Sowing and Reaping

Reading:  Galatians 6:6-10
    
    Spiritual people show kindness to others rather than seeking their own way (Gal 5:13-14, 22-23, 6:1-2).  That extends to our willingness to share with those who bless us:  “Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches”(Gal 6:6).  By sharing our goods with those who teach us, we bring our spiritual connection into the material world.  “Do not be deceived:  God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that he will also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life”(Gal 6:7-8).  God has created his world to work in a certain way:  we reap what we sow.  If this ever proved untrue (say, by sowing tomatoes and reaping oranges), God could be mocked.  But this principle of creation is true in every area of life (finances, health, and relationships).  Paul insists that we will reap eternally what we sow now.

    This leads to a couple of action items:  “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up”(Gal 6:9).  Like a tired farmer, we keep working the field and sowing the seed, trusting that the harvest will come.  We keep doing good because God is never mocked and we will reap what we sow.  “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith”(Gal 6:10).  While we work primarily within the sphere of the Christian community, we eagerly do good to everyone we have opportunity to help.  Keep doing good!

    God has made the world work in such a way that actions have consequences.  We have all felt the sting of that as past foolish decisions have led to present circumstances we regret.  But if we keep giving, loving, and meeting needs (sowing to the Spirit), we can be confident that we will be blessed.  Keep doing good!

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One Thing to Think About:  What current opportunities do I have to do good to others?

One Thing to Pray For:  The endurance to “not grow weary of doing good”
 

What Spiritual People Do

Reading:  Galatians 6:1-5
    
    There is much talk in our time about spirituality.  People insist that they are “spiritual but not religious,” usually with nebulous definitions.  Christians are to be a spiritually-minded people because we follow the things the Holy Spirit has revealed.  But what do spiritual people do?  “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.  Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.  Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”(Gal 6:1-2).  Spiritual people help restore a brother who is caught in sin.  This is the hard work of difficult conversations, regular follow-up, late-night phone calls, prayer, and tears that accompanies putting a brother back together after he has done wrong.  Spiritual people are not those who live aloof from others and their problems; we are the people on the ground helping fix problems.  We bear others’ burdens.

    Paul is concerned that the Galatians feel that they are too good for this kind of work.  He presses them not to be conceited (Gal 5:26), then warns that “if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself”(Gal 6:3).  Our unwillingness to help others is actually a form of pride; we don’t want to dirty our hands or busy our schedules.  This is not spiritual.  “But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.  For each will have to bear his own load”(Gal 6:4-5).  There is a temptation to compare ourselves to others and boast that we look better (especially if we see our brother caught in sin), but this is merely a distraction from the fact that someday I will answer for my own actions and no one else’s.

    Spiritual people show love by helping those in need—even if that need is a brother caught up in sin.  Spiritual people humble themselves, acknowledging that they are no better.  Spiritual people test their own work to see whether they are truly following God’s Spirit because they are constantly aware that someday they will be judged.  

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One Thing to Think About:  What are some burdens I can help others bear?

One Thing to Pray For:   The courage to test my own spiritual life—not merely compare it to others’ 
 

The Spirit and His Fruit

Reading:  Galatians 5:22-26
    
    Believers in Jesus do not live by the “works of the flesh,” but this is not because they are under the Law (Gal 5:18).  They are instead walking by the Spirit.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law”(Gal 5:22-23).  God’s Holy Spirit works inner transformation and character development.  He teaches us a different lifestyle in which we pursue love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness with our fellowman—not because other approaches are forbidden, but because this is what God has done for us.  We are good, faithful, and gentle as he has been to us.  We are also self-controlled because we have “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires”(Gal 5:24).   No one would ever think to outlaw such universally praised traits; why would we need to?

    Paul exhorts the Galatians to live up to the Spirit-guided lifestyle they have chosen.  “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit”(Gal 5:25).  The Spirit has empowered us to make life-changes that the Law could not, yet we must also actually follow him!  The teachings the Spirit gives about Jesus and the way he communicates God’s love (Rom 5:5) and acceptance (Gal 4:6) demand a response from us.  “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another”(Gal 5:26).  Bear the Spirit’s fruit and these problems resolve themselves.

