Sermon Transcript
We are working ourselves through the book of Galatians. And guess what family? We only have two sermons left. We are in Galatians 5. Will you stand with me as we read Galatians 5:25 and we’re going to go all the way to 6:10.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. 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. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 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. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he 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. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 5:25–6:10, ESV)
During World War II, Desmond Doss enrolled in the army, but he enrolled as a medic. To everyone’s surprise, Desmond Doss refused to pick up a weapon because he didn’t believe in killing—no matter what. He was labeled as a conscientious objector. So, if you’re not going to pick up a weapon, why would you join the army? The reason is, he said, “I couldn’t stay at home while all of my neighbors went off to war. I had to help them. I had to save them.” You would think, “Wow, that’s pretty noble, right?”
Well, he joined the army, and it turns out none of his fellow soldiers liked him. They wanted to know that the guy in the foxhole with them would have a weapon to help shoot the enemy. They could not perceive how, in the world, a man who refused to pick up a weapon could be there to save them.
Eventually, he was deployed to Okinawa with the 77th Infantry, tasked with ascending and securing the Maeda Escarpment, also known as Hacksaw Ridge. Desmond Doss, as a medic, remained at the bottom of the ridge. I’m talking about a ridge that might have been as tall as a football field. The soldiers would climb this ridge, and all Desmond Doss could hear was the piercing, blood-curdling screams of his fellow soldiers as they were shot coming over the ridge.
He would not stay put. He refused to stay there and let his brothers fall. What did he do? He climbed the escarpment with a rope on his belt. He got up there, grabbed a man, tied the man with a rope, and lowered him down himself. Then he did it again and again. On his back, he bore the burden of seventy-five brothers.
He is the only person in American history to receive the Medal of Honor as a conscientious objector. That is because he understood the importance of bearing your brother’s burdens. And that is exactly what Paul is calling us to do today—to bear one another’s burdens.
So, if you’re following on the sheet, I want you to look at the main point: We need to remain strong, church, in doing good things by bearing one another’s burdens and anticipating the coming rewards.
We keep in step with the Spirit by bearing one another’s burden (5:25-6:2)
The first point is, we keep in step with the Spirit because that’s what Paul has called us to do—keep in step with the Spirit. We keep in step with the Spirit by bearing one another’s burdens.
Paul calls us to keep in step with the Spirit, so naturally we must ask: What does that even mean? Any teacher can do one of two things when you ask them what that means. They can just tell you the definition, or they can show you what it looks like to some degree.
Paul has already told us the definition of walking, or keeping in step, with the Spirit. He did that in verses 22 through 23, when he told us what the fruit of the Spirit was—the fruit of the Spirit being love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
He has already given us the definition of fruit coming from the Spirit: it is a life that is characterized by those nine qualities. We had already talked about how those qualities weren’t meant to be a to-do list; it was a diagnostic sheet. You were supposed to look at that sheet and assess your own spiritual health: How am I doing? Does my life show I bear these nine qualities?
If you failed the diagnostics, the answer is not to lace up your bootstraps and try harder. It’s to go to God, repent, and say, “I need you in my life because my life does not say that I walk in the Spirit of God.” So, he gave us the definition—the diagnostic sheet, the list. But now Paul is going to answer the question: What does it mean to walk in the Spirit by showing you an example? That is where we are today.
Our verses today are going to be looking at what walking in the Spirit looks like. The simplest answer: it is bearing one another’s burdens. A church unified in the Holy Spirit is a church that never lets a fellow brother or sister suffer. We bear one another’s burdens, church.
So what does that look like? That’s what he’s going to walk us through. But before we get there, I need to remind you of how we got here. Paul has been driving home for the Galatians that they are free from the burden of the law because Christ has set them free.
