Mae Lywodraeth Gaelesi,
If someone is caught in sin, you, who live by the spirit, should restore that person gently.
But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.
Carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.
If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.
Each one should test their own actions, then they can take pride in themselves alone,
without comparing themselves to someone else.
For each one should carry their own load.
Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the Word should share all good things with their instructor.
Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked, and man reads what he says.
Whoever sows to please their flesh from the flesh will reap destruction.
Whoever sows to please the spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at that proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
This is a word of God.
Thanks Michael.
Morning everyone.
If we have not met before, my name is Michael.
I am one of the ministers here at Grace Christian Church,
and it is absolutely wonderful to have you visiting with us.
Straight after the service, we do have morning tea, so please don't be a stranger.
Feel free to stick around, ask questions and get to know a friendly bunch of people.
Also, your brothers and sisters in the Lord.
In saying that, would you please join me in asking our Heavenly Father for help in understanding his word this morning?
Would you please pray with me?
Father God, it is such a privilege to be here this morning,
gathered in the church that you have made and are making.
The church that you have sent your son for, and we look forward to the day when he will return to take us to where he is.
This morning we asked that your Holy Spirit would be at work amongst us,
that our hearts would burn to be evermore like our Lord and Saviour.
We know that this is the work you do among us through your Word, and we ask for it this morning.
We ask for it in Jesus' name. Amen.
The Christian life isn't an abstract, mystical concept.
Now it's a spiritual reality that works itself out in the real world.
I say that because throughout the book of Galatians, the apostle Paul has shown us what it is to trust in Christ.
It's to turn from a legalist mindset of trying to earn righteousness through the law of God to embrace Jesus as our once for all sacrifice.
But as we've also seen, just because we've been set free from the condemnation of the law,
it doesn't mean that we have been set free to do whatsoever we please.
Now we've been set free for a plan and a purpose,
and that plan and purpose is to love God with all that we are and to love those around us,
just like our Lord and Master showed us.
And as we trust and obey, that will have a real impact in this world.
That's a pretty high calling you might be thinking.
A pretty high calling.
Well, this is the other thing that Paul has shown us in the book of Galatians.
We don't walk this calling out all by our lonesome.
No, the Holy Spirit of God has been given to all God's children to help us in the very real struggle to live like our Lord.
He's the one who empowers the Christian and leads us to be more and more and more like Jesus.
Which means that a life that is surrendered to God is a life defined by love.
Love for God and love for those around us.
And that's what our apostle focuses in on here this morning.
He gives us a very, very practical map of how spirit filled and spirit led people
are to follow our Lord's example in loving those around us.
Especially showing love towards those who are in the household of God.
And our apostle will show us this wonderful truth in three particular areas.
First, we'll see that the spirit will lead us to help others.
Second, that the spirit will lead us to carry one another's burdens.
And then finally, third, we'll see that the spirit will cause us to invest in others and into God himself.
So if you have your Bibles with you this morning, have a look with me at verse one of chapter six.
Paul writes, brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin,
you who live by the spirit should restore that person gently.
I used to love going to the pool with my mates growing up,
but there was one event that happened that totally creeped me out.
And it sticks with me to this very day.
You see, we were swimming around having a blast when all of a sudden all these people
started shouting and jumping into the pool along with us.
At first we took the whole thing as a bit of a joke,
but then we suddenly realised that the little brother of one of our mates was behind us
and he couldn't touch the bottom of the pool and he was starting to drown.
We didn't even see him.
Others did though and they jumped in and they did something about it.
And that story sticks with me even to today because we were totally oblivious
to what was happening around us.
Totally distracted in regards to this little brother who was starting to drown.
And our apostle wants to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen in the church
when it comes to our brothers and sisters who might be caught in sin
and drowning right in front of us.
Paul wants to make us aware that sin still is a problem for the flesh
and that we need to be on the lookout for one another
and be willing and able to jump in and help our siblings when they're in serious trouble.
And so he says those who live by the spirit should restore that person gently.
And church, there's a couple of things that I want you to take note of
and just those first few words that I think will be really helpful for you.
