Three Marks of Maturity

In the verses closing chapter 5, Paul has contrasted the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, concluding that Christians are to live Spirit-led lives.

Ephesians 5:22–23 KJV 1900

22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

Galatians 5:22–23 KJV 1900

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

eph 5.22

gal

But what does it mean to live a life characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, and the other virtues?

It is easy to talk about the fruit of the Spirit while doing very little about it.

Here Paul gives marks or identifying characteristics of a mature believer. in other words the acting out of the fruit of the spirit.

gal 5.22 acted out produces marks that can be identified.

Marks of old age

Marks of a marathon runner

marks of a football fan

it just comes out

Immature believer

I just don't want to get involved

They deserve what they get

I can’t help them i have enough to deal with

A great church is one that care for each other

A great church is one where sin is addressed not glossed over and loving forgiven

A great church is one where people carry the loads for those that are temporally hurting

I Restore the Wounded

I Restore and Install

Galatians 6:1 KJV 1900

1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

wounded assumes he/she understands that there has been a fault/sin!

Golden Key - Wounded assumes he/she understands that there has been a fault/sin!

With out this there is nothing to restore! it just they are sorry for the consequences ; i got caught

You are wasting your time.

1 Timothy 5:20 KJV 1900

20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

Luke 17:3 KJV 1900

3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

The key is they the offender must understand the nature and consequences of sin.

Psalm 32:3 KJV 1900

3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old Through my roaring all the day long.

Luke 5:8 KJV 1900

8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

They understand they are at fault and need resorting

Too mnat time we try to restore a sinning brother that does not think he has done anything wrong or it just not a big deal.

illustration - Jim parentti - yes and no I was wrong

How we restore reveals the real character and spiritual maturity of a believer.

1 The first situation is one that, more than any other, inevitably reveals the real character and spiritual maturity of a believer. Paul imagines a hypothetical situation—which is, however, not at all infrequent—in which one believer unexpectedly learns that another believer is trapped in some sin. What is he to do? Is he to overlook the sin? Does love mean that he is to refuse to face the facts? Or should he expose the sin openly and so gain for himself a reputation for superior holiness? Paul shows that a Spirit-led person should not proceed in either of these ways. In presenting the proper course of action, he shows what to do, who should do it, and finally how it should be done.

How we restore reveals the real character and spiritual maturity of a believer.

One believer unexpectedly learns that another believer is trapped in some sin.

What is he to do?

Is he to overlook the sin?

Does love mean that he is to refuse to face the facts?

Or should he expose the sin openly and so gain for himself a reputation for superior holiness?

Paul shows that a Spirit-led person should not proceed in either of these ways. In presenting the proper course of action, he shows what to do, who should do it, and finally how it should be done.

First, Paul shows what should be done.

Restore - He says that Christians are to restore the person who has fallen into sin.

The verb (katarizō) is a medical term used in secular Greek for

Restore - Setting a Fractured Bone.

He says that Christians are to restore the person who has fallen into sin. The verb (katarizō) is a medical term used in secular Greek for setting a fractured bone. What is wrong in the life of the fallen Christian is to be set straight. It is not to be neglected or exposed openly.

What is wrong in the life of the fallen Christian is to be set straight.

It is not to be neglected or exposed openly.

You don’t ignore the fracture and hope it will go away

You don't expose the fracture to the elements and infection

You set it in place and put a cast on it

The work of restoring must be done by those who are spiritual.

“Do you consider yourself to be a spiritual instead of a carnal Christian? Well, then, here is a way you can test it.

Restoring an erring brother is exactly the kind of thing that spiritual Christians do.” On the other hand,

Paul is reminding his readers that only those who are genuinely led of the Spirit have the maturity to deal with sin in others. Every Christian should desire such maturity and be mature.

The restoration should be made “gently” (using the same word he used in the list of virtues in 5:22) and with the consciousness that none, no matter how spiritual, have immunity from temptation and that all can fall. Stott’s comments (in loc.) are valuable:

If we walked by the Spirit we would love one another more, and if we loved one another more we would bear one another’s burdens, and if we bore one another’s burdens we would not shrink from seeking to restore a brother who has fallen into sin.

Consider thyself

The spiritual person will be quick to see a brother’s peril and need, he will be ever mindful of his own frailty and danger because temptation lurks in the path of all of us. No state of holiness exists in this life that is beyond temptation. More than one would-be counselor has fallen into the very sin from which he has been seeking to rescue someone else.[1]

[1] Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring Galatians: An Expository Commentary (). Kregel Publishers; WORDsearch Corp.

A greas

A great theme or warning would be consider thyself!

How would you want to be treated

The 2nd mark of maturity is :

II Help and Carry

Galatians 6:2–5 KJV 1900

2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5 For every man shall bear his own burden.

gal 6.2-6

Help carry the Load

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (v. 2).

The Judaizers were trying to load the believers with the intolerable burden of the Law and Jewish tradition.

The Lord denounced the religious leaders of His day for this very thing. He said to the multitudes and His disciples concerning the scribes and the Pharisees, “They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” ().

At the Jerusalem conference, convened to consider this very issue, Peter said to his fellow Jewish Christians concerning Gentile believers, “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” (). The Lord Jesus came to fulfill the Law and to deliver us from its burden.

