-10-
Helping Others to Walk in the Spirit
Let's begin by re-looking at the last two verses of chapter 5.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Paul says that the Spirit is here to lead us, and it is up to us to keep in step. How do we know where it is exactly that He is leading us? Well, in light of what Paul has just said, it is not all that mysterious. Usually walking in the Spirit is simply to face situations all through each day, by making a decision to respond with the fruit of the Spirit that fits at the moment.
I am not talking here about those unique times when the Holy Spirit calls us to a specific field of service. That is another topic altogether. Paul is talking about our day to day responses to things that come at us, and responding with how the Spirit wants us to respond.
In verse 26 Paul does not want to leave out the possibility that some of his readers have a wrong response to what he has been saying.
He mentions the possibility of conceit. That trait raises its ugly head when we tell ourselves, ‘I am walking in the Spirit, why can’t other people!’
If we find ourselves in that place, take another look at what the fruit of the Spirit includes: kindness, gentleness, goodness. If we harbor conceit in our hearts, thinking that we are ‘walking in the Spirit’ so much better than anyone else, we are no longer walking in the Spirit.
And if this is the case, we may even have been guilty of provoking a fellow brother or sister in Christ. It is not our place to provoke people … that is not walking in the Spirit.
Paul includes in verse 26 that we should not be envying one another. This is equally bad. We are not walking in the Spirit when we are jealous of some other believers ‘walk’ with God. We may find ourselves secretly wishing that they would trip and fall. Or we may find ourselves secretly judging them as we think ‘I bet they are not really as holy as they appear to be.’
As we begin chapter 6 we discover that some of us may actually see a brother or sister in Christ trip and fall. Do we, just for a moment, think “Aha! I knew it! And everybody thinks he is SO good.” And then our conscience bothers us and we say, "O sorry God. I should not judge."
In the next verse Paul says that is not really good enough. He says,
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
So when we see someone fall, a brother or sister is not walking in the Spirit … and you ARE walking in the Spirit … help the person to get back up on their feet!
So in case you missed it, you who are spiritual simply means, you who are walking in the Spirit.
But then he finishes the thought with this; Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
How easy it is to ‘walk in the flesh’ when we go to someone to ‘help them back on their feet’, and we are met with a response like, ‘Leave me alone! Who do you think you are to judge me!?’ Wow. Right then, at that moment we go, ..’You jerk! I am trying to help you and you give me that? Forget you!’
Chances are we would not say any of that out loud, but we might think it. Guess what? At that moment we also fell. Paul warns us that the temptation will be there. Expect it and be ready.
Here is how we can help someone else to walk in the Spirit.
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
You know yourself how you need to guard your tongue and your mind against fleshly responses. It requires watchfulness The enemy would love to see you fall. Paul, in this passage, is asking you and me to realize that our fellow believers are having to face challenging situations daily … just as you do.
So, he says, help them with their load. Realize that your brother or sister needs daily prayer and encouragement. We all need it. Be free about giving it out.
But, again … don’t get conceited about your great walk with God, Paul reminds us, 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
What did I just read? If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing? There it is. It is so easy to start thinking that we ‘are somebody’. We are not. We are sinners, lifted by the grace of God out of that miry clay. He lifted us. He washed us off. He pointed us to the path He wants us to walk. God did it all. We should never begin to think that we are somebody! Paul says that we are all nothing.
We need to remember that, and next Paul gives us an activity to do that will help keep us remembering that we are nothing. He says, 4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
As you walk in the Spirit, that is, face each challenge of the day with a response that clearly was the fruit of the Spirit … and now you are at the end of your day, just before you bid the Lord ‘Goodnight’, think back for a few moments.
Paul says, examine your own own work. Can you clearly see that the hand of God led you today? Can you see how the Holy Spirit stepped in and directed your responses? God did it. Say thank you to Him. He says, Well done, to you. Do you need more than that? Do you need someone else to recognize how good you did? Paul says, No. God’s approval is all we need. Do not look for it in another.
Expecting praise from someone else, Paul says, is like ‘putting something on them’... putting an expectation on them, like adding to their ‘load’. So he says,
5 For each one shall bear his own load.
That is helping your brother and sister to walk in the Spirit. They do not need you adding anything to their already heavy load. Instead, listen to them. Encourage them.