First, Paul tells us who he wants to be doing the restoring.
And he says it's to be those who live by the spirit.
As we've seen in the book of Galatians, people who have heard the gospel
and put their faith in Jesus, it is they that have been crucified with Christ
and now stand in the faith that they profess.
And so to live by the spirit is to be led by the spirit in every area of your life.
We had a look at this last week.
The Holy Spirit is setting a new pattern of living,
a new way of living in the life of God's children.
And so those who trust and obey and who are putting sin to death
are those who Paul has in mind here.
So really Paul is saying anyone who is living faithfully in line of the gospel
should be somewhere involved in the restoration of their brothers and sisters around them.
So that's first, that's who's meant to be doing the restoring of those who are drowning in sin.
Anyone who has the spirit of God leading and guiding them.
So not just the elders and the deacons, you might notice.
Second, Paul tells us how those who are drowning are to be restored.
It's to be done gently, as he says here.
It's interesting that Paul uses a Greek word that's associated with mending here.
That's what sits under the word restore.
In fact, it's the same word that the evangelist Mark used when talking of the apostles,
when they sat on the shores of Galilee and mended their nets.
And so straight away that tells you how spirit-filled Christians are to go about restoring one another.
It's about mending them.
And it needs to be done with patience and as Paul says here, with gentleness.
It kind of sounds like the fruit of the spirit that we looked at last week.
All that to say, Paul's point is this, restoration isn't about punishing people for their sin.
But helping to mend them so that they can get back on the straight and narrow
and continue living in the way that the spirit of God has called them to live.
Church, what our apostle is directing us in here is such a beautiful picture.
He wants the family of God to be looking out for each other.
We see that language clearly there in verse 10.
This is an in-house discussion.
And thus, when we see our spiritual siblings drowning in sin, we're meant to do something about it.
We're meant to go and get involved with them and help them so that they might return to a life of being faithful and obedient.
We're meant to be aware of each other and help mend one another.
And so in saying that, I want you to take note of what our apostle isn't saying here.
He's not saying that he wants the people of God to be agreeable and passive with those around us.
In other words, he doesn't want us to be the kind of church that sees someone drowning and says,
I don't want to disturb them.
I don't want to make them feel uncomfortable.
I don't want them to feel uneasy about their lifestyle choices or make a fuss.
That's to tolerate sin and to allow it to thrive in the life of those that we profess to love.
And so we mustn't take Paul's command here to be gentle in restoring,
in mending our struggling family members as a command to sit back and be partial as they drown in sin right in front of us.
Now a sign of a healthy church is a church that is keeping a close watch on themselves
so that they might walk by the spirit and have the life of our Lord and Saviour evident to all those around them.
A sign of a healthy church is a church that doesn't quench the spirit but is led by him in all that they say and do.
And this is the thing.
The Holy Spirit of God will always lead us to honour God by holding the Gospel central and to love those around us.
And so to have great theology, to have fantastic events and building projects all the while ignoring those around us who might be broken and torn and treaded on,
well that's a church to be distracted.
That's a distracted church.
Distracted with good things, yes, but distracted nonetheless,
which can cause us to totally miss what might be going on right in front of us.
So our apostle makes us all aware of something this morning.
Not everyone, not everyone might be doing great.
So don't be distracted.
Look around it and where you see the works of the flesh being evident in the life of your brother or sister, go to them.
Be loving, be kind, be gentle and patient.
And don't be afraid to get involved with faithfully mending and restoring them.
But says our apostle in the rest of verse 1,
Watch yourselves, otherwise you also may be tempted.
It's really interesting that our apostle puts that there.
But I think he does it to remind us just how subtle the flesh can be
and how it can get and find itself into any situation and flare up.
Paul's reminding us that we are sinners who are helping other sinners.
We are beggars telling other beggars where to go.
And so in the midst of helping someone else, Paul warns that on this side of eternity,
you have to be aware of the sinfulness of your own heart.
We must be wise to our own fleshly pitfalls when getting involved with someone else.
Angry people can cause anger in us.
So watch it.
People who gossip and slander others might cause us to do the same, so be aware.
