The Motive for Brotherly Love
019 The Motive for Brotherly Love
Galatians 6:7-10
July 13, 2014
Well tonight we are going to conclude this powerful section
On brotherly love here in the book of Galatians.
You should be well aware by now that Paul
Has taken a bit of a break from his warning against legalism
To give a warning against licentiousness.
Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
Paul knew that really the problem wasn’t legalism,
The problem has always been the flesh,
And the flesh will embrace legalism or licentiousness.
And so after refuting legalism Paul makes sure the Galatians understand
That doing whatever you want is not the answer either.
We are free in Christ, but we are free to serve.
· So we saw the MANDATE to love your neighbor as yourself.
· We saw the MEANS to do that is by the power of the Holy Spirit
· This morning we saw the METHOD or what that specifically looks like.
We are called to Patch our brother up
We are called to Pick our brother up
We are called to Preach our brother up
When he’s beaten and bloodied and laying on the side of the road,
Don’t just pass him by.
· Go ahead and get your hands dirty…
· Go ahead and climb down into the ditch…
· Go ahead and bear his weight to get him out…
· Go ahead and give him the truth to help keep him out of the ditch…
It is really no different than what Jesus taught about the Good Samaritan,
Telling us to “Go and do the same”
So at this point in our study
We know WHAT to do.
We know HOW to do it.
But there is still one very important question to be answered.
WHY SHOULD I DO IT?
Now I know that in a perfect church, with perfect Christians, I should be able to give the answer, “Because the Lord said to” and that should be enough.
But let’s be honest for a second.
“Because I said so” rarely works on our kids
And “Because Jesus said so” rarely works on us
And God understands that.
That doesn’t make it ok, but God understands it.
That is why Scripture is also willing to give us a MOTIVE
Scripture doesn’t just tell us to do something,
Scripture also frequently tells us why to do something.
And that is what we have here.
So you’re passing down the road, and there is your brother stuck in the ditch, and you know what you are supposed to do.
BUT YOU ARE AT THAT MOMENT OF INDECISION.
· You know what Jesus would do
· You know what Jesus expects you to do
· But you’re late
· But you’re wearing nice clothes
· But you’re afraid that the robbers might still be around
Why should you go ahead and ignore the flesh, submit to the Spirit, and get down into that ditch with your brother?
Well, that is precisely what Paul is going to answer for us tonight.
There are three points to this text.
#1 THE PRINCIPLE
Galatians 6:7
Now you will notice that Paul begins with a phrase that the Bible likes to us.
“Do not be deceived”
I’ve probably told you before, but this is one of my favorite aspects of Scripture, especially since I’ve been saved.
Certainly I love that the Bible points me to Jesus
Certainly I love that the Bible guides me in life
But as I seek to be more like Christ and live this life in a manner that pleases Him, one of the main reasons I love the Bible
Is because it gives me DISCERNMENT.
I love the fact that the Bible helps me see through all the wrong thinking that is in the world.
I love the fact that the Bible cuts right through the lies that I have been told by the enemy.
And that is precisely what this verse is doing.
This verse is exposing a common deception in the world.
WHAT IS THAT COMMON DECEPTION?
Namely that it is possible to do something wrong
And still get away with it.
The world genuinely believes that.
That is the belief behind every sin and behind every lawless deed.
· If thieves really thought they would get caught, they wouldn’t steal
· If murderers really thought they would get caught, they wouldn’t kill
· If adulterers really thought they would get caught, they wouldn’t cheat
Behind every sin in the world is this base belief that
They can sin and still get away with it.
And really, things like the internet have only added to that deception.
Satan absolutely loves the internet.
Now I know the internet can be useful, but at the same time
The internet provides two things that spread sin like nothing else.
1) Unlimited Opportunity
2) Assumed Privacy
On the internet you can find just about anything that the flesh wants.
· If you are greedy, the internet can provide (ebay)
· If you are lustful, the internet can provide (porn, dating sites)
· If you are ADD, the internet can provide (wasted hours)
· If you are self-centered, the internet can provide (facebook, youtube)
· If you are mean spirited, the internet can provide
You can gratify any fleshly desire on the internet,
And you can do it with the feeling of anonymity and privacy.
The internet has probably done more to cause our society
To embrace consequence free living than any other thing.
Now the internet my push it, but where did that deception come from?
From the father of lies of course.
He’s been using that one since the beginning.
Genesis 3:2-5 “The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'" The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Satan was the first to spread the deception
That you can do something sinful and still get away with it.
And he has been spreading that lie ever since.
· He promised Eve she wouldn’t get caught.
· He convinced Jacob he could lie to Isaac and get away with it
· He convinced Moses he could kill and Egyptian in secret
· He convinced David he could sleep with Bathsheba privately
None of those people expected to get caught, that is why they sinned.
Satan whispered in their ear, just like he whispers in your ear.
“It’s ok, no one will know”
But that is a deception and so Paul says here, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”
I like the statement.
“God is not mocked”
See, legalism insults God.
· It gives the appearance that God is incapable of saving on His own.