Far from putting additional legalistic burdens on each other, we should look for opportunities to bear the already heavy burdens that some of our brothers and sisters in Christ are bearing.

Others are burdened because of unsaved relatives and friends. Some are carrying the burden of a broken home.

Some are burdened by the deplorable spiritual condition of their local church. There are plenty of burdens to be shared. The law of Christ, far from causing us to add to burdens already borne, will move us to seek ways to alleviate existing burdens.

Think of Simon the Cyrenian. He made a virtue of necessity and carried the cross for Jesus all of the way to Calvary. We can well imagine the shame and resentment that filled his soul when he was rudely arrested by the centurion and pressed into this distasteful service.

We can do the same. Jesus said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” ().[1]

The second practical example of spirituality is the bearing of one another’s burdens. Four times in the letter Paul uses the word “bearing” (bastazō). In 5:10 it is the Judaizer who is to bear his judgment. At 6:5 each Christian is to bear his own load. At the very end, 6:17, he will speak of bearing the marks of Jesus Christ on his body. In this verse the reference is to helping another Christian—sharing his load—whenever temptations oppress him or life depresses him. Here Paul returns quite deliberately to the thought of love being the fulfillment of the law, for the “law of Christ” is the new commandment () fulfilled in part at least by such actions. “If you must needs impose burdens on yourselves, let them be the burdens of mutual sympathy. If you must needs observe a law, let it be the law of Christ” (Lightfoot, in loc.).

The 3nd mark of maturity is :

III Humble and Blinded

Galatians 6:3–5 KJV 1900

3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5 For every man shall bear his own burden.

Galatians 6:4–5 KJV 1900

4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5 For every man shall bear his own burden.

Galatians 6:2–5 KJV 1900

gal 6.

Two errors might keep a believer from fulfilling this role.

3 Two errors might keep a believer from fulfilling this role.

The first is conceit, that is, thinking himself to be more important than he is.

The implication seems to be that if the Christian neglects to bear another’s burdens or refuses to bear them, it is because he thinks himself above it.

illustration -

In modern psychology, the phrase “the Peter Principle” has become almost a cliche. It refers to the mistake of promoting a man beyond the level of his competence in some field. A man might be a first-class salesman, but that does not mean he will be a successful sales manager.

Paul is quite right, of course. For a man to overestimate himself, or for that matter to let other people overestimate him, amounts, in the end, to self-deception.

Even a man of gift and talent must be careful not to get the idea that he is “somebody.” Glorying in one’s gifts and talents is a mark of carnality, not spirituality. “No flesh should glory in [God’s] presence” ().

Paul says that even if a man speaks with the tongues of men and angels, has the gift of prophecy, understands all mysteries, has all knowledge, beggars himself to minister to the poor, even prepares for martyrdom, and does it all without love, the first fruit of the Spirit, it is all worthless. It is all counterfeit coin, not the true currency of the kingdom ().

When the activities of his enemies drove Paul to defend his apostleship, he was careful to conclude his comments by adding, “I be nothing” ().

Paul continues with his practical advice for living the Christian life. He has three words of counsel. First, mark your own boundaries: “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (v. 3).

It is just plain common sense to know one’s limitations. Secular and sacred history is strewn with the wreckage of people who, for one reason or another, had inflated egos and exaggerated ideas of their own importance

The second error that might keep a believer from bearing the burdens of another Christian is to be always comparing himself and his own work with others.

Those who are determined to live the Christian life should also mind their own business. “But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another” (v. 4).

This is simply a caution to everyone who is engaged in some form of Christian ministry. We should not be addicted to the approval of others.

On the contrary, we should continually assess for ourselves the value of our own work. It is not the province of one believer to assess the ministry of another. Each of us is answerable to the Lord Himself. Because our service is to be assessed, and either rewarded or rejected at the judgment seat of Christ, the imperative need for Spirit-directed self-examination is evident (; ).

When a Christian has his eyes on God rather than on other Christians, then in his own eyes he will at best be an unprofitable servant () and God himself will receive glory ().

The third error is to enable the wounded to sty that way

This can be harmful both in a positive sense (“I am doing better than they are”—the very conceit Paul has just warned against) and in a negative sense (“I am unable to do anything; everyone else is much better”). To counter both these forms of the error, Paul suggests that each believer has a task from the Lord and is responsible only to the Lord for doing it. To use others as a norm is a kind of escape. When a Christian has his eyes on God rather than on other Christians, then in his own eyes he will at best be an unprofitable servant () and God himself will receive glory ().

5 In other words, the duty of a Christian is to carry his own load.

we are not to enable lazyness or dependancy

In or zeal to help or carry the loads of others we sometimes hurt them more that help.

“You give a poor man a fish and you feed him for a day. You teach him to fish and you give him an occupation that will feed him for a lifetime.”

Do you have the Marks of maturity?

There is no contradiction between this verse and v. 2, as KJV seems to suggest, for different words are used for what one is to bear. The word in v. 2 is barē, which means “heavy burdens”—those that are more than a man should carry. The word in this verse is phortion, a common term for a man’s “pack.” Each Christian has his own work to do, so let him take pride in how he does it.[1]

I Restore the Wounded

II Help and Carry

III Humble and Blinded

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