I grew up in the Catholic church, and I have to tell you—the book of Galatians, as a former Catholic, is my favorite book. Why? Because my whole life, hearing Catholic dogma, I was never good enough. There were always confessions to be made, Eucharist to be eaten, priests to speak all my dirty laundry to. There were always rosaries and prayers to be prayed, and I felt like I was never good enough for God. In fact, I was told that unless I died in a confession booth, I was not going to heaven, because the second I walked out of the confession booth, I would commit more sins and therefore my life would need to be purged in purgatory when I died. I was never good enough for the Lord.
But the book of Galatians is telling me that I’m actually set free from the law. In Galatians 3:23-25, he says, “Before faith came, we were held captive under the law. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under the guardian [called the law].” So I don’t have to follow laws to be right with God. And Jesus, he died on our behalf and he rose.
Paul can say in Galatians 2:19-20, “Through the law, I died to the law so that I might live to God.” So if you are in Christ, you’re dead to all laws, because he can say in 5:18, “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
Folks, Christians, Paul has been working tirelessly in the book of Galatians to tell us: there used to be a world where you had to follow laws that lived outside of yourself. The laws were over here; you’re here. The laws are over here, and they need to be obeyed. If you could obey them, you’d get right with God. The problem is, nobody could fulfill those laws.
That is, until God stepped foot on earth in the form of a man named Jesus, and he fulfilled all the laws on our behalf. Jesus comes, and the law that used to be over here is now fulfilled, and we no longer have to get right with God by a law that’s over here. We get right with God, and the law becomes internalized through the Holy Spirit.
Deuteronomy 30:6 says he gives us a new heart where his law is written on it, and that new heart is the Spirit of God himself. We have transferred from a world where you had an external law to a world with an internal Spirit driving us to obey.
That is the main point we have worked through in the book of Galatians. For freedom’s sake, Christ has set us free (Gal 5:1). And the freedom is freedom from the law.
Then we hit 5:13-15, and Paul starts asking a new question: How are you going to use this newfound freedom from laws? You can go crazy and live for yourself, causing all kinds of divisions, dissensions, and start producing the works of the flesh, which are seen in 5:19-21: “sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, [or overindulging in food]”—anything like this.
You could use your freedom and do that, or you could use your freedom and walk in the Holy Spirit. That is what Paul is getting us to do when he gets to this point. What does it look like for someone who cherishes the freedom that Christ has purchased for them? Someone who truly cherishes and loves their Savior for setting them free from the burden of 613 laws? What do they do? They no longer look to themselves, but they look at their brothers and sisters and ask, “What do they need?” They’re motivated to do it because they recognize that Jesus has done it for them. Now they can live a life of true love—heaven-sent love.
Like Desmond Doss, we are picking up our brothers and sisters and carrying them on our backs. Except, we are concerned for them not only physically, as Doss was, but also spiritually, emotionally, and financially—all of it, all-encompassing the whole person.
That is why I love One Hope Refuge—a ministry led here by our member Jill Kearney, who started One Hope Refuge to rescue women who are being trafficked. She is taking this idea of what Jesus has done for us and applying it to these women, bearing their burdens spiritually, physically, emotionally, and financially. This is what Paul is calling us to do.
What does it look like to bear one another’s burden?
Restore church members who are overtaken by sin (6:1a)
So, what does it look like? Number one: restore church members who were overtaken by sin. This is the first example Paul gives us of what it looks like to bear one another’s burdens.
Look at the first half of verse one, chapter 6: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.” As we look through these examples—two primary examples we’re going to look at—what I want you to do is look at these examples and listen for the fruit of the Spirit in them. Remember, what we’re seeing here is: Paul gave us the definition in the diagnostics—that is, the fruit of the Spirit—and now he’s showing us what it looks like when the fruit of the Spirit is in action.
Let’s look at this and see how the fruit of the Spirit is in the action of restoring your brother who is overtaken by sin. Two things I want to point out: He says, “you who are spiritual.” What he means here is someone filled with the Holy Spirit. This applies to all Christians.
