn't blessed them as much as you. Why? God is no respecter of persons. You did not deserve it more than them. In fact, perhaps God has blessed you so that you can help those who have not been blessed. In that way God will be glorified. The law of Christ here really looks back to the Matthew 11:28-30 passage and says, "Quit carrying the Law and start carrying your brother and those who are less fortunate than you." Many of you might remember the old song, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother." Love often carries weights that no law can command and out of far nobler purposes and to a far greater glory.
The legalist looks to the great amount of works that he has done to keep the law and thinks well of himself. He never thinks to help his brother other than to point out what more he should be carrying. In the end he carries no one but himself and still falls short of perfectly keeping the law. Let me give you an example to help illustrate this. Picture a house that has caught on fire and you are part of the fire crew showing up to help put it out. As you arrive on the scene you see a man coming through the front door and his arms are loaded with a computer, and other electronic gadgets, he is dragging a large TV, and for comical purposes, let just imagine he is some Hercules of a guy and you can barely see him under the pile of stuff he is saving from this fire. The guy, let's call him Hercules, gets out to the lawn and with a great smile and air of self-satisfaction sets down all the stuff he has saved. A part of you marvels at the ability of this man to rescue all this stuff. But then you see the door open again, and out of the house comes a small woman, let's call her Grace. And Grace only holds in her hand one thing, a little child. Now who is the hero is in this story and whose efforts were truly greater? How are you judging your "accomplishments" for God? What are you dragging out of this life? To what is your great strength being applied, is it anything eternal? We can tell ourself that our great law keeping is of eternal value, but God's word tells us it isn't. The kingdom of heaven is not about what you eat or drink, it is about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Grace will rejoice that she saved her child. But Hercules may never see the deep problem he has. He is consumed with the things of this world more than the things of God. Hercules has deceived himself.
Ask yourself, Are my works like the works of Jesus? Are the things I am concerned with the same things Jesus was concerned with? Let's get spiritual for a moment. Perhaps you are an elder or pastor in a church. Is your day consumed with the things that consumed Jesus? Was Jesus consumed with how much money they had in the purse and how they were going to make it another year? Was Jesus concerned with fighting and protecting the physical temple or did he lay down his own temple so that many spiritual temples might be brought into the kingdom? Are the things I'm rejoicing in really a twisted evil of which I should repent? Do I say in my heart, "Lord, I'm glad I'm not like that loser over there. Thanks for blessing me so much." God forgive us that we use the blessings and strength that he gives for our own pleasures and not for eternal gain.
So last question and I'm done, "What are you carrying?"