And now follows an element of walking in the Spirit that you may not have expected. 6 Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.
Our pastors and teachers spend hours before the Lord and in His word. Jesus talked about pastors and teachers.
Matthew 12:52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
This is what pastors and teachers do. God’s word is a storehouse of treasure. The pastor/teacher brings out things that are ‘old’ (things you need to be reminded of) and things that are totally new to you.
In many small congregations around the world, and in some cases right here in North America, pastors/teachers are not salaried.
Paul is saying, make a practice of giving and sharing with them. Help them with their livelihood. Why, because they might starve otherwise? That could be partly it, but I don’t think so. Paul said this about himself as a pastor/teacher.
I know now how to live when things are difficult and I know how to live when things are prosperous. In general and in particular I have learned the secret of eating well or going hungry — of facing either plenty or poverty. Philippians 4:12 (The Philips version)
But here in Galatians, in keeping with his theme of walking in the Spirit, Paul is saying, part of walking in the Spirit is how you respond to those who are teaching you. He now even goes so far as to include it in the ‘law’ of sowing and reaping.
He says, 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
So, if, as you walk in the Spirit, you are being generous … God will be generous to you. And God may use other people to be ‘generous back to you’. Jesus said, Give and men will give to you — yes, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will they pour into your lap. For whatever measure you use with other people, they will use in their dealings with you." Lu 6:38
Does the load seem heavy, as you walk in the Spirit? Do you get tired? Paul reminds us, 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Some of us would like to do our ‘reaping’ now. But most believers will reap in heaven. God promises that we will reap. Grasping on to that fact can be the difference between quitting, just giving up … and getting up and moving forward.
We will reap … provided we don’t quit. Is that good enough for you? Can you accept that?
Paul said, In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has in store for us. Romans 8:18 (Philips version)
Paul goes on, 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Walking in the Spirit and helping others to walk in the Spirit … will result in a glory that we cannot begin to imagine.
Way back in the book of Daniel we read these encouraging words, And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Da 12:3
We now come to this verse:
11 ¶ See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand! (I will comment on this verse at the end of this chapter)
Paul ends his letter to the Galatian churches by comparing his heart for them with the attitude and approach of the super-teachers who have come in and messed up all of Paul’s work.
To these men, it was not about walking in the Spirit or displaying the fruit of the Spirit Not at all.
It was all about show. Paul said, 12 As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 13 For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
Paul sums up his charges against these false teachers.
15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
That is all that counts. Jesus said, Rejoice that your names are written in heaven!
We are approaching the end of Paul’s letter. He signs off with very kind words.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
And these last words contain a little phrase that is easy to miss, upon the Israel of God.
The gentiles (you and I) are part of the ‘The Israel of God’ without circumcision. We do not need a ‘physical mark’ to identify us as the people of God.
And then Paul actually does talk about physical marks that, of any other kinds of marks, show him to be a servant of Christ. And the marks he would be talking about are the scars on his back from having been whipped, and … well, let's just let Paul tell us about his ‘marks’. This is from his second letter to the Corinthians:
23 “(Compared to those ‘super-teachers’), I have had far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. (2 Corinthians 11:23-27)
These super/teachers put Paul down in every way that they could think of. They bragged about their own credentials and Paul’s lack of credentials.
And so he says in verse 17, From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
Scars, wounds, crippling of his body as he ‘spent’ himself in ministry. These are wonderful marks, far superior to any circumcision marks.
Paul loves these people dearly and writing such a harsh letter to them must have caused him pain. The Galatians have been severely scolded for having allowed themselves to listen to teachers that were so obviously peddling a doctrine so different from what Paul preached.
Paul's prayer was that these words would turn them back to the truth.
The Holy Spirit inspired this letter and included it as a part of the complete Word of God. Truth is essential. We have read about the damage caused by teachers calling themselves Christian. And we have witnessed Paul’s concern and his desire to get them back to ‘walking in the Spirit’.
We are not exempt from similar false teachers and false teachings in our day. We thank God for the solutions that Paul gave the Galatians … solutions that are for us today.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Paul says that the Spirit is here to lead us, and it is up to us to keep in step. How do we know where it is exactly that He is leading us? Well, in light of what Paul has just said, it is not all that mysterious. Usually walking in the Spirit is simply to face situations all through each day, by making a decision to respond with the fruit of the Spirit that fits at the moment.
