The Church Member's Work
Dear Church: A Study of Galatians • Sermon • Submitted
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Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
B: Galatians 6:6-10, Bible study list card
Housekeeping Stuff & Announcements:
Housekeeping Stuff & Announcements:
Welcome guests to the family gathering, introduce yourself. Thank the band. Invite guests to parlor after service.
This is the last week that we are focusing on the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. Thank you, church for your generous giving to support our SBC missionaries serving overseas! Our goal this year was $26,000, and through last week, we have given $34,612! You can still give toward our goal today, if God is leading you to do so.
Eastern Hills Christian Academy, the private Christian school that we started decades ago as a church, will be holding an all-school meeting this Tuesday night at 6:30 here in the sanctuary. We will discuss the exciting work that God is doing in the school and what we believe His plans are for the rest of this year and for future years at EHCA. The school board and administration would like to invite any church members who are interested in coming to attend.
I wanted to remind or let you know of another tech resource this week. Eastern Hills subscribes to a mobile devotional service called DevoHub from Lifeway. There’s an app for your smartphone, and you can just add it for free from the App Store or Play Store. Then, and this is critical, you have to set it up while you’re at the building. It uses GPS at setup to verify that you are at our location in order to confirm your subscription. Then you can read daily devotionals such as Open Windows, Journey for women, Stand Firm for men, Essential Connection for students, and Family Journey for families with younger children. It’s free to you personally.
Opening
Opening
I had contemplated last week’s message and this week’s message being one message, but once I started preparing, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to do the passage particular justice if I went that way. Last week, we looked at “The Church Member’s Role” in Galatians 6:1-5 as part of our “Dear Church” series through Galatians. We saw that Paul expresses three roles that those who are a part of the church are to fill in their local church: the roles of restoration, assistance, and responsibility. Now, of course, these aren’t EVERY and THE ONLY roles a church member is to fill, but I believe that they generally cover most of what our approach should be as we serve in the local body.
I’ve received a lot of feedback on last week’s message, but one piece of feedback troubled me, and I’d like to address it to the rest of the congregation right now, before we get into today’s passage. This feedback broke my heart a bit, and for good reason, and I haven’t been able to let go of it all week. I believe that it will do the same in many of our hearts this morning.
The feedback I received last week was that yes, what I shared in my message last week was true and biblical, however, we would never see the church, THIS church, become that picture of joint citizens of God’s Kingdom, or truly loving members of God’s family, until we start choosing to do so. This person shared that they have been visiting this church for some time, but haven’t joined yet because of the fact that they haven’t been able to build any relationships with other church members.
There are two things that I need to say as a result of that great conversation last week.
First, I want to issue a challenge to everyone in the room who is already a member of Eastern Hills: come into this room on Sunday morning looking for those you don’t know.
Maybe they’re a member already, and that’s fine. We can’t all know the names of all 350 people in the room, right? But you CAN introduce yourself to someone you don’t know. Everyone wants to be known. This is something that we talked about in our evening studies on evangelism last year: come in here looking for someone to meet for the first time, or maybe the first time in a long time. And if someone introduces themselves to you and you’ve been here for a long while, please don’t take offense. Just say, “It’s nice to meet you!” =o)
Second, I need to say that unfortunately, the worship service time isn’t particularly conducive to building deeper relationships. Several hundred of us come in, maybe say “hi”, sit down, and then we join together in worshiping God. There’s nothing wrong with this, per se. We intentionally don’t do a “meet & greet” time in this service because, to be honest, most people don’t like it and it feels a bit forced.
However, I need to be clear about something that maybe we’re not very clear about: that the intentional time that we have in place for building those deeper relationships is the Bible Study time before worship. I’m not criticizing those who don’t go to a Sunday morning Bible study class… I’m just saying that that is the time and the place that you are most likely to build connections with other members of the body of the church. If you’re not currently attending a Sunday morning Bible study class, please plan to give a few a try! There are great classes, led by great teachers, with great groups of people in them, every Sunday morning at 9:00. Check out a class or three! I believe you’ll be glad you did, and that you’ll make some stronger connections than you might be able to in here.
