Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Galatians 6:1-10, 14-16
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  July 28, 2019

There is an old Jewish legend that before the temple in Jerusalem was built, two brothers lived and farmed on that site right next to each other. One was married and had a large family and the other was single. When harvest time came, both were blessed with a bountiful harvest of grain. The unmarried brother realized he was blessed with more than he needed, so he arose in the middle of the night and took some grain in a basket from his granary and put it in his brother’s. Similarly, the married brother was concerned that his single brother wouldn’t have children to care for him in his old age, so he took some grain in his basket and put the grain into his brother’s granary. This went on for several nights until both brothers bumped into each other in the middle of the night. In the dark of the night, the glow of brotherly love lit up the heavens. They realized what they had been doing and embraced each other warmly. According to the legend, God saw this beautiful display of brotherly love and selected the site of their embrace as the place where the temple was to be built.

We like stories like that, don’t we? Stories about love and kindness are so refreshing especially when there seems to be so much evil in the world today. Even though it’s just a legend, stories like this one do happen in our world, even in our own congregation. They are possible because we have been called to freedom. We have the freedom to show that kind of brotherly love because Christ has freed us from our slavery to sin. Today, as we close our look at Paul’s letter to the Galatians, we are going to see how we are Free to Serve Our Neighbor.

Once again, there is a narrow path that we need to navigate as we use the freedom Christ has won for us. You can see that as Paul begins chapter 6. “Brothers, if a person is caught in some trespass, you who are spiritual should restore such a person in a spirit of humility, carefully watching yourself so that you are not also tempted.” This was a touchy subject. Think about what was happening in these Galatian churches. Some had been led astray by those false teachers. Some had remained grounded in the true gospel. There was going to need to be some reconciliation between the two groups and it wasn’t going to be easy. It’s never easy having to tell someone that they are in the wrong, that they are sinning. It’s not easy because we realize that it could just as easily been us! However, genuine concern and care for our fellow believers humbly moves us to restore them. But not just to restore them, but to help them. Paul continues 

“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way fulfill the law of Christ. For if someone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each person test his own work, and then he will take pride in regard to himself and not his neighbor. For each man will bear his own burden.” Because of the load that Jesus carried for us, we are eager to fulfill the law of Christ. This means to follow his example, to help one another with whatever burdens they are carrying. But notice the edge to Paul’s words here in verses 3-5. Restoring an erring brother, correcting or admonishing them is not “lording it over them, “ it’s helping them, it’s bearing a burden. But boy is the temptation there to lord it over them. It is so easy to become critical of other people when they don’t seem to have their act together and when they are struggling. It’s so tempting to compare our Christianity to theirs as a way to justify ourselves. However, Paul will have none of that. If you want to think that way, you’re going to deceive yourself.

There once was a woodpecker pounding away at a tree as the sky was growing dark and storm clouds were rolling in. Suddenly there was a loud crack as a lightning bolt hit the tree and split it down the middle. The lighting knocked the woodpecker out too. When he came to his senses the woodpecker looked up at the tree that had been split by the lightning and thought to himself, “My, am I good!” It’s a silly story, but it’s exactly what we do when we try to compare our goodness to others. If we truly want to compare, let’s test our work against the true standard, the standard of God’s perfect law. And what we fill find is that we don’t measure up. There will be no reason for pride when we stare into the mirror of God’s holy law. All we will see are sins and shortcomings. Rather than pride, shame and remorse are what we will feel. We will realize that we need God’s grace and mercy just as much as those we were lording it over.

However, we do have reason to boast, to feel pride. Look at verse 14. “But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” Our boasting is in Christ. Our boasting is in the cross of Christ where Jesus took our sinful pride, our attempts to justify ourselves, our harsh dealings with one another and paid for those sins. Our boasting is in the freedom we enjoy because those sins have been removed. “In fact, in Christ Jesus…what matters is being a new creation.” We are a new creation. And because we are a new creation, we are free to serve our neighbor.

Paul writes, “Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with his teacher. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. To be sure, whatever a man sows, he will also reap.  Indeed, the one who sows for his own sinful flesh will reap destruction from the sinful flesh. But the one who sows for the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit. Let us not become weary of doing good, because at the appointed time we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the household of faith.” 

Look at the opportunities our freedom gives us! We are free to share our blessings with those who teach us God’s Word. We are free to do good to all people, and especially to those in our Christians family! But there are challenges in doing this, aren’t there. That battle between our sinful nature and our new man rages on and we’re tempted to try to please that sinful flesh. And while it may promise happiness and pleasure, Paul reminds us that ultimately it will lead to our destruction. And the other challenge is that doing good is hard work. And it sometimes goes unappreciated. And we might even become tired of doing it? You ever feel that way? Do you ever become weary of doing good? Do you ever get tired of trying to help people who are hurting themselves as they walk further and further away from the Lord? Of course you do. You don’t see the results you want. Your best efforts to help are rebuffed and resisted. It’s frustrating and the temptation is there to give up.  So what do we do? How do we avoid these pitfalls? We go back to the cross. We remember that Jesus has already won the victory for us. We remember that God is the one who takes care of the results. He promises that we will reap eternal life because of Jesus’ work for us. He promises that we will reap at the appointed time. We are so thankful for what God has done for us that we want to take every opportunity to do good to others, to serve our neighbor, to help others with their burdens. Because we know that when we are laboring for the Lord, when we are serving God by serving our neighbor, our labor is never in vain. 

Remember those two brother farmers? God didn’t choose the site for the temple because of their acts of kindness. God chose that site along with all the instructions for building it to point people to the Messiah, to Jesus, and what God was going to do through him. God doesn’t choose us to be a new creation because of the good things that we do for others. No, God made us a new creation when there was nothing good in us. He freed us from our slavery to sin simply because he chose to love us. He’s made us a new creation and we are free now to serve our neighbor to show our love for all that Jesus has done. Let us not become weary of doing good! Yes, this freedom thing is hard work, but it’s work worth doing! As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people and especially to those who belong to the household of faith. Amen