I am not talking here about those unique times when the Holy Spirit calls us to a specific field of service. That is another topic altogether. Paul is talking about our day to day responses to things that come at us, and responding with how the Spirit wants us to respond.
In verse 26 Paul does not want to leave out the possibility that some of his readers have a wrong response to what he has been saying.
He mentions the possibility of conceit. That trait raises its ugly head when we tell ourselves, ‘I am walking in the Spirit, why can’t other people!’
If we find ourselves in that place, take another look at what the fruit of the Spirit includes: kindness, gentleness, goodness. If we harbor conceit in our hearts, thinking that we are ‘walking in the Spirit’ so much better than anyone else, we are no longer walking in the Spirit.
And if this is the case, we may even have been guilty of provoking a fellow brother or sister in Christ. It is not our place to provoke people … that is not walking in the Spirit.
Paul includes in verse 26 that we should not be envying one another. This is equally bad. We are not walking in the Spirit when we are jealous of some other believers ‘walk’ with God. We may find ourselves secretly wishing that they would trip and fall. Or we may find ourselves secretly judging them as we think ‘I bet they are not really as holy as they appear to be.’
As we begin chapter 6 we discover that some of us may actually see a brother or sister in Christ trip and fall. Do we, just for a moment, think “Aha! I knew it! And everybody thinks he is SO good.” And then our conscience bothers us and we say, "O sorry God. I should not judge."
In the next verse Paul says that is not really good enough. He says,
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
So when we see someone fall, a brother or sister is not walking in the Spirit … and you ARE walking in the Spirit … help the person to get back up on their feet!
So in case you missed it, you who are spiritual simply means, you who are walking in the Spirit.
But then he finishes the thought with this; Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
How easy it is to ‘walk in the flesh’ when we go to someone to ‘help them back on their feet’, and we are met with a response like, ‘Leave me alone! Who do you think you are to judge me!?’ Wow. Right then, at that moment we go, ..’You jerk! I am trying to help you and you give me that? Forget you!’
Chances are we would not say any of that out loud, but we might think it. Guess what? At that moment we also fell. Paul warns us that the temptation will be there. Expect it and be ready.
Here is how we can help someone else to walk in the Spirit.
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
You know yourself how you need to guard your tongue and your mind against fleshly responses. It requires watchfulness The enemy would love to see you fall. Paul, in this passage, is asking you and me to realize that our fellow believers are having to face challenging situations daily … just as you do.
So, he says, help them with their load. Realize that your brother or sister needs daily prayer and encouragement. We all need it. Be free about giving it out.
But, again … don’t get conceited about your great walk with God, Paul reminds us, 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
What did I just read? If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing? There it is. It is so easy to start thinking that we ‘are somebody’. We are not. We are sinners, lifted by the grace of God out of that miry clay. He lifted us. He washed us off. He pointed us to the path He wants us to walk. God did it all. We should never begin to think that we are somebody! Paul says that we are all nothing.
We need to remember that, and next Paul gives us an activity to do that will help keep us remembering that we are nothing. He says, 4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
As you walk in the Spirit, that is, face each challenge of the day with a response that clearly was the fruit of the Spirit … and now you are at the end of your day, just before you bid the Lord ‘Goodnight’, think back for a few moments.
Paul says, examine your own own work. Can you clearly see that the hand of God led you today? Can you see how the Holy Spirit stepped in and directed your responses? God did it. Say thank you to Him. He says, Well done, to you. Do you need more than that? Do you need someone else to recognize how good you did? Paul says, No. God’s approval is all we need. Do not look for it in another.
Expecting praise from someone else, Paul says, is like ‘putting something on them’... putting an expectation on them, like adding to their ‘load’. So he says,
5 For each one shall bear his own load.
That is helping your brother and sister to walk in the Spirit. They do not need you adding anything to their already heavy load. Instead, listen to them. Encourage them.
And now follows an element of walking in the Spirit that you may not have expected. 6 Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.
Our pastors and teachers spend hours before the Lord and in His word. Jesus talked about pastors and teachers.