I’m not talking about somebody born in a Christian family, someone who went to catechism, or someone who attended all vacation Bible schools. I am talking about someone who is truly born again, knows the Lord, walks with the Lord, and the Lord is their greatest joy. There is a big difference between a nominal, cultural Christian who knows all the right answers—and someone who has repented of their sins, is born again, and filled with the Holy Spirit.
This is what Jesus is talking about when he’s speaking to Nicodemus in John 3: “Unless someone is born again [of the Spirit]” (v. 3). Nicodemus says, “How is that even possible? Can a man be born twice? Can he reenter his mother’s womb?” Jesus says to him, “If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” (v. 12). It is a truly miraculous thing to be born again of the Spirit of God, because it’s something the flesh cannot do for you. You don’t get to say where the wind blows, where the Spirit goes (see v. 8). But if the Holy Spirit has given you a new heart and you have been born again, you have the prerogative to be there for your brothers and sisters when they are caught in sin.
The second thing I want to point out: he says “anyone caught in a transgression” (Gal 6:1). This verb for being caught in a transgression is the idea of someone standing on the beach as a tidal wave sweeps them off their feet—they’re drowning and cannot control their movements. This is the kind of sin that takes over your mental faculties, so you are no longer seeing or thinking clearly. The things you love to protect and pursue—your desires—are no longer on your priority list. You may not love the Lord like you once did, simply because the thing you’re caught up in is killing your spiritual connection with God. That kind of sin.
This is the hardest type of sin to rescue brothers and sisters from. One Hope Refuge deals with this kind of sin all the time. People in recovery deal with this sin all the time. I want to be very clear: Paul is actually calling us to bear the burden of a brother or sister who is caught in the hardest kind of sin, because you are trying to help people who genuinely probably don’t even realize they need help; they are enslaved to it, darkened by their own actions, and cannot be convinced they need help.
I had a brother who was caught in an affair—an emotional affair after he moved away to med school. The church got wind of what was happening, but he was living three hours away. The best example I have personally witnessed: when our church found out, three brothers from the church got in the car that day and drove to Shreveport to talk with him. They sat with him for hours, calling him to repentance, and would not leave until the Lord had moved in his heart. That is the kind of bearing one another’s burdens that Paul has in mind.
Were you listening for the fruit of the Spirit in this? This illustrates love—true love, like Jesus loved us. Jesus died on our behalf when we did not love him. This is the kind of love you’re exhibiting when you’re trying to restore a brother or sister who has fallen into a captivating sin.
It also shows peace. Why? Because you’re trying to reconcile a brother with God. You are a peacemaker. In fact, this is what it says in 2 Corinthians 5: We are ambassadors, operating in the ministry of reconciliation—establishing peace between man and God.
Restoring a brother caught in sin also requires a lot of patience—probably the most patience—and kindness. You are giving them things they don’t deserve. Paul explicitly says you have to do it in a spirit of gentleness, which is the same word used to describe Jesus when he says, “Take my yoke upon you, because I am gentle and lowly.”
Remain humble by studying ourselves and our future (6:1b-5)
There is another way Paul calls us to keep in step with the Spirit, and that’s in the second half of verse one through verse five: We must remain humble. This is on your sheet. Remain humble by studying ourselves and our future. This is what it looks like to bear one another’s burdens.
You cannot bear your brother’s burdens if you are not a keen student of your own heart. Elsewhere, Paul tells Timothy, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on your doctrine—the doctrine you were taught—because by studying yourself and the doctrine, you’re going to save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim 4:16). We must be aware of how we are prone to sin. You cannot help a brother or sister get out of sin—like drunkenness, pornography, affairs, drug addiction, anger—any work of the flesh—if you are not aware of how you also are susceptible to sin. That’s why Paul says here, “Keep a close watch on yourself.”