Those with addictions that we may have once struggled with might bring back desires in us.
So be wise.
Helping is vital.
It's vitally important.
But so is keeping a watch on yourself.
And so in light of this apostolic command, we might remember the words of our Lord here.
In Matthew 26, 41, where he told us to watch and pray so that we don't fall into temptation ourselves.
So much of the time we allow the flesh to get back in the driver's seat because we're simply not praying about the things that we're doing
or for the people that we're involved with.
And that is so vitally important to remember when helping those who might be in trouble.
We must watch ourselves and pray.
Pray for them and pray for the wisdom to see when and where we might be operating with the wrong motives.
These are the twin rail guards, we might say, on the bowling alley when it comes to Christian faithfulness.
Humble self-scrutiny in light of the word and dependent prayer for the grace of God to help keep you on the straight and narrow.
And so that's first, the spirit of God will lead us to help others and that's because restoration is important to God.
He's in that business and he uses his children as instruments in his hand to do that work.
And that's important to remember here this morning, restoration, mending, it's God's work, which means we're not doing it alone.
We have the living God with us in the deep end of the so-called pool.
And so watch and pray as you go about gently and lovingly helping those who might be drowning.
Next, the spirit of God will lead us to carry each other's burdens.
As we've already seen this morning, the Christian life isn't about being a lawless, self-serving people,
but about being set free from the demands of the law so that we can serve God and others in a way that reflects our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so straight off the bat, that tells you that we're never meant to do the Christian life alone.
Now the life of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is designed to be amongst other things in and around other disciples.
And so, we're to have relationships with one another.
You know, relationship is a massive theme in the Bible.
And you don't have to be in relationships for very long, even with those in your own family,
to find out that they can be pretty complex, they can be messy, even painful at times.
But none of that is an excuse to withdraw and delete church as an option in your life.
No, we're actually called to do the very opposite, and that is to stick it out with one another
and carry one another in our various burdens.
As it's in this, says our apostle, that we fulfill the law of Christ.
We see that there in verse 2.
Now you might remember from the previous verses that we saw that the fruit of the Spirit is really the pattern of Christ,
that the Holy Spirit is conforming us all too.
And I mentioned that because Jesus showed us more than anyone else in the history of mankind of what it is to really love others
because he really and truly carried our burdens.
Think about it, think about how Jesus carried the cross that you deserved to Calvary
and was pierced for your transgressions.
He loved you enough to come and live a perfect life on your behalf and more than that.
He loved you enough to bear on himself your sin and be slaughtered for all your wrongdoing.
Bearing on himself the wrath of God.
He carried your burden all the way to the cross.
And now our apostle says in light of that, in light of the Gospel, seeing that you are so loved,
we love our Lord in return by loving one another.
It's for his sake as in his hands we are an instrument that is called to help lighten the burdens of others
by laying our lives down for others.
That is what the Holy Spirit is leading all Christians in.
He leads us to live out a Gospel centric life towards one another.
And he leads us to love one another by bearing one another's burdens as our Lord and Master demonstrated to us.
Now that obviously doesn't mean we're to be crucified for each other,
it does mean that we are to live in a self-sacrificial way when it comes to each other's needs.
This is an incredible truth, Church.
This is an amazing picture that our apostle is setting up for us here.
If we live out what the Spirit is calling us into,
we trust and obey the Word and love others in the way that we're meant to.
We somewhat re-enact the Gospel for the world to see.
We re-enact what Jesus has done for us as he carried our burdens in such a selfless way.
That is the Spirit-led life that each and every single one of us is called to.
We're called to be self-sacrificial.
And as we love and carry one another, warts and all, through thick and thin,
we'll be imitating and acting like the one that we profess to follow,
which is to fulfil the law of Christ, as our apostle says here.
I hope you see this, Church.
The Christian life isn't meant to be a solo project.
Sometimes we will need to jump in the so-called deep end of the pool
and help others, and it will cost us.
Sometimes we're going to need that for ourselves,
which means we need to be real with one another.
