Remember who you are. Galatians 6:7-18 The joyful act of a believer to carry others' heavy burdens instead of burdening others with their own small load stems from knowing who they are in Christ. It is a blessing that brings us joy when we can help our brothers and sisters in Christ through their trials. Supporting those who minister God's Word to us is a sign of appreciation. They are our family, and we stand with them. We “communicate” with them by sharing the costs of their work. These are the people of God we are assisting along their journey.
Those who do the same things out of obligation to fulfill legal requirements are disrespecting the work of Christ by thinking they are earning God's favor. “Be not deceived” or led astray. To mock God is to turn up your nose at Him. To mock God is to treat Him and what He has done for us with contempt as far as He is concerned. To add in any way to a finished work is a disrespectful attitude. God would be mocked if a person could sow evil and reap good. Serving with "cheerful" giving from the heart is very different. The principle of sowing and reaping applies to both the negative and the positive.
There are principles to sowing that we do well to remember. What we sow is what we reap. The seed we plant produces a similar type of seed, but much more than we originally sowed. We reap the same thing, only in greater quantity, whether it is good or bad. Where we sow is also important. Sowing carelessly can lead to "a whirlwind." Spending all we have on ourselves and the desires of the flesh only begins a period of decline that ultimately results in sadness, guilt, misery, and all the consequences that come when sin takes over.
To sow things that satisfy the flesh will result in a harvest of judgment when sin is allowed to persist. There is a tendency toward sin in the flesh that we must not indulge, even if it seems small and harmless at first. A thought can lead to a look. A look can lead to an act. An act can lead to serious consequences from which one might never recover. Therefore, the principle of sowing and reaping is that we reap what we sow. We reap more than we sow.
This same principle applies to sowing in the Spirit just as it does to sowing to the flesh. The flesh leads to corruption, indulgence, and increasing evil. Sowing to the Spirit doesn’t mean we add to God's work of giving eternal life; rather, it is the natural outcome of those guided by the Spirit. That is when life becomes “abundant.” The Holy Spirit within us develops our ability to experience Christ now and to enjoy life’s fullness when He comes.
A person who walks in the Spirit is guided by the Spirit, lives according to the Spirit, and sows to the Spirit will reap spiritual rewards that are part of our eternal new life. The fruit of the Spirit clearly shows someone who has sown to the Spirit. Remember who you are when you are sowing.
There is something more to consider here. Labor is involved in sowing and reaping. It takes much more time to prepare the ground for sowing than it does to reap the harvest. Caring for the plants that produce fruit takes longer than harvesting what has been sown. We should not become complacent because we are tired of being "peculiar people, zealous of good works." Doing good for others and on behalf of others will bring its own reward. Usually, there is satisfaction and blessing now as a result of sowing to the Spirit, but the true value will be revealed in the future when we see our Lord and "give an account of the things done in the body."
If we sow righteousness to bring blessing to others, a time of reaping will definitely come. “Well doing” means doing what is right and beneficial for others, and it will yield good results at the right time for reaping – not before. The household of faith is our family – our brothers and sisters in Christ. We belong to the house of God and live there by faith. Good works are an important fruit of living a life of faith. This encourages us to do what we do "as to the Lord," even if we receive no recognition or thanks now. This is the sowing season, the "opportunity" to do good, which relates more to the results than the effort and service we put in.
The Lord's people hold a special place in our hearts and lives. These individuals, "the household of faith," are like family. Everyone needs our "work of faith and labor of love." However, the family of God carries a particular responsibility. They require us, and we need them as we journey through a hostile world. We might not always see a specific need, but someone led by the Spirit often feels compelled to do something beyond the ordinary without knowing the outcome. The Holy Spirit dwells in each believer and keeps the body functioning in the most fitting way. Remember who you are - a member of the body. This was so important to Paul that he signs his letters with his own handwriting to emphasize his teaching.
A "fair show” simply means that the Judaizers who were misleading the Galatians were trying to appear spiritual and demanded that others do the same. This way, Christianity would have become another sect of Judaism, like the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other Jewish groups. They would avoid the persecution from zealous Jews and could be officially accepted by the Roman authorities as a legitimate religion. Paul exposed the selfish motives of the Judaizers, who knew they couldn't keep the law, but still wanted to persuade the Galatian believers to become Jews so they could boast about having them as followers.
We should avoid those who insist on adding anything to salvation by grace alone to escape persecution for Christ's sake. Stay away from those who demean or casually speak of the cross of Christ. Anyone who equates the works of the law with the cross-work of Christ is a false brother. Those who put works above faith are false brothers. Those who emphasize outward, external appearances more than the inward movement of a redeemed heart toward his or her Savior are false brothers. When people boast about how many "souls they have seen saved" but are careless about what they have done or ought to have done—that is hypocrisy.
True Christians do not boast about what they have done, only about what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. The new birth ends our relationship with the world. The world has lost its charm for us, and we are dead to the world but alive in Christ. Sin and death reign in the world. Life, peace, hope, love, and joy reign in the kingdom of God’s love.
Paul gloried in the "cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" because he had experienced deliverance from the bondage and course of a broken law. He said, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live." The only way we can effectively deal with the cultural interests that take our time, or the social life of the world system that attracts us, is to crucify ourselves to it and reckon that I am "dead to the world, but alive unto God." There is a barrier between a true believer and the world system. By faith, we take our stand with God, draw a line between ourselves and the world, and be courageous enough to stay on our own side with God.
We do not need to worry about what others say we should do or should not do, as those are merely human opinions. Some claim that we can do whatever we want because we are saved and cannot lose salvation. However, that is the words of someone who does not truly know or love the Lord. Circumcision or any other ritual performed as a means of salvation holds no real significance. A repentant sinner who has accepted the Lord Jesus Christ alone as their personal Savior has been made a new creation in Christ Jesus.
By God's grace, we do what we do or do not do because we have been made new creations in Christ. That new life, along with its new nature, is something fresh to us that we did not have before we were saved. "All things become new" when we become children of God. This rule of grace in our lives enables us, empowers us, and compels us to live by faith. Walking in the Spirit is the rule by which believers are to conduct their lives. The “Israel of God” includes all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, not those who work to save their own souls. The new covenant (New Testament) is one of mercy and peace that allows us to have fellowship with all the Lord’s people. We share covenant blessings with them because we are all of the “Seed of Abraham” who have put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul bore physical evidence on his body from the persecution he endured for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. His commitment was unwavering, and as a result, he shared in the sufferings of Christ. Those marks mattered more than the fact that he had been circumcised. Paul concludes this epistle by saying, "Don't bother me anymore with this false teaching. I have had enough pain in my life without you adding to it the soul-grieving pain of belittling the work of the cross by insisting on law-keeping."
He started the letter with apostolic authority and finished it with the compassionate term "brethren." He opened with grace and closed with "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." He emphasized grace as a way to reach their spirit rather than following the law. “With your spirit” shows spiritual life shared among brothers and sisters in Christ. When God's people are led astray by false brethren to lose their freedom and become enslaved again, it is a cause for sadness. Freedom in Christ allows us to live for Him, serve Him, and bring Him glory with a joyful and free heart. We should never forget, but always remember, what a blessing it is to be among God's people living in the freedom of new life in Christ.
Galatians 6: 9-10. “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”