· It insinuates that in order to be saved, you must help God out.
· It calls the work of Christ insufficient
But licentiousness mocks Him.
Doing whatever you want, like you won’t get caught, is a mockery to God.
And if you need a living illustration:
Just come on Wednesday night and tell one of the kids not to do something and let them give you that face that says they don’t care what you say.
YOU’LL HAVE A PRETTY GOOD IDEA WHAT I MEAN.
(My dad couldn’t take that)
When you think you can sin and not get punished,
Then you are mocking God.
What did David say?
Psalms 139:1-12 “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night," Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.”
Do you really suppose that God doesn’t know what you are doing when you are alone on the internet?
And I don’t know anyone who hates sin more than God.
It is mockery of Him to assume you can sin and not get caught,
But it is a deception of the enemy.
And to that Paul gives a principle that governs this life.
· It is a fact that governs the universe.
· It is a fundamental spiritual law.
And the law is this: “for whatever a man sows, this he will reap.”
That is a law we live by.
You know that whatever you plant in the ground, that is what you reap.
If you plant wheat, you reap wheat
If you plant cotton, you reap cotton
If you plant grapes, you reap grapes
And that is also true of spiritual things.
I’ll never forget this verse because of Bro. Bob Norsworthy preaching it when I was in college at Grace Temple Baptist in Henrietta.
He preached from the King James and his Bible said,
“For whatsoever a man soweth, that he will also reap.”
And he would say, T-H-A-T he will reap.
Say it with me, “That, T-H-A-T, that” he will reap.
He would then go on to talk about Jacob and how he dressed up to deceive Isaac in regard to the birthright.
And then later when he thought he was marrying Rachel, it was actually Leah who had been dressed up to deceive him.
He would talk about Pharaoh and how he killed Israel’s babies by drowning, and then he would talk about how Pharaoh’s firstborn was killed and how Pharaoh was drowned in the Red Sea
He would talk about Adoni-bezek from the book of Judges
Judges 1:4-7 “Judah went up, and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek. They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me." So they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there.”
He would talk about Saul of Tarsus holding the coats while Stephen was stoned, and then later Paul himself being stoned in Lystra.
And each time he would say, “that, T-H-A-T, will he reap”
It made an impression, and it should.
It is a fundamental spiritual law.
Numbers 32:23 “…be sure your sin will find you out.”
We remember Asaph, who lamented that the wicked could live however they wanted, they could even mock God, and they had no fear that they would ever get caught.
Psalms 73:8-20 “They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue parades through the earth. Therefore his people return to this place, And waters of abundance are drunk by them. They say, "How does God know? And is there knowledge with the Most High?" Behold, these are the wicked; And always at ease, they have increased in wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure And washed my hands in innocence; For I have been stricken all day long And chastened every morning. If I had said, "I will speak thus," Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children. When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.”
It may look like they are getting away with it…
They may think they are getting away with it…
But God refuses to let sinners mock Him and they will reap what they sow
Now, that is a divine principle.
And as Paul is explaining to you why you should obey God
To sacrificially love your brother, he reminds you of that principle.
The Principle
#2 THE PROMISE
Galatians 6:8-9
After reminding us of that basic principle,
Paul now starts giving us a promise based on that principle.
Notice all the times Paul uses the word “will”
As in “this WILL happen”
He knows that God’s principle will never fail,
And so he knows that life will follow a charted course.
And so here are the promises.
“For the one who sows to the flesh will from the flesh reap corruption,”
Now based on the principle we just learned, we know this to be true.
If you sow “to the flesh” then you will “reap corruption”
Incidentally “sows to the flesh”
Is just another way of saying “walk according to the flesh.”
Let me say it again now for the THIRD TIME
To make sure it is sinking into your head.
THE FLESH NEVER DOES THE WILL OF GOD,
AND IT NEVER PLEASES GOD
Romans 8:5-8 “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Your flesh will never do anything that pleases God.
If you ever do what the flesh wants, you can guarantee that God will not be pleased. It never does what God would do.
And because the flesh always goes against God,
It never reaps anything favorable.
In fact Paul tells us here what you reap if you do what the flesh wants.
You will “reap corruption”
That is to say, it will always get worse.
“corruption” is PHTHORA in the Greek which is a word
Used of rotting food or a decomposing body.
You can sow some things and get back something better,
But if you sow to the flesh, you will always get something worse.
You will not like what you get, it will be “corruption”
James 1:14-15 “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”
What does it bring?
“death”
If you need an example, take this guy:
Luke 15:11-16 “And He said, "A man had two sons. "The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.' So he divided his wealth between them. "And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. "Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. "So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. "And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.”
There was a guy who sowed to the flesh,
And there was a guy who most certainly didn’t like what he got.
And so Paul wants you to know:
On that day when your brother is in the ditch, and your flesh just wants to pass him by…
If you do what the flesh wants, you will not like what you get from it.
I don’t know what you will reap, but I promise you won’t like it.
Now, the principle of sowing and reaping is in unbiased principle.
That means it isn’t simply negative, it can also be a positive one.