Pray about how God would have you respond in love and fellowship to this information this morning. With that being said, let’s take a moment, stand in honor of the Word of God, and read our focal passage this morning:
6 Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher. 7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, 8 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 from the Spirit. 9 Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.
PRAY
Just as last week we talked about church membership and our roles in the body, roles of restoration, assistance, and responsibility, this morning we will look at a couple of aspects of the work of the church member as a result of our responsibility to the rest of the body. There’s really only two “works” spoken of in this passage: sharing and sowing/reaping, and then Paul ends with an admonition for all of us.
Church Member Work 1: Sharing
Church Member Work 1: Sharing
The first work that Paul mentions here in this passage is specifically about sharing with those who teach. However, this verse is flowing right out of what Paul has just said about each church member having to carry their own load… their own backpack of responsibility in the church.
6 Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher.
I’ll be transparent here. I would have liked to have just skipped this verse. It feels a little self-serving to preach on it, because every commentary I looked at said that monetary support was certainly the primary focus of this statement. But just because I might be uncomfortable doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t share this verse this morning, and the Lord just wouldn’t let me skip it.
Assuming that monetary support is in view in this verse, then, it shows a responsibility of the church (the backpack from last week) to financially support the ministry of those who the church has given the ongoing task of teaching the Word of God. Yes, you the church pay my salary, and I am incredibly grateful to and blessed by God to be able to make my living in this role that I love. And my salary doesn’t happen without you giving. You pay my salary. I and my family thank you for that. =o) You also pay Joe’s and Wayne’s and Trevor’s and Larry’s salaries, for which I know they and their families are also grateful. But we aren’t professionals. We’re workers in the body, just with a particular task within the body.
Jesus said in Matthew 10 that, “the worker is worthy of his food.” (v. 10), and Paul said to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 9:13-14:
13 Don’t you know that those who perform the temple services eat the food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the offerings of the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.
But the word that I really want to key on in verse 6 of our focal passage this morning is the first word in the sentence in the Greek. The command to share is the first word of this verse in Greek. It’s a form of the word “koinonia,” which is often translated as “fellowship,” or, “partnership.”
But if we take the word for share and apply it to the idea of the church paying the pastor, including this concept of the fellowship or partnership within it, then there’s a shift in the perspective. Tim Keller put it this way in his commentary on Galatians:
“Christian teaching is not just one more service to be paid for, but a rich fellowship and mutual sharing of the gifts of God.”
The church has called me to pastor and to preach in order to build up the body, and then pays me using the material resources that God has blessed us with, so that I can focus on that calling. I use the spiritual gifts that God has given me in teaching in order to proclaim the truth of God’s Word to the church, so we might all be built up and encouraged to understand the Gospel more so that we can be more like Jesus, and to proclaim to those who do not yet belong to Christ, both here in this room and wherever they might hear online, so that they can hear about what God has done for them in Christ. As the church grows in our faith and understanding of the Gospel, we all should go out and proclaim the Gospel and live the Gospel out in the world. It’s a partnership, a sharing together of what God has given.
But I don’t think that’s the only point here. There’s more to the partnership in the Gospel than money, because Paul says that “the one who is taught…share all his good things.” This has to include more than money. In fact, getting to serve in a local church that is growing, engaged, and seeking to be more like Christ, and who have incredible unity and excitement for what God is doing is an incredible joy. And I’m so blessed to serve here at Eastern Hills, because I believe that God is doing a great work in our midst right now, and it’s thrilling to be a part of it.