To be able to admit your flaws requires humility. If you are a person who really struggles with just saying, “You know what, I messed up. I’m sorry,” that means you are not aware of how you fail. If you are aware of how you fail, then that probably means you aren’t good at paying attention to it or humble enough to admit it. A truly humble person is able to recognize where they fail, and they know their propensity and where it could happen.
He says, “Keep a close watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 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.”
Verse four has some of the most difficult Greek phraseology, and scholars love to debate this. There are papers on this. What does it mean? We don’t have time to rehash all the intricacies of this verse, so I’ll tell you where I land: I believe that Paul is telling us we must let each of our work be tested, so that when we think about where we stand with God, we find our right standing with God based on our personal relationship with him—not based on how much better we are than other people.
Paul calls us not to be proud, not to be arrogant, not to be boastful, not to provoke. Some people will do that when they see a fellow brother or sister struggling with sin. We all know Christians who, instead of deciding to carry the burden of our brothers and sisters caught in sin, just judge them and think, “Well, at least I’m better than that person. I know I’m right with God because I’m not doing drugs, not drinking, not getting drunk, not using pornography, not this, not that.” Paul is saying that does not matter.
When Jesus comes back and you stand before the throne of God, he is going to judge you based on who you are—not anybody else. So you need to study your own heart. This is what Paul says: Be very aware of who you are and how you might sin. Don’t judge yourself based on other people, but judge by this: Are you fulfilling the law of Christ?
Notice Paul does not say the law, referring to Moses, but the law of Christ. If you go back to 5:13-14, you see that the law of Christ is loving your brother the way that Christ loved us. Are you laying down your life for others? That is how God will know if you are truly a disciple of Jesus. It’s not about whether you’re good at following the rules, always come to Sunday school, always volunteer, never get drunk. It’s about living a life that looks like Jesus. Yes, it is that you put your faith in Jesus—but we all know somebody who says they believe in Jesus but doesn’t live like it.
That’s why I’m emphasizing that Jesus is going to judge whether you live as a Jesus person, because someone with true, born-again faith in Jesus will look like Jesus. Paul says you’ll look like it because you will be bearing your brothers’ and sisters’ burdens.
Support your teachers financially (6:6)
The next one is: Support your teachers financially. This is seen in verse six: “Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher.” Paul probably has in mind, because the one who is teaching—if you go back to Ephesians 4:11, you’ll see that the Lord has gifted the church with pastors, elders, teachers, apostles, prophets—all teaching roles. These teaching roles in the church require a lot of studious time.
Now, you might say, “Well, Paul was a teacher, but he worked another job. He was a tentmaker.” You’re right, that is true. Paul also spent all of his time memorizing the Old Testament because he was a Pharisee. From before puberty, he was already doing all his studies and preparations, and he was also supernaturally gifted by the Holy Spirit to do what no other Christian has done since.
But by and large, the teachers in the church—pastors and preachers—they are people like Ezra, supposed to be setting a significant, if not most, of their time studying the Bible so they can feed God’s sheep. But these teachers and pastors, by doing so, are relinquishing their ability to make money in other ways. Paul knows this, and that’s why he says, “You need to bear the burden of your teachers by paying them,” in verse six.
Now, I know some churches have this mindset that they think it’s their job to keep their pastors humble, so they pay them poverty wages and force them to live a very lean lifestyle. But Paul’s call here in verse six is to bear your brothers’ burdens—which means you are to pay your teachers so they no longer feel the burden of going without food or going without electricity, air conditioning, and water.
It’s not just financially. Paul has in mind that you are bearing the burden of your teachers all around—spiritually. How is your pastor doing spiritually? How is he doing physically, mentally, emotionally? You are sharing all things with your teachers to keep them alive and well and working, so they can properly feed God’s sheep.
Stay motivated by anticipating our rewards from God (6:7-10)
The last way we keep in step with the Spirit is, point four: We stay motivated by anticipating our rewards from God. Church, I know it’s easy to lose motivation to do good the older you get. It is very easy to lose motivation if you lose sight of the end goal. That is why Paul is reminding us here of a very well-known image: You reap what you sow.