And that is what Paul speaks of next,
It is the positive side of that principle.
(8b) “but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
Again, “sows to the Spirit” is another way of saying “walks by the Spirit”
We are talking about the one who does what the Spirit desires.
We are talking about the one who does what the Scripture says
(since the Holy Spirit is its author)
In the context of this passage, we are talking about the one who sees his brother, wants to pass him by, but instead remembers the command of Scripture and does what it says.
Even though the immediate job may not be enjoyable,
The Bible says that this man will also reap what he sows.
Only instead of corruption, he will “reap eternal life.”
Whereas following the flesh always leads to corruption
Following the Spirit always leads to life
So at this point, based upon the principle of sowing and reaping,
I think it is obvious which one you should sow.
And that leads to Paul’s final promise
(9) “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not grow weary.”
Now why do you suppose Paul said, “let us not lose heart in doing good”?
Because there is one other reality to the principle of sowing and reaping.
While you always reap what you sow,
You seldom do it instantly.
(And that is true for the flesh and the Spirit)
I mean, if you get on the internet and look at stuff you shouldn’t look at, chances are a bold of lightning will not come from the screen and zap you right then.
It isn’t an instant return.
It’s just like farming.
You don’t plant a seed, and come back the next day for the fruit.
There is a whole growing season involved.
You have to wait until the harvest.
Now this waiting period commonly does two things,
(Both of them are bad.)
1) It emboldens the sinner – because it only strengthens the belief that they are getting away with it.
Ecclesiastes 8:11 “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.”
2) It discourages the righteous – because it feels like their sacrifice was all for not.
So while Paul would tell a sinner not to assume he won’t get caught,
Paul also tells a righteous person, “Let us not lose heart in doing good”
WHY? “for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary”
Paul promises that a harvest is coming.
Isaiah 40:30-31 “Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”
Psalms 27:13-14 “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.”
Psalms 40:1-2 “I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.”
Now today a farmer is typically used as an example of hard work.
It’s not easy scratching your living from ground that sin has cursed.
There are long hours and heavy labors.
But the Bible uses the farmer for a different analogy.
The Bible uses the farmer as an example of hope.
1 Corinthians 9:10 “…because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.”
2 Timothy 2:6 “The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.”
Now we learn something very important about hope in Scripture.
Romans 8:24 “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?”
Namely we learn, that if you can see it, it’s not hope.
You only hope for what you do not see.
And this is what makes a farmer an illustration of hope.
He has to endure the entire growing season
Before he ever sees fruit come from his seed.
But a farmer has learned to wait patiently.
A farmer has learned to have hope.
A farmer has learned to believe that it will be worth it.
If a farmer loses hope, then he quits farming.
And Paul says here we are to sow to the Spirit like a good farmer.
Don’t grow weary, don’t lose heart, don’t give up.
You will reap, even if you have to wait for the growing season first.
Now this growing season has caused more than one person
To quit his or her ministry.
· You invest in lives over and over and over
· You pull people out of the ditch time and time again
· You give
· You sacrifice
· You endure
And then you wake up one morning and you look around, you’ve sown bags of seed, and you don’t have a single piece of fruit to show for it.
And it looks like your entire work and ministry has been in vain.
And the temptation is to “grow weary” and quit.
Please don’t, the harvest is coming!
1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”
2 Timothy 4:7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
In short, it will be worth it, you will reap, it’s a promise
Just hold on.
The Principle, The Promise
#3 THE PROCLAMATION
Galatians 6:10
Here is the culmination, the closing thought.
It completes what Paul started back in chapter 5.
Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
Your freedom has afforded you an opportunity,
But don’t use it for the flesh.
Instead:
“while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially those who are of the household of the faith.”
When the opportunity is there – SEIZE IT!
Ecclesiastes 11:4 “He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap.”
That’s true isn’t it?
If you just stand at the shade and day dream, you won’t get any farming done.
When you have the opportunity you have to seize it.
Now here is the reality,
· Your brother won’t always be in a ditch…
· Your brother won’t always need your help…
So you can’t look at your calendar and decide that May 14th at 2:30pm
You are going to set aside time to help your brother.
No, you have to wait for the opportunity to arise, and seize it.
Ephesians 5:15-16 “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”
And that is Paul’s point.
The freedom of Christ has afforded you a tremendous opportunity to reap a harvest, so seize your opportunity for planting.
“let us do good to all people”
After all “goodness” is a fruit of the Spirit.
Just do good in general,
But “especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”
You ought to take special preference to those who are Christians.
You ought to really want to bless them.
So very simply put, use the opportunity of your freedom
To “do good”
It really is that simple.
“do good” it’s worth it
“do good” love demands it
“do good” you’ll be rewarded
“do good” your brother needs it
That is why you were set free
That is what the Law of Christ demands.
The COMMAND to do good comes from the Lord
The ABILITY to do good comes through the Holy Spirit
The REASON to do good is because of the reward
THE FLESH WANTS NONE OF IT
SO DON’T GIVE IN TO THE FLESH
Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”