In Philippians 2, Paul gives us a picture of some other things that are in this vein of “sharing” that are a particular blessing to him as a pastor, but have nothing to do with money at all:
1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Paul says that if these things—encouragement in Christ, consolation of love, fellowship with the Spirit, affection and mercy— are present, then he challenges the church to keep going, having unity in thought, love, spirit, and purpose. He says that this will “make his joy complete.” It’s exciting to hear about how Christ has encouraged you, how you have been consoled by His love, how the Spirit is speaking to you, and about how the rest of the body of Christ is actively showing love to one another. I love it when someone shares the good things that God is doing in this church family, and not just the struggles and problems. It helps make my joy complete. That’s some of those “good things” that you all can share with me, and I’ll be grateful for it.
So I have to say, thank you for allowing me to serve as your pastor for the past two years. I’m excited to see what God is going to do in the next two and on into the future!
So we’ve addressed sharing as Paul put it in this passage. Now it’s on to the other work: sowing & reaping.
Church Member Work 2: Sowing & Reaping
Church Member Work 2: Sowing & Reaping
I don’t know about you, but I am not good at growing things. I mostly have the black thumb of death. If you give me a plant, I can kill it, and I don’t even have to try hard to do so. For the past couple of years, my back yard has actually managed to be in decent shape, mostly because I’ve worked very hard to keep it that way. I’m so impressed by people who can garden, like Curtis Smith. Now admittedly, my practical understanding of even small-scale agriculture, like gardening, is very limited. However, I do know one thing for sure:
What I sow is what I will reap. If I want tomatoes, I have to plant what? Tomatoes.
If I want squash, I have to plant squash. If I want beans, I have to plant beans. Am I right?
Can I plant cucumbers and expect to get watermelons? No.
Unfortunately, I think that for many of us, this is how we approach our spiritual lives. We plant one thing, and expect to harvest another.
Here in verse 7, Paul begins an agricultural illustration in order to make a point with the church members in Galatia:
7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap,
Let’s address the first part of 7: “Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked.” We sometimes are willing to lie to ourselves, aren’t we? We might try and convince ourselves that maybe God isn’t actually concerned with how we live our lives in the day-to-day. Or we lie to ourselves, trying to talk ourselves into thinking that we can live however we want and hide it from God. We can lie to yourselves all we want, but it doesn’t mean that God is fooled in any way. God is not mocked.
Thinking that we can live one way and reap a different harvest is like planting an apple tree and telling ourselves, others, and especially God that we’re going to harvest pomegranates from it. God is not mocked. You aren’t going to get pomegranates from your apple tree, no matter how much you tell God that you will, or worse… that you actually planted a pomegranate tree. You can’t trick Him. You can’t fool Him. You can’t manipulate or deceive Him. Apples. Period. What you sow determines what you reap. Every. Time. It’s not what you reap that determines the harvest. It’s what you sow.
There’s an old saying: “Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.” This goes both ways, as Paul goes on to explain in verse 8:
8 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 from the Spirit.
Paul here says that there are exactly two fields to sow in: the field of the flesh, and the field of the Spirit. This points us back now to something that has been a theme throughout the entire letter. Flesh vs. Spirit. The question is: which field are you sowing in?
If you don’t belong to Jesus Christ, if you have never believed the Gospel, then you do not have the Spirit, you are spiritually dead, and you are headed for destruction. In John 6:63, Jesus said:
63 The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
Because of our sin—the things that we do, say, and think that God hates, and the things that we refuse to do that God wants us to do, say, and think—we are separated from God and spiritually dead, we just don’t realize it. And since we’re dead, we can’t bring ourselves back to life. Because of His love for us, Jesus took our place in death, dying for our sins, so that we can be forgiven. And in the power of the Spirit, He defeated death so that if we trust in Jesus alone for our salvation, we can be saved and given eternal life with Him. This is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Trust in Jesus and receive His gift of eternal life.
It’s easy to consider Galatians 6:8 in this salvation perspective because of the contrast of destruction and eternal life, but we also need to consider the fact that who Paul is writing to here are believers, the churches of Galatia. So the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, even if that person is in Christ. You might wonder how that’s possible.