Matthew 12:52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
This is what pastors and teachers do. God’s word is a storehouse of treasure. The pastor/teacher brings out things that are ‘old’ (things you need to be reminded of) and things that are totally new to you.
In many small congregations around the world, and in some cases right here in North America, pastors/teachers are not salaried.
Paul is saying, make a practice of giving and sharing with them. Help them with their livelihood. Why, because they might starve otherwise? That could be partly it, but I don’t think so. Paul said this about himself as a pastor/teacher.
I know now how to live when things are difficult and I know how to live when things are prosperous. In general and in particular I have learned the secret of eating well or going hungry — of facing either plenty or poverty. Philippians 4:12 (The Philips version)
But here in Galatians, in keeping with his theme of walking in the Spirit, Paul is saying, part of walking in the Spirit is how you respond to those who are teaching you. He now even goes so far as to include it in the ‘law’ of sowing and reaping.
He says, 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
So, if, as you walk in the Spirit, you are being generous … God will be generous to you. And God may use other people to be ‘generous back to you’. Jesus said, Give and men will give to you — yes, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will they pour into your lap. For whatever measure you use with other people, they will use in their dealings with you." Lu 6:38
Does the load seem heavy, as you walk in the Spirit? Do you get tired? Paul reminds us, 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Some of us would like to do our ‘reaping’ now. But most believers will reap in heaven. God promises that we will reap. Grasping on to that fact can be the difference between quitting, just giving up … and getting up and moving forward.
We will reap … provided we don’t quit. Is that good enough for you? Can you accept that?
Paul said, In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has in store for us. Romans 8:18 (Philips version)
Paul goes on, 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Walking in the Spirit and helping others to walk in the Spirit … will result in a glory that we cannot begin to imagine.
Way back in the book of Daniel we read these encouraging words, And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Da 12:3
We now come to this verse:
11 ¶ See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand! (I will comment on this verse at the end of this chapter)
Paul ends his letter to the Galatian churches by comparing his heart for them with the attitude and approach of the super-teachers who have come in and messed up all of Paul’s work.
To these men, it was not about walking in the Spirit or displaying the fruit of the Spirit Not at all.
It was all about show. Paul said, 12 As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 13 For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
Paul sums up his charges against these false teachers.
- They want to make a good ‘showing’. It is about ‘Appearances’, that is, appearing to be holier .
- It (being circumcised) eliminates being persecuted by the Jews.
- Getting the Galatians believers to accept circumcision gives the super-teachers something to boast about. They, contrary to Paul’s wishes, got the Galatians to be circumcised, so that is a feather in their hats. But Paul says, what do we have to boast about? Only one thing ... God – loves - me!
15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
That is all that counts. Jesus said, Rejoice that your names are written in heaven!
We are approaching the end of Paul’s letter. He signs off with very kind words.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
And these last words contain a little phrase that is easy to miss, upon the Israel of God.
The gentiles (you and I) are part of the ‘The Israel of God’ without circumcision. We do not need a ‘physical mark’ to identify us as the people of God.
And then Paul actually does talk about physical marks that, of any other kinds of marks, show him to be a servant of Christ. And the marks he would be talking about are the scars on his back from having been whipped, and … well, let's just let Paul tell us about his ‘marks’. This is from his second letter to the Corinthians:
23 “(Compared to those ‘super-teachers’), I have had far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. (2 Corinthians 11:23-27)
These super/teachers put Paul down in every way that they could think of. They bragged about their own credentials and Paul’s lack of credentials.
And so he says in verse 17, From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
Scars, wounds, crippling of his body as he ‘spent’ himself in ministry. These are wonderful marks, far superior to any circumcision marks.
Paul loves these people dearly and writing such a harsh letter to them must have caused him pain. The Galatians have been severely scolded for having allowed themselves to listen to teachers that were so obviously peddling a doctrine so different from what Paul preached.
Paul's prayer was that these words would turn them back to the truth.
The Holy Spirit inspired this letter and included it as a part of the complete Word of God. Truth is essential. We have read about the damage caused by teachers calling themselves Christian. And we have witnessed Paul’s concern and his desire to get them back to ‘walking in the Spirit’.
We are not exempt from similar false teachers and false teachings in our day. We thank God for the solutions that Paul gave the Galatians … solutions that are for us today.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.