Galatians 5:26-6:5
Last week we talked about the fruit of the Spirit and the
conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. This week we
are going to examine the last verse of Galatians 5 and
the first 5 of chapter 6. The focus is bearing others’
burdens.
A couple of weeks ago Paul wrote that he wanted the
Galatian churches to serve one another through love and
he said that this fulfilled the whole law in one word – love
your neighbor as yourself.
Let’s begin by asking God to help us
apply and understand His word.
Galatians 5:26
Paul begins with a warning of what can happen if we
don’t live by the Spirit, but we are led by the works of
the flesh.
The way we view ourselves determines the way we
treat others.
In Romans 12:3 Paul writes, “For by the grace given
to me I say to everyone among you not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to
think with sober judgment, each according to the
measure of faith that God has assigned.”
And to the church at Philippi he wrote, “Do nothing
from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility
count others more significant than yourselves. Let
each of you look not only to his own interests, but
also to the interest of others.” Philippians 2:3-4
When we have a wrong view of ourselves, we aren’t
going to
love our neighbors as ourselves.
Consequences of Conceit
Paul gives two consequences to pride or conceit.
We will provoke others
We will envy others
We provoke others when we feel superior towards them.
We feel the need to prove it by putting it to the test.
The church is no place for rivalries.
We envy others when we think they are superior to us.
We have to realize that every Christian has Spiritual gifts
to be used for God’s glory.
We must not become jealous of someone else’s gift.
The church needs every member to use their gifts in the
way God intended.
Next, Paul transitions to what it looks like for the church
to bear each other’s burdens.
Galatians 6:1
Called to Burden Bearing
Paul begins by addressing the Galatians as brothers.
They are his spiritual children, but he knows that because
of our sinful nature, it is just a matter of time before
some believers get caught in sin.
Paul explains the who, what and how of restoring a
believer.
Who
Paul clarifies that only those who are spiritual should go
restore those caught in sin. Don’t take this the wrong
way. Paul isn’t saying that there is an elite group of
sinless Galatians.
We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.
What he is saying is that believers walking in the Spirit,
filled with the Spirit, led by the Spirit should go and
speak with anyone from the church that is caught in sin.
Those who confront sinners should be members that are
bearing fruit in their own life.
Paul is clarifying that one person caught in sin should not
go try to restore another person caught in sin. It must be
those who are walking closely to God.
What
Next, Paul describes what should be done when someone
from the church is caught in sin.
Restoration is what should be offered and encouraged.
The verb restore could be used in a physical sense to
refer to setting a broken bone so it can heal.
In a spiritual sense it refers to spiritual maturity and
equipping for spiritual service.
Just like we would go to a physical therapist if our body is
broken, we need to receive spiritual therapy when we fail
so that we can be spiritually restored and use our gifts
for God’s glory.
It is not ok to ignore sin and let it persist in the church.
Sin must be acknowledged, confessed and forgiven!
The purpose of confronting sin is not to feel superior to
others.
The purpose of confronting sin is for the restoration of
the person caught in sin.
Sin is a dangerous thing.
It is a slippery slope.
And once we are caught in sin, we become slaves to sin.
But there is freedom and forgiveness available to all who
truly seek it.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
How
Paul describes the way the spiritual person is to lead the
person caught in sin towards repentance – with
gentleness.
Keep in mind that Paul just finished writing about the
fruit of the Spirit which included gentleness. Mature,
fruit-bearing believers are able to direct wayward
believers back to the Lord with gentleness.
Remember the story of the woman caught in adultery?
There was no attempt at restoration, only judgment.
Jesus, however, asked for the ones who had no sin to
throw the first stone. Everyone left. And Jesus told her
to go and sin no more.
Paul also warns that even those who are spiritual must be
on the watch so they aren’t tempted.
No one is immune to sin. We are all being tempted daily,
even hourly to turn from the Lord and gratify the desires
of the flesh.
Paul continues by telling the Galatians to bear one
another’s burdens.
Galatians 6:2-5
Benefit of Burden Bearing
God never intended for us to walk the Christian walk
alone.
He built us for community.
Hebrews 10:25
He also desires for us to bear one another’s burdens.
Many Christians refuse to allow others to help them carry
their burden. They see it as a weakness and would rather
be the ones who help others carry their burdens. That is
pride and we must not allow pride to keep us from
experiencing God’s blessing through someone else.
We need to be able to carry someone else’s burden, but
we also need to allow others to come alongside and carry
our burdens too.
I love seeing this lived out here in our church.
Someone needs a different car, someone else provides a
car at the right time.
Someone needs a place to stay, someone else provides
for that need.
Someone is struggling financially, several others provide
funds to meet the financial need.
We never know how God is going to move, so we must be
ready to accept what He does.
We are supposed to weep with those who weep and
rejoice with those who rejoice.
There are so many ways we can bear one another’s
burdens.
The truth is that when we do it fulfills the law of
Christ.
What is the law of Christ?
To love your neighbor as yourself.
When we love our neighbor as ourselves, we bear their
burdens.
A Wake Up Call for the Conceited
Paul continues by addressing conceit once more. Verse
3-4.
The proper attitude of a Christian is one of humility.
We fool ourselves when we think we are better than
others.
Think of the two men who went to the temple to pray.
The Pharisee stood there thanking God that he was not
like the tax collector. He bragged that he fasted twice a
week and gave tithes of all he gets. The tax collector
would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but confessed his
sin. And he was forgiven.
We must be humble. We are all sinners.
If we are honest we will compare ourselves to God’s
standard – Holiness.
When we view ourselves through that lens we will
quickly realize that we have no reason to boast.
Paul calls the Galatians to test their own work.
The word test is the word used for the testing of gold in
the fire. Every impurity is burned off, like the wood, hay,
and stubble in our lives.
We need each other to hold us accountable to God’s
standard of holiness.
And when we mess up, those who are spiritual will come
and lead us towards repentance and restoration.
In verse 5 Paul writes that each will have to bear his own
load.
This is not a contradiction to what he wrote in verse 2
about bearing one another’s burdens.
He uses two different words.
verse 2 the word burden refers to a weight or heavy load.
We need help carrying our heavy burdens.
In verse 5 the word load refers to a man’s pack.
This is referring to our responsibility to God on the day of
judgment. We all must make a decision to either reject or
accept him. That is our load. No one can make that
decision for anyone else. It belongs to each person alone.
APPLICATION
As we consider these verses, there are two actions for us
to apply them to our life.
We must Examine Ourselves – we must not compare
ourselves to others. God has set the standard of holiness.
That is what we must strive for. Through the work of the
Holy Spirit we are able to work towards holiness. We
must be ready to help restore others to holiness when
they are caught in sin. Repentance should be the goal,
not judgment.
We must also Have a Humble Estimation of
Ourselves – humility is not thinking less of ourselves,
but thinking of ourselves less. It’s putting the needs of
others above our own. In short, it is loving our neighbor
as yourself.
Humility is the example that Christ provided.
What can you do this week to show humility?