Paul reminds us, “You reap what you sow,” to keep us motivated. He says, “Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows, he will also reap. Because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Boom. That’s our first thing to keep in mind.
We keep motivated in doing good and bearing the burdens of our brothers and sisters because we know that, in doing that, we will reap eternal life at the end. Someone who is not filled with the Holy Spirit might be able to bear someone’s load once or twice; they can give money and feel good about themselves. In fact, this is one of the tenets of Islam—they are required to give alms to the poor. But I am telling you here today: If you believe the Bible, you know that no human is capable of completely living a selfless life, bearing the burdens of others, without supernatural strength from on high—because we wear each other out. We wear ourselves out.
I know I have so many shortcomings every day. Lord, please forgive me. I know I’m not up to snuff. I beg the Lord to help me and give me supernatural strength just so I can feed his people, because I know I’m human. And that’s all of us. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, you cannot stay strong and continually bear each other’s burdens. You need the Spirit to do it.
If you don’t have the Spirit, guess what kind of seeds you’re going to be sowing? You’re going to be sowing to your flesh. You’ll get stuck in pornography. You’ll get stuck in drugs and alcohol. Or you’ll just get stuck in anger, ruining your marriage—all kinds of temptations of the flesh.
Paul is saying, you have to plant seeds in one of two worlds. Where are you planting your garden? Are you planting a garden for the Lord—does it resemble Eden? Or are you planting a garden that looks a lot more like Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras? It’s one or the other.
We have to stay motivated, Paul says, because you have to keep in mind what you are looking to reap. I’m going to be honest with you: I used to think the success of a church meant you had 10,000 people. When I say I used to think that, I don’t mean last week or the last six months. But I thought the successful churches were always the big churches.
Now, as I’ve aged, I realize the successful church is the one where, when you meet the Lord, the Lord just looks at you and says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” That’s what we’re after. That’s how I stay motivated. I stay motivated as a pastor simply by imagining in my mind, closing my eyes, and seeing Jesus putting his arms out, handing me a crown, and saying, “Well done, Joshua. You have laid down your life for me.”
That is the only way we will stay motivated—if that’s what you’re after. Not a fancy retirement, not big boats, not lavish lifestyles, not a bunch of friends, not a bunch of money. Is your greatest hope and joy that Jesus is going to say, “Well done”? Is that what you’re after?
So, church, I want to encourage you, just like Paul, keep planting, keep sowing, keep reaping, because in due time—I know some of you are very tired—I was super encouraged as I was working on the website, working through the history page of the new site. I was reading our 200-plus-year-old history and thinking of all of you here who have put decades of work into this church. I was so touched by the wonderful foundation the Lord has driven you guys to plant before we young ones got here.
I know there are members who have put more years of work into this church than my parents have been alive. Some of you are still here doing that, which is touching. I know that because so many of you have seen ebbs and flows in this church, it might be easy to lose motivation. But Paul says, “Do not give up in sowing. Do not grow tired or weary in doing good. Continue to bear one another’s burdens, because I’m telling you, the glory land is around the corner. Work for your Savior’s reception when he will tell you, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.’”
Let’s go to the Lord in prayer.
Father, I thank you tremendously that you have called us and beckoned us by the power of your Spirit to do great things for you. We eagerly look forward to your return, Jesus. Help us to bear one another’s burdens, to lift you up and exalt you as we lift up and exalt our brothers and sisters.
I pray that you help us to also be humble enough to study ourselves, to know where we are susceptible to sin, but also humble enough to admit when we need help—to not be so proud as to always be fighting to be independent, because I know that’s not the way of the Lord either. You have called us to be a tight-knit family. Help us to do that, to grow in unity, bearing one another’s burdens always and forever.
Father, we thank you, and we love you, and we praise you in Jesus’ name. Amen.