In his commentary on Galatians, John Stott said this about sowing to the flesh:
Every time we allow our mind to harbor a grudge, nurse a grievance, entertain an impure fantasy, wallow in self-pity, we are sowing to the flesh. Every time we linger in bad company whose insidious influence we know we cannot resist, every time we lie in bed when we ought to be up and praying, every time we read pornographic literature, every time we take a risk that strains our self-control we are sowing, sowing, sowing, to the flesh.
You see, the Greek word for destruction here also denotes the ideas of decay or ruin. These are things that happen over time, bit by bit, piece by piece, like a ancient building being eroded or a rotting corpse in the grave. It’s a question of what is going to last, and what won’t.
in 1 Corinthians 3, Paul writes this:
10 According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. 14 If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.
When we sow to the flesh, what we reap isn’t what God wants us to reap. It’s things that are destined to be destroyed, things that cannot do anything lasting but decay and fall into ruin.
Instead, we are to sow to the Spirit, and what we reap is eternal life. This is life like God’s own life—forever and vibrant! When we sow to the Spirit, we grow in life and holiness, becoming more and more like Jesus. We’ve already seen the fruits of the Spirit back in chapter 5. I would encourage you to go back and read through that list again, and consider how you are sowing to the Spirit, and what you are reaping.
How you live your life makes a difference in both your own personal walk with the Lord AND in the overall strength of the church family that you are a member of. So we must care about each other and our personal walks of faith. How each of us lives matters to the rest of the church body.
I talked last week about the fact that we belong to one another, and that we have a responsibility to work for the restoration and assistance of one another in the body of Christ. Part of that responsibility is being ready to minister to the other members of the body when needed, to be there to help lift that crushing weight of burden that we saw in verse 2. When we are lacking in our personal holiness, we are doing damage to the family of faith, because we’re spiritually out of shape, not even able to lift our own backpacks of responsibility, much less the massive burdens of our brothers and sisters in the church.
Notice what Paul says in verse 9… we have to keep on striving in doing good, that there might be a harvest:
9 Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.
This is how we are to approach our church membership, our citizenship in this Kingdom of God, our participation in this family of God. We are in it for the long haul. We are willing to do what is good, even when it’s difficult. We are willing to keep doing what is good, even when we don’t get our way. We are willing to keep doing what is good, because our perspective is a spiritual perspective, and we are not in this struggle called church life against flesh and blood, but against “the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil spiritual forces in the heavens.” (Eph. 6:12) We are willing to keep doing what is good, because our perspective is an eternal perspective, and we are not in this struggle just for today, but for tomorrow as well. This is us looking like Jesus, as the author of Hebrews wrote in 12:3:
3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.
Closing
Closing
We are called to be at work, church. Paul ends his section, and really all of his focus on teaching in this letter, with verse 10. In it, he addresses the when and the who of our work.
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.
Work for the good of all. We are ambassadors of the Kingdom of God in this world. We represent our Father as His children. So we are to work for the good of—to love— everyone. Everyone, but especially your brothers and sisters. This is how the world will know that we love God. And our testimony of our love for God is displayed in how we love one another in the church.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.
Even the brother or sister that bugs you. Even the brother or sister that is having a hard time. Even the brother or sister who you don’t understand or who doesn’t understand you. This is how we show that we love God and are becoming more and more like Him.
And this is our work, church: to grow in the Spirit, so that our lives and words accurately testify to the greatness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We do this together. If you’ve been waiting to take the step for formally joining this body of believers, this family, this outpost of the Kingdom at Eastern Hills, I invite you to take that step this morning, and come and share with one of us.
Today’s message has been primarily for the believer, the church member. But if you are here today and you have never surrendered your life to Jesus, trusting Him for your salvation, and today you have heard the message of the Gospel and believed it, then today is the day of your salvation, and we want to celebrate that with you! Come and share with one of us that you belong to Jesus today.
If you have a prayer need, you can come and share with one of us, or come and pray at the steps.
As the band comes, let’s pray.
PRAY
Remind of the parlor