    It may seem counterintuitive that we can resolve moral failures by learning love, joy, and peace.  Yet Paul insists that this is God’s plan to change his people from the inside out.  While we have died to our old impulses, our lives in the Spirit are not about the things we don’t do; instead, we show kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness.  Over time, we find that we have an entirely new set of priorities, thoughts, and desires.  The Spirit bears his fruit in us.

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One Thing to Think About:  Are the fruits of the Spirit growing in my life?

One Thing to Pray For:   A kind, loving, gentle approach toward others
 

The Battle Within

Reading:  Galatians 5:16-21
    
    So if Christians do not keep the Law of Moses, does that mean anything goes?  Does freedom mean we can keep sinning?  How can sin be overcome when there is no law to limit it?  Paul posits an entirely new framework:  “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh”(Gal 5:16).  God’s powerful Spirit makes possible true reform that mere law could never achieve.  When we follow the Spirit, we no longer give in to our flesh.  “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do”(Gal 5:17).  There is an issue:  the flesh (shorthand for our own will) conflicts with the Spirit (shorthand for God’s work and will).  We don’t always want to obey God—and this explains the disconnect between what we proclaim and what we do.  There is a battle going on.

     Who is winning this battle?  We can tell by the “works” or “fruit” that show up.  “Now the works of the flesh are evident”(Gal 5:19).  When we are living out our own desires, it leads to sexual misconduct (v. 19), false gods (v. 20), serious interpersonal sins (v. 20-21), and a penchant for excess (v. 21).  When this is the pattern of our lives, we “will not inherit the kingdom of God”(Gal 5:21).  This behavior does not please God in any era.  The issue here is not that we need more laws, but that we must choose to follow the Spirit.

    Each of us has his or her own battle within.  We want to follow God, but we also want to go our own way.  We want to say no to evil, but we also want to do evil.  God’s solution to this is not to forbid evil more loudly, but to send his Spirit to change the equation.  Now, when we are willing to deny ourselves (Luke 9:23), “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions”(Titus 2:12), and crucify the flesh (Gal 5:24), that decision has real power.  The Spirit works within us to produce good fruit (Gal 5:22-23) and the voices of the flesh quiet down.  “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

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One Thing to Think About:  Who is winning this battle in my life?

One Thing to Pray For:   Courage to deny myself and follow the Spirit
 

A Little Leaven

Reading:  Galatians 5:7-15
    
    The Galatian churches are beset by teachers who are promoting their hybrid “Torah + Jesus” gospel.  They “hindered”(Gal 5:7) the Galatians, “troubling”(Gal 5:10) and “(unsettling)”(Gal 5:12) them.  The essence of the message is that there is something lacking in their service to Jesus that circumcision and law-keeping would resolve; this deeply bothers the young churches.  “A little leaven leavens the whole lump”(Gal 5:9) as this thinking spreads throughout the region.  Paul insists that circumcision is not a part of the gospel—or else why would he be persecuted primarily by Jews (Gal 5:11)?  In holy frustration, he wishes that these troublemakers would castrate themselves (a pagan practice, Gal 5:12) rather than forcing such surgeries on the Galatians.

    These teachers have also caused some friction between the Galatians themselves.  “For you were called to freedom, brothers.  Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another”(Gal 5:13).  Freedom from the Law does not mean freedom to harm or hate others.  Even the Law teaches us to love our neighbors (Gal 5:14), an instruction Jesus also repeated.  “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another”(Gal 5:15).  Like wild animals, Christians can turn on each other and (emotionally and spiritually) destroy one another.  Faith is wounded, unity is compromised, and the gospel is stymied.  Satan wins.

    I am convinced that the “little leaven” Paul refers to here is the nagging sense that our service to Jesus is incomplete as-is.  We are not good enough.  There is something more (circumcision, law-keeping, etc) that we must do, say, or be to be right with him.  Like leaven, this thinking is contagious and tremendously damaging.  It promotes insecurity amongst otherwise faithful disciples.  It starts us looking for that new idea, teacher, or book to fill in the “missing piece” of our faith.  While we should always seek to grow in Christ, we can live secure in the fact that as we respond in faith to Jesus, we remain “in Christ.”

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One Thing to Think About:  How have I seen “a little leaven” spread and do damage?

One Thing to Pray For:   A heart to serve my brother rather than “bite and devour” him