So often we hide our sin and withdraw from others when we're not doing well
because we say to ourselves that we don't want to be a pain or worry others
with what we're going through, but let's be clear here this morning.
Let's be honest.
A lot of the time we protect ourselves because we don't want others to think that we're weak.
I know that's certainly the case for me.
That's pride.
Pride because what lays at the heart of all of that is a heart that doesn't want people to think badly of us.
But we have to come back to the Gospel.
Come back to see what Church has set the whole thing up to be.
It's not meant to be a hotel lobby where everybody's meant to be in their best dressed attire.
But as Spurgeon once put it, the Church is more like an army hospital
full of people who are healing from their battle wounds.
To put that simply, we can't keep in step with the spirit all by our lonesome.
God has simply not set the Christian life up to be a solo project.
We need him and we need each other.
That's why Paul reminds us in verse 3, if anyone thinks that there's something when they're not, they deceive themselves.
Don't be deceived, brothers and sisters.
Don't fall for the lie that you're the only one who is dealing with that sin.
That you're the only one having a hard time, that you're the only one not having a great walk at the moment.
I think you'll find that as you start to share your life with those around you
and be vulnerable with those, God has placed with you and hear this,
who God has placed around you for you, that you'll find your burdens that you've been carrying for so long to be lightened.
Don't rob yourself of that experience.
And don't rob others of being a blessing to you.
There's a tension going on in our text here. It's a fine line, but it's a tension nonetheless.
Yes, we need each other absolutely, but that doesn't mean that when we offload our burdens on others,
that we offload personal responsibility of our sin on others.
Yes, we bear one another's burdens, we help, we mend,
but no, we don't offload our personal responsibility for the things that we do.
We must all acknowledge that we are personally responsible for the things that we do in this life.
And one day, we will give an account to God for it.
That's what Paul is speaking about here in verses 4 and 5.
Each one should test their own actions, then they can take pride in themselves alone
without comparing themselves to someone else.
For each one should carry their own load. Paul's not contradicting himself here,
like saying bear one another's burdens, but in the very same breath saying bear your own.
He's using a play on words, word pictures here, to essentially communicate that we are all personally responsible for what we do with our own actions.
And so don't compare yourself with what other people are doing, but test your way of life in light of the Gospel.
Test your way of life in light of the Word.
Test your way of life in light of where the Spirit is leading and ask,
does this match the example of our Lord or not?
One day, every single one of us will have to give an account to God for what we've done,
not for what others have done.
And for those who have trusted and obeyed, for those who have humbly and self-sacrificially served their brothers and sisters,
they'll be able to somewhat be pleased and take joy in the work that they've done.
So that's first, the Spirit of God will lead us to help others.
Second, the Spirit will lead us to carry each other's burdens.
Third and finally, the Spirit will cause us to invest in others and in God himself.
Just this week, a few of us had the great honour to go and celebrate the wonderful life and career of a godly man in our city, Don West.
We talked about him just before.
If you haven't heard of Don West before, it's as Tony said, he was the principal of Trinity Bible College,
that Tony, Tom, Jen and myself all attended.
Now to say that Don had a wonderful grasp on teaching the gospel would be an absolute understatement.
But here's the thing, to get the very best of Don, the churches in Perth had to recognise that he had to leave his career,
I think he was an accountant, so that he could give his very best to the next generation of gospel workers in this city.
To get the very best of Don and then his replacement,
who just so happens to be coming to preach here next week, if you want to put that in the diary,
to get the very best of them, we couldn't have them working a day job and then giving what they could at night.
No, we want to see their ministry flourish.
We want to see their ministries flourish so that we can see the gospel bear fruit in this city.
And I think that's what Paul has in mind here in verse 6.
He says to the one who receives instruction in the Word,
they should share all good things with their instructor,
which is to say there are those whom God has raised up and set aside to instruct us in the Word.
And so we should invest in their ministry in whatever way we can.
Paul will say elsewhere that the workmen is worthy of his wages and the teachers are in fact a gift of the Lord to the church.
And so we should be supporting gospel work in our city in whatever way we can,
so that we might be invested and celebrate the fruit of the gospel with those who are out there doing the work.
We might say that their win is our win sort of thing,
something we certainly celebrated the other night in regards to what God has done in our city through Don's faithful ministry.
And Paul takes this idea of gospel fruition and then applies it to our very Christian walks
in the context of investing in the Spirit of God himself.
Saying in verses 7 and 8, don't be deceived, God can't be mocked.
A man reaps what he sows, whoever sows to please their flesh from the flesh will reap destruction.
Whoever sows to please the Spirit from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
You reap what you sow says our apostle.
So what are you sowing into?
Do you have a deep desire to trust and obey?
Well then if you have time to pray but you lose yourself in hours of YouTube or Netflix, could that be the reason why you're feeling spiritually unmotivated?
Do you want to love your neighbour as yourself?
Well then if you've got opportunity to meditate on scripture and hear God speaking but you spend your time doing absolutely anything else,
might that be the reason why you're feeling like you just can't be bothered anymore?
Do you deeply desire to walk in holiness?
To live a godly life?
Well if you've got the chance to meet with other Christians to pray, have fellowship,
but you choose time and time and time and time and time again to work or go to the game or go fishing,
might that be the reason why sin just seems like a little bit of adult naughtiness and not such a big deal anymore?
Do you see the principle at play here brothers and sisters?
We reap what we sow.
Church, each and every single one of us who's put our trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is called to live a spirit led life.
A life that is shaped and moulded by trusting and obeying what God is doing in us and what he is doing for us.
That is what you have been called to do. We've been called to not panda to the flesh but to crucify it
and to follow our Lord's lead in the power of the Spirit.
Therefore might we sow our love, our time, our energy, our devotion, our lives into what the Spirit is leading and guiding
and hungering your hearts after?
As Paul wonderfully says to us here in verses 9 and 10,
let us not become weary in doing good.
For the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don't give up.
Therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the family of believers.
As we end our time in this beautiful part of Scripture this morning, each and every single one of us
who's called upon the name of the Lord has been set free by the Lord Jesus Christ
and filled with the Holy Spirit so that we might practice being like our Lord and Saviour in this world.
He showed us what it is to live out the intention of the Lord in all that he did.
Our Lord loved our heavenly Father more than we could possibly ever hope to imagine
and this is the thing, he loved you and me more than we could ever hope to know.
And he showed us that, he showed us that in that the joy that was set before him,
he endured the cross and he found joy in the reward of total obedience
because he knew by his sacrificial life that he would carry his brothers and sisters burdens
and bury them in the grave for all eternity.
You and I have the very spirit of God living in us, conforming us to that pattern of living,
leading us to love others by helping them, by carrying them, by investing in the work of the Gospel.
Our spiritual siblings aren't a burden, our sin and our flesh is a burden.
So let's not grieve or quench the Holy Spirit of God in his work.
Let's trust and obey, let's watch and pray, let's sow our time, our energy, our resources, our lives
into what we're being led to do by the Spirit because that's what we were saved to do.
Church, would you please join me in praying to carry out what we've heard this morning in God's word to us?
Let's pray.
Father God, we are so thankful for the Gospel, there's no words to describe our thanks
for what Jesus achieved at the cross.
Father, we desperately want to be disciples, we desperately want to follow,
we desperately want to pick our crosses up and follow our Lord and Master all the days of our life
and we are keenly aware that you are the one through the work of the Spirit
that gives us the power and the leading and the life to do this.
Father, where we have grieved you in this church for not looking out for one another,
for letting polite society infiltrate the church where you have been grieved, where you have been quenched.
Lord, we lay this before you and we ask that you would mend us, that you would give us courage in the Gospel,
that you would show us where we've tripped and fallen and that we might be a people that are able to wisely, lovingly, gently lead your children to the cross time and time again.
Lord, we ask that you would use us as a city on a hill, a lie in this world, a lie at Naamadau, to do your work and not our own.
We're so thankful that we get to partner with you in Gospel proclamation, but Lord, we ask that we would be faithful,
not just in our words but in our actions as well.
We ask for the sake of Christ in your glory alone. Amen.